Sunrise

"We only noticed she was missing this morning, at sunrise."

The news had rocked Cuore's world, delivered by Shujaa as Cuore had finished viewing the sunrise. "How did you lose a cub?" Cuore could barely force the words out, ears pinned flat against his head.

"We don't know," Shujaa whimpered as the Healer raced back to the nursery alongside him.

Cheka was searching every inch of the nursery, somehow managing not to wake Kubariki. The entire Isle was examined, but there was no sign of her. She shouldn't have been able to get away by herself. How did no one wake up and see her? How had she gotten across the river?

What if she hadn't?

That thought, that realization that Hadithi might not even still be breathing, that she could've gotten swept away in the river (the poor girl always seemed terrified of getting too close to the water), or snatched away by an animal, or something else equally as tragic, horrified Cuore. He adored Haditihi, probably as much as he would have cared for his own child. And now, she'd been lost, and Cuore couldn't help but blame himself.

Days. For days after that, Cuore spent all of his time searching for something, anything, that would clue him into Hadithi's location. However, every trail he followed was a dead end; there were no clues to be found. At the end of it all, the only clue he had was the rumors about the dreaded Cub Stealer, the Sky Thief, who he wasn't even certain existed. That was not enough to go on; no one put any merit in the rumor anyways (no one but him). And after everyone told him there was nothing to be found, over and over again, Cuore was forced to give up. Any trail that might have been left was definitely gone, and though no one actually said the words to him, he knew what everyone was thinking: Hadithi was probably dead.

If he'd gone to the Isle at sunrise, like he'd thought about doing, would Hadithi have been alright? Would the cheerful little cub still be around? Could he have saved her from whatever happened? If he'd chosen to not waste so much time sitting and watching the sun rise, would things have turned out differently?

Cuore still woke up at the same times moving forward, but after that, he never did go out to sit and watch the sunrise. He couldn't bring himself to sit and enjoy it anymore.