Post by Chibiabos on Nov 6, 2010 10:26:40 GMT -7
Stepping Stones
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The stream that winds its way south has a deep bed here, so that when it is smaller -- during the drier months -- its steep slopes are revealed. Then, the series of unevenly sized stones that cross it are not as necessary. However, when there is more water in the streambed, they might be quite helpful for some animals. The rocks are slippery, however, and covered with deep green moss, streamers of which billow downstream. To the west, the brush and rocks that edge the stream give way to a mixed stand of trees, while to the south the waterway broadens further and feeds, tumultuously, into a lake.
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Characters:
Karia (F. Tiger)
Saamaanya (F. Tiger)
Shikaara (M. Tiger)
Saamaanya makes her way from the jungle and lake to the south, out to the Stepping Stones in the vast plains area. The skies above are mostly cloudy, but the torrential downpour that had settled in for several days punctuated with thunder and lightning has, at last, ebbed, and patches of sunlight streak through between the puffy clouds casually drifting northward. Saamaanya lumbers along the swollen streambed, trying to keep herself low, wary of the fact that cover, here, is much sparser than the jungle to the south ... but through the thunderstorm-scoured air, the fresh scent of herbivores -- especially Nilgai and Blackbuck -- are rich in the area.
( A small break in the clouds, just what Karia was hoping for. She's already snuck her way out of the trees and is carefully negotiating the slippery stones beside the river as she silently moves towards the edge of the stream. She's very aware of her surroundings right now, it's far too open for her liking and she keeps low, ears perked. She freezes at the faint sound of someone coming and tries to slip back away from the water again before she's spotted. )
Shikaara has been giving the lake a wide berth, but he can still see it off in the distance. He tries not to look that way too often. His wounds have been healing, but he is still marked visibly with them - some still bright and red, others beginning to form the scars that that he will likely bear his whole life. He moves cautiously, though he is not actively hunting - but his ears still flick nervously to each movement of the brush, gaze chasing each hint of movement.
It is difficult to hear anything over the stream swollen by days of hard rain as Saamaanya makes her way along it. Her attention is seized by the sound of two boulders, tumbled by the swollen stream, colliding. She freezes and stares in the direction of the sudden clap, and takes several moments to acknowledge it was nothing worth further attention. She cautiously ascends the edge of the stream-bed to try and peer over, hoping to find some tasty prey. She carefully surveys the surrounding plain -- or what she can glimpse of it -- but she, as yet, has not spotted either the other tigress nor the wounded adolescent behind her.
Karia makes it off the rocks without mishap thankfully and pauses, listening again. She was sure she heard something but she doesn't know where it's gone. She frowns quickly and shakes her head, may as well be worried about her own tail sneaking up on her. She pauses for a minute before making a decision and starting to stalk south along the river bank, investigate.
Shikaara winces, as keeping himself low to the sparse grass here puts strain on an only recently scabbed-over slash. He lets out a little chuff of breath, and shifts his position with an awkward half-hop forward to reduce the tension that makes the grass around him sway as he knocks against it in his clumsiness borne of youth and injury. He tries to still himself again, afterwards, but the damage of giving away his position is likely done.
Saamaanya catches a flash of orange and black south of her and tenses. She fully climbs the last of the stream's bank before her, causing a nearby chital to scamper away much too quickly for her to chase ... but hungry as she is, she now finds herself concerned more with the young male south of her whom she can now see (and can now see her). She calls out, carefully looking about, mentally cursing herself for having taken the noisy route along the swollen stream -- she cannot hear what is coming and has to rely on her eyesight. The breeze carries scents northward, so she cannot smell the other tigress who is north and heading south toward her -- but her own scent likely carries toward Karia, and now that she is standing erectly in a high position, she is probably also visible. Her own attention is focused on the young male south, so she is pointed the wrong direction to even notice Karia at this point.
Karia pauses again as she hears something else, a second later and her eyes widen when she sees Saamaanya and a breeze reveals the scent of yet another tiger. Lots of tigers, she kinda wants to go over but ends up trying to sneak closer and into the grass.
Shikaara 's gaze goes to Saamaanya, and his ears go back. Not again. His gaze flicks to either side, trying to look for other signs of creatures nearby. She's not attacking, at least - that's a good sign. He hopes. He starts to back up, taking a few steps away before he realizes how little good that's doing. She's already seen him; he can't sneak off now. So instead, he stands up, expression slightly abashed. At least he doesn't recognize her... surely not all tigers around here are the same as /those/, right? His tailtip flicks, nervously, and he calls out, "Hello... there?"
Saamaanya sees the young tiger's injuries and can smell his blood. He does not seem to be a serious threat by himself, yet ... he looks as though he was brutally attacked by an adult tiger, and yet survived ... Saamaanya has been a nomad for most of her life and has encountered a lot of situations. In her experience, an adult tiger must have protected this male to save him from another tiger that attacked him ... she can't know, of course, why he was attacked nor why another tiger would proect him, unless it was his father or mother. In such a case, a parent might be more protective now, and even giving the appearance of apprehension near him could unintentionally signal whomever had protected this boy to attack her, so Saamaanya tries forcing herself to relax. She sits and relaxes, ebbing her pensive posture. "Good day to you," she says. Generally, an introduction is good -- but Dushta's words to keep her relation to him a secret are kept in mind, and seem a wise precaution especially given Dushta's warning that he is amid a war, and there's no telling whose side this tiger might be affiliated with -- and even if she knew this tiger was in Dushta's clan, Dushta had warned even his own clan might attack her if they knew she was his sister. She doubts Dushta would have spilled his family history to tigers he doesn't trust, but just in case, Saamaanya opts to keep her name to herself for now. "Good day, young sir ... nice to have this bit of sunshine," she says. "I am a traveler, from far away." is the only introduction she gives of herself for now.
Karia finds a nice tall big of grass to crouch in and perks her ears to the conversation. Well they certainly sound polite, perhaps they're not the dangerous sort after all. She slowly lifts her head just to peek over the top of the grass at them. She doesn't really know the area and they're the first tigers she's seen in a while, she's being far too cautious.
( Conversation. Yes, conversation is much better than attacks. It makes Shikaara relax a little, though he's still nervous. His family is far from here, and the ones who helped him survive - he doesn't know where they are. Though they helped him, they were rather more concerned with stopping his attackers than in giving ongoing assistance to this boy. "The sun? It's all right." Scorching injuries that were recently soaked. But at least it feels good on his worn muscles, when he lets himself relax. Not being given a name doesn't incline him to give his own, so he simply nods. Should he warn this tigress? Maybe. But he doesn't know if he should trust her, yet. He hesitates, thinking what to say, and then simply blurts out, "What're you doing here?" )
Saamaanya casts a glance in the direction the chital had fled. "Hunting," she says, when -- in the corner of her eye -- she spots /another/ tiger lifting its head just at the wrong moment. Before she even realizes it, she jumps and flips around. "WHOOOO..." she roars, startled, then shakes herself. "Who are you...?" she restates to the other tigress. "Are you this boy's mother?" she asks Karia, backing up uncertainly.
