Everything the Light Touches (Ruby/Electra RP)

EP: 6 (art), 5 (RP), +? (RP length) = 11 to Ruby
3DS Speedpaint: colorslive.com/details/2022374
Her side: fav.me/d766gca

"Look Electra, everything the light touches is our Empire."
"What about that bright shiny place?"
"That's Massilia. You must never go there, Electra."
(JK, the real story below~)

Rubria took a breath, embracing the feeling of this personally sacred place. The older cheetah often came here to get a piece of mind away from the bustle of camp. It felt as if all the guardians of the empires convened here at this time. Adraksh was the blinding brightness of the sun, which hung in Aether's sky. Fed by that same air, Ignis had painted his colors in the atmosphere, which glowed down upon Glacio's cool, stone earth. Aurelia and her shadows crept upon it and the sky the farther Adraksh retreated below the horizon, and then there was Sator. Sator was everywhere. He was the wind, the sky, the earth. He was the place each of the gods resided, and he was in each of the gods themselves. He was in the two young cats that stood staring out at them. When a cat realized that, a part of them could become as immortal as the gods; as a strong spirit is not easily broken.

---

A RP between my cheetah Ruby, and Asante-Sana's cheetah, Electra. OK SO I KNOW I REALLY OVERDID THE WHOLE GLOW THING. AND I FAILED AT THE LENS FLARE. AND IT SUCKS. OKAY YOU CAN STOP LOOKING AT IT NOW. SHEESH.

Also, this is Ruby's FINAL training assignment C:


Summary: 
After a long day training with Bird, Ruby finally finds time to catch her breath. It is then that she meets another cheetah, named Electra. After gaining permission, Ruby takes Electra up the mountain to a secret place of hers that she's always loved, and shows Electra an amazing view of the world as the sun sets, before the little cub becomes tired and the healer apprentice tucks her into her armor pocket to take her back home to camp.

Time frame:
Well Ruby was an apprentice and Electra was a cub soooo

RP:

"Humph!" A brown-red cheetah huffed as she plopped down in the Ice Empire clearing. She laid her chin on her paws and closed her eyes a moment. She'd been working in the healer's den all day, and she was exhausted. Her mentor, Bird, had been drilling her tirelessly, and at last, she had found a moment to step outside and catch her breath. Hopefully they would be done for the day, but Ruby didn't dare get her hopes up. "Overconfidence is the downfall of many cats," she had been told. 

The cheetah's stomach growled, and she plopped over on her side lazily. Maybe she'd get up and get some food from the fresh kill pile soon. But for now she just wanted to rest her paws and mind. 

---

The light-colored cheetah cub pounced, but the leaf escaped her tiny paws. "Not fair!" She said, but the leaf remained silent. Electra was actually thankful the winter was gone, all that cold and her short fur weren't exacly a healthy mix, and now she could really appreciate all the green and the beauty of her Empire.

A flicker of movement called Electra's attention, a small mouse strayed too far from its den. Dropping in a somewhat similar pose to the hunter's crouch, the cheetah made a silent plead to Adraksh. Please, please, let me be fast enough! She walked carefully and... The mouse darted for cover, but Adraksh seemed to be on a good mood that day, because Electra was faster. She squealed happily as she pinned the small creature to the ground and instinctively gave it a swift bite on the spine. It wasn't a big mouse - no more than skin and bone - but she was so proud of it. Electra was about to lay down and take a bite when she noticed the other cheetah laying on the other side of the clearing. She had seen her, working with the grumpy healer cat, Bird, and as Electra was rescued nearly frozen, she stood on their den for quite a while, and her memories of his apprentice were hazy, before she left on a long quest.

The cheetah seemed tired, so Electra trotted carefully with her prize locked firmly between her teeth. She nudged the older female softly with her paw. "Hmm, hey, miss?" She called, uncertain and hoping she wasn't as grumpy as her mentor, "I... I brought you this." She placed the skinny mouse in front of the cheetah. "It's not much but... I just hunted that myself!" Electra couldn't keep herself from puffing her chest a bit, proud. "But I'm not hungry and you are, and Nedria always says I can't kill for fun, so..." She pushed the preg towards the bigger cat. "For you."

