Kunyo

And

• Odd Beginnings

  The Cat Dark, warm, crying, mother’s milk. Seeing mother, brother, and sister. Mother’s fur, hard ground, play with brother and sister. Run, bite, scratch, milk and nap. Outside, bright and cold, back into cave. Mother gets food, strange taste, drink from mother. We watch mother hunt. Meat, milk, and play. Practice hunt with brother and sister, brother wins. We all hunt, no meat. Watch and help mother, meat for everyone. Do not want to share meat, mother pushes all to own caves. Hunt own meat, still hungry. Scent of female, do not find. Find meat. Look for female, find more meat, strange cave cannot leave! Strange meat comes, takes me and cave to big cave. Warm, strange meat talks, smell food and things that hurt nose. Loud noise! Too much light! So cold in cave. Small cave is moved to cold. Strange meat is cold. Floor is cold. Floor has strange smells and tiny lights. Do not want close to cold. Cold comes near, holds small cave. Dark now. Dark and cold.

  The Spirit The snow here is beautiful; it’s soft and blankets everything in the purest white. Sunlight is bright and makes the frost shimmer; the icicles cast rainbows as the sun rises and falls. I am sustained by this cold, it is deep and relaxing. Even the wind that breaks branches from trees and hurls rocks and snow down the mountain enriches my own self worth. I see nature at its very core; from the small hare with long legs to run from the white fox, to the gentle caribou nosing through the snow to find sprigs of grass. My existence could not be more complete. I feel a pull, something I cannot resist. I do not want to leave this place! Everything is dark! I am confused, I feel heavy but I am comforted by how cold I feel. I exist in a different way, I walk and can hold things.. I feel the heat from the fire in the corner and am afraid of it. There are other creatures here, ones that stand and move like me.. one who gives me commands that I cannot seem to disobey. The commands do not bother me, the limitations of my body concern me and the fearful noises from the young leopard in the corner trouble me. I do not wish to see this creature afraid, his coat is white and plush which reminds me of the snow I love so dearly. The taller creature commands me again to stand in a specific spot and not move, he brings the fearful feline into the circle as well. He speaks words and I feel a pull that I cannot resist again, I feel light but I cannot see anything.

  
  

  PAIN
  
  My sight is blurred, somehow I fell down and am lying on the floor. My whole body hurts! I feel like moving would shatter every bone in my body. I hear people being joyful, shouting and celebrating, I twist my ears to hear them better. I try to stand and I feel uncoordinated, I sway my tail until I can regain my balance.. I’m on all fours.. the young leopard beside me is gone and the cold strange creature above me is no longer there. We…. WE! We are much larger than before.. we are strong.. we are comfortably cold.
  
  They are celebrating our joining.
  
  Our claws dig into the dirt, our fangs bared, we will make them pay for this pain.
  They stink of fear, seeing we are not within their control. Our teeth sink into flesh and our mouth fills with blood. We rip, bite, tear; they scream for mercy and soon they are silent.
  
  We feasted on their meat and chewed the bones, our belly stayed full for many days and nights. When we were done with them we left their cave and went back to our own, the cave was too small for us but we enjoy sleeping outside in the cold. Hunting for meat is more difficult with our size and color, our brother and sister do not know our scent. Our life is harder and easier at the same time, we will keep going. We will figure out how to live as I.

• The Odd Combination:

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• The Continuing Journey..

  We have been learning. I have adjusted to hunting with my bigger body and I have embraced the cold so that I no longer need a cave to sleep in. I have claimed these mountains as my own and learned about the creatures that live in them with me, there are none who contest me and none who will accompany me. His brother and sister are no longer familiar with our scent, it pains our heart to see their fear and aggression so we will not bother his family again.
  
  I have also learned about the creatures that live at the warmer foot of the mountains, the ones who look like the things that did this to us. They must not all be horrible things, their young have left scraps of meat for me to eat when I move closer to their caves before the older ones take them away. After some time of watching them even the older ones do not seem so afraid of me anymore and I seem to receive more meat now, they even sound more friendly.
  
  I patrol where I feel; between my mountains and the caves of the two-legged creatures who feed me when I come. I feel like I understand them better.. their speech and limitations. They cannot kill a caribou as I do, they do not have claws or sharp teeth that I can see, instead they take a stick and tie a sharp rock to the end of it to throw and hurt the caribou. They are confusing and interesting creatures that I find myself making more of an attempt at understanding.
  
  

  ~*~*~

  
  Someone new is in the village. She speaks like and unlike the other people here, talks of trade for the animal skins that the people have not used for themselves. Apparently there are more people away from these mountain ranges that desire the fur for themselves..? I do not understand but I would not mind meeting more people and learning more. I have learned everything I think I can from this place..
  
  I have followed this female and the people with her for some time, I have never been this far from the mountains before so I am anxious and excited. The cold still lingers but I feel its touch fading with all the trees and grass here. They have not yet seen me I believe, I do not want them to see me yet with how frightened the villagers were of me at first and these people always have their weapons with them.
  
  There are wolves nearby, I smell them even over the hare’s blood on my nose. They are not the wolves from my mountain, I have never smelled them before. I go back to where the people have made their camp and continue to smell the wolves, I will stay nearer to the campfire than I would like as a whole pack of wolves is still formidable to me. Even after the whole night I still smell the wolves and I worry for the couple of people who have gone into the woods for food. It was not wrong of me to be fearful, it is getting dark and the people do not have much fire yet, I know they will come. I will not hide and let them fight the wolves alone, their weapons may not be enough.
  
  

  ~*~

  
  All are injured in some way, one is unconscious from their wounds but the others seem to think he will live. My own shoulder hurts. I got in the way of a wolf going after the female while she fought off another. She is not afraid of me like the others; she says she is grateful for my help. She tries to take care of my shoulder, but she burns! She burns with unquenchable fire! She cannot take care of me in such a way and apologizes for my pain.. she wraps up my wound in clean cloth and allows me to ride in the wagon until I can walk.
  
  I have never met someone like her. She holds her own and is grateful for help at the same time. She apologizes for hurting me and is not afraid of how big I am or my own cold. I will stay by this woman’s side for as long as I may; this

  bold fire named Mikeayla.
  
  
  
  **Picture done by Untoten**