Karia 's eyes widen a fraction and she backs up, a quick snarl and growl answering Saamaanya's roar before Karia even has time to think it through. She soon stops though, trying not to look threatening at all "I just saw you both. I don't have a clue who he is"
Shikaara flicks his gaze nervously to Karia, and he goes back again into a crouch, his ears going back. Is she - oh, this isn't good, it's not - he starts to curl his lip up, caught in panic as Saamaanya's reaction makes it seem like this threat is real, and all too willing to believe ill deeds of strangers. He certainly doesn't recognize either of these tigers - and as they roar and snarl to each other, he again starts to back away. If they are to fight, he wants to be long gone.
Saamaanya re-sits herself, noticing the boy is pensive. "Ah ... my ... apologies," she says, a bit nervously. "I did not intend to unsettle anyone," she says. "I was only hunting for prey. I was told there is a large herd in this area," she says, then mentally kicks herself -- Dushta was the one who told her, she shouldn't have mentioned it! That cat is out of the bag now, however -- so to speak.
Karia slowly straightens back up, no body's angry anymore, no fighting to be done. Good, though she really does have to remember spying isn't an acceptable way of meeting others in the future. She slows pads towards the pair "My fault, I guess I was sneaking around" she pauses to properly look at Shikaara without all the grass in the way, more specifically her eye's drawn to his injuries "Um, hey" well he had been looking nervous.
Shikaara slowly straightens himself back out. Peaceful. Yes. These things are peaceful. That's good. He could use a bit of peace. He starts to relax, reminded of friendlier times among tigers instead of the nightmare that is his most recent experience. "I've... seen some of that herd," he offers to Saamaanya. Tried to chase them, too, and might have managed to catch them if not for his wounded state.
Saamaanya says, "I am glad there are some ... reasonable ... tigers about," she says. The herd is undoubtedly scattering away from the chital's warning, so ... with hunting out for the moment ... maybe she could fish for a lay of the land, as she sensed her brother held back quite a bit. "There seem to be some about who ... aren't so reasonable," she says, glancing back to the wounded young male. "Is that what happened to you?" she asks politely.
Karia drags her eyes off the wounds to look back to Saamaanya, raising her eyebrows. Different bit of the jungle, same story, clearly she didn't travel far enough. She glances back to Shikaara again, awaiting the answer too.
Shikaara growls at the question, deep in his chest, though it's not directed to Saamaanya - his eyes are unfocused, looking back through memory instead. "They just attacked. No warning. No /reason/..." He ducks his head, giving it a shake, trying to clear it. "They..." killed my sister, he wants to say, but he can't get the words out, just making a noise that's partway between growl and whimper.
Saamaanya can sense the emotion from the boy, and knows -- at his age -- he would have to have exceptionally dedicated parents to coach him to acting so well at his age, and so she believes the boy. She does not know who "they..." did something to, but does not need to -- someone close. "It saddens me to hear that. There are some unpleasant beings in the world," she says. Her own pelt is scarred, on her back and more visibly on her face, and as she sits, a missing hind-claw might be noticed ... her wounds are all old and long scarred-over, however. "The better tigers of this world, I think, should band together, for strength, protection, and ... perhaps ... find a way to stop the evil ones," she says, her mind momentarily considering her brother. He acknowledged he leads some nasty brutes ... what good could come from allying with evil? She dismisses it immediately with a sudden, inexplicable shake of her head. Her brother would not do that!
Karia slowly frowns at Shikaara's words and her ears flatten as she starts to look a little worried "Where are these tigers who attacked you? Or where were they at least?" her ears briefly perk to Saamaanya with her ideas of banding together but she's avoiding looking at the other tigress.
Shikaara shivers, in his thoughts, only half-listening to what Saamaanya says. After a moment, though, it catches up with him and he nods softly. "Two... two tigers tried to... help us. That's why... I got away. But..." it wasn't enough. Maybe if he'd been a little quicker, if he'd distracted the beasts for longer, his sister could have made it too. But he wasn't good enough. At least... maybe he can help out these two. So more don't have to meet the same fate. He looks over to Karia. "The lake. I don't know where they were from. Bhaskar... might have tracked them. But we were at the lake. Three of them, a male and two females. One of the females was white..."
Saamaanya tries to piece together what she can of the boy's tale, "This ... Bhaskar ... was one of the tigers who tried to help you?" she asks. "And another tiger helped you as well? Against three other tigers who hurt you?" she tries to confirm. "What is this Bhaskar like?" she asks.
Karia turns her attention south to the lake, of course she can't see anyone but she feels like she should. She's fighting the desire to get as far away as possible, she doesn't want to look like a coward even if she certainly feels like one for thinking of running. She keeps her paws fixed firmly to the spot though and he eyes on that lake "...You had luck to have help close by" she's also curious for the answers to Saamaanya's questions but adds one of her own still "All your wounds will heal?"
Shikaara nods his head to Saamaanya. "Bhaskar is... he's..." How to explain the gruff, no-nonsense tiger? He's not nice, he's not mean, he simply... is. He's a force of nature, a force for a balance that's hard for Shikaara to understand, let alone put into words. "He helped because they were doing something bad." That's really all he can manage to say. Oh, and one more thing. "He's... really good, at fighting." A pause, and he nods again to her. "Yes. Him and... Bhata, was the other." He winces, at Karia's suggestion he was lucky. He doesn't feel lucky - he'd rather he was dead, and his sister survived instead. He lowers his head. "I... guess they will."
Saamaanya says absently in response to Karia's question, "Life and innocence can never heal, once demised." She shakes herself, not having meant to say that aloud, and turns to look at Shikaara again. "Maybe you should stay near them, help them as they try to help others," she suggests, a shift in the breeze bringing the scent of far-off nilgai and blackbuck to her nose, causing her to pant slightly. "Some believe the claw is strong and the spirit is weak," she says, "but I believe that if the spirit is strong enough, it can bond with others and become more than a match for the sharpest claws."
Karia frowns faintly at Saamaanya, it's not the sort of wounds she was thinking of "Lose of life and innocence are a bit harder to track than a blood trail" a flick of the tail and she sighs faintly "Ok, staying with beasts who clearly can and will help with trouble is probably best" assuming the tigers still want to kill him, she avoids bluntly saying it though.
Shikaara shrugs a little. "They're both busy. I don't know where they are, right now. Probably not around here, anymore..." he says. Besides, he's nearly grown and has a young male's pride. He's not going to go hide whimpering behind another tiger. He'll hide and whimper by himself, thankyouverymuch. All the talk of spirit and such just makes him shrug, a little. He's not sure he believes in any of that.
Saamaanya shakes her head a bit at Karia and Shikaara. "That isn't quite what I meant," she says. "I didn't mean to stay with them just to hide, but ... strengthen onesself and add to their strength. Once your innocence is taken, it can never heal. You should then find a way to give meaning to your life, and what you have lost. You cannot bring back what you have lost, but ... you can give meaning to its existence, by learning to help others to spare their pain of losing what you already lost." Does that even make sense?
