Username: clouds-move-on
Cat Name: Triangle
Gender: Male
Rank: Contribute
Clan: Lorilend Age: 2 yrs
Prompt:I live in the palace grounds, and, every morning, I take a walk along it's edges. The cats that live here- the supposed
royals of the feline side of Lorilend- hardly ever try and vex me. They know I am something to be respected. The humans brought me here, they liked to look at me, I am
ornamental, you might say. And, cats though they are, and bird though I am, they dare not touch the ornaments of the king.
Not to say I am on distant terms with all. There are a few cats I find.....
tolerable, at the very least. But I do not understand much of
their language, and they hardly seem to want to take the time to learn
mine- so it is that I do not have many friends among them, and thought, well- I probably never would befriend a cat.
That is until I started seeing him poking about. As I was saying- every morning I take a long walk around the parameter of the courtyard gardens, and on one such occasion I saw him for the first time.
He was struggling to pull himself over the wall- I don't understand
why he was hanging from the wall in the first instance, but there he was, dangling from it, his legs scrabbling uselessly against the stone structure, in the vain activity of trying to gain purchase.
Well I wasn't going to be there when he fell- possibly over me, as I was passing right against this wall- so I hurried on. On looking back I saw he'd managed to pull himself up. We looked at each other- he smiled, hen jumped down the other side.
We first spoke on our next meeting. I was by that wall again, and he was sitting up there, a mess of leaf litter in his fur. I looked at him, and he said- in
my language.
"Good morning!"So I stopped, and looked at him. I had never heard a cat speak so well in
any bird language before.
"... Good day...."And I kept walking.
Finally, we would hold a conversation on our third meeting. Three days after the last meeting I was near the forest's edge, and I saw him again poking around. I recalled he seemed to be able to speak my language and so I decided to go and test how far this ability went. I went over, he looked at me, smiled, and again.
"Good morning! You're on this route a lot, aren't you?"Hm.
"Yes. It has been my... tradition to walk the courtyard parameter for some moons now."....
"You speak the peafowl language very well, cat. Where did you learn?"The cat takes a moment to answer. I am still not certain what to make of this- it was almost as if he didn't know the answer.
"..... Mother was raised around peacocks, chickens, ducks... such birds. Learned a lot from them, and she thought it useful I know as well."... Acceptable. Maybe. Yet I am still suspicious.
"I see. You've lived here long?""No, not at all. Ah-" he laughs
"- You saw me on the wall, falling over my paws, then? Twas the day I arrived."So he explained that he'd been invited to live here by a friend, but, that he wasn't sure how long he would stay. And we spoke for some time on casual points- the weather, the nearby trees, the best place to sit in solitude and watch the stars at night.
But what solidified us as future friends- of which, I think, we are surely becoming- was the next meeting after that.
He told me of a spot where he liked to stargaze. It was a little ways off the parameter, into the woods, to a clearing. I'd never gone- and, some night later, I decided I was bored of my typical sights and set out to see it as the sun set.
The forest gets dark very quickly, and I am unused to so much crowded together in a tangle. It was an aggravation to navigate and in my irritation I became somewhat lost. It grew darker and darker, and I began to wonder if the clearing that was supposedly so close to the woods' edge even existed.
Then something came down from above me, and all in a few seconds, the world was an uproar of noise and pain. A heavy weight landed over my back and a sharp grasp pulled my head down to the ground. I began to frantically fight back- the weight lifted- and the screeching of cats in battle ensued as I watched and saw my...
friend? I suppose he is one. I saw him fighting down
another, larger cat, dark furred and bright eyed and furious. The two tore into each other so frantically and violently I could hardly understand what either were doing, and I hadn't much chance to react before the stranger kicked at my friend and tore away into the woods, leaving us alone.
He was bleeding over one eye- I couldn't tell at first if it was blood from an injury elsewhere or that his eye itself was injured, but it was in fact his eye that was injured. He turned to look at me and held a paw over it. We were in silence for some minutes before I said.
".... My.""I can't believe I just did that." He answered my nothing in a low, shaking voice.
I decided not to question what this meant exactly- not yet. Instead I offered to him.
"I know someone who can look at that. Do you want me to take you to her?"His hesitation is long, his breath, gasping and quick, to break the silence that fell between us. I think he may have been crying- at the very least he was shaking.
"............ Yes. Please?"So I did. And here we are now, with
her. He saved my life, I think. It was such a confusing moment I hardly know what ti make of it. And I think he is keeping secrets. But still- for what he's done, I'd say he's my first real friend among cats.