Mother was gone. Ikira had wandered off and returned to find not just her mother, but all her siblings gone. She had waited, but they had never come back. Despite her bold ways, the world for a cub alone was a scary place. She had mustered her courage and set out on her own, with little hope of finding her family. At first the had been hesitant, slinking along with wide, frightened eyes. Hunting quickly became out of the question. She simply was too small and clumsy, though after some thought she continued to practice.
Instead, she discovered that, though disgusting in concept, bugs of all sorts would suffice for keeping her belly from grumbling. It was this willingness to do what had to be done that allowed her to keep up her strength as she traveled. It wasn't long before she was adept at finding the places bugs loved best to hide, as well as the best times of day to find them. Soon she was eating her odd meals morning and evening, and traveling during the day, when her pale coat wasn't such a beacon as it was in the darkness.
A week or two of falling into this routine developed a comfortable pattern, a reliability and stability, or at least the impression of such. Her inquisitive and imaginative nature began to reassert itself as she grew to understand and anticipate what each day would be like. This meant she spent more time exploring and less time hiding. She'd had one close encounter with a hawk... whether it had been hungry or merely curious, she never found out. It had swooped too close, and she had managed to sink her tiny cub claws beneath its feathers as it floated by. She'd earned herself a talon scratch for it, but the hawk had flown away, crying aloud.
Now, though, she had come to a very wide and seemingly slow river. She stood on the bank, considering how best to proceed. Should she cross it, or turn and follow it? In the end it didn't much matter, she supposed. She wasn't exactly going anywhere special. Deciding to cross, the eased down the slippery bank and set her forepaws in the water. There she stopped, though, and stared. Something was moving out there. In the muddy water, she couldn't see if very well, but it moved smoothly, green slipping briefly above the water before disappearing again. What was that?