Karia is getting more uncomfortable and finally shifts her paws "Yes, strength in numbers, join the good fight for the greater good and the lives of everyone" she doesn't sound entirely enthusiastic and hesitates before walking off back north "I have hunting to do, nice meeting you, whoever you both are"
Shikaara snarls. "It's not some deeper mystic lesson, okay?" he says. "I don't need to find a meaning. They killed my sister." Now he's said it, in the midst of the angry torrent, and that statement sweeps him on. "I don't want a meaning. I don't want to /learn/ from it. I want to kill them. I can't make them give her back. But I can make them suffer too. I can make them die." He's bristling, now - angry, wanting his vengeance, and still not fully grown, inexperienced, not a match for any of those tigers - and he knows it, when he's not enraged, which is why he hasn't gone to trace them down... Yet.
Saamaanya says, "Not with simple vengeance on your mind, you won't. You said it yourself, there were three of them, lad. There may be yet more. Before this Bhaskar and Bhata showed up, it wasn't a very fair fight, was it? Three adults against you and your sister? I doubt one of them would allow you to have a fair fight, one on one with them, and even if you managed to corner one so ... without learning how to fight smart, chances are dim for being able to avenge your sister's death. I'm not talking about some ephemeral thing, I'm talking about ... friends, who help out friends and fight for justice. I never lost anyone so close," she says, "... but I let myself get trapped in a bad situation, with others. I let it happen ... but, over time, I started to realize that to help those others, trapped with me, I had to learn to help myself first. That is how I earned these scars," she says. "I am not the same tigress I was before. It took me awhile to realize that I am now ... different," she says. "I am forever changed. What changed was ... the innocence I had, I no longer have."
Shikaara keeps snarling for a few moments, his hackles up, but gradually Saamaanya's words get through to him. Or at least some of them. He's still got reservations, but at least... yes, the idea of friends is sensible. He can understand working together. Helping each other. It's just... some wounds are fresher than others, and not all of the deepest ones show. Rubbing against them hurts, though, and any hurting beast will growl and snap. He forces himself to relax, at least a little, though his fur is still raised, his ears flitting back and tail twitching when he doesn't manage to force them still. He gives a single, brief nod.
Saamaanya says, "I don't know what the lay of this land is ... but I do know a war is brewing. I do not yet know what the sides, are ... but despite caring warnings given to me, I think I may stick around, see if there are those I would help by taking a stand for. I certainly do not want the three who attacked you to continue to reign death and terror. I have long to go, though, before I commit ... but if what happened to you and your sister is what you tell me, I may be ready -- when I have all the facts, and am certain of the cause -- to commit my life. Do you know where those two went, who helped you?"
Shikaara slowly relaxes further, and nods again. "I... if you hear more, I... more information is... useful." He doesn't promise not to snarl and bite when he hears it, because he probably won't be able to help himself, but he does acknowledge the use of it. "They went... north, perhaps? Or east? I... heard Bhata talking about the mountains, I think..." And if Saamaanya is a spy, he's just unwittingly babbled the secret plan to her. But he's a simple tiger, not well-suited to intrigue. "Bhaskar... I don't know where he is. He... roves, I think. They both do. I can... if I see them, I can tell them..." Tell them what? He trails off, looking to the tigress.
Saamaanya turns back around, facing westward, and her gaze spots the mountain to the north. She turns around again to face him. "Are you well enough to hunt?" she asks. "If I caught something big, I would not mind sharing," she says. If she is a spy, well ... at least she doesn't seem interested in hurting the boy, for now.
Shikaara wants to protest that he can hunt, he's fine, he doesn't need help - but it's been a while since his last good meal. And that was cobbled together of bits, from a gift and some advice of easy prey in the form of stranded fish. Not exactly stellar evidence of his own competence. He ducks his head a little. "I get along," he mutters, the closest an adolescent can manage to 'No'. "But... if you don't mind sharing, I... would appreciate it."
Saamaanya knows the nilgai and blackbuck herd is far off, unfortunately, but as she glances eastward, across the raging stream, she spots a few white blurs dotting the nearby foothills. She squints a bit to try and get a better look. "Mmm," she says. "Goat." She gauges the swollen stream ... it is not overly deep, but the current is strong and it is tumbling precariously over some nasty boulders. She feels she can cross it, but the boy is another matter. "Do you think you could cross the stream? I could catch us a goat or two ... or I could just go catch one and bring it back over here, if you like," she says.
Shikaara lifts his head, looking for those goats. He nods, and then casts his gaze to the stream. "I can manage it," he says, and he sounds rather more confident, this time. Tigers, even young ones, are strong swimmers, and while the water stings in his cuts, at least it also helps to lift him up. The fact that Saamaanya is a female is part of why he's willing to accept her aid, as long as it doesn't too directly touch his dignity - it's not so long ago that his mother was doing all his hunting for him, after all.
Saamaanya makes her way across, having to trudge slowly across the swollen stream to make it. She slinks lowly in a gulley and behind rocks to try and sneak up on the hill with the goats.
Shikaara gets across, and then shakes himself off - and winces, as he does so. Oh, that doesn't feel pleasant... at least he didn't open up any of the wounds again, this time. He follows after Saamaanya, practicing stealth and watching her - though from far enough back to not startle the game, even if he does mess up again due to inexperience or injury.
Saamaanya slinks low around a spiraling ledge, keeping herself pressed to the cliff above it, so that the goats atop the hill cannot see her approach, slinking low to the ground. She is extra careful at a switchback, but fortunately the goats -- stubborn beasts they are -- are occupied in an argument of some sort among themselves, allowing her to move to the base of the next cliff and continue ascending stealthily. At long last, she is just below one of the goats, low to the ground to stay out of sight. She hovers here, quietly, listening carefully to try and 'see' where they are merely by hearing. She keeps her maw tight and holds her breath ...
Shikaara stays down at the base of the cliff, watching up. He's trying not to startle the game... that's the excuse he'd give, at least. Though perhaps it's just as true to say that he doesn't relish the idea of trying to climb that cliff. Especially not with how his flank has begun to ache... and itch. He tries to stay still, watching as the goats carry on an argument loud enough to be heard even by him, down here, let alone the tigress. stalking nearer. "I never did!" "You did! Did so! Marya, tell him -"
Saamaanya 's ears flick and almost laughs as the goat opposing the one near her chides, "Shut up, you liar! The herd can't trust you with anything! We'd all be better off if a tiger ate you...!" she starts. Well, if she insists! Saamaanya springs low, then /jumps/ up the ledge, whomping the near goat in a single pounce. Before the others even have time to react, she pounces from the first goat to the one who had been arguing with him, taking her out as well. By now, the goats are shrieking and scattering, quickly scampering away. "Get one!" Saamaanya calls to the boy as she snaps the neck of the second goat in her maw.
Shikaara launches himself into motion. He clears the distance with an off-kilter run. Fortunately, the time for stealth is already over, and his awkwardness as he tries to run despite his injuries doesn't slow him down too much more than it has to. He charges in, but if it weren't for the chaos there, he'd probably still miss his mark - but he's lucky, and one half-grown goat gets pushed out of the way by a bigger one, and stumbles aside instead of bounding off - and Shikaara is there, with a pounce and a mid-air yelp of pain that ends abruptly muffled by the goat's fur and flesh in his mouth.
