It had been another rotten day. Tuli paced angrily, his feet sending up soft puffs of dust as he moved. Every so often, a little frustrated rumble would leave his throat as he turned, his little red ears laid back. He'd been sent to a lonely corner of the den again for being recalcitrant and Tabia had forbidden him from going out into the grassy area near the center of the crater to play with the others. A lot of the other cubs were out, it seemed, no doubt being 'trained'. Some of them took to it like ducks to water, and while play fighting was normal and fun, the way they were being encouraged made it feel different. They weren't just honing their skills for catching prey...it would eventually be used for something much worse! To top it all off, he'd overheard talk about a new teacher coming soon, and it worried him deeply...
The war...he simply could not get it out of his little pink head. Why the heck were these people fighting other cats? No one had bothered to tell him why, but he was gonna keep asking...and he was gonna ask a lot more. He finally flopped down, staring at the floor, and reaching out to prod at a small pebble with one paw. He hated this place...he hated the winding, dark caves, he hated the weird purple cheetah woman who watched over them. He was so angry, but too young to understand the emotions he was harboring. He smacked a paw down, watching the dust float up before giving a sneeze. He had to get out of this place...if it was the last thing he ever did.
