It was a lovely evening. Kir’ella practically purred as she lay watching the moon rise above the glassy river. Each and every star seemed perfectly reflected as they winked into the twilight. One by one, they flashed so very softly from the rich indigo of the sky. She had found the herbs she sought last night, it had been much simpler to do so with help. Shin was a sweet sort, friendly, and obviously interested in what she had to share. He reminded her of a certain other cheetah, though that one had been focused upon Kavan, not her. At least Shin didn’t have the same tentative brokenness as poor Zekile had. Maybe he had grown past that, but in a pride where lions were so much ‘better’ than the others? It couldn’t have helped his confidence, not at all. She had only visited it with her father, her tagging along and him healing their injuries. Duels were not good for the health of the duelists, and it all seemed terribly silly as far as she was concerned.
The leopardess sighed, wriggling so that she was lying on her back. It was much better to view the sky from this position, oh yes. She might look a bit silly, with her paws folded over her belly like a playing cub, and her pink stripes being sullied by the dirt she was sprawled in. But who cared how she might look? It was fun, to be here like this. And it was comfortable. Kir’ella sighed, her tail curling idly around her hind paw as it was wont to when she was being still and quiet. She disliked being all too still, better to have something to do. Idle paws were the devil’s playthings. The phrase made little sense to her, but she understood that a devil must be something like a demon. And there was a pride of lions, within whom they claimed demons to reside. Demons were unnatural, and cruel, they frightened her. Her conclusions had been that she would not like to be idle if it meant inviting a demon to come and make her like those lions.
Not, she hoped, that it would. They seemed to favor lions above all else, and what arrogance some lions seemed to have if they made their prides so high above those of others. Hah! Pride. Naturally. Lions, yes, and dark fur as well. She was a leopardess, and her fur was pale warm shades of pink, all stripy and soft. To be a demon’s sort, they would need to be dark stripes. Or just plain dark. Kavan’s fur might do. Or, perhaps, Shinobu’s. Not Zekile’s though, he was all golden and cream. Like sunshine. Not dark like a demon. The idea of the overly-enthusiastic cheetah being any sort of demon made her giggle, and then the giggles turned into a squeak when a face popped into her vision.
“Oh! Shin! I didn’t hear you, you startled me!” she accused, though by now she was dissolving into giggles once again. He was making a peculiar expression, probably entertained by her behavior. That, or he was perplexed by it.
“Well, I’m good at being quiet,” the dark cheetah shrugged, before prowling around Kir’ella where she lay. “What are you doing flopped like that?” he asked after a moment. She giggled again, she couldn’t help it. He seemed so confused and intrigued, and the way his features moved did so remind her of Zekile. She had so few friends who looked like he did, spotty cheetahs with light fur in their manes apparently weren’t as common as one might think.
“I’m watching the stars come out,” she explained when she had ceased to giggle long enough to make sense. “Care to join me?” He stared at her, and for a moment it seemed that he was going to decline. But then, with a roll of those pretty eyes and a heavy sigh, he padded about in a circle before laying himself gingerly beside her and wriggling until he was properly rolled over onto his back.
“I feel like a foolish cub,” the cheetah sighed after a long moment of silence. Kir’ella grinned at him, flicking her tail lightly across his foot in playfulness. She had not known him long, but already she was fond of the dark-furred cheetah.
“Is it not fun though?” she challenged impishly, before turning her gaze back to the stars. “My father told me that the gods look down on us from the sky, and the pinpricks of light that their eyes reflect are the stars,” Kir’ella explained softly. “It’s a story his mother and father told him when he was a cub. I think it was to aid in his overcoming a fear of the dark.”
“Huh.” Shin surveyed the stars quietly for a few moments, before saying, “That’s creepy. I wouldn’t want someone watching my every move, watching me sleep. No, really,” he insisted when she started to giggle again. “I’d have had to sleep in a cave all the rest of my life or below ground or something. People watching me all the time? People that I didn’t know? No thank you!”
“It’s just a story, Shin,” she tried to soothe, but he shook his head.
“A story not to be afraid of the dark? Why would anyone fear the dark?” he asked, sounding oddly serious, as though he’d put a great deal of thought into this. “Night is the thing that drapes itself over us, letting us hide from the things we wish to hide from, to walk unseen in the shadow of the moon, to sleep sound in the embrace of darkness. Why is it something to be afraid of? If anything, it’s not the darkness you should fear but those who might hide within it.”
“Or those within whom it hides,” Kir’ella added a bit sadly, failing to notice the way her companion tensed abruptly. But it was not him she thought of, but of her dear friend. He had grown so much harsher than she remembered. He was not the splotchy lion she had befriended as a cub, not anymore. He’d… changed…
Perhaps sensing her melancholy, the young cheetah cleared his throat, playfully swatting her with his tail now. “Well, whatever they are, they’re pretty on the water like that.”
“Yes,” she agreed softly, glad that, at least tonight, she was not to be alone with her thoughts. It was so lonely sometimes, without her father. Without her friends. Perhaps she ought to be putting forth more effort into making new ones. But then, friends didn’t seem to be made. They seemed to be found. Just as Shin had found her. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too,” Shin added, glancing slyly at the leopardess he’d picked as a plaything for the next few nights. Her eyes were fixed upon the shining stars above, and she did not notice his look. She did not understand it. She didn’t understand the darkness. Nor how close it kept its allies…
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