Saamaanya mrrrowls, "Good catch!" as the rest of the goats scamper away ... but there's easily over a hundred pounds of meat between what they've caught so far, so the tigress does not bother chasing down any more. She goes back to the first one she had pounced, as she hadn't spent a lot of time ensuring it was dead before springing on the rest.
Even for a hungry adolescent, there's plenty of food here - and he even caught some of it himself! Which helps to heal his injured pride. Shikaara wastes no time in removing his jaws from the young goat once it goes limp, and starts tearing in to the belly, getting the rich organ-meat with all the nutrients his body needs to recover. The first of the goats didn't quite get hit squarely, and and mutters out, "Told - you - so -" before those square-pupiled eyes go blank and and it goes still.
Saamaanya rips into the first goat's gut, it has been awhile since she's had goat. Hunt them too much, and they're soon on alert and strategically locating themselves below rockfaces only they can ascend. The tiger lays, hooking a paw over the carcass for leverage as she digs in. "Mmm, nice and sweet," she comments. She takes a moment to peer down from the hill across the plain, then toward the mountain where the young tiger had suggested the tiger he called Bhata had mentioned possibly going, but though from this vantage point, she can see quite far, she can't see them.
Shikaara nods his head with vigor. He tears into the beast hungrily - felines are prone to glut themselves on food, after all, and that just gets more pronounced for a youngster like him, or a recently injured beast. "Yuh-huh," he mutters, and then takes another bite instead of saying more. The mountains are clearly visible, but even an eagle would be hard to make out individual figures on them from here.
Saamaanya paces herself, she's a bit hungry, but decides it would be a nice gesture to let the lad eat his fill first. "I don't suppose you know the names of the tigers who attacked your sister and you, do you?" she asks, trying to get more pieces of the puzzle.
Shikaara shakes his head, with food on his muzzle and whiskers. Interrogating him while he's eating might actually be a good idea - he's far too busy eating to really think to get angry. But he never got any names - or even a chance to consider the stripe patterns carefully. A male, two females. And one of the females was white. That's all he knows, and that he's already told the tigress.
Saamaanya flicks her ears. Speaking of eagles, one who had been circling oddly over the jungle has changed course and is flying in this direction. The tigress watches with her eyes as the eagle circles at fairly low altitude, just a few hundred feet up or so around their hill. The goats scatter further, but the eagle seems to take no interest in them, but fixes her gaze on Saamaanya and Shikaara before arcing westward. "What was that about?" she asks. "Some kind of spy?"
Shikaara looks up, seeing the eagle soaring through the air. He seems unworried by it; though his innocence may be taken, he is hardly experienced, and he does not understand how such a relatively small creature could be a worse threat than any tiger. He pauses, and licks some of the blood from his muzzle, then shakes his head. "I don't know. I haven't seen it before..." he says, and shrugs. Or perhaps he has, and he wasn't paying attention. "Why would it be spying?"
Saamaanya says, "I don't know ... but if a war is brewing, those keen eyes would be highly prized by either side. They are rather difficult creatures to fight ... there are few safe places from their strikes, and I've seen what an ill-tempered one can do. So small, compared with us, but ... nothing to trifle with."
Shikaara tilts his head to the side, considering, and then lowers it to take another bite of food, chewing it more slowly now that the first rush of hunger has subsided. "I suppose. Maybe we should say hello, then..." he says, and grins. Impetuous youth that he is, he lifts up his head and roars a greeting to the eagle - not that it could perhaps be heard from that distance, but his pose of attention and the grin on his features will, perhaps, be apparent. He's feeling good for one of the first times since the attack, and so his youth takes charge for a moment.
Saamaanya chuckles and bites off another hunk of goat. She's starting to feel stuffed, and not much in a mood for horseplay. "You said your friend went west, right? She's flying that way ... so she's either spying on him for the other side, or reporting to him that she saw us," Saamaanya figures out loud.
Shikaara stares after the bird for a few moments, and then nods a little. All this talk of strategy is fascinating to him, though far from his experiences. But he'll have to learn, won't he? If he wants his vengeance... he lowers his head, and tears another bite from the goat's throat with rather more ferocity than is required, imagining it's the throat of that male. His jaws chomp down, once, twice, and then suddenly go still as memory strikes him. That tiger, over his sister, tearing out her throat - much like this - and then... and then... the tender flesh turns to mealworms and rot, in his mouth. That unknown male didn't just kill her. Not as a tiger. He... he treated her as /prey/.
Saamaanya senses the lad reliving something decidedly unpleasant. Without thinking about it, she rises, walks over and nuzzles him gently.
( Oh, Abhishapta! The tigress with him now is nothing like her, and yet she's female, and friendly, and her fullgrown frame and Shikaara's adolescent one are like his sister and him as cubs, and that kindness coming at a moment of memory all taken together are enough to slam against that sorrow that's barely begun to heal over, to tear open the emotional scab. He drops the mouthful of food, lifting up his head and closing his eyes as he lets out a roar of heartfelt anguish - no words, just the overbrimming emotion that he can't hold back any longer. )
Saamaanya presses her large head softly and supportingly into the lad. "Its okay," she soothes. "let it out."
Shikaara ends his roar in a whimper, eyes closed and ears pinned back against his head. The fullness of his stomach, the warm comfort of another tiger - he finally feels safe enough that the fullness of his loss can hit him, can take him and sweep him off his feet as it has not been able to do as he sought merely to survive. If Saamaanya pulled away, he would probably stop crying sooner. But her kindness undoes his defense, and he leans back against her as he cries out his pain, until finally it has turned to simply soft whimpers, little catches in his breath, and those too begin to fade.
Saamaanya grooms the young tiger with her tongue. She's never been a mother, but knowing now what the young lad has been through, she can't help but be there for him. She lays snuggled into him a bit, licking his face.
Shikaara leans back against Saamaanya. He's back to himself just enough to be that tiny bit embarrassed about his breakdown - strong nearly-grown males don't do that, do they? But he's also grateful, and doesn't want to draw away from that comfort just yet... even if it does make him feel a little awkward. He half-opens one eye, and then decides he'd rather keep it closed - but his ears have returned to their normal position, and he opens his muzzle slightly, gently licking back.
Saamaanya flicks her tail as she continues grooming him, softly working his wounds, but pauses for a bit of a yawn. "Don't know about you, but I always find a pleasant nap makes for a nice dessert after such a tasty meal," she tries to warm Shikaara with a chuckle.
Shikaara manages a little smile - it's a tenuous one, but it's a start. Some of his emotional wounds have been reopened, but they've bled clean, now, and perhaps they'll heal better for it, though they're raw and painful now. "That..." he begins, but his voice is hoarse from crying, and so he simply nods, and nuzzles softly, lowering his head as he leans in against Saamaanya. He falls asleep quickly, worn as he is - and, at least for this brief moment, no longer alone.
