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The jungle was a strange place. It was filled with huge, green trees...And vines and bushes...And weird, short grass. Strange colorful birds filled the sky (what little Sho could see of the sky, anyway), and there were loud, squeaking noises almost constantly. Were insects making those noises?

The brown cub pointed his nose up to the trees, sniffing and gazing curiously for some sign of life. He couldn't see anything in the dark-green leaves. Tilting his head back down, Sho continued to trek through the jungle, paws stepping awkwardly over sticks and fallen vines.

Despite all the questions put into the cubs head, Shokora loved nature. He loved everything about it. All the different types of grass and trees...He loved to explore and learn. Of course, he'd never go too far away from his mother...He didn't want her to worry. 'cause sometimes, dangerous things walked around. Sometimes--

Sho stopped mid-step. His heart flip-flopped and he held his breath, pink eyes wide and ears flat. He didn't move or make a sound. He stayed perfectly still, one paw in the air.

He had heard a loud twig snap.



During her short time in the Achana Xenia already learned to recognize the scents of many members. This cub smelled different from everyone else. As she made her way toward the wandering cub a twig snapped under her paw. She froze, stifling a gasp. If the other cub turned around the shadow of the big leaf might keep her hidden, since numerous games of hide and seek taught her to stalk in the shade, where her unnatural colors stood out less. She slowly hunkered down in the grass, trying to make as little noise as possible.

She wasn’t scared. Her nana was close by and so were her brothers and sisters. Today was a learning day, a day of seeing new places and meeting new members of their great big family, of which everyone in Achana was a part.

Something told her this cub was not a part of that family. Maybe it was the way he acted. He looked out of place in the jungle, like he was seeing it for the first time. The way he reacted to the snapping twig was also suspicious. Xenia wasn’t the only naturally shy cub in Achana, she could be startled easily too, but he was started in a different way. He looked really frightened.

Xenia never meant to scare him. Everyone in Achana was always nice when she met them for the first time, so she wanted to be nice to new people, too. She just didn’t always know what to say. Slowly, quietly she crawled out from under the leaf. She was almost the size of a lion cub, larger than the brown male, yet soft footed (when she wasn’t stepping on twigs). She stopped a few feet away from the other cub and smiled nervously. “H-hello. Who are you?”



The sight of the approaching leopard cub (or was it a lion...?) put Shokora completely on-edge, because at first, he didn't know it was a cub. It was bright-colored and bigger than him, and the creature's size was hidden in the shadows. But once it was out, Sho could see it was just a cub; a female cub.

The hair settled on the cub's back and he let out a loud sigh, small muscles relaxing. But his claws remained tense. He was still unsure of the other cub's motives. He saw the way his mother looked at strangers, so the leopard was always cautious (and perhaps paranoid).

Sho's ears flicked to the sides at the female's words. He narrowed his eyes, small mouth opening as he tried to understand what she was saying. He knew one sound was a greeting, but didn't understand the rest. He'd never heard that question before. So the leopard cub took a few steps back, tail swaying nervously, though he tried to remain looking tough. His eyes were the only things that spoke, and he hoped by looking into the eyes of the female, that she would come to realize he couldn't understand her, let alone understand himself.

And then maybe she would go away and leave him alone?



His nervousness made her nervous as well. At least it did at first. Her ears perked forward anxiously, waiting for him to say something. When no words came her lavender fur settled and her ears relaxed. “It’s alright,” she called gently. “My name is Xenia. I live here with my family. It’s a very nice place, everybody is friendly and nobody ever causes anybody else pain.”

When the cub did not respond Xenia instinctively looked to his eyes. Sometimes the only way to tell what her brother was thinking was to look directly into his eyes. Although, she had to admit, she was still learning to read the ‘language’ of eyes. After a few seconds her eyes widened in understanding. She smiled sincerely. “Oh, you don’t talk?” She tilted her head curiously.

