Chapter 5
R’shan was limping badly by the time that they reached the village. K’var was very worried about him, though the hunter didn’t utter even one complaint. The skin around R’shan’s mouth was white, and the younger wereleopard knew that he was clenching his jaw to keep in any sounds of pain. Anxiously he helped R’shan toward the healing house, which was the only structure in the village that had been built on ground level. Injured wereleopards couldn’t always get into the trees, after all. One of the healers, an older female, was sitting cross-legged out front grinding an ingredient for medicine in a wooden bowl with a thick piece of wood with a rounded end - K’var’s father Avhonari called it a pestle. She looked up as they approached, and instantly set down the bowl when she saw R’shan.
“What happened?” she asked K’var as she leapt to her feet. “A hunting accident?”
He gulped as R’shan eased himself down onto a smooth boulder next to the healing house so that the healer could bend over him. “No,” he admitted, “He was captured by humans.”
“Humans?!” she exclaimed, looking shocked. “Where? How?”
“We’ll tell you the story later,” R’shan growled tightly through his teeth.
“Yes, of course. My apologies, hunter,” the healer said as her fingers began to run down his bare right leg carefully. They arrived at a large, ugly-looking bruise. “Did one of the humans hit you with something? A club?” she asked as her fingers hovered over it.
R’shan nodded. “He hit me with it to stop me from fleeing - and maybe cripple me. I’m not so stupid as to stop and fight when I could run,” he added for K’var’s benefit, seeing the expression on the younger wereleopard’s face. “I started to flee, but one of them threw a club at my leg. He was good with the weapon. It was a hard blow. I went down, and then they were on me before I could fight.”
“I see. It's heavily damaged the muscle tissue, but not permanently. You’ll have trouble walking for the next moon cycle or so, but I’ll give you some balm to rub on it so that it doesn’t stiffen up and get even worse. For now…” she went into the healing house, then re-emerged a moment later with a gourd in one hand and a stick that have been carved into a flat, smooth shape and rubbed with oil to discourage splinters in the wood in the other hand. She came over and stuck the stick into the gourd, then began smearing a thick paste onto the many cuts and bruises all over R’shan’s torso. “You’re fortunate that they wanted to take you alive,” she noted. “There doesn’t seem to be any internal damage, they were careful about that.”
R’shan grunted, sounding tired. His face looked drawn. K’var wished that he could do something. He felt entirely helpless here. Finally the healer was done with her task. “Go and get something to eat,” she told the hunter firmly. “Food will help speed up the healing process. Then sleep. You can tell me what happened with the humans when you’re more alert and awake. I won’t tell the Elders about this - I’ll leave that up to you.”
R’shan nodded, rising carefully to his feet and accepting the balm that she gave him for the bruise on his leg. “My thanks, healer,” he said gratefully.
“You are most welcome, R’shan. Off with you both now,” she made shooing motions with her hands. “Unless you’re hurt as well, K’var?” she looked him over, but he shook his head.
“No, healer, I’m fine,” he said.
“All right then. You can help R’shan to bed and look after him.”
“I will,” K’var vowed, stepping up to R’shan’s side and helping to steady the hunter, who was swaying a little.
She smiled at him as he helped R’shan away. “K’var glanced up at his companion. “I’ll get you into your house,” he said, “And bring you some food.”
“My thanks,” R’shan murmured, and K’var realized that this was the first time that the hunter had ever shown him anything but scorn, impatience, or irritation. Gratitude was a lovely change, though he didn’t totally deserve it.
He helped R’shan up into his ‘tree house,’ not an easy task for either of them. He heard a grunt of pain from the hunter as they climbed, and winced. But fortunately R’shan managed to make it into the small space and onto the mattress made of sewn together furs stuffed with dried leaves. He lay down with a sigh of weariness, his big body stretched out with his wounded leg at an angle where it would not be pressed into the mattress and put pressure on the bruise. “I’ll get some food,” K’var said, then darted back down the tree using the hand and footholds that had been carved into it.