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The stream that winds its way south has a deep bed here, so that when it is smaller -- during the drier months -- its steep slopes are revealed. Then, the series of unevenly sized stones that cross it are not as necessary. However, when there is more water in the streambed, they might be quite helpful for some animals. The rocks are slippery, however, and covered with deep green moss, streamers of which billow downstream. To the west, the brush and rocks that edge the stream give way to a mixed stand of trees, while to the south the waterway broadens further and feeds, tumultuously, into a lake.
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Characters:
Karia (F. Tiger)
Saamaanya (F. Tiger)
Shikaara (M. Tiger)
Saamaanya makes her way from the jungle and lake to the south, out to the Stepping Stones in the vast plains area. The skies above are mostly cloudy, but the torrential downpour that had settled in for several days punctuated with thunder and lightning has, at last, ebbed, and patches of sunlight streak through between the puffy clouds casually drifting northward. Saamaanya lumbers along the swollen streambed, trying to keep herself low, wary of the fact that cover, here, is much sparser than the jungle to the south ... but through the thunderstorm-scoured air, the fresh scent of herbivores -- especially Nilgai and Blackbuck -- are rich in the area.
( A small break in the clouds, just what Karia was hoping for. She's already snuck her way out of the trees and is carefully negotiating the slippery stones beside the river as she silently moves towards the edge of the stream. She's very aware of her surroundings right now, it's far too open for her liking and she keeps low, ears perked. She freezes at the faint sound of someone coming and tries to slip back away from the water again before she's spotted. )
Shikaara has been giving the lake a wide berth, but he can still see it off in the distance. He tries not to look that way too often. His wounds have been healing, but he is still marked visibly with them - some still bright and red, others beginning to form the scars that that he will likely bear his whole life. He moves cautiously, though he is not actively hunting - but his ears still flick nervously to each movement of the brush, gaze chasing each hint of movement.
It is difficult to hear anything over the stream swollen by days of hard rain as Saamaanya makes her way along it. Her attention is seized by the sound of two boulders, tumbled by the swollen stream, colliding. She freezes and stares in the direction of the sudden clap, and takes several moments to acknowledge it was nothing worth further attention. She cautiously ascends the edge of the stream-bed to try and peer over, hoping to find some tasty prey. She carefully surveys the surrounding plain -- or what she can glimpse of it -- but she, as yet, has not spotted either the other tigress nor the wounded adolescent behind her.
Karia makes it off the rocks without mishap thankfully and pauses, listening again. She was sure she heard something but she doesn't know where it's gone. She frowns quickly and shakes her head, may as well be worried about her own tail sneaking up on her. She pauses for a minute before making a decision and starting to stalk south along the river bank, investigate.
Shikaara winces, as keeping himself low to the sparse grass here puts strain on an only recently scabbed-over slash. He lets out a little chuff of breath, and shifts his position with an awkward half-hop forward to reduce the tension that makes the grass around him sway as he knocks against it in his clumsiness borne of youth and injury. He tries to still himself again, afterwards, but the damage of giving away his position is likely done.
Saamaanya catches a flash of orange and black south of her and tenses. She fully climbs the last of the stream's bank before her, causing a nearby chital to scamper away much too quickly for her to chase ... but hungry as she is, she now finds herself concerned more with the young male south of her whom she can now see (and can now see her). She calls out, carefully looking about, mentally cursing herself for having taken the noisy route along the swollen stream -- she cannot hear what is coming and has to rely on her eyesight. The breeze carries scents northward, so she cannot smell the other tigress who is north and heading south toward her -- but her own scent likely carries toward Karia, and now that she is standing erectly in a high position, she is probably also visible. Her own attention is focused on the young male south, so she is pointed the wrong direction to even notice Karia at this point.
Karia pauses again as she hears something else, a second later and her eyes widen when she sees Saamaanya and a breeze reveals the scent of yet another tiger. Lots of tigers, she kinda wants to go over but ends up trying to sneak closer and into the grass.
Shikaara 's gaze goes to Saamaanya, and his ears go back. Not again. His gaze flicks to either side, trying to look for other signs of creatures nearby. She's not attacking, at least - that's a good sign. He hopes. He starts to back up, taking a few steps away before he realizes how little good that's doing. She's already seen him; he can't sneak off now. So instead, he stands up, expression slightly abashed. At least he doesn't recognize her... surely not all tigers around here are the same as /those/, right? His tailtip flicks, nervously, and he calls out, "Hello... there?"
Saamaanya sees the young tiger's injuries and can smell his blood. He does not seem to be a serious threat by himself, yet ... he looks as though he was brutally attacked by an adult tiger, and yet survived ... Saamaanya has been a nomad for most of her life and has encountered a lot of situations. In her experience, an adult tiger must have protected this male to save him from another tiger that attacked him ... she can't know, of course, why he was attacked nor why another tiger would proect him, unless it was his father or mother. In such a case, a parent might be more protective now, and even giving the appearance of apprehension near him could unintentionally signal whomever had protected this boy to attack her, so Saamaanya tries forcing herself to relax. She sits and relaxes, ebbing her pensive posture. "Good day to you," she says. Generally, an introduction is good -- but Dushta's words to keep her relation to him a secret are kept in mind, and seem a wise precaution especially given Dushta's warning that he is amid a war, and there's no telling whose side this tiger might be affiliated with -- and even if she knew this tiger was in Dushta's clan, Dushta had warned even his own clan might attack her if they knew she was his sister. She doubts Dushta would have spilled his family history to tigers he doesn't trust, but just in case, Saamaanya opts to keep her name to herself for now. "Good day, young sir ... nice to have this bit of sunshine," she says. "I am a traveler, from far away." is the only introduction she gives of herself for now.
Karia finds a nice tall big of grass to crouch in and perks her ears to the conversation. Well they certainly sound polite, perhaps they're not the dangerous sort after all. She slowly lifts her head just to peek over the top of the grass at them. She doesn't really know the area and they're the first tigers she's seen in a while, she's being far too cautious.
( Conversation. Yes, conversation is much better than attacks. It makes Shikaara relax a little, though he's still nervous. His family is far from here, and the ones who helped him survive - he doesn't know where they are. Though they helped him, they were rather more concerned with stopping his attackers than in giving ongoing assistance to this boy. "The sun? It's all right." Scorching injuries that were recently soaked. But at least it feels good on his worn muscles, when he lets himself relax. Not being given a name doesn't incline him to give his own, so he simply nods. Should he warn this tigress? Maybe. But he doesn't know if he should trust her, yet. He hesitates, thinking what to say, and then simply blurts out, "What're you doing here?" )
Saamaanya casts a glance in the direction the chital had fled. "Hunting," she says, when -- in the corner of her eye -- she spots /another/ tiger lifting its head just at the wrong moment. Before she even realizes it, she jumps and flips around. "WHOOOO..." she roars, startled, then shakes herself. "Who are you...?" she restates to the other tigress. "Are you this boy's mother?" she asks Karia, backing up uncertainly.
