FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The winter turned bitter in a matter of weeks. They no longer huddled together at the entrance of their small cavern to watch the early night drift by. Jason frantically gathered firewood and dried the snow from it to conserve the heat of their temporary home while Micha kept herself busy chasing out snow rabbits and the slow dumb quail that ran by. It was nearly too cold for her to hunt, even with her thick layering of winter fur. The white near her muzzle had brightened and her ears and tail were fluffier than ever. She threw the last few birds and rabbits into a corner and settled down to skin and pluck them. The pile was high and she didn't want to risk losing any of them to weather or decay.

She had never spent a winter out of the temple and worried that she hadn't gotten enough. Jason on the other hand sat back and watched her in amusement. He had never had to worry about eating during a hard winter. Empire soldiers were fairly well fed at all times, even at the expense of the village they raided. But even he could tell they didn't need as much as she had managed to catch. He recieved a glare for his efforts when he mentioned as much to her and raised his hands in surrender. She cooked each piece carefully and completely before wrapping it in paper from her notebook and storing it in nooks and crannies around the cavern. The air was chill in their home and she had taken to wearing his old cape around her shoulders, so when she stood still, the fabric gathered around her shoulders and pooled at her feet. From a distance she might have been sinister.

"What's the plan once this is over?" she asked. She relaxed near the fire and blinked slowly at him. Most of their days were fairly lazy. They lay about and occasionally spoke, but as far as she knew he had completely forgotten to make a plan. "It's still winter." He replied slowly. She gave him a mutinous look before rolling over onto her belly. He had long since learned to avoid looking at her womanly aspects. All it had ever gotten him was trouble. True enough the trouble was with no one but himself but he avoided the self-confrontation when he could. "And?" she said. Oblivious he began twirling a piece of his hair around his finger before idly replying,

"And I'm not concerned with a plan yet."

The fur on the back of her neck threatened to stiffen as his words rose her ire. She had never hated his slow drawl more than she did then. He wasn't worried? Well she was. She was incredibly concerned. They might have been safe for the time being but if he didn't plan something soon they were both dead meat.

"Look here. You took me from my home. Torched my house and the family I had in it and promised to protect me. I'm going to need to get to work on a plan and quick kit." She spat.

He glanced over at her in irritation and sat up, propped up on one elbow to glare at her properly.

"One: Stop calling me kit. You aren't that damn much older than me. Two: Why in the hell don't you make a plan priestess?" he shot back.

Her hackles rose and she merely glared at him a moment before she looked him over.

"Don't call you a kit? Then perhaps you ought not to act like one. Full of noble words and intentions but with little brainpower or strength to put behind it. I don't make a plan because it is your place. You took the place as Alpha when you burned my temple to the ground." She growled.

She went low on all fours and stalked around him. She knew her aggravation was based on being trapped and not knowing what might happen next, but she also knew he was the root cause of the latter half of her surges of annoyance. He gave her a look like ice and scoffed.

"I didn't ask for whatever primal animal title you bestowed upon me. I'm not like you you know. You can have all of these terminologies and labels but they don't mean anything to me. I didn't ask for it and according to you I didn't earn it. So how about you make a plan hm? How about you put that little foxy nose to the ground and sniff us a way to safety?" he taunted.

Her ears went stiff with indignation before she shook with rage.

"Listen here you small town little farm boy. I'm not a dog. I don't sit or beg or fetch on command. I'm not tracking animal and I'm not your pet. I'm not going to lead you to safety because I don't know where it is. You're the soldier here. You've seen maps. Traveled and destroyed the world. You'd know where safety was more than I would ever. I'm a priestess, not a hound dog." She snarled.

He gave her a short blunt once over and scoffed, "Well you could've fooled me."

Her ears fell flat against her skull as his words reached her. He was back to twirling his hair and didn't notice her. He didn't look up even as she sniffled and backed away from him. She didn't want to believe the words had come from him. She had grown to quite like him. But it was there. The words lingered in the air and she shrank from them. She looked around and found a small hole not too far away. She barely fit but she curled herself into it and placed her tail over her muzzle.

So many parts of her swirled together in her mind and she closed her eyes against it, and was surprised to feel liquid squeezing from beneath her eyelids. She couldn't remember the last time she had cried, but she felt now was appropriate. Her only companion was just like the rest. He was like any other man, woman and child she had ever met in the town. She was just an animal. Her heart broke because she had liked him. She had hoped desperately that he would understand her nature and see past her fur. Beyond her muzzle and her tail. But he hadn't and she stayed in the too small hole until she cried herself out, and then she slowly drifted into a heartbroken sleep.

It had taken him moments too long to realize his mistake. And then the pride the Empire taught him kept him from apologizing. He knew he shouldn't have said anything of the sort to her. He didn't believe her an animal, or anything less than his companion, his equal. He had seen too many facets from her to ever complete the thought. But the need to lash out, to defend himself against her truthful words had been overwhelming. He knew he should have been making a plan. He ought to have been thinking about where they should go. He put it off again and again just to keep from thinking about it. Because a part of him didn't want to leave their cavern.

The small high ceilinged den was more of a home than he had had in a long time. The Empire moved quickly and never settled anywhere for long. He enjoyed the stability and the constance of their temporary home. He didn't want it to be temporary at all. But she was right. He had put her in this situation. Had killed her sisters and promised to protect her, and in doing so stepped into a position of leadership.

He grit his teeth as he looked around the cavern again. She had to be there somewhere but he had searched every cavern she could have fit into, but she wasn't in any of them. He had explored deeper into the cliff and followed winding narrow tunnels with a makeshift torch from the fire, but still he turned up vixenless.

He knew she would come out when she wanted to be found and that his luck in actually finding her was slim at best. But it was hours before he slumped back by the fire in defeat. She would get hungry sometime right? He cringed at his inner musings as it reminded him of the earlier argument.

She would come back he promised himself.

She had to.