Work Text:
The evening sun loomed lazily over the harsh jungles of Chult. Far below, the people who called the great peninsula home were preparing for a night of rest and relaxation. Doors were locked, traps were set, and sentries took their place to keep an eye out during the first watch of the night. Those that didn’t fall asleep were careful to ensure that they didn’t attract the attention of a monster or rabid animal, or worse still, lead them into their homes. The Chultan sunset was as beautiful as it was a word of warning, as countless beasts roam in the darkness that would never come out in the light of day.
One such beast was the mighty lioness. Slinking across the ground, her body was almost entirely hidden by the tall grass that surrounded her on all sides. Far above her, clouds floated slowly across the sky, moving to cover the sun and darken the area to provide the proud huntress with an extra level of cover. Only the most experienced of explorers would be able to find her here, but it would take a master to actually evade her pursuits.
The lioness stalked forward through the grass, her head just barely raised above the green horizon so that she could see. The jungle was quiet now, most animals had retreated to safer pastures to rest for the night, but there were a few creatures who refused to pay heed to the dangers of the night.
Standing a mere fifty feet ahead of the lioness, weaving between trees and roots and other such hazards, was a group of four Tabaxi hunters. Each of them were carrying various forms of dead prey, ranging from a single large deer to a couple small boars. Their weapons were simple, hatchets and slings made of sticks and rocks that were no match for the steel blades carried by the humans to the northeast, but the lioness was wise enough to be wary regardless. She noticed the blood caked over the fur of one hunter’s paw, the long and jagged cuts that tore apart one of the larger beasts. These hunters were simple, but they were far from harmless.
But so too was the lioness. As the hunters came closer to her position, she found herself slowing down, coming to a halt under the exposed root of a nearby tree. She waited patiently, flexing her claws into the loamy dirt under her paws, until she saw the opportunity to strike. She watched as the hunters approached her hiding spot and, once she was sure they didn’t see her, she pounced.
The lioness’ paws wrapped around the leg of the nearest hunter. She mustered the most fearsome roar she could manage before gnawing her teeth into his leather greaves. Around her, the other hunters froze and turned on her, surely trying to figure out if they should abandon their friend or try and save him.
The wounded hunter wasted no time in acknowledging his attacker. “Oh no, I’ve been ambushed!” He cried out, carefully dropping the antelope he had been carrying. He placed his hand against his head melodramatically, appearing as if he was going to faint. “I don’t think I’m going to make it. Raven, Fog, Snow; you’ll have to go on without me!” He shook his leg slightly, allowing the lioness to jump off before he fell to his knees.
The other three watched as he cradled his leg as if the lioness’ bite was poisonous. Her teeth left the smallest of indentions in the armor, proof that she was there, though it was hardly noticeable. Nearby, his tail--covered in the same gray-and-striped fur as the rest of his body--flicked itself around the grass nearby, playfully slapping itself in the face of his attacker. “Please...If I don’t make it, you have to tell Mountain Jewel...That I love her.” With his final words spoken, he turned and fell backwards into the grass, letting out one last pained breath before he closed his eyes and passed on, into the great unknown.
This should have been a somber moment, proof that the circle of life spared no one from their final fate, but those around didn’t treat it as such. The other hunters only rolled their eyes and smiled, shaking their heads as they watched their companion lose his life to such a powerful beast. They were truly heartless people.
The mighty lioness, meanwhile, simply crawled forward, eyeing the hunter’s peaceful, totally dead expression with curious eyes. Several quiet seconds passed before she sat up, like a proper tabaxi, and poked his nose. “Da-a-ad,” she whined, “Wake up, stop being so silly.”
The wounded hunter shook his head. “Wish I could, kitten, but you killed me. See? I’m even bleeding.” He cracked open one eye and grabbed a nearby red flower. He then very unsubtly tore it up and sprinkled the red petals over his body. He nodded approvingly at his own work. “Yup, that’s pretty bad. Your Aunt Raven can vouch for me.”
One of the hunters, a tabaxi woman with solid black fur and golden eyes, nodded sagely at her brother. “Hate to say it, Opal, but your dad’s right. None of my books have ever shown someone surviving a bite like that. You’re just too tough for us to handle.”
The lioness--known by the others as Gleaming Opal--stuck out her tongue. “Stop joking, Raven! Dad will be fine, watch!” She swept the petals off his body and back onto the ground. “See! He’s not hurt!”
