Lila made her way out of the den and padded toward the sound of water. It was loud but she loved the sound and wanted to know what it was. Her mama had told her not to wander to far from the den but her curiosity had gotten the better of her. She wandered if any of her siblings would notice her wandering off while here mama was off hunting.Lila walked down toward the sound and stopped starring in awe as she saw the big water. The water rolling up the ground splashing it loudly and Lila wanted to investigate. She took a step and was surprised by the soft grainy ground and she moved further onto the beach moving the soft ground around with her paws.
Kitandiko was sitting at the mouth of the cave, yawning and cleaning herself. It was difficult to do both at the same time, but she tried anyway. Rolling her jaw back and forth, giving up on the futile efforts, she blinked sleepily a few times before noticing something moving by her. She knew they weren’t supposed to leave the cave, and having been born first, she took it upon herself to make sure her siblings stayed in line. Even though she would really rather just go back to bed.
Following after her sister, And was not distracted by the water or the feeling of the ground under her paws. She had a mission in her head, and she was determined to do good. “Where are you going, Lila?” She called, her tone somewhere between friendly and demanding.
Lila was so absorbed in playing with the sand that she had not noticed her sister come up behind her. Lila jumped and moved away from her sister. "Kitan, you scared me? Really you should not sneak up on other like that." Lila knew it was really her fault having not been paying attention but she did not like the fright she recieved. Lila moved turned back to the water.
"Look isn't it lovely. I wanted to see what was making that noise and it was a big water. A really big water." Lila moved toward the water stopping at the section where the water rolled up the beach stopping just in front of her.
“I wasn’t sneaking,” And amended with a snort, she shook her head and tried to remind herself to play nice, “I was just making sure you didn’t get into trouble. I wouldn’t want to get blamed for you falling in that water, or something.” She eyed the water carefully. Just looking at it made her feel uncomfortable, like her skin was crawling. She had never seen it move like that, considering she had never really seen water at all before this. It seemed she just had a natural aversion to the liquid, and she did not want , for any reason, to get nearer to it than she had to.
“That is a very big water…” she repeated, her voice filled with anxiety, “we should go back to the den before mom comes back.”
Lila laughed, really why would Kitan be blamed for her falling into the big water. It did not really look as though one could fall into it, more like walk into it, but maybe be swept away maybe. "I not going to fall into the water. I not even sure you can and I not going to get in trouble."
Lila was fascinated by the water, but she was fascinated by most things and loved to explore. She had gone over every nook in the den and around it as well, now she wanted to see more. Lila moved close to the water so that the waves slashed over her feet. She jumped back because the water was cold, but the jumped forward again in an attempt to pounce on a wave.
"Kitan, its so cold," she laughed continuing her bouncing and ignoring her sister. Lila ran about splashing in the water, getting more and more wet by the second. "Come on, mama will be out for a while. Come play, the water it fun. It like when we try to catch bugs. Pounce on the water before it rolls away."
And frowned and watched her sister with measured patience. She was a practical, ordered kind of girl, who liked things working in her favor but did her best to cope when things went wrong. She never felt particularly special, and compared to some of the coats on her siblings she knew she was not the most beautiful of creatures. Still, she was dutiful and loyal, and was dedicated to the idea that one good turn deserved another. If she kept on doing good, she might eventually have something good happen in return.
It didn’t occur to her that doing good things just for that purpose might produce some bad karma. No good deed goes unpunished, after all.
Whatever the case, she was too young to worry about philosophy just yet. Right now t he most important thing was keeping Lila out of that water, and making sure none of it got on her in the process. She watched in dismay as her sibling splashed a round. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t want to pounce on the water. We should go back! Before something bad happens.”
Lila turned to her sibling and frowned, she really wanted to play. The den could get so boring. It was only so many times one could pounce on her siblings before she lost interest. Lila continued to play in the water running about getting closer and closer to the waves that crashed against the beach. She was fascinated by the sound and the feel of the water splashing all around her.
Unfortunately a rather large wave crashed down on Lila and in an instant she was gone. The water has swept her feet clean from beneath her and she swept out in the the ocean. Not to far but far enough for it to be terrifying. Lila was being pushed to and fro as she struggled to stay above the water.
"Kitan," she cried, regretting getting to close to the water. "Kitan," she called again. She hoped she was not swept away forever and was fighting hard against the water.