His speechlessness actually excited her. She always felt bad that there was nothing she could do to give her brother a real voice of his own. Now there might be someone else with the same problem. That thought comforted her a little, knowing that Adonis was not alone.



Whatever this cub was, lion or leopard or cheetah or WHATEVER, she was...A little too happy and "cute" for Shokora's taste.

Then again, any cub was.

The cub narrowed his eyes, glancing the female up and down. Her tone was happy and accepting. She seemed gentle. Despite Sho still putting up a tough-cub exterior, he was put greatly at ease.

There was a very strange word she said; Xenia. It struck the cub's ears and made him curious. What was a Xenia? But curses, he couldn't ask. Shokora didn't know how to talk.

Wait, what was he saying? He didn't want to talk to the cub...She was...Well, a CUB. Sho wanted to get back to his exploring. He was wasting time there. The brown male twitched his tail and carefully stepped side-ways, headed for the trees. With a little luck, the girl wouldn't follow.

But somehow, he doubted that.



He looked at the world as if he were angry with it for some reason. Well, Xenia thought to herself, if I couldn’t speak I would be pretty angry at the world, too. I guess he doesn’t have anyone who understands him. I bet I could make him feel better!

That thought gave her purpose. She trotted after the strange cub with a smile. His eyes were a little intimidating, so she kept a little distance between them because she didn’t want him to look at her angrily. She hated it when others got mad at her, especially when she was just trying to help. No matter what anybody said Xenia would never believe that she was annoying. How could she be annoying when she was doing a good deed?

“I guess you want to explore, right? I can show you around. Even though everyone is really nice you probably shouldn’t wander around by yourself. The jungle can be… well, it isn’t always… safe. That’s what nana says.” She wanted to sound brave, but she actually scared herself. Good thing nana was close by.

She jogged ahead of him, motioning him to follow. “There’s this really cool tree we can play in. Come on, let me show you!”



Most of what the female said went in one ear and out the other. All except one...

Tree.

Sho understood that. And a little glimmer of--could it be?--Cub-like interest shone in the leopard's pink eyes, and a smile tugged at his maw. But he shook his head violently, and his expression shifted back into narrow-eyed mode. He gave a soft grunt and, with a sway of his tail, followed the female. Not quickly or with any prancing, however. Shokora took his own sweet time.

But did he really want to follow this cub girl? Hmm. No, he didn't. What he did want was to see the tree she got so excited about. That was all he wanted. So that was worth following some childish cub, right?

RIGHT?



Her smile became a grin as they neared the tree. She wanted to climb it, though the thought of climbing something so spooky all by herself frightened her. Unfortunately, her brother didn’t like heights as much as she did. She hoped her new friend would feel differently.

Squatted among the mushrooms on monstrous roots, the twisted trunk spiraled upward, throwing its arms in all directions and cloaking the small clearing with a canopy of green. The wide branches extended like a vertical maze, study enough to hold a gang of fully grown leopards. Birds twittered, hidden among the leaves. When Xenia saw the tree her pace slowed with caution, for the tree appeared to look back at her with a wide open mouth. The inside looked pitch black. There was no way to tell what lived there, if anything lived there at all, without sticking her head inside. Xenia certainly wasn’t planning on doing that. She wanted to play in the branches.

“There it is. Kinda creepy, huh?” she whispered, as if the tree might hear them. She arched a brow at her friend as if she found the tree’s foreboding face exciting. This time she would do a better job of pretending to be brave.



Now THAT...was a tree.

Jaw dropping in awe, Shokora gazed up at the thing's vastness. Its top was almost as wide as the sky, and the trunk was thick and curling. Part of it opened like a wide, gaping mouth, beckoning for some naive creature to jump inside. The roots jutted out of the ground like arms, ready to curl around and suffocate anything that came near.

Sho grinned.

The leopard cub's ears flickered at the sound of the female's whispering, but he took no heed of her words. All he could think about was examining the huge tree from every angle, inside and out. And then...He'd try to climb it.