He rushed over to the community cook fire, where there was always something cooking no matter what time of day or night it was. Hunters and foragers worked hard to find food for the cook fire, and cubs were always bringing in sticks and leaves and fallen branches to feed the fire. While they sometimes ate their meat raw, wereleopards preferred it cooked to remove any parasites or diseases that it might contain. A deer carcass was being roasted over it at the moment, the venison brown and smelling wonderful. K’var felt himself beginning to salivate, and decided to get some food for himself as well.
He approached one of the people tending the fire, a young hunter. “D’lan, I need lots of food for R’shan,” K’var told him. “He was injured,” he added, not saying how. Let the young hunter think that R’shan had been injured while hunting for now.
“Is he hurt bad?” D’lan asked as he began to hack off a large portion of the venison.
“No, but bad enough. He’s exhausted, and the healer wants him to rest. But he has to eat first.”
D’lan nodded. Wereleopards consumed a lot of calories anyway even normally, to fuel their Changes. But a wounded wereleopard had to eat even more, as their body would have to divert a good deal of their energy into healing the injuries. K’var took the large flat leaf that D’lan had piled the seasoned venison onto, giving him a grateful look. “My thanks, D’lan,” he said before he scurried away.
“Tell R’shan I hope he mends soon!” D’lan called after him.
“I will!” he cried over his shoulder, then darted on his way back to R’shan’s house.
It wasn’t easy climbing the tree using only one hand, but he managed. He found R’shan half asleep, his eyes closed. K’var knelt down next to him. “R’shan, you have to eat,” he murmured, touching the hunter’s shoulder with his free hand. “Come now. It's venison; it smells wonderful. Eat.”
R’shan’s nostrils twitched as the scent of the cooked meat reached them, and he opened his eyes half-way. He started to move, but K’var’s fingers tightened on his shoulder. ‘Don’t move, R’shan. I’ll feed you,” he said.
The hunter relaxed back onto the surface of the mattress. He lay there as K’var tore off a piece of the meat with his fingers, blew on it to cool it, and carefully placed it in R’shan’s mouth, which opened obediently. The hunter began to chew, growling a little in appreciation at the taste. K’var slowly fed him piece after piece, finding that he rather enjoyed this task. Especially when R’shan licked at his greasy fingers with his tongue, making the younger wereleopard catch his breath…
When he was finally too full to eat anymore, R’shan closed his eyes and sighed. “Sleep,” K’var told him, and the hunter almost instantly slid into a deep slumber.
K’var sat down cross-legged on the floor and ate what was left of the meat, savoring each bite. When he was finished, he licked his fingers clean(with the memory of R’shan doing the same thing fresh in his mind), then retrieved the small gourd that the healer had given to R’shan and carefully spread the balm over the huge bruise. R’shan murmured in his sleep but didn’t wake up, which K’var was glad about. Better the hunter not be awake to feel the pain his actions were sure to cause R’shan.
K’var was acutely aware of the hard muscle and the velvet skin under his fingertips as he smeared the balm on the bruise. He ducked his head a little in embarrassed pleasure, as he remembered what had happened in that clearing a few hours ago. How good that had felt! No wonder his fathers so often retreated to their room even in full daylight to ‘spend time together,’ even after all of these years of being mates. He couldn’t wait until R’shan was feeling better, so that they could…
K’var drew in a long breath and lifted his fingers from R’shan’s skin. He grimaced down at the visible sign that his thoughts had excited him, sitting back on his heels and waiting for it to subside before he left R’shan’s house. He had to go home and reassure his family that he was all right, and he had to tell them what had happened…he definitely wasn’t looking forward to that. He’d always assumed that he’d be able to tell his fathers about his accomplishments with a sense of triumph, and that they’d forgive him his silence because they’d be so proud of him. Instead he had to tell them now, and that he’d inadvertently caused R’shan to be captured by humans because he’d told no one where he went occasionally. It was true that the hunter had followed of his own volition, but K’var could understand why R'shan would want to know where he was going. He sighed. He was not looking forward to facing his fathers with this tale at all.