Karia 's eyes widen a fraction and she backs up, a quick snarl and growl answering Saamaanya's roar before Karia even has time to think it through. She soon stops though, trying not to look threatening at all "I just saw you both. I don't have a clue who he is"
Shikaara flicks his gaze nervously to Karia, and he goes back again into a crouch, his ears going back. Is she - oh, this isn't good, it's not - he starts to curl his lip up, caught in panic as Saamaanya's reaction makes it seem like this threat is real, and all too willing to believe ill deeds of strangers. He certainly doesn't recognize either of these tigers - and as they roar and snarl to each other, he again starts to back away. If they are to fight, he wants to be long gone.
Saamaanya re-sits herself, noticing the boy is pensive. "Ah ... my ... apologies," she says, a bit nervously. "I did not intend to unsettle anyone," she says. "I was only hunting for prey. I was told there is a large herd in this area," she says, then mentally kicks herself -- Dushta was the one who told her, she shouldn't have mentioned it! That cat is out of the bag now, however -- so to speak.
Karia slowly straightens back up, no body's angry anymore, no fighting to be done. Good, though she really does have to remember spying isn't an acceptable way of meeting others in the future. She slows pads towards the pair "My fault, I guess I was sneaking around" she pauses to properly look at Shikaara without all the grass in the way, more specifically her eye's drawn to his injuries "Um, hey" well he had been looking nervous.
Shikaara slowly straightens himself back out. Peaceful. Yes. These things are peaceful. That's good. He could use a bit of peace. He starts to relax, reminded of friendlier times among tigers instead of the nightmare that is his most recent experience. "I've... seen some of that herd," he offers to Saamaanya. Tried to chase them, too, and might have managed to catch them if not for his wounded state.
Saamaanya says, "I am glad there are some ... reasonable ... tigers about," she says. The herd is undoubtedly scattering away from the chital's warning, so ... with hunting out for the moment ... maybe she could fish for a lay of the land, as she sensed her brother held back quite a bit. "There seem to be some about who ... aren't so reasonable," she says, glancing back to the wounded young male. "Is that what happened to you?" she asks politely.
Karia drags her eyes off the wounds to look back to Saamaanya, raising her eyebrows. Different bit of the jungle, same story, clearly she didn't travel far enough. She glances back to Shikaara again, awaiting the answer too.
Shikaara growls at the question, deep in his chest, though it's not directed to Saamaanya - his eyes are unfocused, looking back through memory instead. "They just attacked. No warning. No /reason/..." He ducks his head, giving it a shake, trying to clear it. "They..." killed my sister, he wants to say, but he can't get the words out, just making a noise that's partway between growl and whimper.
Saamaanya can sense the emotion from the boy, and knows -- at his age -- he would have to have exceptionally dedicated parents to coach him to acting so well at his age, and so she believes the boy. She does not know who "they..." did something to, but does not need to -- someone close. "It saddens me to hear that. There are some unpleasant beings in the world," she says. Her own pelt is scarred, on her back and more visibly on her face, and as she sits, a missing hind-claw might be noticed ... her wounds are all old and long scarred-over, however. "The better tigers of this world, I think, should band together, for strength, protection, and ... perhaps ... find a way to stop the evil ones," she says, her mind momentarily considering her brother. He acknowledged he leads some nasty brutes ... what good could come from allying with evil? She dismisses it immediately with a sudden, inexplicable shake of her head. Her brother would not do that!
Karia slowly frowns at Shikaara's words and her ears flatten as she starts to look a little worried "Where are these tigers who attacked you? Or where were they at least?" her ears briefly perk to Saamaanya with her ideas of banding together but she's avoiding looking at the other tigress.
Shikaara shivers, in his thoughts, only half-listening to what Saamaanya says. After a moment, though, it catches up with him and he nods softly. "Two... two tigers tried to... help us. That's why... I got away. But..." it wasn't enough. Maybe if he'd been a little quicker, if he'd distracted the beasts for longer, his sister could have made it too. But he wasn't good enough. At least... maybe he can help out these two. So more don't have to meet the same fate. He looks over to Karia. "The lake. I don't know where they were from. Bhaskar... might have tracked them. But we were at the lake. Three of them, a male and two females. One of the females was white..."
Saamaanya tries to piece together what she can of the boy's tale, "This ... Bhaskar ... was one of the tigers who tried to help you?" she asks. "And another tiger helped you as well? Against three other tigers who hurt you?" she tries to confirm. "What is this Bhaskar like?" she asks.
Karia turns her attention south to the lake, of course she can't see anyone but she feels like she should. She's fighting the desire to get as far away as possible, she doesn't want to look like a coward even if she certainly feels like one for thinking of running. She keeps her paws fixed firmly to the spot though and he eyes on that lake "...You had luck to have help close by" she's also curious for the answers to Saamaanya's questions but adds one of her own still "All your wounds will heal?"
Shikaara nods his head to Saamaanya. "Bhaskar is... he's..." How to explain the gruff, no-nonsense tiger? He's not nice, he's not mean, he simply... is. He's a force of nature, a force for a balance that's hard for Shikaara to understand, let alone put into words. "He helped because they were doing something bad." That's really all he can manage to say. Oh, and one more thing. "He's... really good, at fighting." A pause, and he nods again to her. "Yes. Him and... Bhata, was the other." He winces, at Karia's suggestion he was lucky. He doesn't feel lucky - he'd rather he was dead, and his sister survived instead. He lowers his head. "I... guess they will."
Saamaanya says absently in response to Karia's question, "Life and innocence can never heal, once demised." She shakes herself, not having meant to say that aloud, and turns to look at Shikaara again. "Maybe you should stay near them, help them as they try to help others," she suggests, a shift in the breeze bringing the scent of far-off nilgai and blackbuck to her nose, causing her to pant slightly. "Some believe the claw is strong and the spirit is weak," she says, "but I believe that if the spirit is strong enough, it can bond with others and become more than a match for the sharpest claws."
Karia frowns faintly at Saamaanya, it's not the sort of wounds she was thinking of "Lose of life and innocence are a bit harder to track than a blood trail" a flick of the tail and she sighs faintly "Ok, staying with beasts who clearly can and will help with trouble is probably best" assuming the tigers still want to kill him, she avoids bluntly saying it though.
Shikaara shrugs a little. "They're both busy. I don't know where they are, right now. Probably not around here, anymore..." he says. Besides, he's nearly grown and has a young male's pride. He's not going to go hide whimpering behind another tiger. He'll hide and whimper by himself, thankyouverymuch. All the talk of spirit and such just makes him shrug, a little. He's not sure he believes in any of that.
Saamaanya shakes her head a bit at Karia and Shikaara. "That isn't quite what I meant," she says. "I didn't mean to stay with them just to hide, but ... strengthen onesself and add to their strength. Once your innocence is taken, it can never heal. You should then find a way to give meaning to your life, and what you have lost. You cannot bring back what you have lost, but ... you can give meaning to its existence, by learning to help others to spare their pain of losing what you already lost." Does that even make sense?
