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12
UNWELCOME94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXEDERIcfL
A curt, pint-sized voice disturbed the hurried planning. “What’s all this commotion? Are you are having a party and didn’t invite me?”
Surprise splattered across Kiisu’s face. “Kita?”
Raising her pads above her shoulders, Kiisu tilted her head to the side with a curious, relieved smile.
“Yes mommeo, who did you expect?”
“Well, honestly, I imagined your gruesome death.” 94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEnUfpQIyW
In a factual tone, the little one squinted with confusion. “The chimeragor? Mommeo, how did you learn about him so quickly? We only found him a brief time ago.”
“We?”
Majara interrupted with a surprised voice. “My kittens?”
Bekku wrapped her arms in judgment.
“What do you mean?”
The reassuring little one turned toward the shadows from which she arrived.
“Bring Bob out, my friends.”
With heads bowed, the two youths crept from the tree line. “Don’t be alarmed, he only wanted some leonip.”
The chimeragor bounded in between the little adventurers, batting the whammy back and forth.
The Mandragora extended their claws and I stepped away, aghast because the cubs called him by name.
Burying my thoughts took every ounce of concentration I could muster… “What the hell? Why not me?”
Without making a scene, I turned and walked away, unnoticed. Alarmed by their reactions, Kita’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
“NO! Don’t pounce!”
Exhaling, Kiisu dropped her jaw as articulation escaped her. Khatool flirted. “He’s a huge boy... may I play too?”
After scratching the air to show her intent, Kita reached toward Bob.
“Sure, our claws soothe his insect bites.” The High Priestess tripped over her words. “You, you scratched the revulsive critter?”
In the fraction of a second before anyone else reacted, Kita roared, “PILE-ON.”
With her telepathy, she connected with her hidden playmates, who all hurled into the mock fracas. Khatool did not hesitate, reviving her adolescence.
The shocked expressions of the gathering swelled, as astonished as the twin orbs above.
Minoos’ deviant mind delivered a gleam to her face. “Why didn’t I devise this plan?”
The brood began their assault with Khatool occupying the middle, and then the bottom of the fray.
“No itch evaded scratching under the chimeragor’s rough bristly coat,” as Maow would later record in the History of the Realm.
At the climax of the tumble, the entire village’s anxiety diminished to cautiousness, except for Kiisu, who disputed Kita.
“You named the abomination? Tell me you’re kidding! I love a good joke.”
Staring at the ground and doodling with her foot, her voice softened.
“You told me not to name our food, but Bob isn’t on the menu.” She paused and prayerfully lifted her arms above her head.
“May I keep him, please, please, triple please.” Kiisu tried to gather her now elusive wits. Gatta nudged into the argument.
“One missed turn separated him from a succulent cat-kabob. Let me try to talk some sense into her.”
Kiisu giggled to herself, all too aware of her cub’s stubbornness. “All right.”
“Little One, perhaps the chimeragor...” Kita roared.
“Bob, call him Bob.”
In a thought-provoking voice, Gatta coaxed the derelict cub. “What about Bob’s family! You would not want to take him away from them, now, would you? Anyway, where would you bed him down? His size exceeds your little cottage. Did you consider what happens when he hungers? He might eat you. Furthermore, what if he tires of the intoxicant? Do you want to become his mousal?”
Bob rubbed his bristly fanged face against Kita with a base purr. Dawning her adorableness, Kita held her paws together behind her back.
“Am I the only one who perceives how he loves me?”
Gatta picked her up by the loose skin around her neck and faced her away from Bob.
“Does an hour or two grant you a deep friendship with him, Sweetheart? Now what about all the Mandragora? Will he show affection for us?”
Standing tall and thrusting her chest out, the youngster owned the surge in her veins.
“He would learn to love us. Our clan defines lovable. This is simple. Ask the Mandagral. Wait, where did he go? No matter, what if Bob wants to go home? Who would stop him, Khatool? I do not think so, despite her strength.”
Minoos leaped between them. “The young are so perceptive. Besides, I never overcame my addiction to leonip.”
The Innocent One crossed her arms. “Whose side are you on Minoos, Bobs or ours?”
A naughty grin highlighted Minoos’ teasing mood. “Now, who decided to call their playmate, Bob?”
Clinching her jaw, Gatta’s reined in her emotions before she damaged anyone’s feelings.
“I am going to sleep. Morning approaches.”