Shokora trotted up to the huge trunk, not one to be scared of something as normal as a tree. However, he did think about what might be inside the tree...But that still didn't keep him away. The cub jumped onto a root and ran across it, hopping from one root to the next, all the while examining every part of the tree he could see.

What made trees grow? Why did they grow? Why were some different than others? Were trees like lions and leopards, being that they had different species? Why did it feel so safe to climb into the branch of a tree?

So many questions buzzed through the curious cub's mind. For once, he abandoned all his seriousness and repose. A grin was stuck to his face, and he let out a laugh.



Finally! Xenia never thought she would find anybody who wanted to climb such an imposing tree with her. Even though it had a scary face, and even though she’d been stuck in a tree this size more than once, her heart yearned to climb. She could never explain why. Climbing was a special part of her that shined deep down inside, trees her personal treasure, for you see, each and every creature has a very special something inside of themselves that makes them who they are. No matter how frightening the tree might look, no matter how dangerous it appeared, she wanted to climb. She needed to be up.

When her friend stepped forward Xenia followed with no hesitation. She hopped up the trunk, reveling in the feeling of her claws sinking into the wood. Her weight hinged on them as she scaled. Laughing, caught up in the moment, she almost didn’t realize that some of the laughter was not her own. Xenia was a bird. Xenia was free. Xenia was an adventurer!

She pulled herself over a branch, delighting in the scrape and crackle of the bark beneath her paws. As she reached the top she puffed out her chest and whooped, “I’m queen of the jungle!”

That was when she heard the laughter. She looked around and saw the other cub, laughing and smiling on a different branch. His laughter was not the rasping, breathy laughter of Adonis. He laughed like a normal cub. Xenia felt suddenly disappointed in him. Her disappointment became a spark of anger. He must have tricked her on purpose. “Hey! How come you can talk all of a sudden?” she demanded, bounding over to him.



Sho found himself smiling not only from the wonder of the tree and nature, but also from the female cub who was climbing. Her laughter and presence was strange to Sho, and it somehow made him feel like her; like he was flying. Maybe this cub wasn't all bad? Maybe she appreciated the world as much as he did? Not like those cubs who only cared about romping around and playing, and whining to their mothers...

Tiny claws dug into the bark of the roots and he prepared to climb the tree. He was still small for a leopard cub, and climbing was harder for him. But he was determined. To see the tree so close up...And to see how it was from higher up. Such things spurred the cub on. He reached up a paw and pressed it against the thick trunk, ready to begin his climb, but then he stopped at an angry tone.

Head whipping to the right, Sho saw the female cub racing towards him, anger in her voice and face. Sho quickly placed his paw back on the root, thinking that he, for whatever reason, wasn't allowed to climb the tree. His eyebrows knitted up and a hesitant frown twitched on his maw. The hair raised on his back and he remained still on the root, watching the female for any sudden movements. There was nothing but confusion in the cub's eyes. He didn't understand what had happened. Was it because of the tree?

Who was she to say if he could climb the tree or not, anyway? She didn't own it. The earth was everybody's. That tree was just as much his as it was hers.

With that in mind, the cub lashed his tail, lips curling to reveal tiny fangs and pink eyes flashing their warning. He was small, but not defenseless. Slowly, he backed up, hair raised and ears back. But the cub forgot he was on an arched root pretty far off the ground.

As Sho was backing up, his back paws stepped on air. He gasped and slipped off, but grabbed onto the root with his front paws just in time. And there he dangled quite a few feet off the ground, back legs kicking and face plastered with fear.



Lying to Xenia one of the worst mistakes anyone could make. In spite of all her friendliness she could whip up quite a fury when someone angered her and she always made sure when someone wronged her, they knew what they had done and felt sorry. That was all she wanted. Further displeased with the other cub, now baring his teeth at her so rudely, she charged at him with fire in her eyes. She would give him such a tongue lashing he—

Xenia dug her claws into the bark with a gasp. The other cub was going to fall! She never intended that! Worry drowned out her anger in an instant as she rushed to where the cub was hanging. “Oh no! Hold on, I’m sorry!”