At least thoughts of their impending anger and/or disappointment had worked miracles on his little problem. K’var took a last look at R’shan’s handsome face, relaxed in sleep, before he slipped out of the house and climbed back down the tree. Time to face the music…
“K’var!” A voice cried as he was crossing the clearing. He turned to see his fathers nearly running toward him, both looking relieved. They were followed by his cousin Traggen and his Uncle J’Dran, and all of them had clearly been anxious and worried. His body wilted as he realized how much he must have upset them by being out all night with no word.
“Father,” he replied miserably to Z’sharan, who grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him over anxiously.
“Are you well?” Z’sharan demanded.
He nodded. “I am, Father.”
He got a hard hug for this statement. “We’ve been so worried about you, Cub!” Z’sharan said as he finally stepped back so that Avhonari could take his place.
He tried not to sniffle. “Yes, I know. I’m sorry, everybody,” he said sadly.
“What happened, my son?” Avhonari asked as the human touched his face with gentle fingers.
K’var sighed. “It’s a long story…” he began.
“Then let’s go home and listen to it. And afterward, you can get some sleep,” Avhonari remarked. “You look exhausted, Cub.”
All he wanted to do was sleep. K’var felt grateful for this suggestion. “Okay,” he said, and let his father surround him as J’Dran gave him a bear hug and Traggen patted his shoulder. He felt better surrounded by his relieved family, even though he still wasn’t looking forward to telling them about what had happened. K’var went with them into the jungle, just wanting to go home, confess, and fall into bed. Maybe he’d dream about R’shan…
K’var stood and waited for the reaction of his family. He’d bravely told them the whole story(well, except for the part about what happened between him and R’shan in the clearing), about how he’d been going to the human village for years now to learn their ways. They’d listened mostly in silence, although J’Dran had growled softly when he’d told them about R’shan’s capture and his treatment at the hands of the humans, and how he’d been locked in an iron cage. Now he stood and sweated, worried about how angry they’d be with him.
Z’sharan looked at his mate. Avhonari lifted his shoulders a little and said softly: “I think perhaps we have misjudged K’var, Z’sharan, by thinking that he is still a cub. Our son is more of an adult than we imagined.”
Z’sharan blinked thoughtfully and nodded at his words. He turned back to his son, who glanced from him to Avhonari worriedly. “K’var,” he began sternly, and the younger wereleopard visibly wilted at his tone of voice. “You should have told us what you were doing,” Z’sharan went on, and K’var twitched.
“I know, Father,” he said miserably. “I know that I should have. It’s just…”
“You wanted to do it on your own and prove that you’re not a cub anymore,” J’Dran said unexpectedly, making them all look at him. The hunter shrugged. “It’s like when I went out hunting on my own when I was just a boy,” he pointed out to his brother, “To prove that I was an adult. All I managed was to get gored by a wild boar, because I thought that I was way better than I actually am.”
“Is that how you got that scar on your side?” Traggen asked curiously.
“Yes. I’m lucky it's only a scar,” the hunter remarked. “Cubs do foolish things to prove themselves. It’s just a given, really.”
Z’sharan nodded. “I remember that. And what you did was no more dangerous than what K’var was doing. More, really, since he seems to have done a very good job at blending in. I have to say, we’re proud of you, K’var. What you did WAS very dangerous, but that you managed to do it so many times without being caught is a testament to your smarts and abilities.”
K’var stared at him in surprise. “You’re not…angry with me, Fathers?” he asked, his eyes going from Z’sharan’s face to Avhonari’s.
“Well, we are a little. But we’re mostly happy that you’re safe and well, and that you managed to rescue R’shan from the hands of the human hunters,” Avhonari told him quietly. “From now on, if you want to go to the human lands like that all we ask is that you don’t go alone anymore, and that we always know when you go,” he added.
