The Winter Ranger's Den (Heavy W.I.P)

4 - The soft, fuzzy woman.

Keith got his keys from his pocket as he opened the cabin door and ushered Fjolla inside. The cabin was fairly large and was spacious enough for both Keith and Fjolla to be in without any discomfort. As far as park cabins went Keith had lucked out as he was given a rather large and fancy place to stay. The cabin had three bedrooms. With two out of the three not even being utilised by Keith as he didn't really have a use for them. He just proposed that if the time came where family or friends came over, they could just stay in those empty rooms as they even overlooked a spectacular view. Keith really wished he had a girlfriend to share one of the rooms with. Athough, that would likely end in them sleeping in the same room anyway so it wouldn't really change much. For now however Keith could just let Fjolla stay in one of the empty rooms while she made a recovery. He was initially planning to just put a cast on a snow leopard and put it back out in the wild after he was done. But after figuring at that the snow leopard was actually an anthropomorphic snow leopard he's had to reconsider the notion. "You can stay in this room Fjolla, although I don't mind wherever you want to sleep." Keith told Fjolla who was completely awe stricken upon entering the cabin about how much nicer his home was compared to hers. "I know we've just met Keith, but I really appreciate all that your doing for me. So... Thank you." Fjolla said as he helped her get to the spare bedroom.
"Don't mention it." Keith said in response, " I would have done this for any injured person, whether they're a Khaedae or not." He continued. "Wait you know the name of our species?" Fjolla said in confusion. "Yeah, it's a local myth I heard. I'm still shocked that you even exist." Keith replied. "Well of course you are, our kind have stayed hidden from humans as there aren't as many of us." She said. "I don't even know how many other Khaedae still exist as the last one I saw was my brother." Fjolla said to Keith as he lifted her onto the bed. " I'm so sorry Fjolla, I didn't really think about that." Keith said to Fjolla saddened by what he'd just heard. "But if your kind stay's hidden to survive then how come you showed your true form to me?" Keith asked curiously. "Well I didn't, at least not on purpose. That thing you shot at me with must've weakened my ability to stay transformed." She said. "Sorry about that." Keith said awkwardly whilst staring off in the other direction. " I promise I'll keep your existence a secret, but I also promise that not all humans are as bad as those guys that set that trap." He said to Fjolla with full honesty. "I really hope so..." Fjolla said, she still couldn't fully trust him but she had no choice but to go with him into his cabin after she revealed her true self to him. She still couldn't manage to transform into a snow leopard, even after all this time. Sticking with Keith was really her only option.

Fjolla hadn't been spoken to someone other than her brother in a long time. She was rightfully still on edge with being around a human, he seemed nice enough to her but in speaking with him she broke a promise with her brother and family. That promise being that they wouldn't speak to humans, ever, even if they got caught in their true forms. But this promise was intended to be kept with the ability to disguise as a natural animal in mind. Without this ability it's not like Fjolla had much of a choice. She also was still worried for her brother. No matter where he was he usually would always respond to the call she made for him. She had done this call in the back of Keith's car and he still hadn't shown up, which was incredibly unusual of him to say the least. She knew it was likely he was in a predicament of his own and she had no idea what to do. For now she was going to just keep this information to herself and continue listening to what the human was saying. She knew her brother was incredibly strong and was likely doing ok. But she had to set out for him eventually it wasn't an option.

"Alright Fjolla, I have this thing right here for your foot." Keith said cheerfully. " What is that?" Fjolla asked, "It's called a cast, it wraps around your foot and keeps the bones in place so they can mend themselves." Keith said as he applied the cast. "While I'm still here, here are these things called painkillers. You just swallow them with some water and they should help keep the pain down a little." Keith said, " It isn't poison I promise, I could have poisoned that steak if I wanted to after all." Keith said which made Fjolla ease into the idea much more easily as Keith fetched her a drink bottle from the kitchen and she swallowed a painkiller. "Well that should be everything, that steak should keep you full for a while but I'll make us dinner when I get back. Ok? " Keith asked Fjolla as she nodded her head in response. She had already learned how to do the gesture from Keith doing and explaining what it meant once. " Oh and one more thing, if you get bored that thing on that other wooden thingy infront of you is called a TV. And this is a remote, if you get bored press this red button like this..." Keith said as the tv flickered on making Fjolla's eyes widen as she jumped in surprise. "Oh, sorry I can turn it off if your scared. It only really shows humans pretending anyways. " Keith said apologetically. But ater being initially being startled Fjolla now couldn't take her eyes off the screen. She was entranced by this weird mirror producing moving colours. "How does it work?" Fjolla asked intriguingly. "Uhm, it's complicated." Keith said. "Just think of it as magic ok?" Keith said to Fjolla who was already completly ignoring him and focusing in on what the humans on the tv were saying. " Ok, this button is for things called movies. If something comes on you don't like you can press this button to get these things called shows." Keith explained but Fjolla was still taken back by the movie she was watching on tv. "Well, I've got to go now. I need to work for some people ok Fjolla? Don't go anywhere while I'm out and if you hear knocking on the door don't answer it and hide ok?" Keith told Fjolla who was surprised to hear he was leaving her alone in his house. "Oh, your leaving? That's ok I understand. Humans are always busy." Fjolla told Keith as he smiled and said goodbye to Fjolla walking out the front door. Humans are such weird creatures, Fjolla thought to herself. As she countinued to stare at the magic mirror.