Digging her claws firmly into the roots, she reached down and grabbed the cub by the scruff of his neck, exactly the way her nana would have if she were in his place, and pulled him back onto the root with all her strength. She strained her back and snarled until the little cub was safely beside her on top of the root. She backed away, giving herself room to breathe, and sat down gulping as she panted. Her heart felt like it was in her throat.

“Why did you go and do that?” she chided. “You shouldn’t pretend to be mute. My brother is mute and it’s not funny. I’m sorry for scaring you, but it really wasn’t nice. Are you okay?”



The realization that he was going to fall startled the cub immensely. His heart was pounding loudly in his head and vibrated his chest. He could feel his blood pumping in his paws. His claws felt like they were going to be ripped out. It was painful and scary. He did not want to fall. The ground wasn't so far away, but to a small leopard cub, it seemed like miles. Shokora could only guess what would happen if he fell.

Luckily, he didn't.

There was a feeling of teeth clamped around his neck scruff. The skin stretched on the cub's face and he tried to ease himself up with his paws. His claws left the wood and for a moment, he thought he was going to fall. When he saw he wasn't, he was startled. His eyes flicked all around rapidly, trying to understand what was going on. It was then that he realized the cub was lifting him up onto the root. He landed next to her with a soft thud.

Tiny claws gripped into the bark and the cub hugged it for dear life, breathing hard and eyes bulging. Maybe next time he wanted to play on big trees, he'd do so with his mother right next to him...

Sho glanced at the female, panting and trembling. He took in a deep breath and stood, trying to regain his tough composure. He swallowed dryly, eying the girl. She had...Well, saved him. She still sounded angry, though. What was her problem? Sho narrowed his eyes, frowning with frustration at not being able to understand the situation. He shook his head slowly, claws digging in and out of the bark. He stared at the other cub for a good long while, still in a strange sort of awe that she, a cub, a GIRL cub, had just lifted him off a root and saved him.

The leopard's pink eyes twitched to the orange sky. Worry rolled in his stomach. The sun was setting, and he was supposed to be getting home to his mother. He didn't want her to worry...

Glancing back down at the female cub, Sho stumbled over to her awkwardly. He stood close, staring down with a very stern, almost mean expression. Then he bent his head and nosed her cheek.

Just as quickly as that action had been done, the cub jumped to a smaller root, then a smaller one, and finally to the ground. Then Shokora ran off into the jungle trees, headed for home.



She felt like she was going to cry. Why did this weird cub have to be so mean to her? What made him lie to her? She just wanted to be friends!

And why did he still say nothing? Did he think she was stupid? Was he trying to make her cry on purpose? Why should he be mad at her after she saved him from falling? Why should he be angry at all, after he lied to her? How come he still refused to apologize after she said she was sorry? Shouldn’t he have to say he was sorry, too? Wasn’t she nice enough to him before? Shouldn’t he feel bad? Didn’t he notice how upset this was making her?

The weird cub came up to her again. She sniffled and tensed, thinking she should give him a good cuff across the cheek for being a big stupid jerk. Without saying a word the weird cub nosed her on the cheek. He nosed her! He nosed her? She stared at him with trembling blue eyes. What did it mean?

Then he ran away. For almost a minute Xenia sat there, lips parted as if to ask a question, and blankly into the distance. He… how dare he… what did… she felt so… so…

As she made her way down the log tears started streaming from her eyes and when her little paws touched the earth she ran bawling toward her nana without caring how many of her siblings saw her. Her little head was so confused with itself. She didn’t know if she felt betrayed or guilty or scared or mad or rejected or mistreated or sad or foolish.

The memory of this day would stay with her for a long time, not because of anything particularly special, not because she secretly liked the other cub (she certainly did not), rushing back to the forefront of her mind whenever she found herself in a situation where the world seemed to turn on her with no rhyme or reason, because on this day she cried because nothing else made sense.