Today, Kiojah decided, she was going to have an ADVENTURE. Not a little adventure like she usually had, but a great big one, with deadly peril and monsters to fight and maybe she could come home with battle scars that would show her Mama that she could take care of herself, that getting stuck in that ravine three days ago was an accident and that she really didn’t need to worry quite so much!
The young wild dog was quite thrilled with her new plan. Maybe she could take on something big, like a – like a lion! Oh, yes, that was a brilliant idea. She would take down a great big hairy lion and bring its tail to her Mama! Or – wait, was that a butterfly? Completely distracted from her original idea (which may or may not have been a very good thing), the white and orange wild dog raced across the landscape, chasing the fluttery thing that had caught her attention.
“Wait, butterfly! Wait, wait! I just want to catch you!” she yelled, paying no heed at all to where her paws landed, or to the fact that she was getting farther and farther from her mother and her siblings. All of Kiojah’s attention was focused on the brightly-colored butterfly, and nothing would tear her away from it. Well, nothing except tripping and rolling down and incline, ending up flat on her back with all four paws in the air.
At last she had landed against something soft?
... Something soft and furry?
Blinking, Kiojah pulled her head away from the mass of brown that had swallowed up her vision, and realized that she had rolled smack into the side of a resting cheetah.
Uh-oh.
Nyofu had been in the middle of a nap, when a jarring sensation and the feeling of something soft, yet bony pressed up against her woke her from her sleep. At first, she thought it was Kelele, but then remembered that he had gone off to see if there were any lady servals about, and wouldn’t be back for hours.
So she looked down, completely unsure of what she might find, and was shocked to see a young wild dog – one that looked like she had just rolled down the hill and right into her. To say that Nyofu was startled would have been an understatement, but at least such a small creature was no threat to her. She had no intention of harming the creature, either; though she did wonder why it – she? – was just lying on her back and staring up at her.
Did the canine think she was going to devour it – her?
“Hello,” Nyofu said cautiously, not daring to move lest she frighten or hurt the smaller creature – now she knew how larger felines felt when they were trying to be conscious of her! “Did you fall? Are you hurt?” And, most importantly... “Do you have family around?”
The cheetah knew, all too well, that many creatures in the rogue lands were orphans or outcasts. She was one, herself. The pup (or was it older? Nyofu didn’t know much about wild dogs) looked healthy enough, however, certainly not as underfed and frightened as most orphans were, so maybe it – she – was just fine, if disoriented.
“Wow!” Kiojah exclaimed, flipping upright onto her paws. The cheetah had talked to her! A real live cheetah! Oh, sure, she had grown up around a large feline, but that was something completely different! For one thing, this feline could see, and for another it was a complete stranger, and a different species besides.
“Uh-huh, I’m fine, I’m fine!” she said, barking playfully and wagging her tail. Oh, boy, this wasn’t scary at all – this was exciting! It was exactly the adventure she had hoped for! Mama was never going to believe this.
“I fell all right, down that big hill! Didja see me? I went roll roll roll BOOM only not-boom ‘cause you were right there and I kind of crashed into you!” She chattered, not really expecting an answer. Suddenly, Kiojah paused, belatedly remembering that she was supposed to show manners to other creatures. ”Oh, I’m Kiojah – Mama calls me a little miracle! Can I roll down the hill and crash into you again? That was so much fun!”
Nyofu blinked. The wild dog was talking so fast that she could barely keep up with what the younger creature was saying. She did, however, have the presence of mind to snap a paw out in front of Kiojah, stopping her before she could go charging back up the hill just to roll down it again.
“Hello, I’m Nyofu. I – I didn’t see, because I was asleep, but I really don’t think that you should do it again! You might hurt yourself this time, and that would make your Mama sad,” she said, having caught Kiojah’s rushed mention of her mother out of her babbling. “Why are you out here all by yourself? It’s not safe to wander far from your family.”
There was a sad undertone to the cheetah’s voice, Kiojah noticed, and it was enough to calm to hyperactive juvenile down out of her nearly manic state. “Oh, I was goin’ on an adventure, it was going to be a really big one!” she declared, then blushed beneath her fur and looked down. “But then a butterfly came, and it was pretty so I followed it, and then I rolled down the hill and right into you!”
Saying it that way, it sounded kind of silly, and not like an adventure at all. But Kiojah was determined not to be embarrassed, and she met the feline’s gaze with her own, unafraid and unflinching. “Mama doesn’t know I’m out this far,” she admitted, her tail stilling as she realized that her mother was probably rather worried about her, especially after that time with the beehive, and that other time with the snake.
“I should... probably get back to her, huh?” she said, feeling foolish underneath the golden-eyed scrutiny of the cheetah.
Nyofu nodded, smiling gently at Kiojah. “You should. You’ve only got one Mama, you know... you wouldn’t want to scare her too much,” she said, keeping her tone gentle even as she stood and stretched.
“I would hurry; there are lots of things out here that are scarier than me, and your Mama probably knows of most of them.”
Her mother had too, if only she had gotten to share that knowledge with her before she died... well, it would have saved Nyofu a great deal of trouble. But the past was the past and there was no use in trying to wonder about what might have been, so the feline stepped forward and gave Kiojah a little nudge with her paw.
“Go back to your Mama, she misses you and wants you safe.” Nyofu didn’t actualy know that, of course, but she guessed that it was a good thing to say, and it fit the way she thought a mother should act if her cub – er, pup – had disappeared on her.
Nyofu watched as the wild dog turned and trotted back up the hill in the direction she had fallen, thinking for a moment before calling out, “By the way, my name’s Nyofu!”
Kiojah hurried up the hill, and didn’t look back at the cheetah until she was on top of it and looking down at her. “Okay, Nyofu! It was nice meeting you,” she called, then took off at a dead run back in what she felt reasonably sure was the direction of her family.
She was halfway back home when she realized that she really had just experienced a grand adventure – sure, a cheetah wasn’t a lion, but it was still a fun encounter. She couldn’t wait to tell her mother! Kiojah was so excited that she practically skipped back the way she’d come... and didn’t notice the small hole in the ground until she’d tripped and landed flat on her face.
...Maybe she wouldn’t tell her mother everything.
Word Count: 1345