Placing her paws on her hips, Bekku’s nostrils flared.
“Cram Bob full of meat. Leave no room for any of us inside him. If I understand Chimeragors, sleeping in the last cave near the archives should appeal to him.”
His unprepared new neighbor, Maow, gulped.
Bekku said, “Keep the sentries alert. The elders will sort this out tomorrow.”
Turning her attention to the wayward youths, the village leader knelt to their level. “After he eats, show him the way. You found him.” The youthful trio attracted Bob with a wave of their arms.
In awe, the Mandragora encircled him as he stuffed himself on ostentaculus tentacles. An hour later, at his makeshift arrangement. The brave little leopard lobbed a new leonip toy into the darkness and scampered off with her friends to the cottages. Looking over her shoulder, Kita tripped in her haste.”
Around the flames in the village center, concern sobered Kita’s face. “Do you think they are mad at us?”
Kiisu overheard her daughter and kneeled.
“Single-handedly, you altered the nature of life on Terradon Prime. Prepare yourself. Today’s events will weave into a never-ending story under untold judgments for a hundred lunar eclipses.”
Kita gulped.
13
A SCARCE COMMODITY
Hundreds of scattered paw prints around the village caught my attention before I entered Pushiri’s den. “No one will sleep well today.”
In the distance, I overheard Majara confer with Kiisu. “Well, should I invoke the ritual or punish them? Who guessed they’re more courageous than us?”
“What If I named one of them, Chesil, and the other, Froth?” Kiisu burst into nervous laughter.
“Don’t joke around with names meaning foolish. They might overhear you.”
“Sorry but I need a laugh right now.”
“What about the narrow rift between bravery and innocence? Let’s pray our foreigner doesn’t take either one from them.”
Majara’s mind raced, searching for answers.
“So now you’re a demon’s lawyer, speaking ill of a citizen, Innocent One.”
Kiisu smirked and her mind froze.
“How boggling! Their fearlessness lacks a gauge for the inconceivable.”
“Indeed, my thoughts are bleeding because of my cub’s lunacy. Let me lie down on the funeral pyre to save time.”
I turned my attention back to Pushiri. Rapped in her sky-colored sleeper frond, she drew upon the depths of her perception.
“The Mandragora sniff and prowl about their cottages beneath the fading protest of the stars. Yet not one of them dares to display the burden of anxiety yoked on their shoulders. The landscape of faceless, glowing-eyed spectators would banish such a coward to the farthest reaches of Terradon Prime.”
With my forefinger and thumb to my chin, an inquiry glimmered. “So curious! Why did Kiisu’s anger swell when Kita named the Chimeragor?”
“Anyone with a name may give one. The law requires a public announcement. With a name comes rights in our society. Leopardmura grants civil liberties. Given all the facts, I told her to still consult me. Now, Bob lives here, neither an alien to Leopardmura nor a nameless young one. Should he harm anyone, he loses his name, as would we all.”
“What about my name, Pushiri?”
“Do not underestimate your singular title.”
With an uncertain smile, she touched my arm. “Who can reveal the time or place? Perhaps, one day you may distinguish yourself during a hunt or conquer a foe.”
“You foresee the future but you’re not saying because you want me to grasp mākutu. Maybe I will.”
“Much, you must learn. Sleep now, Mandagral, and I will accompany you in your dreams...”
Quiet as a mousal, a covert figure slipped past the napping guards, into the chimeragor’s crude den.
Restlessness engulfed all of us later in the evening. Drowsy-eyed faces fought off their uneasy apparitions with stretches, moans, and lazy yawns.
“Trust, a scarce commodity, needs restoration. Let everyone understand we must not sentence the youngsters while intolerance blinds or peripheral vision. Do not let them believe we lost confidence in their tender hearts. Go, encourage Majara to name her daughters.” Along the way, I remained alert for any disturbances in our placid countryside. Not perceiving anything muddled, I turned my attention to the devout mommeo.
“Such a glorious evening, Moonshine! The night will unfurl in splendor.”
“No matter to whom I talk, they agree you always respond with the deepest insight, precious Mandagral.”
“How are your little darlings?”
A bleak expression clouded her face.
“They’re befuddled because I will not permit them to play with Bob.” Majara stood, rigid, tight pawed, and with a scrunched nose. “Why should I? What happens if he violates their kittenhood or worse?”
“I’m chewing on today’s events. Anxiety surrounds us like an encamped enemy. Take the courage to shine a light upon your daughter’s world.”
