Ray Full name - Seaspray Gender - Female. Age - Cub Pride|Status - Cub of the Hawk Hill Kougras. Colour - Deep raven. Markings - Bright blue stripes, white on her muzzle and tail tips and on her inner ear. Possessions - None. Strength - Below average. Speed - Fairly quick. Eye colour - Blue-violet. Build - Small in stature, light. Personality - Very playful and good-natured, trusting. Pet - None. Mate - None yet. Offspring - None yet. Parents - Both deceased. Adoptive father, Cougar. Siblings - None.

A single beam of fading light radiated gently against the darkening sky. �I miss my daddy� It was a soft, miserable, utterly heartbroken voice. The young cub was crying softly, tears making tracks and dampening the ebon fur along her cheeks. The silver forearm around her tightened protectively, sorrow reflecting in Cougar�s large, distinctly feline golden eyes. �I know, Ray� He told her gently, lowering hismuzzle to touch the top of her head. A low, rumbling purr of comfort sounded as he licked between her ears, smoothing her tangled fur. It had been but hours, since he world of this tiny cub as she had known it had collapsed around her. Life had not been easy on her, claiming her mother to predators when she was a month old, leaving a loving by greatly dejected father behind to care for her. But now, he too had been taken, two months later. Cougar looked down upon the shaking little black head with pretty, narrow blue stripes. Running along the bridge of her nose and reaching up to her forehead, a single splash-shaped stripe shadowed her violet eyes. He wondered what else life had in store for her � and with all his noble heart, he vowed he would protect and care for her. She cuddled tearfully into the warm security of his pale silver chestfur, feeling the reverberations of his comforting purring above her left ear. The last shred of light faded below the horizon, and the day left behind a crying cub and the worried Alpha of the Hawk Hill Pride. The jet-black raptor spread his impressive wingspan and dropped off his favorite perch on the old oak topping the hill. As he caught an early morning thermal, the first traces of light warming the dark feathers on his back, two felines walked slowly up to the same landmark. �Cougar?� �Hmm?� �Where do we go when we die?� The silver male reached the great oak and dropped lightly to his haunches, turning his serious, thoughtful gaze upon the smaller Kougra at his side. Ray touched her small nose to his flank � a mark of respect she had copied from another pride female - and sat down quietly beside him, two shadowed shapes in the early pre-dawn glow. �I believe,� The lighter of the pair said, his tones somber. �That when a Kougra dies, their spirits remain on, watching over those that they love. True love, Ray, is a rare thing. Those lucky enough to experience it never let go of it. Not even death ends love.� Ray turned her sad eyes up to the big male. He rested a paw over her own, the other silhouetting faintly against the predominantly dark sky as he pointed. �Look, Ray. The last star of the night.� Two muzzles were lifted to watch the evening star as the morning steadily advanced. Both heads lowered as the star finally succumbed to the growing light. �You know what I think, Cougar?� �What�s that?� �I think that all those lights in the sky at night� those are all the one looking after someone they love. They protect them, and give them light in the dark.� Cougar hugged Ray to him and smiled into her soft fur, purring softly. Time, the great healer, had begun to seal over her wounds The terrible scars would always remain, but with luck, they would heal. She lifted her chin to lick his throat shyly. A black hawk sailed majestically far overhead, wings outstretched. Watching, so far below him, the large and the small feline, a silver and black and a black and blue, making their way side by side down the hill. And so the young cub Ray fell into Cougar�s care, and together, they worked through the pain of a terrible tragedy. The Hawk Hill Pride Alpha adjusted to fatherhood easily � he was a noble but gentle beast who always put others first. He had not spent a lot of time around the younger members of his species since his younger brother was a cub � his Pride was small and comprised of all adult members before now � but Ray was little trouble. And, as she came out of her shell, slowly recovering, he would discover once again the simple joys of having a young one around. Ray herself grew to love the big silver cat, and would run to him with a purr and a head-rub whenever he came seeking her out. She met the other Pride members, too � quiet, serious Blair, Cougar�s brother, who would swing around to wink at her with a sparkling eye. With him was nearly always the even quieter, slightly shy Darre, one of the few females of the pack. She always smiled at Ray and would softly answer her questions, always having time for the cub. Ray grew to love Darre, and even Blair, who would surprise her with a funny joke and a rare wide smile when she least expected it. Tora, the Beta female, was great for a play or to show her around the territory. Ray was a little afraid of her brother Inbar at first. He was a big shadow-cat with a dark air, and Ray wasn�t too certain about him yet. Catkik, a newer member of the Pride, was another mystery. Ray was fascinated by his wings, though, and would tentatively approach him when he seemed to be less gloomy than usual with a shy purr. When she was feeling bold she would seek out Cheetah, the hyperactively playful cousin of Cougar�s. He would charge about and play-wrestle and never seemed to stop for breath. Cougar said Cheetah, although a young adult and a rangy feline taller than he was, was still the cub of the Pride at heart. His friend, Shadow, another black cat whom could have been Inbar�s twin, scared Ray a little as well. She kept away from him and couldn�t understand how he came to be best friends with bright, bouncy Cheetah. Their were two twins, Kenova and Yondoria, in the Pride. Ray liked Yondoria who reminded her of Darre in her shy manners, but their was something a little strange about Kenova. Ray couldn�t have said what, and he didn�t scare her outright like Inbar and Shadow did, but she never stayed around Yondoria for long when Kenova turned up. The last member of the Pride was adored by Ray. Stripey, Cougar�s twin, was often away visiting his beloved mate. But he was still a member of the Hawk Hill Pride and dropped by whenever he could. Laughing, he would sweep Ray up in a big hug, placing his big warm hat with the tinkly bells upon her head and nuzzling at her lovingly just the was Cougar did. Stripey had Cougar�s smile, his big rumbling purr and sparkling golden eyes too, but without the responsibility of running a Pride, he was more carefree and lighter in nature. These few felines made up the whole of the Hawk Hill Kougra Pride. The Pride grew� slowly, but surely, and no doubt that before long Ray would meet more members. She grew to know the warm territory well, from the lovely old oak at the top of the hill, the gentle rolling slopes half-covered in woodland, the smooth waters of the lake, the hunting grounds of the savanna and the silent sand dunes. Slowly, she cired less and less at nights, remembered less and less the cries of her father in her terrified ears and more his sad gentle eyes and the way he had tickled behind her ear every morning. The moon rose and fell and many paws were bust over Hawk Hill lands. And Ray gradually came to call the Pride Home.