“Of course I am!” Her father insisted. “Your lack of faith hurts me more than any claws could.” He sat up and shot a smile at his daughter, running his paw over her ears. “What are you doing so far from the lair, kitten? Don’t you know it’s dangerous out here?”
“Not for me!” Opal pushed her dad’s paw away, but she didn’t actually seem bothered . “I’m already a great hunter! Nobody even saw me leave. Besides, you were out here, so I knew I’d be safe!”
Next to them, a white-striped tabaxi smirked, her green eyes sparkling with amusement. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I was looking at you as a kitten, Swift Wing. Were you this troublesome when you were her age?”
Swift Wing rolled his eyes as he stood back up, his daughter scurrying nearby as she struggled to pick up the deer he carried earlier. Being so young--only a mere nine years old--she didn’t make very much progress. “Of course I was, Snow. But if I’m being honest, she’s more like her mother than anything else. She has that same stubborn streak.”
“I’m not stubborn!” Opal shouted as she pushed the buck into a sitting position. It threatened to collapse over her, but she didn’t give up.
Swift Wing chuckled. “Yes you are, kitten. But don’t worry...” He reached over, took the deer from Opal, and slung it over his shoulders. “We’re all a little stubborn. It’s how we do so well out here.”
“I, um, I don’t mean to interrupt,” says the fourth and final hunter. This one, a brown tabby, seemed nervous about speaking up. His voice was quiet and his body was kept close to himself, like he was afraid of getting too close to anyone. Beside him, a giant badger was nudging him with its nose. “But we should probably get back to the lair before anyone wonders where we are. Or, um, before Little Twig eats our prey.” At its name, the badger looked up, as if to say, Are we talking about me now?
“Fog has a point,” Snow noted. “Plus, I’m sure your mate is wondering where Opal is. We should probably hurry.”
Swift Wing frowned. “That’s probably a good idea. Who knows what Mountain Jewel will do if she thinks her daughter is missing.” He turned to Opal. “C’mon kitten, it’s time to go home. Stay close with us, alright?”
“No promises,” Opal replied. Despite that, she did follow her father and his hunt to the best of her ability. Along the way, she helped carry a portion of the prey as they made the short trek back to the clan’s lair.
After about ten minutes of walking, the group came upon the end of the jungle. Here, the thick trees that made up the wilderness seemed to appear more and more, becoming harder to navigate. Even in the day, little light would start to pass through this area of the forest, though the tabaxi’s natural night vision made up for the loss even now during the late evening. Obstacles blocked the path the further the group moved inward; trees, boulders, rivers; for most people, this would be a challenge, but these tabaxi were able to pass through the area with ease. Only Opal, as small and inexperienced as she was, had trouble getting through without help.
There eventually came a point where it was literally impossible to go any further. Here, deep in the dense jungle, the trees seemed to fuse. Trunks, branches, roots, and stumps all merged together into a thick wall of wood that rose far above the ground, eventually disappearing into deep foliage that blocked out the sky. Nothing could be seen through the impenetrable barrier, neither light nor what laid beyond. For some, this would be the end of their journey.
Not for the tabaxi, of course.
“I didn’t even know you knew how to get through here, Opal,” Swift Wing said as he led the group towards a specific area of the wall. As they walked, moss began to form on the barrier’s surface. Little at first, but quickly enveloping more and more. Amongst the general chaos of the forest, this might be considered a small detail, but Swift Wing knew better. “Did you follow us out here or something?”
Opal shook her head, trailing her paw pads over the mossy wall. “Nope. I just watched you leave earlier, so I just went the way you did.”
“Did you have a plan for how to get back though?” Raven asked. She didn’t sound upset, but rather curious. Unlike her brother, she seemed to wear light, reinforced robes instead of leather armor. It reminded Opal about the stories she heard of witches living deep in the Chultan wilderness.
Opal nodded. “Mhm! I knew I’d remember my way back, it would be easy!” She didn’t actually remember the path exactly, but she wasn’t going to mention that. Regardless, Opal watched as Swift Wing eventually came to a point where the moss was so thick, one couldn’t see the wall past it. Or, where the wall would be if it was indeed behind it. He gestured for Opal to follow as he pushed past the moss and went inside the wall’s entrance.
Opal followed her father through, and immediately found herself enraptured by the sight before her. Despite spending almost a decade of her life living within the clan’s lair, she had never seen it from this perspective.
