I was dumbfounded, what does she mean by that, how does a tiger not know how to hunt? That's just absurd.
"Hey....of course, it can hunt, it almost tore me to shreds when it first saw me".
"I guess you don't know that animals can also be traumatized and share emotions. It's very rear but it happens. Jagi is one of those rear wild animals that is scared of others on four legs".
It was really hard for me to believe that an animal like that was actually scared of other animals, I mean, it looked like it could devour a pack of wolfs.
"How did you find it?"
"She is a girl, I would appreciate it if you stop calling her 'it'. It sounds really disrespectful".
'Hold up, hold up, did she just say I was disrespecting an animal? Ha, why am I even curious about that thing, it's not like I like it or anything. I'd rather hold my peace'.
I didn't say anything anymore. She closed the cave with the huge rock and I still wonder how she manages to do that all the time, that rock looked really big and she looked really tiny. After the cave was sealed, she lit up the cave with some woods which she brought from her hunt. It made the cave warm.
She was stroking her pet while roasting the meat she brought. I just kept looking. When she came back, she made the same thing she had put in that pot and forced me to take it, and funny enough, I was feeling way better. If possible, I would be able to go home very soon.
"You should come over and eat". I heard her speak after hours of silence. I walked towards the fire and sat a bit far from the tiger. Though, it didn't even look at me at all.
"You should be able to go home very soon. I'll help you out of the forest, you should be safe from there. Well leave tomorrow".
"If you know your way out of the forest, why haven't you left yet?"
She looked at me with the most dangerous eye I had ever seen on her.
"I have no plans on leaving the forest. It's more peaceful here".
"Haa, what did you say? What do you mean by peacefully? It's very dangerous, you said so yourself".
"In the forest, you strive to eat and that's it. If you know your way around, you'll be absolutely fine. It's not like that in the outside world though. I trust my pet and I know she would never hurt me but I can never trust a human. I'd rather....."
"Then why did you save me?" She stopped turning the meat and looked at me.
"You sure do ask a lot of questions".
"Why? Isn't it because you wanted a human around? Wasn't there ever a time you wanted to go back into civilization?"
She smiled and turned back towards the meat and then looked at the tiger sleeping on her lap.
"You don't know anything about me, but you are right I do want to see how humans have grown for the worst, but I can't do that. I'm never leaving the forest".
"You don't know me either". I went close to her still scared that the tiger could eat me up but I took the courage to hold her free hand.
"You don't have to trust anyone, actually, you should never trust anyone because then, they will have the power to make you weak. Yet I still want you to leave the forest. I don't know why you are here and it's obvious you don't want to tell me but, I can assure you, not all humans are evil".
I have no idea why, but I really wanted her to come with me. I felt a very strange connection and even though I just knew her for a little while, I knew I could never leave her here. Maybe this was Shin Suri's instincts or mine. But looking into her eyes like this I could see nothing but sadness and loneliness.
"I can't". I had only known her for a few days since I woke up which according to her, it was five days now. Yet I could tell that she was extremely brave and strong and though I don't know what she went through, I knew she went through a lot.
"Why? Why don't you want to leave?"
She raised her bowed head and looked at me and then at Jagi and then, I knew the reason why. Of course, she would never leave her only family, a defenseless tiger at that in the wild. It would not last a day.
"How did you find her?"
She looked at me and smiled with tears building up in her eyes. I could see it even though she was trying really hard to push it back.
"It was four years ago when I went hunting. It was raining heavily for two days straight but I was really hungry so I decided to go hunt. After catching what I knew would be enough to feed me for five days at most, I decided to go back to my cave, and there she was, stuck in between two rocks".
She paused for a while and chuckled and then continued.
"When I first saw her, I could swear I thought she was human. She was looking left and right as though she was scared something would come and take her away. I gently went towards her while trying to calm her down from a distance but just then, I saw a pair of red eyes inside the bushes and I knew if I didn't leave at that moment, I would be dead meat for the animal inside that bush".
"And, and, what happened?" I was really curious as to what happened. It was like I was watching an impossible movie. She looked at me and smiled at my enthusiasm.
"Calm down, I'm getting there. I whispered to her and told her to be quiet if not we would both die and the funniest thing is that she actually kept quiet. It was as though she heard me. I went close to her and just as I was about to grab her, the tiger came out and charged at us but I was fast enough to drag her out of the rock and dive under the hungry tiger. I ran with her in my arms as though my life depended on it. I could see the tiger coming really close so I dropped Jagi and took my weapon and flung it at the tiger. I guess mother nature was on my side that day. I stabbed it right on its chest though it wasn't dead, it gave us enough time to run away. So I brought her here and ever since then, we've been together".
"Has she never attacked you?"
"Not even once. I never gave her any special training but she is always very obedient. It's as though she understands everything I say".