The little bundle of fur lay between both parents � the single cub of the litter, a tiny scrap of raven fur with perfect blue stripes. Her mother and father were intensely proud of her, and named her, due to the fountain-like marking along her forehead and muzzle� Seaspray. Little Ray was bouncy youngster who never seemed to grow tired of tail-pouncing and ear-chewing. Her tolerant parents would smile at one another and let her go on with her games, and so Ray was raised in a world of few harsh words. Tragedy struck when Ray was a few months old. Their seaside home was set upon by a hungry pack of dragonlike creatures in the depths of Midsummer�s night. Her father grabbed Ray by her scruff and went leaping back into the caves, which he knew like the fur on the back of his paw. Ray was no longer a young cub and almost too big to carry this way, but her father managed it somehow, calling out to his mate. In the darkness he could hear her struggle with the dragon-animals, and then she was at his side and they ran together through the deepest reaches of the seaside caves to their escape. Back in fresh air, her father put an exhausted, terrified Ray to sleep in a corner between a tall pine and a leafy shrub. He lay down on the open side of the temporary shelter, his mate and Ray inside. The cub fell asleep quickly, comforted by the presence of her parents, secure in the knowledge they would protect her from anything. ~Ray. Ray, wake up. It�s time to go~ *The cub blinked her violet-blue eyes and yawned. She froze in mid-gesture, looking around wildly, ears and whiskers twitching* ~Daddy, where�s Mummy?~ *The tall fire Kougra looked down upon his daughter with a terrible sadness in his eyes. The guilt weighed heavily upon him� he had felt so helpless, listening to her whimpers of pain, unable to help her, the Kougress he loved�* ~Ray, baby� she died~ *He did not believe in sheltering. He would hide no truth from his daughter, all that was left from the union of he and her mother. As the large violet eyes welled up with tears, his heart broke� for the second time* Ray was half the size of her father now, her azure stripes a bright contrast from his red and yellow flamage. They had traveled, a long way, Ray trying to be brave, her father wary and watchful for any signal the dragons might be after them. Ray, slowly, was recovering � both a joy and a painful thing for her father to watch � for he knew he would never recover from the terrible paw dealt to him. But yes, it was good to see Ray showing signs of her old self; patting gently at a passing butterfly, giving chase to the swift deer, pawing at her reflection in streams and pools and giggling. Her father was looking for a place they could be safe, where her daughter could be around other Kougras, maybe even cubs her own age. Ray liked these two. The big white male, solid in build and bone, unlike her more lightly-built father, had lovely green eyes that twinkled at her. The female was a nice red colour and she was much smaller than the male � not much bigger than Ray was, which intrigued the cub. She sat, almost shyly, behind her father, watching them both � Blair and Darre, they had said their names were, and they were members of a Pride. A Pride! Ray could just imagine all the other Kougras, maybe other cubs her own age� what fun! Maybe her father would decide to join and she could stay as well� and maybe talk to the big green-eyed male and the little red female sometime. What happened next ended every secure thing in her life. She was far too young and innocent to have met anything in line of a demon, before � although that was a status soon to change. A demon it was that leapt out, towards her father�s unprotected back, and Ray screamed in horror as she leapt back in shock. The Demon towered over even Blair, its flesh dripping and rotting over semi-visible black bones. Ray screamed again as it reached awful talons towards her father, who had spun and raised his own paw, ready to strike in defense. She could dimly hear Blair roaring, telling Darre and herself to run, but even the use of her name hardly snapped her out of her fear as the second demon exploded out of the shadows. This one was clearly a Lupe, although she had never seen one so terrifying. She was built like a serpent of some kind, her lean body like a tube of black muscle, extending out into a flickering tail edged in frozen, icicle-like flames. Bones erupted through her flesh like awful pulsations over her ribs and along the top of her head, and cold eyes glared with a terrible lust. Ray could not stand it a second longer. Consumed by her fear, she ran. Behind her, Blair