ORIGIN

Kera gasped, mouth full of water as she tried to keep her head-- and Aka, once he clambered on top of it --above the water. She grimaced as she felt the prick of talons against the crown of her head as he leapt off and landed safely onto shore.

Damn.

It wasn't a bad thing, not really. She was happy he was safe, now, but she was still in the water, paddling and spluttering as she was swept by the current. This wasn't going very well.

She jerked in the water, moving her burly body slowly but gradually towards the shore until, finally, if she stretched her legs she could feel the river bed under her paws. Half-paddling, half-clawing at the mud below, Kera managed to bring herself up to shore.


Her fur was heavy and soaked to the bone. As she dragged herself out the cold water and onto the sweet, sweet ground again, a puddle immediately formed under her. A step forward and exhaustion plunged through her, colder than the river had been, and a second step she was laying on her belly, mouth open, breathing heavily.

That was the first and last time Kera would fall in there.

A few moments of laying on the cave floor in a cold puddle, eyes shut and mouth wide open, she remembered that the reason she had even been in there in the first place was to save the owl. Which she did. Perfectly. In her own opinion, at least.

Craning her head tiredly towards Aka, she asked, "Are you okay? Are you alive?"

Laying down was likely a bad idea because Kera could feel herself start to drift back out to the river again. Her ear flicked when she heard the owl shouting about a stick, though confusion struck her for a moment.

Once it clicked, she shifted and grabbed hold of the stick, yanking herself properly out of the water. With a muffled whimper, she stepped out far away from the riverbed and sat herself down, licking her paws.

"Are you alright?" she asked between licks. "The water was cold." Once the warmth had again returned to her, she pushed herself up.

"Do you know how to get yourself dry again?" she offered, watching Aka only briefly. "Watch." Regardless of his answer or not, she would show him. She was a great teacher, after all. Even if her first and only student nearly died.

Standing on all fours again, Kera began to shake her thick, shaggy fur dry, sending water droplets in all directions. It felt good to get the cold wetness away from her, going from completely soaked and cold to damp and cold within a few seconds.

Laying back down onto her stomach, she began to lick herself clean again, trying to warm herself up again. "I'm sorry for trying to grab you," she said, afterwards. "In hindsight, I don't think it would have been very pleasant for you. I have a lot of teeth."

Kera blinked down at Aka as he started shouting. "Oh, sorry," she grimaced. "I wasn't looking." She watched Aka preen his feathers for a few beats before lifting a hind leg and itching at the fur around her belly.

"I think we're even. Thank you for helping me out." She was tired, now. Her limbs throbbed almost rhymitcally and her head felt dizzy and drowsy. "Are you still hungry?"

The thought of having to go in and catch another fish-- and risk falling in again --was a little daunting, but regardless, it was the polite thing to ask. There was still a full fish somewhere up the stream too, probably being eaten by cave rats.

... Cave rats.

Kera didn't even want to think about running after them, incidentally, yet she asked-- "We can try catching rats or mice if you'd rather get away from the water." The polite thing to do, perhaps, but the mere thought of having to stand up and walk sounded worse than half-drowning again.

Lazily, she rested her head on her paws, watching Aka preen his feathers again with a flicking ear.

He wasn't hungry. Good. Kera thought she might be, but the exhaustion and the adrenaline had made her forget about it. It kept it at bay for a while-- quite possibly long enough for her to sleep and recover from the events that just transpired.

Sleep. "Yes," she said quietly, pink eyes flicking shut. "Do you have a den? A nest? A sleeping-spot?"

As soon as she stopped speaking, a yawn parted her jaws. There was faint relief in managing to get it out, stretching her cheeks and craning her neck out forward while she did before she settled back down, laying on the ground. She did not have a den, nest or sleeping-spot herself, but she did not particularly care. She could fall asleep where she lay.

She probably would fall asleep right where she lay.

She could hunt whenever she woke up again, at least.

Sleep here. It was good enough for Kera, at least. She did not think too much of it when the owl moved up against her. She only idly curled herself around Aka, ensuring the owlette was warm and relatively safe.

She was sure, even in her drowsy, mostly-asleep state, that if something bad happened (for instance, an angry goose arrived) she would get to her feet and defend her new-found friend. They had, after all, just saved each other's lives.

That was good.

As Kera settled down, ribcage rising and falling steadily, her mind drifted off elsewhere, to dreams of sprinting through caves and diving freely into open water-- only swimming in still, glimmering rivers without the fear of drowning.