“What do you mean?”
“Dispel everyone’s uneasiness. Consider naming them. The event would unite us and reinforce your cub’s tenacity. Those gifts are what they will need when you are apart. Let’s hope preparations will keep them busy while Bekku and the others determine Bob’s status. Whatever you decide, own your verdict. The decision cannot rest with me.”
Invoking her selective hearing, she filtered the village’s discord and scoured the corners of her mind.
“Your intuition removed all my confusion from this fiasco, Mandagral. During the second grilling, we will set our world aright.”
I smoothed her disarrayed hair.
“Later, Starlight, school cannot wait...”
Along the way to Maow’s cavern, I spied Gatta. “What a disturbing ordeal you endured!” Glancing over her shoulder.
“My troubles haunt me, Mandagral.”
“Don’t try to bluff me? Life, any other way, does not suit you. Captivation with an ever-changing world compels you because you never rehearse the same scripts. Indeed, who would want to explore interchangeable destinations? Who would want to repeat the same- old tasks or endure duplicated felines?”
“Wait. You set me up when you mentioned my hardship, right, Mandagral.”
“Lock me up and throw away the key, Gatta, but I am correct, yes?” The explorer’s shoulders and chest loosened as her tension ebbed. “Breathtaking events, like our unsettling new addition’s invasion, I confess, energize life. No ordinary life exists devoid of unpleasantness. Grappling with difficulty invigorates me. Did you wonder at the artistry of the colorful stone garden at the base of my den? Thanks for reminding me.”
“Gatta, always become the unexpected.”
“Off with you now, Mandagral. You’re late.”
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14
NO TURNING BACK
A neglected trail, taken rarely before.
No returning paws left a track.
My spirit knows I can never turn back.
Let me discover myself, I implore.
The thick dust of the ages collected on my probing fingers as I ascended to the research chamber.
Maow unrolled an ancient parchment beside a fresh script and panted. “Yesterday called us to account for our character. While you slept, I recorded our reactions with a nervous stylist, in red ink no less. This record will judge us one day. Let my diligence find me worthy.”
Cautious not to betray her anxiety about my future, Maow paused to frame her words. “Does he realize the risks? I’m not sure If I even understand them.”
She looked up from her thoughtful gaze. “My Mandagral, our ways will come become yours. Already, you blend with us. Let’s fashion your exquisite life to adorn your struggles and wrap them up in Terradon Prime’s primal lore.”
Inside, my sense of alienation caused me to question her assessment. Was she oblivious to my consternation?
Resting from her research and my training, Maow supported her face on the southern windowsill.
“Our denizens clasp your charmed wisdom. The thought of stepping in between the mommeo’s and their little rascals never invaded your mind. And I am amazed how calmness embraced you at the chimeragor’s startling appearance, not fear.”
Like a geyser about to explode, my blood pressure boiled.
“How did NO ONE pickup on the distance I kept from the outsider?”
My startled teacher jumped back, unable to hide how disturbed my outburst left her. Quick to respond to her reaction, I pumped my hands downward in front of me repeatedly to calm her.
“I apologize. Imagine how upset I became when the cubs called him by name and I still struggle to earn one. In response to your observation, whether by inference or experience, I appreciate how their family conflict will someday bind them. Any outside interference would only puddle like oil on the pond of their lives.”
“Wait, I want to write that down.”
“Chalk my shrewdness up to the paranormal. Ghostly tales make for better reading.”
From the corner of her eye, she caught me checking her out, so she twinkled a coy smile.
“The text of the Voyna Chimera, the Chimeragor War, weighs three times any other. The scribe went down in our chronology as the last Mandagral to exist on Terradon Prime. Except for this final entry about his death, he composed this enduring chapter.”
Forlorn, the drama unfolded in her voice.
“Katax joined the desperate campaign seventy-five kilometers to the west. Though he perished in Ambush Pass, his claws persisted in their struggle, buried in a lone chimeragor’s neck.”
“Catrix of Ridgemura, his mate, discovered the two titans locked in eternal, motionless combat. Empowered by raging vengeance, she patrolled a week for their progeny, but to no avail. Convinced any existing menaces would not survive their barren wasteland, she resigned from her vendetta.”
“On a comfortable bandadan leaf she dragged her life-companion home to perform the Tipreit Ulna. Around the funeral pyre, the company of widows grieved with her but Katax’s body, they did not burn.”
