Chapter 3: Finding a new family
In her new tiger-like form Willow quickly moved towards the end of the suburbs that Petunia and Vernon's house was within. She was thankful that the forest was so close by, since the bruises that Vernon had given her were still tender, and it hurt to breathe; Willow thought a rib might be cracked or broken. After around 30 minutes of steady walking she had reached the forest, and decided to hide there, as it was starting to get lighter and people might be waking up soon. Willow found a nice tree, and carefully curled up to rest.
Sometime later, Willow woke up and realized she was hungry. She decided that since she was in a tiger-like form, it might be better to hunt for food rather than sneaking about eating from garbage. However, she had not realized that hunting was so hard. When she first found a rabbit, she was too clumsy and impatient; so it startled and ran into it's hole before she was even close enough to try jumping at it. Still, Willow had decided to stay in this form, and try to eat as a wild animal would eat, so she did not give up. It had been near sunset when she woke up, with most of her bruises much less painful, so Willow tried to hunt throughout most of the night. She ended up eating a few bugs and drinking a lot of water, since she never succeeded in actually catching anything else. It was close to dawn again when she finally gave up, but she decided to try sleeping in a tree to hide better. Willow knew that Vernon and Petunia would have realized she had run away by now, and might have notified people to look for her. She had traveled deeper into the forest while trying to hunt, but was still too close to the suburbs for her to feel safe.
Willow quickly adjusted to a nocturnal lifestyle, and eventually discovered that she could scare other smaller predators away from their prey in order to get a few mouthfuls of food other than bugs. Willow gradually moved ever deeper into the forest, becoming quite comfortable in her tiger-like form. She never quite managed to get enough to eat, so looked quite thin and small for a tiger, but it was still intimidating enough to scare small predators, and she had not faced anything much bigger than her yet. Willow quickly settled into a routine, and after weeks of effort she gradually became somewhat better at hunting. She still missed in her jumps, or startled her prey too early often; but about 1 time out of every 7 attempts she actually caught what she was hunting. As winter came, her fur gradually got thicker, although it was not quite thick enough to feel comfortable and warm.
Although Willow had quickly lost track of time and where exactly she was, after a bit longer than a month she had reached the base of a mountain range. She was slightly confused, she had not learned much geography but was pretty sure that there were no large mountain ranges nearby, and knew that she still wasn't too far from the suburbs where she had lived. Still, there were plenty of trees, and since her fur was such a pale color she would blend in better when it started to snow. By now Willow had deliberately let her past become somewhat foggy; she focused on the present and finding food. She still knew she had once been human, and her relatives had hated her, but that was distant and not important.
Time passed, with Willow not paying much attention to anything beyond hunting, finding water, and finding warm places to sleep. After it started snowing Willow no longer kept to a strictly nocturnal cycle of sleeping, instead she took long naps in between her hunting. She usually slept during the height of the day when the snow glare might blind her, but otherwise she adjusted to whatever the light conditions were. One day as she was hunting she came across another large cat/tiger creature. He was much larger than her, making her realize for the first time that some of her clumsiness might be because she was actually a kitten. She was extremely surprised that this other also had a collar with a jewel, his was a greenish color. Willow was surprised and slightly fearful of this large male and so flattened herself to the ground in an attempt to hide.
However the large male clearly saw her, he stared directly at her. Then, faintly Willow heard a voice in her head. Greetings little one, who are you and why are you alone?
Willow felt shocked, that voice was coming from the male tiger-like creature in front of her. Had he changed from a person too? Uncertainly, Willow slowly rose from the ground and backed away, wondering if there was a way to respond, and if it was safe to respond. Not wanting to anger the male, she decided to try to speak like he had. Hello? Can you hear me? Am I doing this right?
Willow tried to think at the male as hard as she could, feeling a slight strain, as if she was flexing a muscle she had never used before.
Yes, little one I can hear you quite clearly. Willow heard, as well as sensing amusement coming from the male in front of her. Willow was relieved, but uncertain if she should tell the truth about who she was, and why she was alone. She decided to keep it as simple as possible, and run away if the male showed signs of anger or tried to make her go back. I am Willow, and I am alone because I ran away, my 'relatives' hated me and hurt me, and my parents have been dead for as long as I can remember. I was once human, but managed to transform into this form.
Willow thought at the male again. She had not meant to add that last detail, but it came out anyway. Willow waited nervously for the male's reaction. Any one of those statements might anger the male. What if he thought she was a freak, like Vernon and Petunia had? What if he thought she should go back, that her 'relatives' were right in punishing her and she was being ungrateful? After a long silence, Willow heard I am sure there is more to that story, but you should not be alone. Would you like to come with me and live with other Kindred? None of us were human, I did not realize humans could become Kindred, but since you have become Kindred and ran away from the humans you are not likely to betray our location to them. Willow was astonished again, he did not hate her, he was even offering to let her live with him and apparently others. Still, she decided to let him know from the beginning that she could not offer anything in exchange. I would love to come with you, but I am not very good at hunting, or anything really, I might become a burden. I would try my best not too, if you told me what to do I could try to help with whatever, but I am clumsy and sometimes have to make do with bugs or leftovers from other predators prey. Willow thought at the male again, and again waited for his response. After another long silence she heard his voice in her head again. You are a young-ling, as long as you learn and try it will not matter how good you are at hunting. We will have to ask permission from the Queen and Warlord, but it is not likely that they will turn you away. Come, follow me. After a brief wait, the male turned around and began leading Willow away. Willow wondered if she would have a new family, and if she could avoid them hating her as she followed the male, realizing she had never asked his name, or how many other 'Kindred' there were, but deciding that if he wanted her to know he would have told her.