Criani looked over the trinkets she had found that day at the beach. She had brought them back to the bank of the lake she lived by to wash them of their grit and grime.
One had to be a shiny earbob or something. She lifted it up with her claws and let it sparkle in the sun. So tiny it was, yet so decretive and detailed. How could a two-legger loose it? She would keep it safe and not wear such things to the beach.
She placed it down and then picked up an amusing shiny. It was, according to Avani, an object that was used in the two-legger’s way of hunting fish. It had three hooks attached to a flashy piece of metal, and a broken piece of string. Apparently this one got away.
She placed that down and looked at her last piece of flotsam, a long, thin, silver chain that seemed to have no end. Criani had no idea what this was, but she was going to take it to Avani and see what it was. It was pretty though, and like the earbob, she thought it very precious.
Criani smiled at her finds and was about to clean them all when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.
Before she knew it something had skittered beneath her and her objects were gone!
She saw the back end of a Silx running off in the opposite direction. Criani gave a roar, rather angry at the theft, and went after it.
At first she tried to run after the thief, but it dodged and weaved away from her with much more flexibility than she could manage. After a particular turn it took, Criani lost her balance and slammed into a tree. Dazed, she could only see her prey get away from her.
She shook her head, and before she bounded off after it, common sense was restored, and the words not only her father spoke to her, but that of the elder who had taught her how to hunt as well, entered her head.
They had said she would be a fine huntress, if only she stopped losing her head when things didn’t turn out the way she wanted. For the most part, she had learned to squash those feelings, but at moments like these, she could swear she had some Firani blood in her.
Criani sat up, and as she allowed her head to stop swaying, she took deep breaths to calm herself. When she got control over her emotions, she began her work of tracking the fiend.
She sniffed around and found the scent of the Silx. It was fresh of course, and his path became clear as Criani walked along the trail. Soon the smell became very strong, and she smelt not only the one she was trapping, but others as well. She wouldn’t lose the scent of this one!
She then came upon the dens of a group of Silx. She saw three in their nests, and two others playing with each other. She just wanted her things back, so she wasn’t about to kill them all for no reason. So, she sniffed around, confirming that the one she was chasing was there, and took a deep breath, and let out a roar as loud as she could.
She watched the two playing stop and run off into the forest, and the other three that were in nests look at her and then run as well, leaving their nests unguarded.
The creatures gone, Criani walked into their camp, sniffing each nest. She came to the third one and smelled the fiend’s scent all over it, as well as a treasure trove of shiny two-legger things. Criani, even though amazed by some of the objects, was no thief herself, so just looked for her things.
She found all three things and then left the Silx camp. Though she never caught the thief, she didn’t really care as she had plenty of food at her home. What would she do with a Silx anyway?
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Returning home, Criani cleaned her treasures, and placed them in the special storage area of her cave. She would remember the hunt of the Silx as a lesson: Never let your emotions rule the art of the hunt, or you would suffer a bruised body in return.
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Date Posted: November 25, 2014
Words: 730 
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