#seldnac

Lena’s ear twitched, and she stopped her prowling to scratch it. The blue flame on it flickered from the movement, but with all the glowing plants around her, that shouldn’t startle any potential prey.

Strange, though. Lena’s spiral markings glowed a little more brightly amidst her black fur as she gazed into the future, looking for some sort of imminent threat to set off the itch, but nothing. Hm. Maybe sometimes, a twitch was just a twitch.

Back to the matter at paw, then. She’d smelled a mouse just a moment ago, and now slightly opened her mouth to locate the scent even better. Just a little bit further…

A high-pitched yelp ruined Lena’s attention and sent the mouse skittering away. Not that she cared, not this time; the yelp had sounded far too familiar, and there was exactly one thing allowed to torment her little apprentice, which was Lena herself. Twigs and brambles tried to hold her back, but whenever they would catch her skin or fur, she just liquidized the area, letting them slide off harmlessly. No bothersome plants would stop her from saving Sky.

It didn’t take her long to spot Sky’s sand-colored fur through the green bushes, back turned towards her. With an impressively loud hiss, Lena leapt over the fennec, paws just barely missing Sky’s glowing white wings, fur bristled, claws unsheathed. When she landed, the blue glow of her bared fangs reflected from— the leaves of a thistle bush.

She turned towards Sky, who was rubbing her nose with a paw. “Uh, sorry?” Sky offered sheepishly. “I didn’t know you were in the area… Or that you’d come running!” She stepped closer to Lena. “Sooo… I guess that means you do care about me!”

“Well,” Lena said, and quickly groomed her chest to cover up the embarrassment of trying to start a fight with a piece of vegetation, “I didn't expect my apprentice to be foolish enough to scream because she didn’t manage to see a bush bigger than she is.” Once Lena’s chest fur was nice and shiny, she moved on to her paw. “And as your mentor, it would have been my duty to protect you from any actual threats.”

“That’s so nice of you!” Sky lowered her torso to the ground, behind still high and tail wagging quickly. “So, since you’re here anyway…” There was a playful twinkle in Sky’s brown eyes, all the more noticeable thanks to the two glowing stripes on her cheeks.

Lena lifted her head to look at Sky, but kept her paw raised. “Don’t push your luck, kitten.” When Sky took another step towards her, Lena swiftly batted at her, claws of course sheathed.

Sky jumped back, flapping her wings and hovering a little above the ground. “Aw, come on!”

“My lunch got away thanks to you.” Lena’s tail tip twitched. “So I’ll have to find something new.” She paused, faced with Sky's big pleading eyes, then sighed. “Maybe afterwards, I can teach you some more.”

“What if I helped you?” Sky landed again and neatly folded her wings against her body, almost covering up the white splotch further back. Not like it mattered; Lena knew Sky didn’t actually need the wings to fly. “You know, if I caught you something!”

“And you think you’ll find something faster than I can?” She had confidence, if nothing else.

“Well, maybe not faster,” Sky admitted. “But if there’s two Seldnacs looking, then that’s twice the chance of finding something, right? So even if I’m not faster than you in general, I might get lucky, and then you’d have your food sooner!”

It didn’t seem like Sky would give up on the plan that quickly, and in a way, it was a little endearing. “All right. Show me your forest hunting skills.”

“I came here to practice those! Look!” Sky kept her tail still and ducked close to the ground, moving forwards quietly. Seemed like she had indeed trained, even if she was still a little clumsy when it came to avoiding all the little twigs, branches and roots that littered the forest ground. And bushes, apparently.

Lena circled Sky, nudging her slightly here, pulling one of her legs into a better position there. “Fine, you can try to help. You go that way, I’ll go this way. And remember to keep your legs on the ground while you’re here.”

“I will, promise!” Though Lena had no doubt Sky meant what she said, the fennec’s feet were again hanging a paw’s width above the ground.

Lena bit Sky’s foreleg, just gentle enough that her teeth wouldn’t pierce the skin, and yanked her back down. “Don't forget to look where you’re going, I can’t save you from every thistle you might run into.”

