LaF R2 - P3

As she hopped forwards into the clearing around the hotel, Mama was startled by the sound of a terrified shriek.

“Get away from me! I’m warning you, predator, get away!”

Mama turned to see a purple furred shrew-like creature bolt out of the brush and pelt into a small hole under the hotel building. A few seconds later, her antagonist appeared; the white tiger and striped canine from that morning at breakfast.

“Wait, come back!” the tiger was calling. “I just… I wasn’t going to hurt you, I promise! I’ve just never seen a solenodon up close before; according to the zookeepers they’re so rare that for four years they were actually thought to be extinct!”

“Go away!” the shrew (solenodon?) bleated, a foul stink wafting from the hole where she was hiding. The tiger sighed, shaking her head in disappointment. As she turned away, she seemed to finally notice Mama, and she yelped.

“You! You’re Sar’s… oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, I gotta get her, please don’t hurt me, I’m not fighting I promise!”

“Jumpy one, aren’t you?” Mama asked, amused. “Calm down, I won’t hurt you. You’re Umbra, right? And your friend is…?”

“I’m Rin,” the canine put in.

“A pleasure to meet you, dear,” the pakpak said cheerfully. Rin grunted sadly.

“I would say the same, but I don’t remember what pleasure feels like anymore. Sar is looking for you inside so you that she can fix it. But… can you please just forfeit the match instead?”

Mama was so startled that she burst out laughing. “That was rather direct, wasn’t it?”

Rin’s ears flattened and she scowled. “Don’t laugh at me.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m afraid I can’t forfeit though, I have too much at stake in this.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Umbra said, having apparently gathered her nerve once more in the face of Mama’s obvious lack of aggression, “what did the Thief take from you?”

The pakpak shook her head, “Sorry dear, it’s personal.”

“Y-you don’t understand! Sar isn’t just fighting for herself, she’s fighting for her brother too, and our other friends back at the zoo! She needs to get the key for the enclosures back so she can set them free.”

Mama tilted her head in confusion, “Couldn’t she take one of the spares? The zookeepers have to have more than one key, dear. And wait… one key fits all of the cages? Hun, how does that make any sense?”

“Just a lazy zoo, I suppose,” Rin said without inflection. Umbra glowered at her.

“I see your point, but we were only able to get the key the first time because the keepers didn’t realize that Sar has special powers. They know it now, so she won’t be able to do it a second time!”

“I feel for you, hun, I really do,” Mama said. “But see, I’m not just fighting for myself either. I’m also fighting for the sake of all of my children. I have to look after them, but the Thief took something from me that makes it very hard to do.”

“You know how you sound?” Rin snarled, her mood shifting abruptly. “You sound like a whiner. Took something from you that makes it hard for you to take care of your kids? Boo hoo!”

The pakpak frowned. “Is that any way to talk to your mother?”

“The hell are you talking about? You aren’t my damn mother!” Rin spat. “I may not remember a lot but I know that much! You’re just a selfish old hag who-”

“Rin, stop!” Umbra interrupted, stepping between Mama and the striped canine. “It isn’t going to help Sar if you provoke her, and we aren’t allowed to attack her personally so getting riled up isn’t going to do any good.”

“Shut up!” Rin screeched, her pupils mere pinpricks and a wild look in her eyes. She lunged forwards, her fangs sinking into the tiger’s shoulder. Umbra roared in agony, thrashing until she was able to successfully dislodge the canine. She pelted back into the woods with a strangled sob.

“What on earth was all that about?” Mama demanded of the winded Rin. “Aren’t you two supposed to be on the same side? Where do you get off attacking her like that?”

She shook her head, seeming to have calmed down somewhat. “I… I have no happy emotions. Sometimes I guess I get carried away.”

“Hmph. Well you can wait here and think about what you’ve done, young lady. I’m going to check on that poor child and make sure she’s alright.”

Without waiting for Rin’s response, Mama followed the tiger’s trail back into the forest. It didn’t take her long to find the larger animal- she was sitting on a rocky outcropping, trying to lick the blood from her shoulder wound. She was still extremely keyed up, and when she heard Mama approaching she spun around with a squeak of terror.

“Easy girl, I’m not gonna hurt you,” the pakpak said soothingly. “Just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

The tiger sat back down with a sad expression. “It really hurts.”

Mama hopped over and sat down next to her, gently pushing the fur back to examine the wound. “Doesn’t look all that deep to me; I reckon with a bit of cleaning up and some gauze you’ll be right as rain in no time.”

Umbra sighed, “I hope so. It hurts a lot, I’ve never had a wound like this before.”

“Really? Count yourself fortunate,” Mama smiled. “If you get back to those wilds of yours you’ll no doubt get them all the time. I suppose you must have been taken pretty young to never have a real injury.”

“Wild tigers get hurt a lot?” Umbra squeaked.

“Well of course. Fights over territory, food, mates, and so on happen more or less daily for wild tigers. Plus there are the sorts of injuries you can get just hunting- a boar’s tusks mean business after all. But don’t you already know all of that?”

“Well… in theory I guess. I just never really thought about it,” the tiger admitted. “See I wasn’t taken, I was born at the zoo. I’ve never been wild.”

“Ah, that would explain a lot,” Mama sighed. “I’ve heard that it can be very difficult to adjust if you weren’t born to it.”

“I know, but Sar says that the wild is better than the zoo. She says we’ll be much happier if we can get free.”

Something about the way the tiger said that made Mama’s fur prickle with unease. “So going along with this wasn’t your idea?”

“Well no,” Umbra said. “I didn’t want to at first. Sar convinced me. I’m really nervous though, I admit. I don’t want to get hurt, or go hungry a lot, or have to fight.”

“Then you really don’t want to be wild, dear. You’ll have to do those things all the time.”

Umbra averted her gaze. “But Sar… she’s my best friend. I have to stick with her.”

“If she’s your friend, I’d wager she will respect your opinion, hun,” Mama said dryly. “Forcing someone into a dangerous life they don’t want isn’t something a friend does.”

The tiger shook her head, but Mama could see a shadow of doubt in her eyes. The poor thing was clearly unused to asserting herself.

“Well I suppose this mess isn’t going to fix itself,” the pakpak said, standing up. “I have to find Sar so we can settle our scuffle. But think on what I said, sugar. Don’t rush into a decision that you’ll regret for the rest of your life because of peer pressure.”