---

Rubria's gold/blue eyes popped open when she felt a gentle nudging, and expected to see Bird standing above her, telling her there was more work to do. But instead, Ruby heard a small voice. She propped her front half up on her elbows and gazed in surprise at a young cheetah cub. 

"I... I brought you this. It's not much but... I just hunted that myself!" 

Ruby grinned in delight and purred. "Well how sweet of you!" She exclaimed, and bent her head down to sniff the mouse as the cub pushed it toward her. "It's still warm. You really DID just catch it, didn't you? Congratulations!" Ruby loved cubs. She didn't know this one too well, since she had been gone so long, but she loved the sweet cub all the same. With a soft paw she gently ruffled the cub's head fur. 

"How about we share it?" Ruby suggested with a smile. She new with winter coming, prey would be scarce; it was so enough already. She couldn't just take food from a cub...but she knew better than to reject the young one's gracious gift. 

---

The cheetah cub squealed hapilly as she settled down and ate her half of the prey. "You're the healer apprentice?" She called between a bite and another. "Why were you away? What were you doing? Do you think it's cool to work with Bird? He's a little grumpy, no? Do you think he could take another apprentice? I like working with herbs too! Hey, even if he can't, do you let me help you?"

Suddenly realizing what she was doing, Electra closed her mouth quickly. "Sorry." she muttered. "Nedria always says I speak too much sometimes. Hmmm, so, my name is Electra. What's yours?" 

---

Ruby blinked and shared the mouse with the younger cheetah. The taste was so pleasant after tasting only herbs and plants all day. It was gone all to soon and Ruby let the cub finish the rest. 

"You're the healer apprentice?" The cub pipped up while she ate. Ruby nodded, licking her lips to savor the lingering taste. "Why were you away? What were you doing? Do you think it's cool to work with Bird? He's a little grumpy, no? Do you think he could take another apprentice? I like working with herbs too! Hey, even if he can't, do you let me help you?" 

Ruby's eyes grew wide at the sudden barrage of questions, being slightly unprepared by all of it. But, it was a cub after all, they were known to be curious. As if having seen her expression, the cub stopped, and apologized. Ruby giggled a bit. 

"It's quite alright." She smiled. "Nice to meet you, Electra. My name is Rubria. But you can call me Ruby." The older cheetah reached down to touch noses in greeting with the younger cub. "And to answer your questions," -it was a good thing Rubria had such a fine honed memory that she remembered each thing the cub had asked about- "I was away to further my studies on herbs and healing methods. Yes, I love working with my mentor. He can be a little sharp sometimes, but he always means best. And I don't know if he would take another apprentice-" 

Ruby tried to suppress a small twinge of uncharacteristic jealousy; she couldn't deny that she enjoyed being the only healer apprentice in the empire. But, what would it be like to train an apprentice of her own...? One day she surely would. Would that future apprentice possibly be this cub? 'Certainly not,' Ruby pushed the thought away. Two healers in an empire are enough...right...? For me to need to train an apprentice would mean that Bird would no longer be with us...' Ruby shivered at the thought, and with a flick of an ear, set the topic in the back of her mind.

"...that would probably be up to him and Nedria. Were you thinking of being a healer like me?"

---

"Hi, Ruby." Electra whispered as she touched noses with the darker cheetah, then listened, ears pricked, as the healer spoke. When Ruby asked if she wanted to be a healer apprentice too, Electra only sighed and laid her head on her paws, thinking for a second. "I guess yes." She replied at last. "I mean, I was very cold when they found me... I don't remember much, but Bird took care of me, and I would be dead if it wasn't for him. I wanted to help others too, you know?" 

She paused for a second, then continued. "But... I also like fighting. I guess I could be a normal apprentice, but I wanted to know a least a little about herbs." She looked up at Ruby, a small flush on her cheeks. "Don't wanna try to take your place, but maybe I could help you two when there's too much to be done... And if someone got hurt away from camp, I could help them enough that they can come back and you take care of them. I guess." 

---

Ruby nodded as the cheetah cub spoke. "Yes," She agreed. "I like that. That's a good idea. I kinda wish all gladiators had at least a little bit of medical knowledge..." Ruby trailed off in thought. It would surely benefit everyone if others knew how to treat common wounds. So even if the healers couldn't get there fast enough...everyone would still be okay. 

