The Hovering Ingress: The Hidden World

Chapter 24

Missing Home

Two Sune Cycles Later

Marsh quietly bit into the rabbit he was given, gnawing on one of the legs as he sat outside of Sever's cave. The meat was nicely cooked, not to his tastes, but better than having raw rabbit. There was some bread and some jeris berries too, but he mainly wanted the rabbit. The day had been tiring with intensive training, so much so the lynx's muscles were all sore. Hopefully tomorrow wouldn't be so intense.

The lynx sat with his eyes closed as he ate, listening to the sounds of the evening. Jasar was already asleep in the cave, curled up in a ball, and Favi was out doing who knows what after finding some strange plants in the forest close by. Sever hadn't gotten Xengu because she was nowhere to be found when he rounded up the others, so the ophoris was out to try and get her again. This left Marsh alone at the edge of the cave with no one to socialize with. It was boring, but he knew he could live without it.

Once the male was finished with his food, he walked down and started digging a hole. Then he placed the paper bag in the hole and covered it up, patting the dirt down. It was better to quickly dispose of the bag instead of holding on to it for it to go into the wrong hands at the wrong time.

Finishing up, the lynx stood up and sighed, turning around before shrieking and falling over. There Xengu sat in his exact spot on the ledge, staring down at him. Her gaze was bored and her wings were positioned over her head. The lynx stared at her for a long while before rolling his eyes with a growl.

"Of course, you get there as soon as I leave my spot."

The winged feline gave a good-natured snort and relaxed her body.

"I kinda had to, considering the fact that you wouldn't notice me any other way."

"You could have gone for standing right behind me and scaring the devil out of me, but this is better than that," Marsh said as he walked up to the dark female.

"I guess I could've done that."

The lynx sighed as he sat down and stared at the dark sky. It was likely that Sever would come and usher the felines back into the cave soon, but it was evident from the trees rustling that the guard was searching for Favi. Or he had found her and was chasing her down. That lynx could be so determined sometimes to do dangerous experiments even when everyone did everything in their power to stop her. Marsh chuckled and shook his head at the thought. That lynx was crazy.

"So, how was your day?" Xengu asked as she shifted into a laying position.

Marsh gave a shocked glance to the panther as she gave an expectant gaze. Then he took his chance.

"I'll tell you if you'll reveal just a snippet of your training," he said slyly.

The winged feline rolled her eyes.

"I knew you were going to ask for that."

"Wha- ?!"

"I'm joking around, chill. I'll tell you something."

With excitement and interest, the lynx sat up. A while of anticipation went between the two as the panther stared at the ground in silence. Just before the guard could get anywhere near impatient, the spy spoke.

"We hunt each other in the trees."

The lynx stared at Xengu as she rolled onto her back and rested there casually. Then he snorted.

"I know that, maybe more context would be appreciated, but tell me something new."

"You said a snippet, not whether or not it can be new or old information," the panther pointed out.