A cat, a goat, and a girl walk down the hill, their footfalls synced, their breath aligned. Bound by the strength of the night, the strength of the stars, the strength of _dark, _they do not part. _Cannot _part. Down, down, down, until they’ve reached the very foot of the hill, right on the edge of the forest.

“Even the most powerful and precious of bonds has to break, sometime, right?” Fondly, the goat bleats, his voice hoarse and quiet.

“Goat, but we cannot leave each other, simply _cannot.” _Hisses the girl, afraid to make too loud a sound.

“I think, _girl, _that hissing is my job, not yours. Joking, you must be, to use the word ‘cannot’, as it is physically possible to leave each other. Kindly use the term ‘will not’ as it shows we have chosen to take such a path.” Leers the cat.

More loud than anything they have ever heard, the silence crashes down upon the three. Never have they experienced such dread, such loss, such loneliness, but in these terrible things there is still a deep sense of comfort and connection and understanding.

Overhead, the moon rises, casting strange shadows with its eerie glow, and three tiny figures stand on the edge of the forest, not a word spoken between them, but their heartbeats, one and the same. Perhaps, in these few minutes, they come to realize something, something that very few seem to know.

Quiet bliss, in the crashing silence, the unmistakable sound of a soundless night. Rolling, smashing, cracking, falling, down, down, down, _down. _Sounds of the hush that can only be heard in a devastating moment of night.

Together, the three figures take a step into the forest. Undoubtedly, they will never see each other again. Voluntarily, still, they walk into the forest, knowing with full minds the loneliness they will feel. With heads of feathers and hearts of steel, they walk, towards a new kind of silence, one that isn’t as soulful, isn’t as loud.

X-ray their bodies, however, and you will find that their hearts still beat as one, their breath still rattles their lungs as one, and the blood that pulses through their veins is one and the same. You will never find a friendship like theirs - it is indescribable, unbreakable.

Zealous is the bond of the three- the cat, the goat, and the girl.