A Tale of Jaguars

Gossip

Tygra moved his arm and sent his whip up and around a strong looking branch. He pulled with force to check that he had a good hold on it, and started to climb, using only his arms to pull himself up along the whip.

He arrived to his destiny and looked around for a higher branch. He continued to climb as fast as he could, and careful to not do any noise. He managed to reach the top of the tree, and surveyed his surroundings.

The jungle's vegetation was thick, but from where he stood Tygra was able to see a good 10 meters beyond, with some difficulty. He spotted a vibrant piece of red somewhere to the northwest, and made his way there through the trees. He hoped that it was his target this time, and not another bloody flower.

He had healed entirely from his injury after a month, and had returned to his pre-established routine as soon as Bengali had said it was ok for him to do so. Tygra had lost no time in rejoining his training, and was quickly becoming one of the best trainees.

Just as it had been at home.

Tygra stopped at a tree that hid him quite nicely from possible bystanders, and huffed in annoyance. It was a bloody flower, but some meters beyond it he could see a clearing among the vegetation, and in the middle of it was his target. This time for real.

He could see no one close by, so he allowed himself a little respite while he pondered what to do.

Four months. He and Lion-O had been in Ix-Maal for exactly four months. The first one had been true hell for Tygra, but later… He supposed he was getting used to his new life. He was adapting. He supposed it was for the best. He'd never return home anyway, so his mind was looking for the best way to survive.

The training had been a blessing. Hard physical activity, and exercise in the wild, still strange for him, jungle. As a hunter he must learn to move expertly in the jungle. That required all his concentration and ability. Barely any time left to think or to remember.

Tygra moved as quietly as he could to another tree. He sniffed the air a couple of times, and crouched behind the branches, trying to camouflage himself entirely. The other trainees had thought when they had first seen him, that his orange colour would be a dead give away. They hadn't been counting on his stripped pattern, that helped him to meld into his surroundings.

In the time he had been living there, he had started to meet more cats, and even made a few acquaintances. He had also heard gossip and rumours. He had realized that there was a lot of speculation about him, and the way Jareid treated him. Some cats had even been bold enough to ask him directly how was Jareid's performance in bed, and what had happened for him to get banned from training for almost four weeks.

Tygra had never answered such questions. That was private for the spirit's sake! So, the rumours continued making their way to his ears. Some of them were truly annoying.

Tygra had felt embarrassed when he had discovered a couple of the court's "ladies" discussing his sex-life. Really! Some cats had absolutely no shame! And Tygra had truly despaired to know that apparently Jareid was one of those cats.

Oh, there was plenty of gossip going around about Jareid. And for Tygra's annoyance, it seemed that some jaguars had made their mission in life to make him listen to every bit of it, especially the sex parts. Tygra hated it. What use would it be for him to know how many sex-partners Jareid had had? He didn't want to know that! Neither was he interested in knowing the specifics of what he did to them in bed! He already had plenty of Jareid's sexual behaviour for himself, thank you very much!

But some cats were just stubborn, and soon Tygra had had an unwelcome and very clear picture of Jareid's reputation amongst the Jaguar Clan. It seemed that Bengali's definition of "sexually aggressive cat" was just the point of the iceberg. Jareid was a satyr. If Tygra had ever met someone truly addicted to sex, it was Jareid. And every bit of that addiction was currently focused on the young tiger!