Username: Adamented
Cat Name: Leijona
Gender: Molly
Rank: Grand Huntress
Clan: GladewoodAge: 8 years
Prompt: "Imagine you're wandering through the woods, looking for food to bring home to your family," Tiny faces hang on every word looking up to Leijona's serious face. She's perched on a small patch of flat stones overlooking a patch of grass in the Wanderers' current resting spot, "it's the dead of winter- absolutely freezing cold!" She regales. They'd been on the move for a long time, this was the first time they'd settled for longer than a night's rest in almost a moon passing and a half, the kittens she usually enjoys telling her tales too tired to keep their eyes open. They'd collapse against the soft, safe, warm fur of their mothers and their tiny bodies would shiver with the cold. "I stumbled on something that terrified me right to the core... it was midnight black. Blacker than the night in absence of any stars!" They were stunned, completely enraptured. They couldn't be torn away by any distraction, already invested at the promise of mystery and suspense. "Its tail was long, like vines, twice as thick. Its eyes were yellow and amber, like the marigolds we passed last Summer."
Leijona could see the image forming in their minds as she described it and with every word she grew even more enthused, watching her energy reflect in them- the tiny hairs on their backs rising along their spine. "It looked like us, but it's paws were gigantic... yet as it moved I didn't see or hear it, silent as death!" A shiver passed through the young, a fear and fascination fixed in their eyes, one of the older kittens pipped in, "If you didn't see it, how do you know what it looked like?"
"Well that's because," she chuffed, rolling her eyes, "I couldn't have possibly missed what it was carrying. On it's back, even in the trees... it had this tiny black and orange creature. The vibrant fur caught my eye, and I could see the larger creature's silhouette. The most fascinating part of this story is the friend the beast had... it was like a tiny bear! Black and orange, with a big fat fluffy face, tiny beady black eyes! I've never seen anything like it in my life."
Leijona huffed a breath, sitting back onto her hindlegs to exaggerate with her forelegs, "I was fearing for my life, but it almost seemed comical! Once the shadow thing saw me though, I thought I was done for! Food! Scrap!" Tiny mumbles carried around her, "But I'm not. Once it caught my eye, the little orange thing let out a sound I've never heard in my life, and they both dropped into the bush beyond my vision and were gone. They could still be out there. Maybe..." She squints, dropping down to the ground into a hunter's crouch, "...maybe they were hoping I would lead them to a bigger snack!" The kittens squealed, running about and tripping over the stones to hide in the brush nearby.
"Is that actually true?" A skeptical, amused tone piped from behind her, as the excitement faded from her body and she sat back, content. "Like, any of it?"
"Some," Leijona tittered, "I wasn't ever at any risk. Gladewood was home to a lot of other creatures, we had a kind of understanding." She looked over her shoulder at the young hunter she was training in the last few sun cycles. "But Keskiyo never would divulge anything about that little bear, from the first time I met her. I think she was protecting it. She only said it came from a place very, very far away."
Gladewood was a long way away now though, a longing drew on her heart like a call home. "She had a tough exterior, but she was really sweet. I hope she's okay."
[634 words]
.jpg)
.jpg)