Z’sharan made a sound of agreement. “It chills me to the bone to think that you might have been captured on one of those forays and we would never have known what became of you,” he said, shivering slightly.
“I’m sorry, Father,” K’var said remorsefully as Avhonari put his arms around his mate and held him comfortingly. “I promise not to go alone again. And I’ll always tell when I’m going.”
“Actually, I might go with you if you do decide to go again,” Traggen remarked. “Being an actual human, no one will look twice at me.”
“You’d do that, Cousin Traggen?” K’var asked, brightening up.
“Of course. You always protect your family,” Traggen said with a shrug.
Z’sharan and Avhonari looked relieved by this offer. Traggen was so skilled with a sword that they knew that he could protect K’var even from a crowd of attackers. J’Dran put a hand on his mate’s shoulder and squeezed the muscles, showing his own silent pleasure over this offer. Traggen reached up and wound his fingers with the hunter’s.
“I won’t be going again anytime soon,” K’var said ruefully. “Besides if I tried, R’shan would probably yell at me again.”
The way he said this made them all look at him. K’var squirmed under their combined gazes, his eyes dropping. Traggen said: “So just how did R’shan yell at you over him getting captured, Cub? Was he very mean?” there was insinuation in his voice, and his eyes gleamed wickedly.
K’var flushed at this question. “Umm…he…he yelled really loudly at first. He was very angry. But then…”
“Then?” Traggen prompted him.
“He got less angry,” K’var said in a rush.
Z’sharan and Avhonari exchanged glances, and Traggen grinned as J’Dran cocked his head. “It’s good that you worked it out with him, cub,” he rumbled.
Traggen threw a laughing glance at his oblivious mate. “Yes, it’s excellent that you worked it out with R’shan, K’var,” he purred teasingly. “Did you enjoy working it out? Something tells me that you did,” he went on, his grin widening.
J’Dran looked puzzled, while Avhonari got an expression of enlightenment on his face as he remembered Traggen’s earlier prediction about R’shan and his son. Z’sharan’s brows lowered a little. “K’var? Do you have something else to tell us?” he asked.
The young wereleopard took a deep breath. It wasn’t as though he could hide anything from his family, not with so many sharp eyes(and noses) around. “R’shan…wants to mate with me,” he said in a rush.
Silence. J’Dran gaped at him, while Z’sharan merely looked thoughtful and Avhonari resigned. Traggen laughed softly. He’d definitely called that one. “Do you want to mate with him, Cub?” he asked aloud.
K’var squirmed some more. “Yes,” he hissed.
Traggen chuckled. “Well, then, that’s that, eh? At least you and he won’t be fighting anymore,” he pointed out affably.
J’Dran had pulled himself together enough to rasp: “Are you sure, Cub? That hunter hasn’t been very nice to you.”
K’var’s shoulders lifted a little, helplessly. “R’shan said that he figured out why he’s been so mean to me,” he began. “Because he wanted to mate with me, but I never understood or noticed…”
“That’s a male of any species for you,” Traggen remarked in amusement. “They either want to fight something…or fuc…mate with it,” he changed in mid-sentence, his dark-blue eyes twinkling.
“If this is what you want, my son, then we’ll support you in it,” Avhonari said to K’var. “Will you merely couple with him, or do you think that you two will become mates?”
K’var shook his head. “I don’t know, Father,” he said. “We haven’t even been able to talk that much yet. R’shan is sleeping right now; the healer said he needed as much rest as possible to recover from his wounds.”
“Whichever it turns out to be, we’re with you, Cub,” Z’sharan said firmly.
“Thank you, Father.” K’var swayed with weariness, and Avhonari stepped forward to take his arm.
“Let’s get you to bed, my son,” he told K’var, steering him toward his bedroom. “We can talk about all of this more later.”
K’var was happy to go, so tired that he couldn’t even see straight at this point. He crawled into his bed and went to sleep immediately, while Avhonari pulled a light blanket up over him and left him alone with a last stroke of his amber locks.