Opal was now officially inside the border of her clan’s lair. The giant wooden wall, constructed from generations of tabaxi mages and druids working in sync, surrounded a huge clearing in a giant semi-circle. Here, the grass was short enough that it hardly grew too far past one’s hind paws. There were a few small trees here and there, but most of the land here belonged to the farms, large fields covered in contained plant life that took up a small portion of the clearing. The rest belonged to the livestock; various types of animals wandering the fields, separated by fences that ensured they didn’t go into any places they shouldn’t. Only one area, on the north side of the clearing, didn’t have any farmland at all; rather, that area belonged to the clan temple, an explanation for another time.
And in the center of it all was the lair’s camp. Consisting primarily of ramadas (or a sort of hut without walls, for those not in the know), the camp was where the entire clan lived. Whether they were pursuing their skills in the smithy, playing around the clan-tree, or sleeping in their own ramada, there was something for everyone in the clan to do, and room enough for everyone.
Seeing the entirety of her home from here where she stood, Opal couldn’t help but be in awe of it all. It wasn’t big, it certainly wasn’t as big as any of the human cities she heard the elders talk about, but it was perfect to her. Still though, as she followed her father and his hunt back to camp, she couldn’t help but wonder about the land outside her clan’s domain.
She thought this up until the fence separating farmland from the camp came to an end, and she found her thoughts broken by the sudden arrival of a tabaxi woman who could’ve been the spitting image of an adult Opal; they both had the same ash-brown fur with black speckles across her body (though the woman’s fur was notably darker). They both had the same nimble frame, but the woman’s was honed by years of training, giving her the appearance of a marathon runner. The biggest difference, however, was their eyes. While Opal’s were blue like her father’s, this woman’s were a bright amber color. This was Opal’s mother, Mountain Jewel.
“Opal!” Mountain Jewel rushed forward with a speed only wanted criminals and terrified mothers can achieve. She crouched beside her daughter and hugged her tightly. “Oh thank the gods, I was worried you managed to get yourself lost. I was this close to convincing Serene Heather that we needed a search party.”
“It’s fine, Mom,” Opal said as she returned the hug. “I was never in any danger. I even found Dad!” She gestured to her father, who--after a quick word with his fellow hunters--turned back to his family. Behind him, his hunt began taking their portions of the prey to a nearby ramada.
“That she did,” Swift Wing agreed. “I’m pretty surprised she found me. We have a clever little kitten on our paws, Jewel.”
“A clever little kitten who’s in huge trouble, you mean.” Mountain Jewel’s expression turned to annoyance as she faced Opal. “What made you think it was a good idea to sneak into the jungle? You know there are things out there that can swallow cats like us whole.”
Opal looked at the ground, awkwardly fidgeting in her spot. “I just wanted to follow Dad,” she explained. She looked up and into her mother’s eyes. “I want to do what you guys do all the time! It’s not fair that you can go hunting and taking care of the clan and I have to stay here!”
“There are easier ways to take care of the clan than getting lost in the jungle,” Mountain Jewel explained, her paws on Opal’s shoulders. “If you’re that desperate for ways to help, you can ask Berry Bush if you can help in the cookhouse. Or you could help the elders on the farm.”
“But I want to be a hunter,” Opal argued. “I’m already really good at sneaking up on things! Dad didn’t even see me sneak up on him earlier!”
Mountain Jewel glanced quizzically at her mate, who just shrugged. “I was busy,” Swift Wing said. “It’s not easy to keep an eye out for runaways when you’re dragging around a sixty pound dead deer. But your mother has a point, Opal.” He crouched down next to Opal, still carrying the aforementioned deer. “You’ll have your chance to be a hunter in a few years. But until then, you have to be patient. I’m sure when your time comes, you’ll be the best hunter this clan has ever seen.”
“But not yet,” Mountain Jewel finished. “You’ll never get that chance if you’re not careful. It’s a dangerous world out here, you understand?”
Opal sighed, then nodded her head. “I understand.”
Mountain Jewel seemed somewhat satisfied with this answer, but she could tell her daughter’s ambitions were still set. Hopefully she could just wait until she was old enough to have them… “Alright. Why don’t you help your father take his prey to the cookhouse? You can talk to Berry Bush about your restlessness while you’re at it.”
“Alright, Mom.” Opal pulled away from her mother’s grip and followed her father to the same ramada his hunt went into earlier.
“And don’t think I’m letting you out of my sight anytime soon!” Mountain Jewel called after her. As her daughter walked away, she couldn’t help but shake her head. That kitten’s going to cause so much trouble when she grows up, she thought to herself. She watched as Opal convinced Swift Wing to let her carry the prey, only to fall over from its sheer weight.
If she even lives that long.