"Well." Ruby started. "You've got a while yet to decide which path your paws will follow. Until then... I guess it wouldn't hurt if I taught you a thing or two." The healer apprentice smiled and winked.

---

Electra smiled. "Really? You will?" She had to control herself to not bounce in excitement, although her tail was twitching slightly, as if the cheetah was about to pounce. "I guess I can be a warrior then." She shook her head, deep in thought. "But then I could be a gladiator that could fight off intruders and injuries!" The cub made a swiping motion with her front paw, careful to not hit Ruby in her eager to learn.

Electra paused, her blue eyes darting at the older cheetah, as she tilted her head to the left. "But... You look so tired... There's a lot to do now that you're back, right?" She wondered what she had to do on the next few days: annoy Kota, play with Kota, try to approach Crispus -and fail, that tiger cub gave her shivers sometimes- comfort and be comforted by Anura, and try really hard not to think in Kaien and in how he had...
"I mean, I can come back later if you wanna sleep. Or maybe I could help you if you need me?" Electra shifted her weight. "I don't wanna disturb you." She looked shyly up at Ruby, unsure of what to do. Yet... She didn't want to leave. Not now. Rubria had been the first cheetah she had talked to ever since she joined the Empire, and though that had been one of the things that made Electra spy on her from far away ever since she had returned, she seemed to be much more than just a nice cat. There was much more about the dark colored cheetah than met the eye, and Electra was determined to be her friend.

---

"Oh it's too early to sleep yet, even if I am tired." Ruby yawned, glancing up at the cloudy sky. The clouds were lighter in one part, telling Ruby where the sun was, hidden behind them. "But right now I think Bird wants to be alone in there," She mentioned, flicking her tail tip towards the healer's den. "He's going nuts rearranging everything." Ruby laughed and shook her head lightly, then looked down at the cub.

"So, you weren't here when I left the empire before. How did you come to join Ice Empire?" 

---

Electra giggled, having spent enough time on the healer's den to know of Bird's mood. She got a more serious as Ruby asked of her past. "I was very little when I joined Ice Empire..." She twitched her ears as her eyes half focused on a bird looking for prey nearby. "Hm, I remember a an adult male... My father, I guess. I know that my mother had died, but I don 't remember how. Dad climbed some rocks and put me in a bush, wrapped in mother's scarf, because it was cold." She shivered, remembering that winter day. "Then the ground started to rumble and he disappeared... I guess I know now that ot was probably a rockslide. Then my memories are a little hazy... I remember it was cold. So cold. Then Nedria found me, and took me to Bird. Bird took care of me, saying I was with that hypoter-something, that long word that means you almost freezed to death. I stood a week with him, then. I was moved to the nursery... And Nedria started to take care of me." 

Electra shrugged. "I wish I could meet my real parents, but Nedria is good too." She said, smiling until her expression dropped. "Well... Everything was good until Kaien... Well... Until he sneaked away from camp with Anura and didn't come back." The cheetah cub laid her head on her paws, trying to keep her eyes from watering, for a moment forgetting Ruby by her side.

---

Rubria listened intently to what had happened to the cub while she had been away...She almost felt bad that she had not been the one to find the cub, or to even know what had happened to her parents. Ruby herself had always known those thoughts and curiosities, and almost thought the young cheetah was telling Ruby's own history. Ruby was about to mention that when the name Kaien came up, and she stopped herself. She of course, knew what had happened to the little cub, and how his...leaving the empire had emotionally wounded so many. 

Ruby wrapped her tail comfortingly around Electra, and licked her head. She really didn't know what she could say to the cub to make her feel better, and thought in silence for a few quiet moments while she shared her warmth with the younger cheetah. Then, an idea came to mind, despite her tired paws. 

"How about I show you some places outside of camp?" Rubria offered. "I can't take you too far without a gladiator with us, but there's some neat things I bet you'd like to see." 

With any luck, a small supervised adventure outside the camp might curb the cub of any appetite to sneak out by herself as Kaien had. 