Go to Next Chapter
R’shan was limping badly by the time that they reached the village. K’var was very worried about him, though the hunter didn’t utter even one complaint. The skin around R’shan’s mouth was white, and the younger wereleopard knew that he was clenching his jaw to keep in any sounds of pain. Anxiously he helped R’shan toward the healing house, which was the only structure in the village that had been built on ground level. Injured wereleopards couldn’t always get into the trees, after all. One of the healers, an older female, was sitting cross-legged out front grinding an ingredient for medicine in a wooden bowl with a thick piece of wood with a rounded end - K’var’s father Avhonari called it a pestle. She looked up as they approached, and instantly set down the bowl when she saw R’shan.
“What happened?” she asked K’var as she leapt to her feet. “A hunting accident?”
He gulped as R’shan eased himself down onto a smooth boulder next to the healing house so that the healer could bend over him. “No,” he admitted, “He was captured by humans.”
“Humans?!” she exclaimed, looking shocked. “Where? How?”
“We’ll tell you the story later,” R’shan growled tightly through his teeth.
“Yes, of course. My apologies, hunter,” the healer said as her fingers began to run down his bare right leg carefully. They arrived at a large, ugly-looking bruise. “Did one of the humans hit you with something? A club?” she asked as her fingers hovered over it.
R’shan nodded. “He hit me with it to stop me from fleeing - and maybe cripple me. I’m not so stupid as to stop and fight when I could run,” he added for K’var’s benefit, seeing the expression on the younger wereleopard’s face. “I started to flee, but one of them threw a club at my leg. He was good with the weapon. It was a hard blow. I went down, and then they were on me before I could fight.”
“I see. It's heavily damaged the muscle tissue, but not permanently. You’ll have trouble walking for the next moon cycle or so, but I’ll give you some balm to rub on it so that it doesn’t stiffen up and get even worse. For now…” she went into the healing house, then re-emerged a moment later with a gourd in one hand and a stick that have been carved into a flat, smooth shape and rubbed with oil to discourage splinters in the wood in the other hand. She came over and stuck the stick into the gourd, then began smearing a thick paste onto the many cuts and bruises all over R’shan’s torso. “You’re fortunate that they wanted to take you alive,” she noted. “There doesn’t seem to be any internal damage, they were careful about that.”
R’shan grunted, sounding tired. His face looked drawn. K’var wished that he could do something. He felt entirely helpless here. Finally the healer was done with her task. “Go and get something to eat,” she told the hunter firmly. “Food will help speed up the healing process. Then sleep. You can tell me what happened with the humans when you’re more alert and awake. I won’t tell the Elders about this - I’ll leave that up to you.”
R’shan nodded, rising carefully to his feet and accepting the balm that she gave him for the bruise on his leg. “My thanks, healer,” he said gratefully.
“You are most welcome, R’shan. Off with you both now,” she made shooing motions with her hands. “Unless you’re hurt as well, K’var?” she looked him over, but he shook his head.
“No, healer, I’m fine,” he said.
“All right then. You can help R’shan to bed and look after him.”
“I will,” K’var vowed, stepping up to R’shan’s side and helping to steady the hunter, who was swaying a little.
She smiled at him as he helped R’shan away. “K’var glanced up at his companion. “I’ll get you into your house,” he said, “And bring you some food.”
“My thanks,” R’shan murmured, and K’var realized that this was the first time that the hunter had ever shown him anything but scorn, impatience, or irritation. Gratitude was a lovely change, though he didn’t totally deserve it.
He helped R’shan up into his ‘tree house,’ not an easy task for either of them. He heard a grunt of pain from the hunter as they climbed, and winced. But fortunately R’shan managed to make it into the small space and onto the mattress made of sewn together furs stuffed with dried leaves. He lay down with a sigh of weariness, his big body stretched out with his wounded leg at an angle where it would not be pressed into the mattress and put pressure on the bruise. “I’ll get some food,” K’var said, then darted back down the tree using the hand and footholds that had been carved into it.