And’s heart nearly exploded from her chest when she saw the wave fall over her sister, and she could not breathe until she spotted her sister’s fur in the water. Running up and down the water line, she could not decide if she should run for help, or risk going into the water herself. In the back of her mind she felt like this were her fault, as if her thinking something bad would happen had made it so. Guilty, panicked, and stressed, she came to a complete stop.
“Hold on!” She called, looking back toward the den and not seeing any sign of help or rescue. She swallowed hard and took a gulp of air, shutting her eyes tightly and barreling into the water. Now there were two cubs splashing around, but And let her instincts take over before she lost herself to the terror just being in the water was creating in her. She swam as best she could, having never done it before, toward the sound of her sister.
“I’m coming! I’m here!” She said, literally bumping into Lila. She grabbed her sister by the scruff, pulling as she kicked her back feet. She spoke through her teeth, “you kick too, and we’ll get back!”
Lila continued to keep herself above the water as her sister called out to her and ran into the water. She was happy that her sister was there to rescue her and her fear we quickly quelled as her sister bumped into and grabbed her. She could hear her sister telling her to kick over the splashing waters and she did so. Instinct kicked in and Lila fears were gone as she kicked strong with her sister to get back to shore.
She was so happy when she could feel her little paws kicking the ground and she was able to stand, quickly bolting up the beach away from the waves. She now knew, being to close was not okay, the small waves that traveled further were safer.
"Thank you, sis." She said flopping down in the sand tired and soaked. "You were right, I should have listened to you."
And dragged herself onto the shore, resting for a moment before a wave rolled up against her and she sprang to her feet and escaped up the beach. She stood, looking back, shivering and dripping. She wasn’t sure if she was happy to be free of the water, or relieved that neither of them were hurt, or still in full panic mode. She couldn’t feel anything, except the thundering of her heart against her ribcage and the ringing it produced in her ears.
She looked at Lila and sighed. She felt anger in her chest, but she couldn’t direct it anything. She hated the way she felt cold from the water, and the sand clinging to her paws, and the way her lungs were burning. It felt like her skin was burning, too, and she couldn’t make the sensation go away. Shaking her head, she didn’t need Lila to tell her that she had been right.
“It’s okay,” she said, more to herself than her sister. She moved to her, nuzzling her just to be sure she was okay, “as long as we don’t let mom know, we won’t get in trouble.”
Lila was breathing hard and the cold stuck to her she just wanted to get back to the solid ground and clean herself up before she and And headed home. She nuzzled her sister backing trying to reassure her she was okay, then she got to her feet.
"Mama," she said, "mama will be back soon. We better get cleaned off and head back before she gets there."
Lila ran up to the solid ground and rolled in the grass to free her fur of the sand, shook her fur free of water, than quickly started cleaning her fur trying to get it more dry. "Come on, we got to get dry," she called to her sister.
And stood in place for a long moment, watching the churning waters. She shook her head and turned away, moving to catch up to her sister and join in on the cleaning. She would be glad when she was rid of all the clinging sand and the unsavory sensation the water had left on her fur and skin. Shaking herself to be rid of the heavier drops of water, she sat down and cleaned herself patiently.
“Just don’t mention it,” she said, nodding. She knew it was bad to lie, and that was going against her desire to only do good, but she knew bad things would come of telling the truth this time. If they could just keep it quiet, neither of them would get in trouble and the whole incident would just be forgotten. So long as nothing else happened to give them away.
“She won’t find out if we don’t tell her,” she said confidently.
Lila finished cleaning herself and patiently waited for her sister to finish. "I won't mention it if you dont. I do not want to get in trouble with mama. I just hope our siblings were to busy to notice us leave."
Lila stood and stretched, then turned in the direction of the dens. "Well lets, get back then. I could really use a nap."
And nodded, though she doubted she would be going to sleep any time soon. She was shaken by their encounter with the ocean, and she hardly felt fit for a nap. She didn’t want to dream about it. Sighing, she got up and moved back toward the dens, making sure she was no longer dripping. Drawing a deep breath, she focused on their decision not to talk about it, and tried to pretend nothing had happened. She didn’t want to act weird.
It was nice to get back to the den, though, and instead of sitting and waiting by the mouth of the cave for her mother, as she usually did, And moved to the back and curled up in a corner. She didn’t sleep, but simply watched her siblings. It was going to be an interesting childhood, living here.