Hours passed as Keith continued working and Fjolla hadn't even noticed as it felt like just a few minutes. Who knew humans had magic mirrors that showed other humans in weird dramatic situations? How fun. Fjolla was now under the sheets of the bed still wearing nothing but the jacket Keith had given her. She was really enjoying watching humans do weird things on the tv, it was really interesting! The only thing that could make it better would be if she had some meat and the nice berry drink her brother made for her on special occasions like her birthday or whenever he had learned all humans were celebrating some weird event called Christmas. She was currently watching some sappy love movie on tv and she was completely hooked in it, awe stricken by how the humans leaned in near the end of it and pressed their lips together. This "tv" thing really was magical! Fjolla thought to herself. She had seen humans do it before near a frozen lake but she never knew what it really signified. She knew it had something to do with love, but not the kind she felt for her brother. A different kind of love that you feel for a stranger, like how the movie explained. Fjolla had never experienced this kind of love before and her brother hadn't either. They had been desperately searching for their kind for a while but after 12 years they still hadn't had any luck. This was made even more difficult when not much really gave away the fact they were Khaedae when disguised as animals.

In her enjoyment Fjolla had forgotten about how hungry she was until she heard something unlocking the door and shouting "Don't worry it's just me!" It was just Keith. Fjolla wanted to ask him a question. "Hi Fjolla, I hope you haven't been bored while I was out. Sorry, but I will have to go out like this quite often. Fortunately I won't have to for the next two days!" Keith said cheerfully, "Anyways, what've you been up to?" Keith asked wanting to make small talk with her. "Uh-uhm, Keith?" Fjolla asked while blushing, "Yeah?" He said, "Do you love me?' Fjolla asked while letting out a slight smile. Keith was taken back for a moment, "HUH!?" He said in confusion. "Well, it's just that the tv thing told me that love was something that happens when one stranger really cares about another. And since you're helping me even though I'm a Khaedae. Do you love me?" Fjolla was too innocent to understand how love worked with strangers and what it inevitably lead to. She thought it was just like how her brother cared about her but with that weird lip pressing part. "Uh, well. Uh... You see." Keith didn't know what to tell the poor girl, he really didn't want to break her heart. "I do care about you Fjolla, but love isn't something that happens with strangers when they first meet. But it rather happens over time as two people get to know each other." Keith hoped he didn't just make an anthropomorphic snow leopard's day miserable. He gulped, hopefully the Khaedae couldn't get on heat like a cat. Keith realized how desensitized Fjolla was after their breif interaction and what she had told him. He assumed the poor girl likely didn't understand many basic concepts that came naturally to him due to her apparent isolation from socialisation and human society. Hopefully, she reallt wasn't internally animalistic enough to go into heat like a cat. He blushed at the thought. "Oh, I get it now." Fjolla said in response to Keith, "Phew, so you understand what I'm saying?" He asked unsure of what was to come next, " Because we both care about each other eventually we'll do that kissing thingy that humans do and then we'll love each other." Fjolla hadn't realised it but she had already began to care about Keith, he was like another brother to her but she felt different about him like that love movie thingy on tv. "Uhh, erm... Well." Keith didn't know what to tell her. "Anyways, I think that's enough tv for today, don't you!" He said desperately trying to change topics. "Yeah, I guess so." Fjolla said. " I'm gonna make dinner for us ok, I hope you weren't too hungry while I was gone." Keith said as he walked off into the garage. He made his way back to Fjolla, "Here, these things are called crutches. They should help you take some weight off your foot. I'll demonstrate how to use them." As Keith showed her the ropes. He had found a pair of crutches near the other medical equipment in his garage. The old guy hopefully won't mind a little fur around the cabin. And Fjolla, fortunately, didn't shed too much fur. "Thank you again for everything Keith, I promise I'll tell my brother all about you when I see him again. Maybe I can convince him to meet you!" Fjolla said excitedly, "Ohhh you have a brother... Uhh, don't worry too much about that... Haha. Wouldn't want to make him mad with you after all right?" Keith simply did not want the possibility of a seven foot tall, buff werewolf dude beating him up for abducting Fjolla. It would be even worse if he found out Fjolla asked if he loved her. Keith had already narrowly escaped two horrible situations and was not about to agree to a potential third. "Anyways, I should really get started on dinner. Oh, I forgot that all I gave you to wear was a jacket. I'm sorry, I'll get you some spare clothes from my room for now." Keith said as he headed towards his bedroom. He had picked out a plain black shirt for her to wear under the jacket and a pair of tall grey joggers that he didn't really wear all too much anymore. He walked back over to her. "Here, these should hopefully fit you. I'll get started on dinner while you get dressed." Fjolla nodded in response as he headed towards the kitchen.