N'Fewe leads you to another pair of bright cats playing iin some tall grass. This time, he does not bow. "Meet S'Emmi." he motions a paw toward the red Cat, "He is our Second-in-command, sort of the Beta male of the tribe. I myself an the third male, and currently unmated, so S'Emmi is technically above me in rank because of his mate." A motion to a striking rainbow-colored cat nuzzling S'Emmi's ear. "Meet I'Zapa, our rainbow Beta female. They are new mates, and like all newlyweds, they have a tendency to be a bit frisky." As if to prove a point, the two cats bound off again into the grass, wrestling and laughing. N'Fewe moves off again and you follow closely.
He leads you to a hole formed by the granite rock tiers and the cavern wall, were you see ten little furballs rolling around, all as brightly colored as the cats you saw earlier, The kittens! You watch them play with the sparse grass, rolling around in muddly puddles or wrestling each other. One is trying to climb up the slippery rock tiers and get out of the playpen, but N'Fewe gently plucks the little kitten off and sets it down again in the middle of the others. "These little ones are the new little I spoke of, born two weeks ago to Leaders C'simu and U'caba. Ten is a very large litter for Spectrum Cats, and we are very blessed to have them. I usually watch them in the open field, but when you arrived, I had to put them into their makeshift playpen here." He smiles tenderly and begins pointing them out, rattling off names.
"As you can see, the boys and gorls tend to seperate themselves. Oh well, that will change as they grow. Children will be children. The little tomcats are over ther, in the corner by the puddle. The little aqua one is Z'Emb and little black O'Reb is his best friend. There's blue P'rig and one of the rainbow twins, little R'kim. His sister is with the girls, I see..." You ask him why the kittens' names are different that the adults' names and he smiles and explains. "When a kitten is born, the parents give their kittens short names with a letter, that an apostrophe, then three more letters. When they become adults, they will choose another letter to add onto their name, and that will be their callname in adulthood. Look over here...."
| You look where N'Fewe points and see a kitten sitting alone by itslef. You cannot distinguish its gender because it does not play with the others. "This is A'Far, the changling kitten." Indeed, as you watch A'Far's fur changes colors rapidly. You ask why he is so alone. "Not he, travelor. It. We cannot tell which gender A'Far is, as the poor kitten does not seem to have any external signs. I'm relatively sure it knows which gender it is, but it will not tell us. It is not that the little one has no friends or that the other kittens will not play with it, it is that A'Far refuses to socialize at all. It is a mystery." N'Fewe shakes his head and points to the group of females romping together near a small flowerbed. |
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"Here are the young ladies of the Tribe." N'Fewe brightened visibly as he pointed them out. "There is little gold F'Ash, looking exactly like her mother. Pink P'Nif loves flowers and buttermilk! Little purple Q'par is P'Nif's best friend, and an equal flower-lover. Then there is little R'kiv, the second of the rainbow twins. And last but not least, little crimson K'Ibb, and as her blood color denotes, she is already a fierce fighter!" He smiles happily and watches the kittens play. You watch for a while, then take your leave, leaving the Spectrum Cats to their happy existence of sunbathing and wrestling in the dewdropped grass.....
You turn about and realize hat no other paths lead out of the vined-in lair. You must move back through the vines and out into the Miscellania Kennels again if you want to move on.....
E-MAIL AZRIELEN
