She Who Asks

Brather/Keyta

I have seen all kinds of creatures in my lifetime. Small critters to other big predators like me. Then there were the furless ones. Their social structures made them tricky to deal with. I grew up alongside one of them.

Our adoptive mother found me after losing her last cub. Days later we saw a girl crawling out of a deep open hole in the ground. Mother feared the furless ones. All but Asna. The girl knew a lot of languages at once. At first, I couldn’t understand any of them. Soon she taught me her words. As she taught and talked to me, I learned she had been born up amongst the stars and never knew her parents. Like me, she wondered if she had any.

Mother was a female tiger too busy teaching us to hunt and keeping us fed. She didn’t understand Asna’s languages. Visibly, she knew words and phrases held meaning, but she never reacted to those that meant things she couldn’t see or eat. We were both weened for years when she took us into her care. It took three summers until we could fend for ourselves. She sought out a male and we left her territory.

Asna had a fixation on plants. She ate, collected, planted and talked to them. I was afraid she would be weak and stayed with her until she could hunt big game. If the furless ones could see her as a provider, they had to accept her. She would be safe within one of their groups.

As we wandered the land, we found an old man on a mountain, struggling to carry water. We helped him and soon became his caretakers. He taught us his language. He was the great sorcerer of his generation. By his side we participated in his community. The same one he was stubborn to live separated from.

Never had he treated me like a beast. The tiger I clearly was. He died in his sleep one winter. One moon later, Asna took down a rhino on a hunt with the mountain people. They wanted her to be one of them. Not me. They knew I would not hurt them, but they still feared me. That spring, I left the mountain before the summer gathering began. Asna and I bid each other goodbye, and I sought out a territory of my own.

I did not need to go far. Only four days of leisurely travel away to be exact. I found a wonderful cave to live in, with a water spring along the exterior wall. I only had to kill a couple of hyenas to acquire it.

I spent the summer in it. It was a little lonely, but it was for the best. Things changed in the first cool weeks of fall.

There was a napping spot in the sun above my cave. That fated day, I was awakened up by cries rushing close from below. It was a woman. Her words were foreign, but these were cries for help. As I descended to the cave’s entrance, she was climbing to it. Pursuing her were three men shouting insults.

Lelos.

He had been banished by the mountain clan days before I left. He was known for his violent whims. For years the great priestess and Kolos, that clan’s chief, waited for Heygeg, who was living with him to demand his banishment. They sought to ensure she would not follow him where no one could help her. Thankfully, not children were involved while he was living with her.

It angered me much to see him again. Alive, and having found others like him. I reached down in front of the cave. The woman was muddy and out of breath. Something about her scent made me want to tear her pursuers apart rather than scare them away.

They most likely did not have a clan. If I killed them, no one would come look for them. If I let them be, they could try to kill me to get to her.

I growled and she froze, turning towards me.

“Brather?” Lelos tried to act friendly at the bottom of the ledge. “We meant no harm. She was just lost. Doesn’t know our language.”

The other two kept their spears pointed at me. I renewed my growl, hiding her behind me.

That day was the day they died.

With the wounds I inflicted onto them, they did not crawl far. Best leave them bleeding in front of the cave. It would draw their pain longer.

Still a little bloody, I sat down on the edge to observe her. She was calmer now. Her frown was adorable, her eyes roamed along my shape with curiosity. Watching me clean my paws and face.

Part of me had the urge to lick the salt off her face. Better not. My tongue could hurt her fragile, furless skin.

“Sei yag?” she asked a question. I had no clue what it meant. She pointed to herself this time, “Laysei.” Then she asked again, “Sei yag?” pointing to me as if I could talk.

This had me lay down with a sigh. She was not afraid of me. That was good, odd in this situation, but good. I used to rely on Asna to do the talking. This woman would need somewhere to spend the winter. With other furless people, and the ones I trusted were the mountain clan. The same where I had left my sister. I wondered if the summer gathering was still going on.

First, though, she needed food, water and rest in a safe place.

“Sei a’aka?” she approached to touch my fur.

I let her. It had me purring instantly. The smile she bore in response warmed my heart.

“Sei loso?” Whatever she asked, I wouldn’t mind.

Chuffing, I adjusted my posture like a prancing bird. I had never felt the need to do that before.

This time she hugged my neck, burrowing her face in my fur. Her words flowed out, and she started crying again. Yawning several times, she was still holding me. She did so until she wiped her tears and stood up.

“Sei clag?” she glanced around.

I tilted my head. A habit Asna taught me. The furless did it to show confusion.

The woman had a frown and looked to the side as if realizing I couldn’t understand her. She chuckled a little melancholic, sighed and signed as if she was drinking from her cupped hands.

“Sei clag?” she was thirsty.

I led her to the spring. Locating it, she patted her hips for something that wasn’t there. Glancing right at the dead men, she grimaced and stepped to search them. She took tools and a gourd, some dried meat and berries. She snacked on them after drinking from the spring and filling the gourd. Now she stared at me with hands on her hips.

She pointed at the bodies and took a lower stance. Yes, they would attract more predators and scavengers. I wasn’t desperate enough to eat them. The best thing to do was to trek towards the mountain clan.

Before that, I smelled her for wounds, stepping around her in a circle. She chuckled at that.

“Aya, aya.”

Her scent was so pleasant, it made me want to cuddle her forever. That too had never happened before.

I was already purring by the time she dug her nimble fingers into the fur around my head.

“Yag ei o’osa, Keyta.” She said with a smile. My ears perked at the last word. Something about the pause before it. “Sei lah, Keyta?” she gestured far ahead. Then she pointed at the bodies with a hiss, followed by a hyena’s laugh. “Sei, Keyta?”

I sat gazing at the mountain.

“Sei yag hassa lah mata?” she scratched behind my ear.

I chuffed, standing back up. As I began to walk in that direction, she followed.