Just you, me, and my hate for Azure

It was a right of passage, of sorts. Her father had given her the basics she needed for this. Teaching her how to move slowly and quietly. How to distinguish certain scents (there were so many, that sometimes she found this very difficult) and allowed her the grace of taking this task in the night. She knew that one or two of her fathers companions were out there in the forest. Under strict instructions not to interfere with her fight. They were there to keep predators away, and nothing more. That she was allowed the privilege of moving about at night more than most of her siblings didn’t mean she didn’t have limitations.

The dayblind pup took her time. Entering the woods slowly, shifting her nose from the ground to the air. Making soft little sniffling noises as she tried to take in as much as she could. Finding prey she could take down alone was all a part of the challenge. She could smell squirrels and mice and other little critters around here. She dismissed the mice outright, and considered the squirrels. Before deciding that their burrows in trees would be difficult to get to, and she wasn’t sure she would be able to fit enough of herself inside to pull one out. She kept searching, sniffling across the ground until she smelled something else.

She caught other scents. Some she could recognise, and others completely foreign to her. She ignored the foreign ones for now. She didn’t want to waste time exploring, or end up making noises facing something unexpected. She didn’t want to ruin what advantages she had. She ignored the birds too, deciding that by the time she made her way up a tree to one of their nests, they would have caught wind of her. Perhaps she was being too picky, so far she had dismissed everything she’d scented.

She made her way deeper into the woods. Confident in the knowledge that Bast and probably Bear were out there somewhere. Keeping a close, if very subtle eye on her. She was as safe as she could be. Clearing up all of her attention for the hunt. She scented rabbits and even a fox, and they didn’t pass her test either. Nope, nope, nope. She continued her search until she came across another scent. She almost dismissed it as being unfamiliar to her, before realising it was something she had come across before. She stood there for a moment, breathing deeply over its trail. Yes… her father had brought one home before. It was a pig. They would be on the ground, easier to grab, and large enough to be a worthy prize without being too large to hunt. So long as she didn’t go after an actual boar. She was pretty sure they were big and dangerous.

She followed the trail through the undergrowth, hoping she wasn’t making a mistake. If she failed this hunt, Azure would only take it as further proof that was useless. A mistake of a Fatalis. She gritted her teeth. Somehow, thoughts of Azure always helped her resolve. Something about him motivated her to push herself harder than she would have otherwise. Maybe it was the insults, or the broken toes. The looks he threw her in the shadows. She picked up her pace, anger already rolling off her in determined waves. She was already worked up by the time she came across the pigs.

She didn’t take the time she should have to pick her prey instead she charged in, leaping out of the grasses as she attempted to take one down. Pigs suddenly flew in all directions, and she hit the ground hard. Missing her prey. With an angry snarl, Kite was off! Racing after the closest pig. It led her on a merry chase, around trees and over puddles. She was tired and muddy in short order. But she couldn’t give in. not when Azure would be there to tell her exactly what he thought of her failure. She put on another burst of speed, and too a risk. Taking a shortcut through a different set of trees then the pig did. Success! It hadn’t expected the sudden ground she made. It panicked, and made to take off to the side, but it was too late. She pounced and tackled it to the ground. It squealed and she snarled, digging her claws in as she fought a short and very muddy wrestling match with the pig in the dirt. She finally remembered she had teeth as well as claws, and bit its neck. Soon she was bloody as well as muddy, and it took a long time for the blood loss to weaken it. She was panting hard by the time it finally collapsed, dead in her paws. Panting and trembling she took a break starting the long and painful journey home. Proud as a cat of her catch.


"Kite"