I Will Not Quit

The heat seeped into her firey pelt, making her pant and sweat as she walked with her father. She had asked what the strange sound all around them was and he called them cicadas! They were annoying. She didn't like the incessant stupid sound. Thankfully their screaming at the sun faded as they traveled higher toward the peak. Xina licked her lips as she looked down from their path and saw the cool water collected below the great waterfall. This was thirsty work climbing after her father. She looked at him as he murmured to watch her step and for once she didn't scowl or snap at him, she looked down and found the gravel and stones loose and treacherous. She tested her next step over the slate and gravel, he had been right to warn her. She nodded to him. She was learning, not everything needed to be barreled over and bullied through.

She paused and watched him pick his way over the narrow path, his paws surefooted and practiced. She aimed to copy his every move but she was still two steps for his every one. So she leaned into the cliffside as she worked her way across.

Her ears swiveled as she flung her gaze back up to where her father had leaped from. Determination in her gaze as she saw the chance to prove herself.

She gathered her muscles and leaped over the boulder! One paw caught a jagged protrusion and unbalanced her as she said over it! Tumbling forward she tucked her chin in and set about rolling into a landing on the other side!

She hit the ground on her shoulder but she had tucked and scrambled into the dirt with a triumphant smile.

"Hah!" She exclaimed as she flung her body out to catch herself upright. "I did it!" She was triumphant! She loved these treks with her father, they were always challenging! She would never admit it though.