Young Neara slips and falls into the mud, as the green and yellow Krytisian Cat she tried bonding with races off into the forest. Frustrated she sits down on her heels and slams her fists into the ground, which was a bad idea as more mud splashed up into her face.
As she stands up, her clothes and hair covered in mud, she hears someone laugh, "Clawdius", she whispers to herself.
She angrily walks out of the mud puddle and shakes herself off and looks up in a nearby tree and sees Clawdius sitting up on one of the branches, his own brown and orange Krytisian Cat draped across his lap fast asleep.
"Having trouble princess?", he says cheekily.
Neara frowns and points at him, still frustrated,"Don't you dare start!, just because it was easy for you!", she pouts and clumsily sits down on the ground.
Clawdius slides out from under his cat and jumps down off the branch, he walks over to Neara and sits down in front of her, Clawdius' cat jumps down and pokes its head over Clawdius' shoulder tilting its head looking at Neara.
"I don't understand what I'm doing wrong, We have been here almost a week and I haven't found a single cat to bond with!", her voice a mixture of tears and anger.
Clawdius reaches out his hand, then hesitates and drops it down on his lap,"Have you ever thought that maybe you're not supposed to have one like the rest of us?".
Neara looks at him, her eyes slightly red from crying,"That doesn't make any sense I'm a Magicat! I'm supposed to have one!".
Clawdius shook his hands in front of him after hearing the annoyance in her voice,"That's not what I meant!"
"What exactly did you mean then?"
"Well you're the only Magicat princess we've had since D'riluth to be born as an only child"
"So?"
"So, maybe these cats aren't strong enough for you, maybe they run away because they're scared of your power", Clawdius' cat senses his feelings and walks over to Neara and curls around her licking her face. Neara giggles.
"Yours seems to like me",
"Well that's because I like you", Clawdius freezes after he speaks. Neara smirks and narrows her eyes at him.
"Oh, is that so?"
"Wait! No! I mean…", his sentence is cut off by Neara's leaning over and kissing him on the cheek,"I like you too".
She immediately stands up and turns around to the thick forest, leaving Clawdius sitting on the ground in shock touching his cheek.
"Let's go!", Neara makes a run straight into the forest, Clawdius immediately gets up and chases after her,
"Neara wait! Where are you going?!"
Clawdius breaks through the brush and catches up to Neara,"What are you doing?!", Neara puts her hand over Clawdius' mouth to silence him.
"Shhh. Look at them", Neara points up and Clawdius follows her finger and sees that many of the Krytisian cats are up high in the treetops looking at something, but also hiding from whatever it is. Clawdius looks down at his cat who quietly lets out some small growls.
Neara steps forward and Clawdius grabs her shoulder, "Oh no, Neara this is a bad idea"
"Why? what is it?"
"The cat their hiding from, has been around for a long long time"
"I don't understand, they don't like old things?"
"old as in this cat was around when C'yra was queen!"
Neara eyes widen,"That's impossible that would make them…."
"Really really old and angry and old, did I mention old?",
Neara taps her fingers against her chin,"Now that is interesting",
Clawdius puts his hands on her shoulders,"Neara that is serious magic, we shouldn't even be here, Clawdius turns to leave but Neara grabs his hand.
"What if….",
"Oh, no, no , no, I know that face, That's your 'i have a terrible idea face'",
Neara scoffs, "I do not have a terrible idea face! Besides! You told me yourself maybe I need a stronger cat, what stronger cat could there be!",
Neara quietly starts sneaking in the direction where the other cats are staring.
"Today is the day we die isn't it", Clawdius says as he slowly follows behind Neara.
Neara slowly makes her way through the forest, the number of cats hiding in the treetops slowly starts to dwindle,
"We must be getting closer", Neara whispers.
"This is still a terrible idea, I just need you to acknowledge that", Clawdius whispers back.
Neara carefully moves a branch and looks around spotting the cat, with it's bright red translucent skin and jet black spiky mane, sleeping under a small tree.
Neara steps forward and a branch cracks under her foot, her eyes dart towards the cat as their ears prick up and it turns it head to the sound it slowly opens it's anger green eyes and focuses on Neara it curls around and stands menacingly on its feet baring its teeth.
Clawdius shouts,"Neara! Get back!"
Both Neara and the cat look at Clawdius, the cat stares directly at him and roars loudly, Clawdius' ears droop, "Or stay there I guess, I mean what do I know right", he says as he slowly crouches behind the brush.
Neara and the cat turn back to look at each other, the cat still showing its teeth, Neara exhales heavily and steps forward, the cat gives off a warning growl but Neara persists and steps closer again, the cat looks frantically at Neara's feet as she gets closer and roars, the force of which pushes Neara back a little, she takes a longer step forward and stands within touching distance.
Neara slowly puts her hand out, the cat stares at her hand nervously and isn't sure whether to growl or not,
"You're scared too huh?", Neara says tenderly.
The cat looks frantically from side to side, as Neara reaches out a little further her fingertips close to the cat's forehead, "I promise I won't hurt you",
Neara's words seem to resonant with the cat, the anger in its face subsided and it closed its eyes as Neara touched her palm against it forehead, suddenly both Neara and the cat were surrounded in dark amber light, the cat's spiky jet black hair softened into a luscious black mane and the brightness of their red skin softened and became a little darker, their green eyes became a little rounder, as the light dissipated the cat sat down in front of Neara and curled its tail around its feet.
Neara smiled at the cat,"Do you have a name?"
The cat shook its head and gave a soft growl response, Neara knelt down in front of the cat ,"Well do you remember having a name before C'yra?"
The cat thought for a moment and then gave an affirmative growl.
"Elen? That is a beautiful name!",
Elen immediately tackled Neara to the ground and nuzzled her face. Neara giggled and tenderly stroked Elen mane.