Karia is getting more uncomfortable and finally shifts her paws "Yes, strength in numbers, join the good fight for the greater good and the lives of everyone" she doesn't sound entirely enthusiastic and hesitates before walking off back north "I have hunting to do, nice meeting you, whoever you both are"
Shikaara snarls. "It's not some deeper mystic lesson, okay?" he says. "I don't need to find a meaning. They killed my sister." Now he's said it, in the midst of the angry torrent, and that statement sweeps him on. "I don't want a meaning. I don't want to /learn/ from it. I want to kill them. I can't make them give her back. But I can make them suffer too. I can make them die." He's bristling, now - angry, wanting his vengeance, and still not fully grown, inexperienced, not a match for any of those tigers - and he knows it, when he's not enraged, which is why he hasn't gone to trace them down... Yet.
Saamaanya says, "Not with simple vengeance on your mind, you won't. You said it yourself, there were three of them, lad. There may be yet more. Before this Bhaskar and Bhata showed up, it wasn't a very fair fight, was it? Three adults against you and your sister? I doubt one of them would allow you to have a fair fight, one on one with them, and even if you managed to corner one so ... without learning how to fight smart, chances are dim for being able to avenge your sister's death. I'm not talking about some ephemeral thing, I'm talking about ... friends, who help out friends and fight for justice. I never lost anyone so close," she says, "... but I let myself get trapped in a bad situation, with others. I let it happen ... but, over time, I started to realize that to help those others, trapped with me, I had to learn to help myself first. That is how I earned these scars," she says. "I am not the same tigress I was before. It took me awhile to realize that I am now ... different," she says. "I am forever changed. What changed was ... the innocence I had, I no longer have."
Shikaara keeps snarling for a few moments, his hackles up, but gradually Saamaanya's words get through to him. Or at least some of them. He's still got reservations, but at least... yes, the idea of friends is sensible. He can understand working together. Helping each other. It's just... some wounds are fresher than others, and not all of the deepest ones show. Rubbing against them hurts, though, and any hurting beast will growl and snap. He forces himself to relax, at least a little, though his fur is still raised, his ears flitting back and tail twitching when he doesn't manage to force them still. He gives a single, brief nod.
Saamaanya says, "I don't know what the lay of this land is ... but I do know a war is brewing. I do not yet know what the sides, are ... but despite caring warnings given to me, I think I may stick around, see if there are those I would help by taking a stand for. I certainly do not want the three who attacked you to continue to reign death and terror. I have long to go, though, before I commit ... but if what happened to you and your sister is what you tell me, I may be ready -- when I have all the facts, and am certain of the cause -- to commit my life. Do you know where those two went, who helped you?"
Shikaara slowly relaxes further, and nods again. "I... if you hear more, I... more information is... useful." He doesn't promise not to snarl and bite when he hears it, because he probably won't be able to help himself, but he does acknowledge the use of it. "They went... north, perhaps? Or east? I... heard Bhata talking about the mountains, I think..." And if Saamaanya is a spy, he's just unwittingly babbled the secret plan to her. But he's a simple tiger, not well-suited to intrigue. "Bhaskar... I don't know where he is. He... roves, I think. They both do. I can... if I see them, I can tell them..." Tell them what? He trails off, looking to the tigress.
Saamaanya turns back around, facing westward, and her gaze spots the mountain to the north. She turns around again to face him. "Are you well enough to hunt?" she asks. "If I caught something big, I would not mind sharing," she says. If she is a spy, well ... at least she doesn't seem interested in hurting the boy, for now.
Shikaara wants to protest that he can hunt, he's fine, he doesn't need help - but it's been a while since his last good meal. And that was cobbled together of bits, from a gift and some advice of easy prey in the form of stranded fish. Not exactly stellar evidence of his own competence. He ducks his head a little. "I get along," he mutters, the closest an adolescent can manage to 'No'. "But... if you don't mind sharing, I... would appreciate it."
Saamaanya knows the nilgai and blackbuck herd is far off, unfortunately, but as she glances eastward, across the raging stream, she spots a few white blurs dotting the nearby foothills. She squints a bit to try and get a better look. "Mmm," she says. "Goat." She gauges the swollen stream ... it is not overly deep, but the current is strong and it is tumbling precariously over some nasty boulders. She feels she can cross it, but the boy is another matter. "Do you think you could cross the stream? I could catch us a goat or two ... or I could just go catch one and bring it back over here, if you like," she says.
Shikaara lifts his head, looking for those goats. He nods, and then casts his gaze to the stream. "I can manage it," he says, and he sounds rather more confident, this time. Tigers, even young ones, are strong swimmers, and while the water stings in his cuts, at least it also helps to lift him up. The fact that Saamaanya is a female is part of why he's willing to accept her aid, as long as it doesn't too directly touch his dignity - it's not so long ago that his mother was doing all his hunting for him, after all.
Saamaanya makes her way across, having to trudge slowly across the swollen stream to make it. She slinks lowly in a gulley and behind rocks to try and sneak up on the hill with the goats.
Shikaara gets across, and then shakes himself off - and winces, as he does so. Oh, that doesn't feel pleasant... at least he didn't open up any of the wounds again, this time. He follows after Saamaanya, practicing stealth and watching her - though from far enough back to not startle the game, even if he does mess up again due to inexperience or injury.
Saamaanya slinks low around a spiraling ledge, keeping herself pressed to the cliff above it, so that the goats atop the hill cannot see her approach, slinking low to the ground. She is extra careful at a switchback, but fortunately the goats -- stubborn beasts they are -- are occupied in an argument of some sort among themselves, allowing her to move to the base of the next cliff and continue ascending stealthily. At long last, she is just below one of the goats, low to the ground to stay out of sight. She hovers here, quietly, listening carefully to try and 'see' where they are merely by hearing. She keeps her maw tight and holds her breath ...
Shikaara stays down at the base of the cliff, watching up. He's trying not to startle the game... that's the excuse he'd give, at least. Though perhaps it's just as true to say that he doesn't relish the idea of trying to climb that cliff. Especially not with how his flank has begun to ache... and itch. He tries to stay still, watching as the goats carry on an argument loud enough to be heard even by him, down here, let alone the tigress. stalking nearer. "I never did!" "You did! Did so! Marya, tell him -"
Saamaanya 's ears flick and almost laughs as the goat opposing the one near her chides, "Shut up, you liar! The herd can't trust you with anything! We'd all be better off if a tiger ate you...!" she starts. Well, if she insists! Saamaanya springs low, then /jumps/ up the ledge, whomping the near goat in a single pounce. Before the others even have time to react, she pounces from the first goat to the one who had been arguing with him, taking her out as well. By now, the goats are shrieking and scattering, quickly scampering away. "Get one!" Saamaanya calls to the boy as she snaps the neck of the second goat in her maw.
Shikaara launches himself into motion. He clears the distance with an off-kilter run. Fortunately, the time for stealth is already over, and his awkwardness as he tries to run despite his injuries doesn't slow him down too much more than it has to. He charges in, but if it weren't for the chaos there, he'd probably still miss his mark - but he's lucky, and one half-grown goat gets pushed out of the way by a bigger one, and stumbles aside instead of bounding off - and Shikaara is there, with a pounce and a mid-air yelp of pain that ends abruptly muffled by the goat's fur and flesh in his mouth.