He rushed over to the community cook fire, where there was always something cooking no matter what time of day or night it was. Hunters and foragers worked hard to find food for the cook fire, and cubs were always bringing in sticks and leaves and fallen branches to feed the fire. While they sometimes ate their meat raw, wereleopards preferred it cooked to remove any parasites or diseases that it might contain. A deer carcass was being roasted over it at the moment, the venison brown and smelling wonderful. K’var felt himself beginning to salivate, and decided to get some food for himself as well.
He approached one of the people tending the fire, a young hunter. “D’lan, I need lots of food for R’shan,” K’var told him. “He was injured,” he added, not saying how. Let the young hunter think that R’shan had been injured while hunting for now.
“Is he hurt bad?” D’lan asked as he began to hack off a large portion of the venison.
“No, but bad enough. He’s exhausted, and the healer wants him to rest. But he has to eat first.”
D’lan nodded. Wereleopards consumed a lot of calories anyway even normally, to fuel their Changes. But a wounded wereleopard had to eat even more, as their body would have to divert a good deal of their energy into healing the injuries. K’var took the large flat leaf that D’lan had piled the seasoned venison onto, giving him a grateful look. “My thanks, D’lan,” he said before he scurried away.
“Tell R’shan I hope he mends soon!” D’lan called after him.
“I will!” he cried over his shoulder, then darted on his way back to R’shan’s house.
It wasn’t easy climbing the tree using only one hand, but he managed. He found R’shan half asleep, his eyes closed. K’var knelt down next to him. “R’shan, you have to eat,” he murmured, touching the hunter’s shoulder with his free hand. “Come now. It's venison; it smells wonderful. Eat.”
R’shan’s nostrils twitched as the scent of the cooked meat reached them, and he opened his eyes half-way. He started to move, but K’var’s fingers tightened on his shoulder. ‘Don’t move, R’shan. I’ll feed you,” he said.
The hunter relaxed back onto the surface of the mattress. He lay there as K’var tore off a piece of the meat with his fingers, blew on it to cool it, and carefully placed it in R’shan’s mouth, which opened obediently. The hunter began to chew, growling a little in appreciation at the taste. K’var slowly fed him piece after piece, finding that he rather enjoyed this task. Especially when R’shan licked at his greasy fingers with his tongue, making the younger wereleopard catch his breath…
When he was finally too full to eat anymore, R’shan closed his eyes and sighed. “Sleep,” K’var told him, and the hunter almost instantly slid into a deep slumber.
K’var sat down cross-legged on the floor and ate what was left of the meat, savoring each bite. When he was finished, he licked his fingers clean(with the memory of R’shan doing the same thing fresh in his mind), then retrieved the small gourd that the healer had given to R’shan and carefully spread the balm over the huge bruise. R’shan murmured in his sleep but didn’t wake up, which K’var was glad about. Better the hunter not be awake to feel the pain his actions were sure to cause R’shan.
K’var was acutely aware of the hard muscle and the velvet skin under his fingertips as he smeared the balm on the bruise. He ducked his head a little in embarrassed pleasure, as he remembered what had happened in that clearing a few hours ago. How good that had felt! No wonder his fathers so often retreated to their room even in full daylight to ‘spend time together,’ even after all of these years of being mates. He couldn’t wait until R’shan was feeling better, so that they could…
K’var drew in a long breath and lifted his fingers from R’shan’s skin. He grimaced down at the visible sign that his thoughts had excited him, sitting back on his heels and waiting for it to subside before he left R’shan’s house. He had to go home and reassure his family that he was all right, and he had to tell them what had happened…he definitely wasn’t looking forward to that. He’d always assumed that he’d be able to tell his fathers about his accomplishments with a sense of triumph, and that they’d forgive him his silence because they’d be so proud of him. Instead he had to tell them now, and that he’d inadvertently caused R’shan to be captured by humans because he’d told no one where he went occasionally. It was true that the hunter had followed of his own volition, but K’var could understand why R'shan would want to know where he was going. He sighed. He was not looking forward to facing his fathers with this tale at all.