“Yeah, I learned that lesson.” Sky rubbed her nose one more time. “Okay, I’ll go, and I’ll be back with some nice lunch for you before you know it! See you!” And off she ran, though to her credit, her paws did in fact touch the ground with every step.

Emmy felt the warmth of the setting sun on her back. Soon, its bright light would be replaced by the soft glow of Arbalednac's leaves and grasses. Or so Emmy assumed; she'd never been outside that late, only seen it from windows. Her parents worried easily, so she always tried to be home before dark. In a few years, Emmy would be an adult, and then she could explore Arbalednac at night all she wanted.

Right now, though, she was headed home, when a scream cut through the air.

Emmy found herself running in its direction before she'd even realized what she'd heard, heart beating so hard it felt like it might burst, paws drumming on the ground.

The scream had come from a Grimalkin Seldnac, a lynx, maybe a year or two younger than Emmy. They were cowering on the ground, the purple flames on their tufted ears flickering erratically. Towering above them were two Vargkins, bigger and older than Emmy, snickering to each other.

“Hey!” Emmy called out as she jumped between the duo and their target. “Pick on someone your own size!”

One of them, a hyena with swirling lime-colored markings, leaned in until their fangs were just inches from Emmy’s face. “Oh? You mean like you?”

Emmy fought the instinct to cower, and instead let her flames and markings glow brightly, their green light reflecting in the hyena’s eyes. She didn’t answer—didn’t trust her voice to be steady enough for that—but growled, hoping the younger Seldnac would flee, though she didn’t dare look away from the hyena to check.

“Hey, what are you, a puppy or a deer?” the other Seldnac, a wolf like Emmy, asked, nudging Emmy’s antlers with his snout.

The hyena laughed. “Aww, prey trying to fight back?”

“I’m not prey!” Emmy defended herself, but she couldn’t help but flinch when the wolf’s dark red flames flickered higher.

“She’s cheeky prey, I’ll give her that!”

The hyena finally took a step back, still standing too close for comfort. “Maybe we should teach her a lesson.”

“Hmm…” The wolf tilted his head to the side.

He moved faster than Emmy’s eyes could follow. Pain shot through her head as sharp fangs locked onto her ear and the soft fuzz covering her antler, pressing them together.

Emmy yelped, then growled, then whined, but the wolf didn’t relent. “Let go!” She tried to break free, but his grip was too strong, and the pain only worsened the more she struggled. “Please!” When begging didn’t help, she tried to snap at him, but he was too large, out of reach of her teeth.

“Seems like she still hasn’t learned!” the hyena howled. “You’ve gotta show her!”

With a deep growl, the wolf began throwing his head left and right.

Emmy’s front paws were lifted off the ground as a new bout of white-hot pain shot through her, not quite drowning out a sickening crunch just before she fell to the ground, her eyes clenched shut.

The wolf snorted and turned away. “Hope you’ll know better next time.” His footsteps moved away from Emmy. “Come on, before those brats’ parents get here.”

“Good plan!” The hyena’s footsteps followed, slowly fading the further they got away.

Emmy’s head hurt too much to speak or get up. She just lay still, trying to keep her jagged breaths as steady as possible.

The other Seldnac licked Emmy’s ear, trying to clean away the blood, but more kept flowing. “I’m sorry,” they repeated again and again. “I’m so sorry.”

The pain slowly faded enough for Emmy to pry her eyes open, her vision filled with reddish fur and purple glow. Her left eye burned when some blood dripped into it, so she quickly shut it again, only keeping the right one open.

“Can you make it to your parents? Should I help you? Should I go get them? Can you tell me which way?”

Part of Emmy wished that the other Seldnac had gotten hurt instead of her, but she knew that was unfair. As the pain dulled, Emmy managed to catch her breath. “Just… Just give me… a moment.”

The lynx nodded and went back to trying to clean Emmy’s wound.

Finally, the pain faded enough for Emmy to push herself up, but as soon as she did, the world started spinning. The lynx pressed themself against her flank, preventing her from falling again.

“I’ll help you,” they promised. “Just tell me where to.”

Emmy nodded, causing a fresh pang of pain to shoot through her. “This way…”