yelled again for Darre to run as Ray�s father swiped at the demon. Ray was barely aware of the red female appearing at her side, and could not have said how long she remained there � only that Darre steered her in the direction of the hill that rose, so far away, out of the grass. It was a good thing she had run when she did. Her father would not have wanted her to see what followed. The first demon - the one with half his flesh dripping off, although his form was now much more distinctly Lupine in nature - snickered cruelly as Ray�s father swiped at him. The blow meant nothing to him � but Ray�s father yanked his paw back with a narrow-eyed hiss of pain. The death demon opened his rotting mouth and leered at him, striking back in return and laying open an awful wound to the chest. Blair leapt with all his strength, and was batted out of the air like a ball of dried grass to land heavily in the dirt. Ray�s father struggled to his paws, pain etched onto his facial features, clawing feebly at the dripping demon. Snickering darkly, he dodged with pitiful ease. Like a striking snake the second demon, the bone-encrusted one, a female � leapt. Shoving the first demon out of her path, her wicked talons stretched forward for the wound in his chest, plunging in deeply. Smokey tendrils curled into his body as the screams of Ray�s father echoed over the plains. But the first demon was not yet done with his feeding. Pouncing, he landed beside the female, awful melting flesh brushing against hers, and snapped back the Kougra�s head. Blair�s labored breath cut the air harshly as he tried to struggle up, help his new friend, but he had been badly winded and stood little chance. The male demon let long fangs spring forth from rotting gums and lightly grazed the throat of Ray�s father, savoring the taste of blood he was swiftly running out of. Then, moving like lightning, he tore away a portion of flesh and swallowed, letting loose a warped screech of satisfaction. Near to death as the Kougra had been, gasping as the female spread her very being towards his weakly thudding heart to claim all his fears, as the demon tore the mouthful from his neck the last traces of life drained away � and they were up for grabs. The wild male demon lowered his awful muzzle until it nearly met the Kougra�s. A spasm jerked through the body, drawing towards the demon, and those with the right eyesight might have noticed the faint shadow lifting away form the body and into the wild one. Blair reached a weak paw towards them � and finally the strength returned to him to stand, somewhat shakily. A deep anger suddenly coursed through his veins and an ear-numbing roar spilt the air, muscles tense and ready to charge. Then the second roar, gentler in nature and intent but urgent � was heard from further off. A second roar, very alike to Blair�s, but if possible, louder� was heard soon after that. Blair hesitated. Darre�s face drifted before his mind, and he had easily recognized the voice of his brother. Cougar, the Alpha of his Pride, would come, he knew it. He would be ready to fight, and more than likely die, in battle with these awful beasts. Blair released a string of the worst curses he knew � and turning, raced away on bruised legs, after Ray and Darre, back home.

It's easy to breathe, it's easy to grieve To breathe only air where life should be It's easy to laugh, it's easy to cry To cry so so hard that it can't be denied "One Ray Of Sunlight" Goodness sometimes things get bad But I swear I'm doing all I can So try all you want to I'm gonna try too If I get one ray of sunlight to hold in my hand Maybe we can be happy again I'll try for one ray of sunlight to hold in my hand Maybe we can be happy and then... Things don't go as I planned But I swear I'm doing all I can So try all you want to I'm gonna try too If I get one ray of sunlight to hold in my hand Maybe we can be happy again I'll try for one ray of sunlight to hold in my hand And I guess if this isn't the end Maybe we can be happy again

Friendship Cougar, the kind, wise Alpha of the Hawk Hill Pride is the one who took Ray under his paw, becoming in effect her adoptive father. Infinitely patient, knowing, and gentle, Cougar grew to be trusted by Ray more than any other. He would not take the place of her beloved father� he did not try to. Never did he call her his daughter, nor she call him father, but the relationship did not have to be expressed in words to be understood. Their�s is a bond few could miss seeing, and as more time passes Cougar and Ray will only learn to rely on one another more and more.

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