At least thoughts of their impending anger and/or disappointment had worked miracles on his little problem. K’var took a last look at R’shan’s handsome face, relaxed in sleep, before he slipped out of the house and climbed back down the tree. Time to face the music…
“K’var!” A voice cried as he was crossing the clearing. He turned to see his fathers nearly running toward him, both looking relieved. They were followed by his cousin Traggen and his Uncle J’Dran, and all of them had clearly been anxious and worried. His body wilted as he realized how much he must have upset them by being out all night with no word.
“Father,” he replied miserably to Z’sharan, who grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him over anxiously.
“Are you well?” Z’sharan demanded.
He nodded. “I am, Father.”
He got a hard hug for this statement. “We’ve been so worried about you, Cub!” Z’sharan said as he finally stepped back so that Avhonari could take his place.
He tried not to sniffle. “Yes, I know. I’m sorry, everybody,” he said sadly.
“What happened, my son?” Avhonari asked as the human touched his face with gentle fingers.
K’var sighed. “It’s a long story…” he began.
“Then let’s go home and listen to it. And afterward, you can get some sleep,” Avhonari remarked. “You look exhausted, Cub.”
All he wanted to do was sleep. K’var felt grateful for this suggestion. “Okay,” he said, and let his father surround him as J’Dran gave him a bear hug and Traggen patted his shoulder. He felt better surrounded by his relieved family, even though he still wasn’t looking forward to telling them about what had happened. K’var went with them into the jungle, just wanting to go home, confess, and fall into bed. Maybe he’d dream about R’shan…
K’var stood and waited for the reaction of his family. He’d bravely told them the whole story(well, except for the part about what happened between him and R’shan in the clearing), about how he’d been going to the human village for years now to learn their ways. They’d listened mostly in silence, although J’Dran had growled softly when he’d told them about R’shan’s capture and his treatment at the hands of the humans, and how he’d been locked in an iron cage. Now he stood and sweated, worried about how angry they’d be with him.
Z’sharan looked at his mate. Avhonari lifted his shoulders a little and said softly: “I think perhaps we have misjudged K’var, Z’sharan, by thinking that he is still a cub. Our son is more of an adult than we imagined.”
Z’sharan blinked thoughtfully and nodded at his words. He turned back to his son, who glanced from him to Avhonari worriedly. “K’var,” he began sternly, and the younger wereleopard visibly wilted at his tone of voice. “You should have told us what you were doing,” Z’sharan went on, and K’var twitched.
“I know, Father,” he said miserably. “I know that I should have. It’s just…”
“You wanted to do it on your own and prove that you’re not a cub anymore,” J’Dran said unexpectedly, making them all look at him. The hunter shrugged. “It’s like when I went out hunting on my own when I was just a boy,” he pointed out to his brother, “To prove that I was an adult. All I managed was to get gored by a wild boar, because I thought that I was way better than I actually am.”
“Is that how you got that scar on your side?” Traggen asked curiously.
“Yes. I’m lucky it's only a scar,” the hunter remarked. “Cubs do foolish things to prove themselves. It’s just a given, really.”
Z’sharan nodded. “I remember that. And what you did was no more dangerous than what K’var was doing. More, really, since he seems to have done a very good job at blending in. I have to say, we’re proud of you, K’var. What you did WAS very dangerous, but that you managed to do it so many times without being caught is a testament to your smarts and abilities.”
K’var stared at him in surprise. “You’re not…angry with me, Fathers?” he asked, his eyes going from Z’sharan’s face to Avhonari’s.
“Well, we are a little. But we’re mostly happy that you’re safe and well, and that you managed to rescue R’shan from the hands of the human hunters,” Avhonari told him quietly. “From now on, if you want to go to the human lands like that all we ask is that you don’t go alone anymore, and that we always know when you go,” he added.
