I Am Weary, Let Me Rest

Walk | Talk | Think

The news regarding the tigers was taken in much the same way that Laila had taken hearing about the cougars. They were few, few enough that they had thus far not been seen by either of them, and Sk?lingr appeared quite disappointed because of it. By nature the big cats were solitary, choosing quiet lives alone as opposed to banding together the way wolves and canines did, but there was a profound loneliness to be felt in knowing there was a strong chance you were the last of your kind. Laila felt it too. She had not meant to as living alone had never posed an issue to her other than the tricky task of not crossing a pack of wolves, but neither had she considered never seeing another mountain lion again.

The large striped feline posed a humorous question of her and promptly laughed to himself, leaving the golden brown mountain cat to ponder over the creature he had named. Water buffalo? Were those anything like the buffaloes she had seen from afar within the valleys? Large beasts with impressive horns? She had seen her canine counterparts tackle them but never one of her fellow cats. Sk? collected himself and altered his request, asking now of deer in the vicinity. "I haven't seen any, but I bet they're here," Laila answered, though as she considered the second half of his request she seemed to falter uncertainly. Pairing up with someone to hunt was foreign ground for her, especially since she preferred not needing to share in whatever it was that she could manage to take down on her own. Possessiveness was strong in her, even if she was easy to make friends. "I've never tried that before," she added after a moment's pause, hedging around a definite yes or no answer. It seemed an incredibly strange request, and she was just not certain of her willingness and ability to comply.