Silverclaw

'Princess, Don't Wake up Anya!'

 Princess narrowed her eyes at the figure wrapped in a bedroll next to the fire. Anya had now been asleep for almost a week, and Princess was bored. So bored, in fact, that she had decided to try and wake up her Bonded Partner.

 Padding towards the bedroll, she shifted into her house cat form and dropped into her hunting crouch, her hind haunches wiggling in the air as she prepared to jump onto Anya's stomach. The next thing she knew, however, Aros had grabbed her by the scruff and was carrying her over to Darian, the human that Anya liked-but-didn't-like. Dumping her in Darian's lap, Aros glared at her as he sat down.

 She hissed at him half-heartedly as Darian sighed. 'Princess, every single day we've told you this so far. You can't wake up Anya, not yet. It could damage her Silver if you did.'

 Princess shifted into her regular Snow Leopard form so she could reply. 'But her Silver restored itself days ago! Can't you feel it? I can!'

 'That may be, Princess, but Dievra thinks she might also be in a Spirit Dream. In which case, you definitely can't wake her up.'

 'And you still won't tell me what that means!'

 Darian fought the urge to sigh again, only just succeeding. 'You should know that already. What were you doing in class with Anya, sleeping?'

Princess turned away, determined not to let him see that he had guessed correctly. 'Just tell me already.'

 He raised an eyebrow at her, but decided to tell her anyway. 'It happens sometimes after you use a lot of your Silver. The spirits of your ancestors will pull you into their world so they can tell you something, usually to do with your future, that will act as a sort of fulcrum for future events. Your entire life's path hinges on these moments, and it's important that you don't wake up before you should. If you do, then that event could go wrong, and so will your life.'

 Princess tilted her head, thinking over what he had told her. 'So... if we were to wake her up now, she would not have finished her Spirit Dream, and that could damage both mine and her chances at a future?'

 He nodded. 'Exactly. If you want to play, Princess, then I can make something for you to play with, or you could go and play with Carlos and the other cats.'

 Aros snorted at that. 'Play with her? Darian, you haven't seen her. She gets too excited.' Standing, he walked away, leaving Princess behind with Darian, who easily saw the hurt in her eyes. Reaching out, he scratched her behind her ears, trying to cheer her up.

 'Don't worry about it, Princess. He still misses his Bonded Partner. That's the only reason he gets angry easily.'

 'He's right, though, Darian. I do get too excited.'

 'Princess, you're not even two years old! Of course you'll still have some of your energy from cubhood left. Aros has got to be at least twenty years old, now. It's normal for you to slow down as you get older, but you're still young. In fact, you're the youngest Snow Leopard here. So you would be the most energetic of them all. He's the oldest, and you're the youngest, yet you're both attached to the same person.'

 Her eyes widened. 'Do you think that he's Bonded with her, Darian? Please, I don't think I could take that!'

 He threw up his hands, smiling. 'No, I don't think he's Bonded with Anya. What I mean is, he's accepted her offer of helping him get his revenge on the men that killed Cassius. Princess, if she ever does Bond with another Snow Leopard, you can be certain that she would bring you into it as well. She would never do something like that without asking you first. All right?' She nodded. 'Good. Now, let's see about making you a toy, shall we?'