Chapter 84: Take Only What You Need

Chapter 84: Take Only What You Need

The kaibyou ate the rabbit babes up bones and all, then licked herself clean with a certain daintiness. She did all this while staring directly at Aaron, which made him simultaneously both more and less inclined to try running again.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

When her whiskers were no longer red with someone elses kill, she stood and began walking. She didnt waste words on ordering him to follow.

Aaron caught a few flashes of the white calf trailing after them, from a considerably farther distance than it had used in following him yesterday.

The kaibyou grew tenser as they went. Her split tail lashed. She would dart ahead, then stop to stare back at him, her pupils blown wide. It made him feel rather uninvited on this little walk of theirs, even though attempts to walk slower, just a bit, just to see, were met with growling until hed caught up again. Eventually she stopped moving forward all together, and just paced a line in front of him, her ears flat. Aaron stood rather still.

Just ahead of them was a large rock, covered over in moss. Apparently there was some sort of hollow under it, since said hollow started mewing. And, well. That would certainly explain her hesitance in allowing him close.

I didnt know you were having kittens, Aaron said, not taking a single step closer.

What cat would trust a human with that knowledge? She paced again, back and forth, before disappearing down into her den. She brought out three little furballs, their blue eyes barely open. White flowers and the curled fiddleheads of tiny ferns grew from their bodies, as numerous as their spots. More spring children.

More targets for the Winter Lord.

Theyre very beautiful, Aaron said.

Flattery, she hissed. But she relaxed, just a bit, as any preening mother would; licked the top of one kittens head. Made a face, and coughed a bit, as a flower petal got stuck on her tongue. It didnt seem to hurt the kitten, who tried and failed at wobbling to its feet.

Can they talk? Aaron asked.

Not yet. I dont know that anything born of this forest can. She looked down on her kittens, whod been born to something she understood as little as him.

Theyll be smart, he told her. Even the deer are.

This inspired a snort, from a certain calf hiding poorly in the trees behind them. Its white fur did it no favors.

My apologies, Aaron corrected, even the reindeer.

Smart enough to follow two predators, yes, the cat said dryly.

Im vegetarian, actually, Aaron said. And for all her teeth and claws, she didnt know whether killing the calf would be safe. As she herself had admitted in front of it.

She eyed the white reindeer, who was eyeing her back. And still definitely using Aaron as the slower prey in their pair.

Can you trust me to hold them? Aaron asked.

She clearly did not, even if that was what shed brought him here to do; this had to be why she needed his hands. She could carry them on her own. But only one at a time, leaving the others behind, coming back for each in turn. A slow, staggered way of moving that worked much better when something wasnt actively out to kill them. She shifted her unblinking gaze to him as she licked each of her kittens heads into cowlicks of fur and flowers and ferns.

She settled down, kittens against her side, two asleep and one kneading its paws against her belly as it nursed with eyes closed. Her own eyes were closed, too. But he didnt think she was sleeping.

Somewhere outside the roots, he heard the calf scraping the ground as it picked its own spot to sleep. And crickets, and frogs, and other night noises less easily placed.

You can tell that girl that coming here worked, after a fashion, the kaibyou said, soft enough not to rouse her kittens. We can still think. But none of us know the rules, here.

How many did you lose? Aaron asked.

I dont know; they were never mine to keep track of. We drifted, after the first days. The forest didnt like us trying to stay together. Nor did it care for those who tried to act more human than they ought. We could even drag dead wood to make homes, not even for mice. This is not a place for those in humanitys habits, and we cannot reason with the lord here as we could our last.

Aaron stared out into the encroaching dark. There was the rustle of a reindeer calf laying down. Still, he said. Your children will think.

She cracked one eye. Crinkled her cheek, as a kitten nuzzled up under her chin, one of its flower buds tickling at her whiskers.

They will, she agreed. Though Im not sure Ill understand them.

Thats how children are supposed to be, I think.

She chuffed.

Why are you being so accommodating? he asked, as he lay against her warmth.

I miss conversations, kitten.

Do you miss being a regular mountain lion?

Do you miss the time before you could talk?

He couldnt remember that time. But that might be part of her point, as well.

What was the four tails like?

He was a proud father, she said, which was not at all what hed expected. Though hed only the one kit left to dote upon after all his years. It was why he moved to that forest in the first place, the fool.

If the forest had another fox, why did you all have to leave?

She did not answer immediately. Against his back, he felt her steady breathing.

A two tails is not good for much more than her wit, she said, her own forked tail curled around her kits. And that one has little sympathy for those of little use.