Z’sharan made a sound of agreement. “It chills me to the bone to think that you might have been captured on one of those forays and we would never have known what became of you,” he said, shivering slightly.
“I’m sorry, Father,” K’var said remorsefully as Avhonari put his arms around his mate and held him comfortingly. “I promise not to go alone again. And I’ll always tell when I’m going.”
“Actually, I might go with you if you do decide to go again,” Traggen remarked. “Being an actual human, no one will look twice at me.”
“You’d do that, Cousin Traggen?” K’var asked, brightening up.
“Of course. You always protect your family,” Traggen said with a shrug.
Z’sharan and Avhonari looked relieved by this offer. Traggen was so skilled with a sword that they knew that he could protect K’var even from a crowd of attackers. J’Dran put a hand on his mate’s shoulder and squeezed the muscles, showing his own silent pleasure over this offer. Traggen reached up and wound his fingers with the hunter’s.
“I won’t be going again anytime soon,” K’var said ruefully. “Besides if I tried, R’shan would probably yell at me again.”
The way he said this made them all look at him. K’var squirmed under their combined gazes, his eyes dropping. Traggen said: “So just how did R’shan yell at you over him getting captured, Cub? Was he very mean?” there was insinuation in his voice, and his eyes gleamed wickedly.
K’var flushed at this question. “Umm…he…he yelled really loudly at first. He was very angry. But then…”
“Then?” Traggen prompted him.
“He got less angry,” K’var said in a rush.
Z’sharan and Avhonari exchanged glances, and Traggen grinned as J’Dran cocked his head. “It’s good that you worked it out with him, cub,” he rumbled.
Traggen threw a laughing glance at his oblivious mate. “Yes, it’s excellent that you worked it out with R’shan, K’var,” he purred teasingly. “Did you enjoy working it out? Something tells me that you did,” he went on, his grin widening.
J’Dran looked puzzled, while Avhonari got an expression of enlightenment on his face as he remembered Traggen’s earlier prediction about R’shan and his son. Z’sharan’s brows lowered a little. “K’var? Do you have something else to tell us?” he asked.
The young wereleopard took a deep breath. It wasn’t as though he could hide anything from his family, not with so many sharp eyes(and noses) around. “R’shan…wants to mate with me,” he said in a rush.
Silence. J’Dran gaped at him, while Z’sharan merely looked thoughtful and Avhonari resigned. Traggen laughed softly. He’d definitely called that one. “Do you want to mate with him, Cub?” he asked aloud.
K’var squirmed some more. “Yes,” he hissed.
Traggen chuckled. “Well, then, that’s that, eh? At least you and he won’t be fighting anymore,” he pointed out affably.
J’Dran had pulled himself together enough to rasp: “Are you sure, Cub? That hunter hasn’t been very nice to you.”
K’var’s shoulders lifted a little, helplessly. “R’shan said that he figured out why he’s been so mean to me,” he began. “Because he wanted to mate with me, but I never understood or noticed…”
“That’s a male of any species for you,” Traggen remarked in amusement. “They either want to fight something…or fuc…mate with it,” he changed in mid-sentence, his dark-blue eyes twinkling.
“If this is what you want, my son, then we’ll support you in it,” Avhonari said to K’var. “Will you merely couple with him, or do you think that you two will become mates?”
K’var shook his head. “I don’t know, Father,” he said. “We haven’t even been able to talk that much yet. R’shan is sleeping right now; the healer said he needed as much rest as possible to recover from his wounds.”
“Whichever it turns out to be, we’re with you, Cub,” Z’sharan said firmly.
“Thank you, Father.” K’var swayed with weariness, and Avhonari stepped forward to take his arm.
“Let’s get you to bed, my son,” he told K’var, steering him toward his bedroom. “We can talk about all of this more later.”
K’var was happy to go, so tired that he couldn’t even see straight at this point. He crawled into his bed and went to sleep immediately, while Avhonari pulled a light blanket up over him and left him alone with a last stroke of his amber locks.
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