---

Electra smiled, resting her head on Ruby's shoulder, glad for the comfort. Although Kaien's death had shaken her and often made her feel awful - she refused to cry, as not to make Anura's situation worse - the calm company from the older cheetah kept Electra from getting upset. She perked her ears, though, when Ruby suggested leaving camp for a while. She had, of course, sneaked up with Kota several times (which became almost nothing when her adoptive brother had died), but with an adult it might be different. Usually Electra would think it as boring, but Ruby was too cool to let it get boring. 

She got up and shook her fluffy fur. "Can we?" She asked, flicking her tail to and fro. "Please?"

---

Ruby purred and blinked. "Of course." She got to her paws and gave her fur a shake, wondering where to show the cub first. The river where...No, poor Electra didn't need another reminder of Kaien. The border? Far too risky. How about...yes, that was the place! It wasn't too close to the northern border, and it was near enough that they could make it there and back before the short day had ended. Granted, the short journey would probably leave the small cub exhausted. Rubria checked that her pouch she usually used to carry herbs in was empty, in case she should have to tote a tired cub back home instead. 

"I know just the place we can go." Ruby mewed. "I'll just let Bird know where we've gone, and I'll be back in a moment...And if there's anyone you think you need to let know, you might want to do that now, before we leave." Ruby reminded, and padded back to the healer's den to find her mentor.

---

Electra's eyes lit up and - forgetting she had a cheetah talking to her - raced as fast as he could to the nursery to tell her mom about her leaving. She wouldn't want Nedria worried with her or thinking she might get into trouble, or terrified she had gone alone and might get hurt or lost like Kaien. 

Nedria wasn't there, but Ceres was with her half-asleep cubs. The cheetah lost a moment to tease Kota about her leaving - ignoring when both Ceres and Crispus rolled their eyes at Kota's whines, asking to go too - and almost flew back to where Ruby waited. 

"Sorry," she panted, "Can we go now, please?"

---

Ruby asked Bird's permission and was granted it; she returned to the clearing where Electra was already bounding up to her, excited to be going. 

"Alright!" Ruby chirped, tail tip flicking with a small excitement of her own. "Let's go, Electra." 

The older cheetah padded out of the camp, ears and senses at attention. Now that she had the responsibility of keeping young Electra safe, Ruby had to be extra cautious that the coast was clear. And so far, all was. 

---

The light-colored cheetah squealed a 'yay! Let's go, let's go!', and started jumping around Ruby. Then she remembered that she was probably too old for that. She stopped halfway to another jump, then turned around and settled herself at a calmer pace besides the healer apprentice. She didn't want to get too tired and miss all the fun! 

"Ruby," she called, looking up at the cheetah's blue eyes, "Where are we going? ...Not to the river, right?"

---

Ruby was glad once the young cub quieted down and stopped bouncing. If she had continued, Ruby may have had to hush the cub; out in the wild was no place for giving away one's position. She was no warrior, but that was one thing she had learned in the wilderness to survive; staying undetected meant no one could know to give you any trouble.

At Electra's question, Ruby looked down at the young cub with compassion and blinked. "No," She said softly, sensing Electra's tension as she waited for Ruby's answer. "I won't take you there." She assured. 

---

Slightly relaxed, Electra remembered to not jump around, and entertained herself watching the surroundings. It had been a long time since she had been away from camp. "So, where are we going?"

---

Rubria smiled to herself. "You'll see." She glanced up at the sky. Judging by the sun's position in the -great blue-gray expanse, it was probably about a half hour before the sun would near the horizon. The cheetah lowered her eyes back to the path they were taking. They were making decent time.

She inhaled deeply, letting the cool scents of the forest flood into her tired body. The smells were so calming to her. Although the rocky tundra made it difficult at best to run as a cheetah like herself loved to do, there was a sense of safety about being enclosed by the protective trees and boulders. As they padded onward, a heap of boulders and rocks from a previous land slide stood unmoving in front of them. Ruby trotted up and with a couple leaps, had bounded half way up the rock pile. She paused to look back and check on Electra.