Saamaanya mrrrowls, "Good catch!" as the rest of the goats scamper away ... but there's easily over a hundred pounds of meat between what they've caught so far, so the tigress does not bother chasing down any more. She goes back to the first one she had pounced, as she hadn't spent a lot of time ensuring it was dead before springing on the rest.
Even for a hungry adolescent, there's plenty of food here - and he even caught some of it himself! Which helps to heal his injured pride. Shikaara wastes no time in removing his jaws from the young goat once it goes limp, and starts tearing in to the belly, getting the rich organ-meat with all the nutrients his body needs to recover. The first of the goats didn't quite get hit squarely, and and mutters out, "Told - you - so -" before those square-pupiled eyes go blank and and it goes still.
Saamaanya rips into the first goat's gut, it has been awhile since she's had goat. Hunt them too much, and they're soon on alert and strategically locating themselves below rockfaces only they can ascend. The tiger lays, hooking a paw over the carcass for leverage as she digs in. "Mmm, nice and sweet," she comments. She takes a moment to peer down from the hill across the plain, then toward the mountain where the young tiger had suggested the tiger he called Bhata had mentioned possibly going, but though from this vantage point, she can see quite far, she can't see them.
Shikaara nods his head with vigor. He tears into the beast hungrily - felines are prone to glut themselves on food, after all, and that just gets more pronounced for a youngster like him, or a recently injured beast. "Yuh-huh," he mutters, and then takes another bite instead of saying more. The mountains are clearly visible, but even an eagle would be hard to make out individual figures on them from here.
Saamaanya paces herself, she's a bit hungry, but decides it would be a nice gesture to let the lad eat his fill first. "I don't suppose you know the names of the tigers who attacked your sister and you, do you?" she asks, trying to get more pieces of the puzzle.
Shikaara shakes his head, with food on his muzzle and whiskers. Interrogating him while he's eating might actually be a good idea - he's far too busy eating to really think to get angry. But he never got any names - or even a chance to consider the stripe patterns carefully. A male, two females. And one of the females was white. That's all he knows, and that he's already told the tigress.
Saamaanya flicks her ears. Speaking of eagles, one who had been circling oddly over the jungle has changed course and is flying in this direction. The tigress watches with her eyes as the eagle circles at fairly low altitude, just a few hundred feet up or so around their hill. The goats scatter further, but the eagle seems to take no interest in them, but fixes her gaze on Saamaanya and Shikaara before arcing westward. "What was that about?" she asks. "Some kind of spy?"
Shikaara looks up, seeing the eagle soaring through the air. He seems unworried by it; though his innocence may be taken, he is hardly experienced, and he does not understand how such a relatively small creature could be a worse threat than any tiger. He pauses, and licks some of the blood from his muzzle, then shakes his head. "I don't know. I haven't seen it before..." he says, and shrugs. Or perhaps he has, and he wasn't paying attention. "Why would it be spying?"
Saamaanya says, "I don't know ... but if a war is brewing, those keen eyes would be highly prized by either side. They are rather difficult creatures to fight ... there are few safe places from their strikes, and I've seen what an ill-tempered one can do. So small, compared with us, but ... nothing to trifle with."
Shikaara tilts his head to the side, considering, and then lowers it to take another bite of food, chewing it more slowly now that the first rush of hunger has subsided. "I suppose. Maybe we should say hello, then..." he says, and grins. Impetuous youth that he is, he lifts up his head and roars a greeting to the eagle - not that it could perhaps be heard from that distance, but his pose of attention and the grin on his features will, perhaps, be apparent. He's feeling good for one of the first times since the attack, and so his youth takes charge for a moment.
Saamaanya chuckles and bites off another hunk of goat. She's starting to feel stuffed, and not much in a mood for horseplay. "You said your friend went west, right? She's flying that way ... so she's either spying on him for the other side, or reporting to him that she saw us," Saamaanya figures out loud.
Shikaara stares after the bird for a few moments, and then nods a little. All this talk of strategy is fascinating to him, though far from his experiences. But he'll have to learn, won't he? If he wants his vengeance... he lowers his head, and tears another bite from the goat's throat with rather more ferocity than is required, imagining it's the throat of that male. His jaws chomp down, once, twice, and then suddenly go still as memory strikes him. That tiger, over his sister, tearing out her throat - much like this - and then... and then... the tender flesh turns to mealworms and rot, in his mouth. That unknown male didn't just kill her. Not as a tiger. He... he treated her as /prey/.
Saamaanya senses the lad reliving something decidedly unpleasant. Without thinking about it, she rises, walks over and nuzzles him gently.
( Oh, Abhishapta! The tigress with him now is nothing like her, and yet she's female, and friendly, and her fullgrown frame and Shikaara's adolescent one are like his sister and him as cubs, and that kindness coming at a moment of memory all taken together are enough to slam against that sorrow that's barely begun to heal over, to tear open the emotional scab. He drops the mouthful of food, lifting up his head and closing his eyes as he lets out a roar of heartfelt anguish - no words, just the overbrimming emotion that he can't hold back any longer. )
Saamaanya presses her large head softly and supportingly into the lad. "Its okay," she soothes. "let it out."
Shikaara ends his roar in a whimper, eyes closed and ears pinned back against his head. The fullness of his stomach, the warm comfort of another tiger - he finally feels safe enough that the fullness of his loss can hit him, can take him and sweep him off his feet as it has not been able to do as he sought merely to survive. If Saamaanya pulled away, he would probably stop crying sooner. But her kindness undoes his defense, and he leans back against her as he cries out his pain, until finally it has turned to simply soft whimpers, little catches in his breath, and those too begin to fade.
Saamaanya grooms the young tiger with her tongue. She's never been a mother, but knowing now what the young lad has been through, she can't help but be there for him. She lays snuggled into him a bit, licking his face.
Shikaara leans back against Saamaanya. He's back to himself just enough to be that tiny bit embarrassed about his breakdown - strong nearly-grown males don't do that, do they? But he's also grateful, and doesn't want to draw away from that comfort just yet... even if it does make him feel a little awkward. He half-opens one eye, and then decides he'd rather keep it closed - but his ears have returned to their normal position, and he opens his muzzle slightly, gently licking back.
Saamaanya flicks her tail as she continues grooming him, softly working his wounds, but pauses for a bit of a yawn. "Don't know about you, but I always find a pleasant nap makes for a nice dessert after such a tasty meal," she tries to warm Shikaara with a chuckle.
Shikaara manages a little smile - it's a tenuous one, but it's a start. Some of his emotional wounds have been reopened, but they've bled clean, now, and perhaps they'll heal better for it, though they're raw and painful now. "That..." he begins, but his voice is hoarse from crying, and so he simply nods, and nuzzles softly, lowering his head as he leans in against Saamaanya. He falls asleep quickly, worn as he is - and, at least for this brief moment, no longer alone.