The Many Misadventures of Bo

Family

So what's the first item on the ticket? Family? Starting with the heavy stuff straight off, huh.

Well there's seven of us—I've got six older brothers, four from one litter, two from another. And they're way older, like, training to pass Igis older by the time I was born.

Oh yeah, Igis, that's a series of trials recognising you as an adult in Tribe Osinan if you pass. I've been told I practically idolised my father - I don't know about that, but I do know he was my whole world. Mom died birthing me, so Dad doted on me and kinda spoiled me really—I was a nightmare for Nyss, that's the oldest, to wrangle when he took on raising me.

Well, he took on that responsibility 'cause of what happened during the Apollo XXII tragedy, course. I still remember those events clear as when they happened . . .

 ---

"Nyss, Zha'ar, the human settlement is burning!"

Bo sat bolt upright in his hammock at those words. Ethaba was a good two days walk—if they could see fire from the forest, something was very wrong.

"P'rraa was going there," he stammered out.

Nyss grimaced. "Tahlat as well," he reminded Bo. "But even if they run they won't make it 'til morning."

"I don't want them to make it," Bo said, shaking his head. " I want P'rraa to come home."

Nyss dropped into the hammock beside Bo and pulled him into his lap, stroking the soft fur between his ears. "And he will. Rajan, I take it you, Zha'ar, and the twins are going to meet them halfway?"

Both of Bo's other brothers nodded, Zha'ar already strapping himself into his body armour and checking his quirn.

"Aye. The Innah took a sizeable force with her, but they were expecting to defend from inside Ethaba. If the Skytown soldiers have seized the outpost already . . ." Zha'ar's ears flattened against his head, and he sighed. "Anyway, Auntie Praha's already mobilising the council to prepare for any refugees or wounded. We'll be two days at the most. Assuming we don't run into trouble on the Cerado."

Zha'ar checked his weapons one more time, then strode over to Bo and nuzzled their foreheads together. "We'll be back before you know it, little one."

Bo gulped and turned his head away to bury it in Nyss' chest. P'rraa had said that too. He squinched his eyes shut, hoping that when he opened them again his P'rraa and all his brothers would be home safe.

But they didn't come home that day.

They didn't come home the next either.

In fact three whole days passed before Nyss hurried into Bo's room late at night and shook him awake, getting a harness on his chest—a nip at the back of his neck prompting the instinctive shift to s'hinoian form—and scrambling down the tree which housed their loft before he quite knew what was happening.

Once on the ground, Nyss dropped Bo from between his jaws and shifted back to walk upright, but Bo padded at his heels on all fours. Something about the way Nyss moved made him scared. They ran through the Hinnom Forest for a long time, other villagers from Tribe Osinan threading through the trees around them until reaching the forest outskirts.

The open plains of the Cerado couldn't hide the bright moonlight, and Bo squinted, not used to seeing the twin images of Lanae and Lanaekim so clearly. But after his eyes adjusted he saw the dark smudges which had the klia'ans all around him pointing and hissing.

The closer the hazy visions drew, the more apparent it became that something was wrong, and Bo jumped into Nyss' arms, peeking out between them at the torn clothes and drooping tails of the approaching group. Only the Innah stood tall, leading them, but even she limped, and when she was near enough that Bo could see her properly, he noticed a small human clutched to her chest.

Rajan, Zha'ar, and Tahlat followed a little ways behind, leaning on each other for support. The twins, Ossu'un and Sh'rah, trailed behind all the others, kicking up the red dust turned almost silver by the double moons.

"Where's P'rraa?" Bo asked, looking up at Nyss, his eyes round and beseeching. Nyss's arms around him suddenly grew suffocating, and Bo shifted back to Klia'an form so he could breathe.

"P'rraa," he said again, insistently. "I want P'rraa."

"S-soon," Nyss said, but his voice quivered, and he squeezed Bo tighter.

All around them, the members of Tribe Osinan who'd stayed behind were abandoning the forest and rushing to the wearily trudging warriors—who clung to them fiercely before continuing the slow march towards the dark jungle.

Bo's brothers came to a stop in front of him and Nyss, and Bo squirmed to get down. He was just about to run to Zha'ar and the others when the Innah approached them, the pale skinned human still limp in her arms.

"Nyss," she said, voice low and gritty. She smelled funny, like blood and fire and sadness. "Ethaba. It . . . it is no more."

"Jason?"

She shook her head.

"Paul? Alina?"

"They're all gone."

"Even Christiaan?" Nyss said, and Bo hid behind his legs, a little frightened by how strange he sounded. He still couldn't see P'rraa, and he and his brothers and the Innah were the only ones left outside the forest.

"His son was the only living soul we found. We searched, Nyss. As long as we could. I'm sorry about your friends."

The fur under the Innah's eyes grew wet and clumped together, and Bo cautiously crept out from behind Nyss in the silence.

"Where's P'rraa?"

She nodded her head toward the jungle. "The others took him on ahead."

To Nyss and the rest of Bo's brothers she said, "We'll make sure the rites are observed properly. He was . . . courageous to the last. It's only because of him that this little one"—she lifted her arms, indicating the sleeping human nestled between them—"is with us now."

And suddenly Bo understood. P'rraa was gone, just like M'rraa. Before Nyss could stop him, he sprang at the horrible human who'd made his p'rraa go away forever, scratching at his face with his kit-claws.

The Innah jerked back before he could do any real damage, and Nyss grabbed at him, holding Bo down while he twisted and yowled.

"What are doing?" he hissed in surprise when Bo started biting at him. "The Innah risked her life to save that child!"

"I ha-ha-hate him!" Bo said, choking on tears that filled his throat and burst out of him. "He took, took P'rraa away-way-ay."

"No, no, he didn't!" Nyss said, and the others rushed to confirm his statement, hugging Bo and purring loudly as they tried to comfort him.

"It was the men from Skytown," Rajan put in, "I saw it happen with my own eyes."

"I hate him!" Bo repeated, and flung himself into the dirt, no longer able to see anything, not even the shining moons through his blurry vision. "I hate all of them. I hate, I hate–"

He cried for a long time, not stopping even when Nyss and the others hauled him off the ground where he'd dug in his claws and carried him back through the forest to their loft, struggling to hold onto him as he shifted back and forth, from kit to child and back again, trying to wriggle away and have his revenge on the monsters that took his p'rraa, his best friend, the person he loved most in all the world.

He hated them. He hated every last single human, but especially the one that P'rraa had sacrificed himself to save. Him, Bo hated most of all, and when he woke up, Bo was going to make sure he knew he'd never be welcome in Tribe Osinan.

Never ever never.

 ---

Told you were starting with the heavy stuff.

Now that you're all sufficiently horrified, what other questions do you want answered? Not all my stories are this depressing, promise.

(What? They asked! I'm only telling my truth. They're eating it up though. Bet you anything this'll more than double their ratings. Triple, even.

Look, I just said, I'll tell a better story next time.

Tcha. Humans, too nosy by half.)