[Flashback]Cat Fight

[Nadala]

14th of Summer, 508 AV.

Nadala was lying on the ground, the stones beneath her felt hot with the sun’s rays beating down upon them. She’d been part of the clan for a while now and found that while there was little room for error and an obvious lack of patience, there was still a sense of sisterhood among the members. You were always expected to do things right and timely but there was rarely an absence of a helping hand by your side. She was not the only kelvic among the myrians, there was another. But she was much older and much higher up in ranks; she had never spoken to Nadala and in turn Nadala held her in respect but not fondness.

“What’s this? Resting are we?” Tana made her way to the young kelvic with a smirk on her face. In the time that Nadala had been with the clan she had grown close to Tana, closer than with the others. The gold skinned myrian sat down beside Nadala and looked out into the distance. “It’s nice here, a bit too calm for me though.”

Nadala turned to face the other only to find a fist coming towards her face.

Moving just in the nick of time Nadala dodged the blow though she still felt the woman’s skin graze past her cheek. Quickly she drew in her legs and pushing them out at Tana she kicked the woman while she herself rolled back to land on her feet.

“Just couldn’t take one moment of peace could you?” Nadala smiled back.

Tana brushed the dirt off her chest looking up at the kelvic. “Gotta love those reflexes. You know, it’s not fair to fight someone who is part cheetah.”

“And yet you keep trying, do you ever learn?” she laughed, “and I am not part cheetah. I am full cheetah. The body you see is just an extra, a perk”

The myrian stood up and took a battle stance, “Brag, brag, brag. Put your… fighting where your mouth is.”

“What?”

“It didn’t make much sense, I know, not the point.” As her last words came out Tana swung her leg up in a high kick. Nadala took a step back and tilted her body outwards, her eyes wide as the foot flew inches from her face.

The kelvic retaliated with a kick of her own, aimed at the stomach. Tana was not a kelvic but she was very well trained and discipline, she pushed down Nadala’s leg with both hands before it hit and lashed out one hand at Nadala’s face. The kelvic blocked with one arm but Tana swung her other arm too. Nadala was quick but not perfect. Her face stung with the pain but she didn’t stop.

Her head went forward, head-butting the myrian.

Slightly disorientated Tana stumbled back with her hand at her forehead. “I see you got your head in the game. Good, you’ll need it.”

[Nadala]

Tana took a sturdy stance and for a minute the two just looked at each other, both trying to predict what the other's next move would be. Deciding to make the first move Nadala dropped down in a crouch and swept her leg so as to knock Tana off her feet. Tana jumped, avoided the trip and landed with her legs spread on either side of Nadala's outstretched leg. Promptly the kelvic shot her foot up kicking her opponent in the crotch. Tana endured the blow and sidestepped to the right.

"See, had I been a man I would have been very unhappy right now."

Nadala smirked and lashed out her arms in a continuous motion, her claws extended to catch Tana body but the myrian proved to be very good at dodging her slashing nails. In a final evasion Tana ducked her head to the right, successfully circumventing the nails, and then placed a solid punch into Nadala's abdomen.

The kelvic quite literally felt the air rush out of her and doubled over before falling to the ground. There was a pause, a few seconds where Nadala was on the ground and Tana caught her breath. The pause, however, did not last long. In an instant Nadala rolled her body forcefully to the side, effectively knocking Tana to the ground as well.

Both women lay on the ground, sore. There would be many bruises in the morning but for now, all was calm once again. They looked out to the sky, silence surrounding them. Nadala turned on her side and looked at Tana. The other did the same, there was dirty and blood smeared on both their faces but neither seemed to mind. Nadala sighed, "You know--"

But before she could finish her thought, Tana's hands came towards her. This time however, the delivered no punches, no scratches or hits. Instead they grabbed Nadala's face and brought it closer to her where their lips met. Their eyes closed and quietly treasured the moment while trying to make it last as long as possible.

[Nadala]

The next morning Nadala felt uneasy. She was happy but she was confused as to why she felt that way and wondered if she should feel like that. Tana was a woman. Nadala was a woman. Female pairings could not result in offspring, and wasn't the sole purpose of mating to produce a child? It was against her very nature and even as she lay in the grass, her body flat against the ground, her tail straight behind her, she thought about it.

So what if she was going against nature! She wasn't looking to bear children any time soon anyway, and Tana made her feel different. Maybe it was because the two had bonded but Nadala thought it might've been more than just that. It was the first time she'd bonded with someone so the kelvic didn't really have anything to compare it to but something inside her told her it was more. When in battle they were always the best couple, being able to sync the movements much better than any could be taught. When pitted against each other, neither ever won because they always knew each other's moves.

What a bizarre pair they made. The Myrian warrior, her mannerism matching her hair: perfectly pin-straight and dark. And the kelvic wanderer, her behavior also matching her mane of hair: messy, loose and wild. One valued order and structure, the other enjoyed spontaneity and freedom. Yet somehow they'd come together. Nadala had heard one of the other clan sisters joking about how it must have been fate, the Gods must have had a hand in it, because the two women were like oil and water. Nadala wasn't sure she believed in the Gods. Well, she knew them to be real but to worship them seemed so silly in her mind. She had once personally met Myri at the request of the Queen herself who wanted to familiarize herself with the clan to know their value to her. Nadala liked her, she seemed to be a smart yet ruthless woman but a leader needed those qualities. As far as Nadala could tell Myri seemed a very capable ruler. She'd also once seen Caiyha while roaming the Taloban jungles, they exchanged waves though at the time Nadala hadn't known the other was a Goddess. So really she did believe in the Gods, she only did not see the point of their worship. That, was something she wished to learn to understand since so many humans made that their life's calling, to worship a certain deity.

Then she heard that little cracking sound, something was nearing the area. Judging by the lightness of the sound it was not human, didn’t weigh enough. Narrowing her ears down against her head, the cheetah angled herself slightly upwards to let her eyes skim the area above the tall-grasses. What her eyes did find were not the long elegant legs of a gazelle or okapi. No, in fact she saw no legs at all. From her point of view, all the cheetah saw was a rounded, rock-like, moving about furtively. She wasn’t very close so Nadala neared it a bit more, slowly, staying flat against the ground. Then, the rock creature froze in place. He’d heard her, or at least suspected there was something else in the grasses aside from him. Nadala smiled inwardly, she knew what the creature was. The rock-like shape was armor. Armadillo. Giant Armadillo. This was a treasure, last time she’d had armadillo was ages ago and it was one of Nadala’s favorite meals. Most predators scoffed at hunting armadillos because they tended to not be very meaty and getting around the shell could be quite annoying, but that was what made it one of Nadala’s favorite.