---

Electra suppressed a sigh. Seemed like Ruby wouldn't reveal her secrets until they were there, so the cheetah gave up and walked besides her. The cub's eyes drifted off to the landscape around her. It was impressive. She was little, well, smaller, she had thought the world was already huge when it meant just the camp and he cats that lived there. As she grew older, Electra still found it hard to believe everything was so big, and so many cats lived there. If she stopped to think, there were four other Empires with their territories and camps and about the same number of cats each, and there was still Massilia and its Hunters, and Rome, and the ocean... 

Electra almost hit her head on the pile of rocks Ruby had climbed, but stopped herself in time. Sinking her claws on the stone, she hauled herself up after the older female, panting slightly but looking up at her with an expectant smile.

---

Ruby gave a smile back at the cub, impressed she'd managed to haul herself up that far, and doubled back a bit to Electra. She was already getting worn and they were only beginning. The rocks still to climb were even taller, and the smaller cheetah would not likely make it up. "No worries, I'll carry you the rest of the way up here." The healer apprentice bent her head and gently picked up the cub by the scruff, and turned back to the boulders ahead. 

---

Electra was feeling quite proud of herself, that is, until she noticed how tall the rocks had gotten. She shrunk a little. It wasn't fair! She was doing so well, why did the rocks suddenly get so big? She wanted to see the surprise Ruby was going to show her, but her muscles were already burning from the climb. That was when the older cheetah spoke, and Electra shot her an apologetic smile, allowing herself to hang limply in her friend's jaws. "Sorry." She muttered. She didn't want to make Rubria even more tired, but on the other side, Electra was really curious about where they were going. She had never climbed so high in her life!

---

"Hmm" Ruby hummed in reply through the cub's scruff, and leaped the rest of the way up the rock pile, carefully holding the cub up away from the danger of swinging into rocks. By the time she reached the top, her neck ached a little from the weight of the cub, and Rubria set her down. "Alright," she breathed. "It's not far now. You should be able to make it on foot- but just let me know if you need any help, mmk?" Ruby nuzzled Electra in a friendly manner. She didn't want the little cub to feel like she was being a burden because she was too little to climb some obstacles. 

---

Despite balancing from Ruby's jaws, Electra didn't fear falling. She knew the older cheetah would never let anything harm her. It was, though, great when her paws touched the ground as well. "Okay." Electra purred in response, and focused on jumping to the next rock. She almost squealed in delight when she managed it, but remembered she was getting too old for that. She looked up, and could almost see the end of their escalade. When the cheetah looked down, though, she gasped. The view was amazing! She had never saw how big the world was until today. It was really high, though. Instinctively, she backed away from the border, and focused on the next rock.

---

Ruby purred as they continued along the path, Electra bouncing from rock to rock as if she was trying her best to practice for next time she came this way. A huge boulder beside the path just ahead marked their almost-arrival. Ruby padded off the beaten path to follow a nearly invisible trail that had been hidden behind the rock. "Stay close," She murmured to the cub trailing her, and just then the path widened to a very small clearing; perhaps only big enough for two or three lions to sit within it comfortably. The side of the clearing they had arrived from smelled of tundra and soil, but the opposite side, which hard to see, smelled fresh and airy. Ruby sat and waited for Electra to catch up before telling the little cheetah why she had brought them here.

---

The cheetah's ears perked up when Ruby told her they were almost there. She quickly followed the older female, stopping when the small clearing opened itself around them. At first, Electra was slightly disappointed. But then, she smiled. It didn't matter much. She had fun, climbing with Ruby. And she felt like this wasn't all that the darker cheetah had to show her. The cub tried to think like an adult, trying to see what was there to mae it special. She liked the scent that lingered around them, and she could feel the wind on her pelt too. Was there something Ruby was hiding? "It's really pretty." Electra smiled, taking a few steps ahead and sitting next to her newest friend. She looked at her, curious, and yet trying to figure out her secrets. The cheetah's blue eyes seemed to be shining, which only made Electra more suspicious of a secret. There seemed to be more there than met the eye.

---

Ruby blinked. She loved giving young ones such surprises. "Come this way," She mewed, and laid her tail across Electra's back to keep her close and direct her. Ruby pushed the way through some thick tree branches and stopped at the edge of the clearing when she felt the ground beneath her paws turn from moss to that of stone. They were at the edge of a cliff, and before them was an amazing sight. 

