A Simple Thank You

. . .

"Oh quit whining," a voice said suddenly.

~

If either of the wolves were to look up at that moment, they would see that what the corner of their eyes had assumed to be just dappled shading amongst the branches of the canopy, was in fact, a living, breathing creature of rather impressive size. Silverback was a leopard, so they had a perfectly viable excuse for the lack of vigilance. She was hard to spot even when she wasn't in stalking mode, but when she chose to be? She could be entirely invisible. These green lands and open waters were not her snowy home, but the could still mold themselves to her use. The cat had been most cautious in coming this far out of her comfort zone. Mainly it had been to look for others like herself; to see if she was not the last of her species, but there had been another reason too - and he was standing just below her.

Sweet Bane. Her fur had begun to fluff at the very thought of seeing him again. She'd walked along the Seracian mountain's at the edge of the territory, just as he had said, but she'd come down into the flat lands for a bit, to search out the trees that bore his mark. Somewhere along the line, though, it had occured to her that it would be safest to hunt in the dark, and so she'd found herself a perch and taken a nice little catnap.

Imagine her surprise when she was awoken by voices, one of them quite familiar. At first sight she had been tempted to hop down and begin the reunion, but her cautious, calculating side won over and soon enough she was seeing she had been given a balcony seat to quite an interesting play. She wasn't sure of the backstory, but it must have been a thriller. Her wolf was quite the smooth one, but then, she already knew that. She rested her head against the branch bark content to be entertained and happy for the male to find a lover of his own kind - one who could give him everything he wished. Perhaps that made her an odd female, but then, she was a cat.

Her species had very different thoughts about mating than wolves. While there were close bonds between a mother and her children, and there could be intense love between the parents, it was an extremely loose and free relationship between two individuals who didn't stick together long enough to step on eachother's paws. Wolves though were different, most of them sought one mate and one mate only for the rest of their lives. It worked for most, but Bane had seemed to be a little more like her. More able to find love in different places. Seemed that was getting him into trouble now, though.

~

The leopard flicked her tail as it hung like a snake below her. The branch of the oak she reclined in, was half over the water, but she was far too confident in her balance to worry about taking a dip. Besides, she was much too focused on this lovely little drama. She had remained silent, wanting to do nothing that might mar Bane's chances, but this was silly. At the downward turn, she couldn't help but come in and apply some brakes. "Couldn't help but overhearing," she said with a smooth, lilting purr. It was the closest thing to an apology either could expect. She gave a shrug of her silver shoulders and propped herself neatly onto her elbows, her broad head raising up to be crowned by silver-green leaves. She was totally relaxed and nonthreatening in her pose, but then of course, she was a natural predator and huntress. She could only tone that down so much.

Her eyes flicked to the lady in the shallows. Her focus on her for the moment. "Really darling, you can't get so heated up. It's not as though I know much about the subject, but doesn't it seem like this rather proves he is a good man, than otherwise?" She gestured with her tail in Bane's direction, but still didn't look at him. She was on a roll. "Come now, remember: He could've kept all that a secret and abandoned the other woman to her family burdens, but instead he's told you the truth. What's more, he's a creature who accepts responsibility for his actions-" the cat gave a throating rumbling that could've beena growl had the humor in her eyes not betrayed it for a chuckle. "-and yet you would rather have him tuck his tail and ignore the lives he created?" The cat tsked. "What a lovely little bundle of corruption you are."

Again she chuckled to herself, and then turned away, closing her eyes and rolling onto her back with the careless balance that only a feline could muster. "A man solid enough to clean up after himself and still love you? Darling, I'd snap him up fast if I were you."