Self-consciousness entered my mind like an unwelcome guest. “What do you mean by titans and why not grant him a ceremony?”
“Our native sires exceeded Khatool’s mass. Ten-inch claws distinguished them from their petite mates. From antiquity, they hunted for us. Now, we compensated for their absence.”
“But I digress. The elders concurred Katax and the chimeragor would commemorate the battlefield. Caked in amber by his predecessor, they stand as a stark warning to any who would oppose us. Ever since, Ridgemura and Ocelomura guard the gorge.”
“Tell me more about your genesis, Maow.”
“All right. In the beginning, the first leopards settled in this lush hillside, which they named, Leopardmura. Created in her image, we esteem our Planetary Sovereign. The Immaculate One commissioned the Mandagrals and the Mandragora to harvest the planet, keeping all life in balance.”
“An Anjennou, an Innocent One, would approach the Obelisk and intercede for our preservation. From her lineage, the Order of the Priestess inherited the obligation of conveying the solitary grace, the sole faith, and the sacred words.”
Looking up, Maow paused.
“Kiisu’s heritage traces back to the first of her kind. In succession, Kita, her first-named, will inherit her title.”
“Would her older blood-sisters act out jealously?”
“Enviousness might seize them. In young minds, benefits outweigh risks. To avoid this predicament, we groom them in the ways of integrity, mākutu, and persuasiveness. Pettiness fades in the face of such intimidating qualities.”
“For sure, who would prefer to live dishonestly?”
“Every morning we pray to the heavens our cubs would not act with any dishonorable self-interest. Should a cub refuse to repent, we would release her on the Trail of Solitude. That stretch of tropics breeds an asylum of untold threats. The reformed youth bolt home without any trophy to display for their effort. The laughter from their peers makes them overlook their hunger and arrogance.”
“What about the Mandragora who reach full Leopardhood? Do they remain well disciplined?”
“No recent ledger recounts any Mandragora’s name taken away. Dread, however, rears herself when the haze drifts across the moons and the scent of rain triggers our noses. Like a vicious cycle, we succumb to our untamed urges. For all our assertions of freewill, we abandon reason in favor of our predilection to hunt. So, the quality of the hunt—from flawlessness to failure—is the scale with which we measure our worth.”
She extended one claw toward the side of her head.
“These pointed ears twitch for Yamanecko’s call to stalk. These sharp eyes target whatever we wish to devour. Bloodlust burns hotter than any erotic desire. No one among us would choose not to hunt unless something is wrong with her. To ask anyone to hunt on your behalf would be as foolish as asking her to eat for you. Both requests would result in being laughed into seclusion.”
“Ah, If I understand you, your mākutu makes your ears itch.”
“Don’t act impertinent, Mandagral.”
Collecting her composure, Maow stressed her words.
“Please empathize with our sisterhood, for we persevere in a primeval equilibrium. Togetherness delivers us from negligence. Heaven forbid one of us goes out like a lone carnivore and succeeds. Repulsed, we would drown her with shame.”
“You speak from experience.”
With a nod of affirmation, she lowered her head.
“The rainforest backdrops our heart-rending play. Sometimes, we crave, yes, compete for attention in our weak moments. One of the early Mandagral’s dubbed this offense, felineism. The other side of our willfulness is when we scorn those who lack mākutu.”
“Like the ones, you mean, who chose to stay home and tend the
griddle?”
Yes, Ikati suffered my disdain.”
“A sudden self-conscious took hold of me.”
“Do not concern yourself. We love Mandagrals.” A relieved grin gelled on my face.
“OK, wink if an irritation behind your ears needs my service, Maow.”
Self-restraint braced her cockeyed glance.
“More pivotal considerations demand your mindfulness. Take heed, tales of evil occupying us lie hidden in the History of the Realm. Those studies, however, will come another day for you.”
On the lower end of the settlement, Kita and her friends peeked in on the chimeragor.
“Is he awake?”
A deep, restful hum emanated from the dark recesses of the cave. “No, he catnaps.”
Kita tripped over a stick, hit the ground with a thud, and scampered off.
“Come on, let’s skedaddle before the guards arrest us.”
“Wait Kita. Listen. Another purr mingles with his.”
“Don’t act silly. An echo deceives you. Hurry up!”
“Okay, who, in their sound mind, would wander there, I mean, beside us?”Your story here...
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