Laying far below was the earth, rocks and sparse trees of Ice Empire's territory that visibly stretched out to the territories of the other empires. The city was too far to be visible from here, but if one looked hard enough, one could just barely see the line of water on the horizon that was the ocean. Above, the the sky was bright pink and orange as the sun set, making room for the stars to peek out of darkening expanse that was the eastern sky. The bright side of the sky cast it's glow on the earth below, dazzling the rivers, streams, and lakes and making them one with the sky. 

Rubria took a breath. The older cheetah often came here to get a piece of mind away from the bustle of camp. Ruby embraced the feeling of this personally sacred place. It felt as if all the guardians of the empires convened here at this time. Adraksh was the brightness of the sun, which hung in Aether's sky. Fed by the air of Aether, Ignis had painted his colors in the atmosphere, which glowed down upon Glacio's world of stone which was the entire earth. His world of ice was everything the two cheetahs stood upon, and Aurelia and her shadows crept upon the earth and sky the farther Adraksh left the sky, and then there was Sator. Sator was everywhere. He was the wind, the sky, the earth. He was the place each of the gods resided, and he was in each of the gods themselves. He was in the two young cats that stood staring out at them. 

This is what she had brought the cub to see; a great big world out there that extended far beyond the camp and Ice Empire's land. Ruby smiled and glanced down at Electra to see her reaction to this place. 

---

At first, Electra was too stunned to move. The world was so big! She knew it was large, but not that huge! And she couldn't even make out the city from here, which meant it was even more than Electra had ever dreamed of. And she was so high! It was almost like she could touch the clouds. "That's... That's... Wow. It's so pretty." The small cheetah cub gaped at the world before her, absorving it with wide-open eyes. 

Electra wondered if she could see the ocean. There was a brilliant, shiny stretch of land on the horizon. "Ruby? ... Is that the sea?" It couldn't be. Whenever Electra thought of it, she imagined a really large lake. But that would be... Too much. 

---

Ruby squinted at the line in the distance and nodded. "Yes," She confirmed. From what she'd been told, an ocean was much bigger than a sea. The apprentice healer knelt down beside Electra, motioning for the young cub to climb on her back. "Maybe you can see a little better if you climb up?" She suggested.

---

Electra nodded. "Sea. Okay. It's so shiny." She muttered under her breath. That was just... Amazing. She wondered how Sator managed to give life for all the cats that lived on this world. It must be really hard, she reflected. When Ruby laid down, Electra carefully climbed up, as to not hurt her friend. She stood on her back legs and watched from the back of Ruby's head, and smiled. "How can it be so big?" She murmured. "I mean, how can the Guardians take care of it all? I mean, Ceres is mother's Silver Gladiator and she barely can control her sons! How can they manage?" Electra wondered out loud, before yawning slightly and resting her head on the cheetah's mane. 

---

Once Electra had climbed up, Ruby carefully stood again to give the cub a better view. Since the huge world before them was so far away, it probably didn't change much, but maybe for the cub it made a difference. Rubria chuckled at the cub's amazement. "The Guardians are just that strong and wise. They have power beyond our understanding. That is why we trust them to guide us." The cheetah twitched her whiskers. It felt nice to share this place with someone else, after all the times she had been here only alone. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed deeply the scents of the world. 

---

The little cheetah looked up at Ruby, smiling. "I guess so. I wonder what is like to know so much." She shrugged. Her eyes turned back towards the beautiful view. "I think Glacio really did that. He guided me here and then I met mom, and Anura, and Kota, and you." Electra leaned her head on the older cheetah's leg, yawning. "I guess this is enough reason for me to trust him."

---

Ruby bent her head to lick the top of Electra's head as the younger cheetah leaned sleepily against her leg. "They'll always be watching over you," The healer apprentice promised. The sun was vanishing over the horizon, taking with it the last of the day's light, and a slight chill entered the air. It was time to get the worn out cub back to camp. Taking Electra gently by the scruff, Ruby placed the cub in her side pouch to take her home. She nosed a hanging leg into the pouch.

"Even when you think you're alone. They'll always be watching over you."

---