Spirit's Journey

CHAPTER 11- Spirit: Welcome Travelers

"This is Midnight. She will be traveling with us... To Cheetah Pride, along with Diamond."

Hannah's green questioning gaze seemed to burn through my skull. She clearly wanted to ask the one and only question that I would be unable to answer for her; why?

Thankfully, after she realized I was not planning to respond, though, the pretty cheetah nodded her head acceptably. Hannah doesn't care to comment because she wants Diamond to stay, I realized.

Fallan turned away after a small nod to continue playing with Diamond, giggling as the kit pounced on her tail. She turned to peer at mine and then lunged for it. Faintly embarrassed, I lifted my tail and faced away from them to view the slanting hill we would be heading down. It was littered with a tree here and there, but other than that the property seemed as if it'd been tended to by humans. The grass was shorter than most places she'd ever set foot and any natural rocks, ferns or bushes looked like they'd been removed. My throat felt parched from lack of water as I let myself wander into my thoughts distractedly.

Fallan didn't really care about Midnight, I guessed, because she had found herself a forever playmate already. They must have already seen Midnight as the silent, shy type and realized that was not what they wanted in a close friend.

That was fine, though. Fallan and Hannah could have Diamond, and I would stick with Midnight. Since she was older, and her voice had already begun to change in early adolescence, Midnight was a much better candidate for training. She'd never be able to bring down an elk or gazelle. Eyeing her, though, I imagined that she could one day bring down a large rabbit by herself, which was something Fallan had done only once.

Suddenly Hannah flicked her tail and asked Midnight a careful question with her head lowered. I was bothered by how unlike her that action was, and searched for the hint of a prank dancing among her gaze. There wasn't one.

At least she'd managed to sound polite. Stiffening, I shot Hannah a glare that she didn't seem to catch as she sat back up.

"Why do you want to travel with us?"

Midnight slipped a "because" out and stopped mid-way, giving me a questioning look that I'd seen on Hannah's face just a moment earlier. Actually, it felt kind of ironic, how the two she-cats seemed so stiff and unsure of how to approach each other.

I gave my tail a small wave and Midnight peered back at Hannah.

"I just wanted to be around some other cats. The barn was lonely, and I don't have any family there."

Hannah shrugged and turned around to pounce on Fallan with a playful yowl. Clearly she had only wanted to hear the answer if it was tied to something interesting.

That was more like Hannah. Of course her reaction wasn't big; every cheetah here had lost their mother-cat and father-cat, and one time or another.

Midnight moved silently to one of the empty nests that we had halfheartedly scraped together with grass and twigs. They would be uncomfortable, I knew, but better than the ground all the same.

The Pride had set up camp in a small clearing deep in the forest that we'd found without much difficulty. I would have figured everyone was tired, but they all seemed wide awake because of the new companions.

Personally, I had to admit that I had felt a bit overwhelmed at first, but after we'd arrived here and set up the nests I had figured out how to relax by conversing with Midnight and thinking on what to do next.

It had just gotten dark, so I felt no rush to get to sleep anytime soon. We needed to wake up relatively early and start traveling, though. Hannah and Fallan were accustomed to waking at dawn, but I felt that the kittens wouldn't be. Making sure that the two new additions felt accustomed was important right now, I realized.