Solo Hunting High and Low

[Kalina]

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18th Day of Summer, 514AV

The Forest of Thorns was not a name that Kalina knew; she barely knew anything about the island, much less the names. To her, it was just a thorny forest, but her simple mind would not be able to make the link to even that simplistic name. In all actuality, all that mattered to her was that, inside the dense, winding forest, dwelt one of her only sources of food. She didn't know if there were other places that she could go to hunt, but it was the only one that Annalisa, the Mage who saved her, had directed her to.

The Mage fed her only occasionally - every other day, at best... and the rest was up to her. The beauty about the Forest of Thorns was that Kalina felt safe. At points, the small ocelot kitten could barely fit through the close branches, so she doubted if anything bigger, like the giant, terrible black canine, could make it through. No, any predators would be a similar size to herself so, rightly or wrongly, she wasn't frightened.

The thorns were long and many, so there wasn't much room for Kalina to climb, but she tried nonetheless, as she experimented to see whether being slightly higher up in the dense land would give her an advantage. Wide-set paws were perfect for climbing, and she extended her claws to latch onto the branches as she hauled herself up. Her hind legs, where the power was stored and released, helped to push her body up. When high enough, the branch began to get thinner, the kitten paused, balancing as she glanced around in search of another.

Moss green eyes landed on another, thicker, branch, and Kalina lowered herself, tightening the muscles in her back legs as she prepared to leap. There was less than a tick in preparation before she jumped, legs outstretched and claws extended in preparation for reaching the higher branch. However the jump was underestimated, and only her front paws caught the branch. Her claws dug in, as her body swung under the branch. When she slowed, slowly, she began to heave herself up, and she swung her right back leg up to try to get it onto the branch too, and she succeeded.

A few more ticks passed and she managed to lift herself back up onto the branch. Glancing down, she estimated that, if she were to fall, she would survive the fall, and probably even manage to land on her paws. Normally, she would have enjoyed the vantage point she had up high; far better than on the ground, yet in the forest, it was too dense. However, thorns aside, Kalina missed climbing

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[Kalina]

*

It could not be heard above the wind but, to any one near enough, they might hear the sound of the pre-adolescent ocelot purring as she crept along the branch. Wihen in the Kelvic Research Institute, the Kelvics had been given allotted times to burn off energy in an outside enclosure. The time wasn't long, nor was it often, and the enclosure was hardly large, but they were Kalina's favourite times, and she would invariably spend the entire time above the ground, atop whatever was available for her to climb.

Since leaving the KRI, the ocelot Kelvic had visited a number of cities, but few had offered her any enjoyment, any chance of climbing, except perhaps Zeltiva. Now, in Sahova, Kalina was in her element. The Forest of Thorns was some distance from the Citadel, so the stench of the undead Nuits was far weaker now, and the fear that gripped her heart whenever she smelt them, had lessened. Though Annalisa's curse was no longer instilled within her, the remnants of it still plagued her, as it had only artificially enhanced the natural fear that was already there.

As the branches grew thinner, Kalina learned, the thorns grew smaller. She stared at the ones in front of her, surprised at their size in comparison to the ones nearer to the ground. Even though they were smaller, though, she was still careful not to stand on any of them as she continued to wind her way over the branches. Keeping her body low to the branch, her belly scraped over the thorns. By instinct, she was trying to remain as silent as possible, even up in the branches, incase she might spy something on the ground.

Even though the branches were thick, they still swayed under the unexpected weight of the ocelot kitten and, every few steps, Kalina's movements were announced by the rustle of leaves, or the bang of wood against wood. Up until now, Kalina had been so excited about climbing again that she had ignored how loud it was for her up here. She stopped, thinking back to her time in Zeltiva, where she had met the other ocelot Kelvic. "She carried the prey into a tree, 'cause maybe... maybe others can't climb."

Storing prey was one thing, though Kalina had yet to catch something big enough that she didn't finish it all in one sitting. But, if many creatures couldn't climb, she didn't see why she could not use this to her advantage. She slowed to a stop and remained still until the branch had stopped swaying, or at least until the noise had lessened. She then placed one foot in front of the other and continued at a much slower pace, extending her claws when she placed her paws down and retracting them some time before she lifted her paw back up, to ensure that she didn't jostle the branch more than she needed to.

Soon, she had to move to another branch, and she found one close enough so that she would not have to jump. This one was a little lower than the last, and did not look like it was going to climb any higher but, at about six or seven feet of the ground, she didn't want to go much higher. Gingerly, she rested a paw on the new branch , then a back paw, and then the final. Moss green irises were barely visible, as her pupils had dilated so as to see as clearly as possible in the low light of the dense overgrowth.

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