Lily had spent several days at her makeshift camp trying in vain to understand what it was that Chinggis had meant when he wrote: ‘A tiger wearing a bell will starve and a cat that likes to eat fresh fish will not go into the water; however, the distance between Heaven and Earth is no greater than one thought.’
Her first task was to identify who it was that Chinggis was referring to. There were only city dwellers, herders and Outsiders.
She surmised that the feline references related in some way to Baatarulaan. She had heard the elders often refer to the city's inhabitants as ‘fat cats’. That made sense – who else could it mean? Lily knew that city dwellers were far more showy and extravagant than her nomadic group. In Lily's opinion, the people who lived in the city were too lazy to fend for themselves. Her father had warned her against the corruption and base nature of those within Baatarulaan's walls. Still, he had also inferred that they did have riches far beyond anything any mere herder could ever expect. Lily's father and the elders actually shunned riches; so long as they had enough they knew that was enough. More led to more problems. But riches were riches and would never lose their real appeal so long as humans breathed.
However, Lily knew that the appeal of riches was greed and that, no matter how many riches she accumulated, greed would have kept her poor for ever; even the abundance of this world would not make her rich. It was an odd conundrum but Lily knew that living as a herder she was living on the side of the equation she preferred. City dwellers were welcome to the other and from what she had heard they wallowed and waddled in it each and every day. They certainly acted like the furry fat felines that occasionally took up with the nomadic group, always expecting to be lifted into carts when it came time to move on rather than walking anywhere! Fat cats of all kinds had an easy life.
As for Outsiders, Lily had only ever heard of them in stories told by the elders to frighten the group's children. No one from the group had actually ever seen an Outsider or been further than a day or two's ride by horse from wherever the camp was based. That had never resulted in crossing or coming close to any borders. People knew better than to stray too far from Baatarulaan, no matter how much they disliked the urban sprawl. Indeed, no one had been outside Ongolium, let alone met an Outsider, for over a dozen generations.
At least, that was the case in the real world. In the spirit world Lily had encountered many oddly dressed people who had strange customs. However, she knew that the words of Chinggis had to refer to the real world. As far as Lily was aware, Chinggis had never had the shamanic gift. No Outsiders existed in Lily's experience of the real world.
Lily couldn't understand the Heaven and Earth reference. Although she spent an increasing amount of time in the spirit world, she had never thought of it as Heaven. She often wondered whether Heaven even existed; it did seem a far-fetched idea. Her time in her other world was interesting, wonderful even, but certainly not heavenly. It was full of challenges and surprises, and not always pleasant ones. There were people in that place that were anything but ethereal beings.
By the time of Lily's fourth night of camping, Lucky was becoming agitated. The horses in Ongolium are not like those found elsewhere. They are shorter, sturdier and more single-minded than their cousins in other lands. When an Ongolian horse is agitated everybody knows about it. Lucky had started stamping his front legs that afternoon. By the time evening had fallen into darkness he was listlessly jumping up and down on the spot. He whinnied loudly and snorted messily.
‘Shhh!’ said Lily. ‘Please, Lucky, we will go home soon, I promise. I just need a little more time trying to think about this.’ She stroked the nose of her faithful steed and nuzzled her face against his.
Her actions appeared to appease Lucky, at least for the time being. He stopped being restless and relaxed back into his usual sensible, if slightly grumpy, self.
Lily, as leader, had the pick of her group's horses. There were many fine stallions among the herd. Generally each person had at least two beasts to do their bidding. One horse was rarely sufficient if undertaking a longer journey. While Lucky was not the runt of the herd, neither was he among the equine in-crowd. For a breed of short horses he was one of the shortest. For a breed of single-minded horses he was most definitely one of the most bloody-minded. Lily could have chosen any of the horses, but she didn't. No matter how grumpy, stubborn or obstinate Lucky was, he more than made up for with his sense and sensibility. For Lily he had a charm that none of the more flighty fancy horses could ever attain. As Lily would reply to her steed's various detractors: ‘A donkey that carries me is worth more than a horse that kicks me.’ She was very sensible like that, and so was Lucky. Both lived on the periphery of their respective communities; they made perfect life partners.
Having settled Lucky, Lily returned to her thinking. She decided that, since the answer wasn't readily coming to her around the campfire, then she would explore for it in the spirit world. She placed some logs on the fire to make sure she stayed warm during her visit. Sitting cross-legged next to the warmth, she glanced at Lucky knowingly. He nodded back to affirm that he would keep his eyes open. Returning to the fire, Lily gazed long and deep into its bright dancing flow. She sank into herself and began to slow her breathing. Her eyes remained open, staring at the glowing embers. Lily began to emit a strange noise. It was far from her usual voice and came from much deeper inside her. She began a slow chant. Lucky snorted casually as he watched his mistress fall into her trance. Lily chanted more loudly and slower: ‘Ooohhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmm . . .’
Her body resonated to the sound. She could sense her spine tingling and senses buzzing. Natural electricity began to pulse, rising from her tail bone, spreading its power throughout her abdomen and up through her neck. As the electricity increased, a force began to build inside her. It grew with each pulse, welling upwards. Extending through her limbs, it focused on her diaphragm. Breathing became more difficult but she forcefully expelled the air from her lungs. The pressure mounted. It snaked its way up her body towards her head. It targeted her forehead. Once there it exploded from the centre just above her eyes. Lily remained motionless, breathing deeply with her eyes fixed upon the fire. Lily blinked her eyes and departed.