Beneath the pines

Ravana crouched low amidst the underbrush, her caramel fur glowing with its lavender hues under the dappled sunlight filtering through the canopy of pines. The scents of spring, as her mother had called it, and the melting frost of the forest surrounded her. The north would never fully lose its chill, but the small patches of new life were hard to ignore. She had been enraptured by the quiet lifelessness of the small rabbit she had been examining. Her ears twitched, picking up the distant sounds of the forest – rustling leaves, bird calls, and then something more distinct.

A snarl.

Her eyes, wide with curiosity and a hint of mischief, flicked toward the source of the commotion. The snarling was followed by a yowling hiss, a sound that sent a thrill through her. Without hesitation, she abandoned her lifeless experiment, her small paws moving swiftly and silently through the brush.

Ravana's heart pounded with excitement as she approached the scene, her sharp eyes catching glimpses of the imposing figure of Sephiran and the frantic movements of something within a fallen pine log. She moved closer, her steps light and deliberate, driven by an insatiable curiosity rather than fear. Peering through the undergrowth, she saw Sephiran standing over the log, his lips curled back in a menacing snarl. Inside the hollowed log, a bobcat hissed and squirmed, its eyes wide with terror. With a sense of eagerness, Ravana emerged from the shadows, her lilac eyes sparkling with dark intrigue. She approached Sephiran boldly, her gaze fixed on the trapped bobcat. What might she see here? She wanted to see something, blood, innards – preferably.

“Sultan.” She called out, her voice carrying a mix of innocence and a growing hunger for the morbid. “What will you do to it? Will you make it suffer?” She was eager to see the consequences of defiance, to understand the depths of the Sultan's power and the suffering he could inflict. It must have ignored the carcasses that littered the borders, the stupid thing. Her tongue flicked out to lick at her lips, claws digging into the ground before her.

Her eyes flicked between Sephiran and the bobcat, anticipation radiating from her small frame. She had no fear of the Sultan, only a burning desire to witness the punishment he would deliver, to see how far the lines of suffering could be pushed.


"Ravana Seraphim Saxe"