The sun began to rise and cuckoo birds filled the sky. Bahan woke up and yawned, before jumping from the tree and skidding down with her claws. She landed in a puddle of mud, before running off into the jungle to find someone to play with.

After a while, Bagheera yawned and pulled his paw closer. To his surprise, his paws were empty, and Bahan was nowhere to be found. "Bahan? Bahan?! Oh, where is she!?"

He looked to the hollow, seeing claw marks that led down the tree into the puddle of mud, from which led a long trail of small tiger tracks into the jungle. Bagheera groaned and jumped from the tree, following the trail into the tall yellow grass. He looked through the silence, before hearing a scream of fright.

Bagheera ran through the grass, eventually seeing a chinkara stamping her hooves into grass with hissing and squealing being audible. Bagheera ran closer, seeing the mother chinkara holding her fawn, with Bahan hiding in the smaller grass. The mother called out "help! Someone help!"

"But mommy, we were only..." the fawn said, before Bagheera stepped out of the grass and said "I'm dreadfully sorry about this."

"Bagheera! Is this savage beast yours?"

"Well, she's not mine exactly but... it's hard to explain really." Bagheera stuttered as Bahan crawled under his legs and hid.

Bagheera noticed a small drop of blood on the ground, but ignored it as the chinkara said "She attacked my fawn! If I wasn't there to stop her, she would have mauled him alive."

"I'm sure she was only playing."

"Jumping out of the grass to pin down my child is not playing... It's hunting! If only you hadn't come I would've pounded her into the ground!"

"She just likes to pounce on things. Believe me, I know."

"I don't care!" the chinkara said. "She's dangerous."

"Please, she meant no harm to you or your fawn. I'm sure of it."

"That monster belongs in a man-cage. Just like the rest of your kind!"

"My kind? Madam, I cannot tolerate such disrepectful..."

"Then get that... that... freak under control. Use a leash if you have to! Come along, dear. Let's get you somewhere safe." the chinkara said as she led her fawn away.

Bagheera led Bahan back to the tree, saying "she's wrong, you know. You're not a freak, and you don't belong in a man-cage. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise, you hear? Though, you'll have to be more careful when you're looking for someone to play with, alright?"

The cub nodded, before Bagheera noticed the blood on the ground again. He said "where's that coming from?" before seeing it dripping from Bahan's chin. Bagheera lay the cub on a rock and said "hold still, I'm trying to find where you're ble... oh dear."

He saw a several hoof-marks on Bahan's neck, undoubtedly from the mother chinkara, which was dripping blood onto the ground. Bagheera tried with all his might to hold back tears of shame. "Why, that... self-righteous... bigoted..."

He gently put Bahan's head down on the rock as the cub began fidgeting and growling. Bagheera said "hold still. You're hurt."

Bagheera licked the wound softly, causing Bahan to jump from his grasp and hiss at him. Bagheera said "well, if you'd hold still it wouldn't hurt as much!"

Bahan hissed again, her annoyed tone clearly saying "if you had helped me sooner, this wouldn't have happened!"

Bagheera answered back "well, if you hadn't run away at all, I wouldn't have had to come help you."

Bahan prepared to object again, before slumping down and realizing Bagheera was right. Bagheera held her close to him and began licking her wound, saying "so... I suggest we should stay away from those gazelles from now on, eh?"

Bahan nodded and held still, allowing Bagheera to continue. When Bagheera was finished, he let Bahan up and said "there, see how easy that was?" before Bahan nodded and started licking his face.

As the afternoon came through, Bagheera lay on the grass, letting Bahan play with his ears. He had all but given up on pushing the cub away, and maybe even started to enjoy it. But whatever the reason, he had gotten used to it, and nodded off to sleep.

Sooner or later, a small blue butterfly got Bahan's attention, as she ran after it into the forest. After chasing it for a while, Bahan gave up and turned to head back to Bagheera. However, to her surprise, she didn't recognize this part of the jungle, and Bagheera was nowhere in sight.

Bahan didn't know where she was, but soon the blue butterfly flew off into the sky, leaving the cub completely alone.

Meanwhile, Bagheera woke up, once again shocked to find Bahan missing. "Bahan? BAHAN? Where are you!?"

"Bagheera, what's wrong?" Mowgli said as he ran into the canopy. "Where's Bahan?"

"I don't know. She must've run away... again! If she runs into someone like that gazelle, I'll..."

"Well, she could be anywhere. Come on, let's separate and look for her!"