"Well, there's nothing to be nervous about," Zara tried to pacify the young girl. "Fighting is fun."
Fauna wasn't sure she believed the petite, eccentric tigress. For Zara, fighting was an ability that came easily to her. She found it entertaining to run around and brawl with her peers, but Fauna wasn't the same. Fauna enjoyed tranquillity and her idea of fun was to take a wash in the lake.
Soon, breakfast was over and Fauna found herself alone with her best friend. They are out in the open and before Fauna could ask what they were doing out there, Saber stepped forward with a piece of clothing in his hand.
"I'm not that weak that you expect me to battle with a cloth," she complained to Saber who stared incredulously at her before he let out a loud and brief laugh. She crossed her arms and observed him, her lower lip jutting out.
"This goes over your eyes," he informed her when he had sobered down. He muttered something under his breath, then chuckled once more before he stepped closer and held out the material to her. She watched it curiously, as though she expected it to sprout claws and viciously attack her.
"What exactly is the purpose of this?" She was wary of being blindfolded. She had only been blindfolded once, and that was at the lion's pride. Just the thought of her not being able to see reminded her of all the awful things she went through at the hands of Ari and his lionesses.
"It will cause your other senses to heighten in other to compensate for your sudden loss of sight. Don't worry, I'll be right here and will let no harm come to you," Saber promised and when she reluctantly nodded, he stood behind her and threw the cloth over her eyes before he tied the material behind her head.
Fauna was suddenly plunged in darkness and it caused a spike in her heartbeat which she knew Saber could hear. She was vulnerable and it made her afraid. Her survival instinct kicked in and told her to run, but she retrained herself as she knew that wasn't advisable.
Where would she run to? And what was stopping her from falling off a cliff? She needed to calm down and breathe.
Her mind wasn't letting her though. Her mind wandered and suddenly, she wasn't in the tigers' clan anymore. She was chained up in a cave which was dark and cold and scary. It smelled like moss and damp soil and the scent of lions hung in the air.
"Let me out of here!" She screamed and trashed around. Someone was holding her in place. Someone didn't want her to escape. It only caused her to scream louder and trash more violently.
She had to escape!
"Fauna! You're here! You're safe!"
She knew the voice. It was Saber! Yes, she was safe. She was protected by Lord Bruce and her family, so why was she afraid? Her chest rose and fell rapidly as her hearts stomped. She needed to calm down and get her head straight. What was wrong with her?
Saber was holding her shoulder. He was so close to her; his scent was overpowering her. She furrowed her brows as that had never happened before. Something was wrong. The proximity was overwhelming, his hand on her shoulder weighed a ton. It was as though she was feeling and sensing things way more intense than she should have.
Perhaps Saber was right after all. Her other senses were trying to make up for her loss of sight, but how could she focus when her mind was playing tricks on her?
"Listen to my voice, Fauna."
She resisted the urge to raise her hand and cover her ears. His voice was so loud, it hurt her. Instead of complaining though, she nodded. He let go of her and took three steps backwards. She could hear the leaves crunching beneath his feet. She could hear the wind around him as he moved. She could hear his hair swaying, hear his heartbeat; loud and steady. She could hear the buzzing of the mosquitoes and bees around them.
"It's too loud!" She slapped her hands over her ears, but it wasn't enough. She could hear herself. She could hear her breathing, her heartbeat, every slight movement caused an unbearably loud sound.
Was this what the others had to deal with at every moment?
"Fauna, you have to calm down. I know it's loud, I know it's overwhelming," Saber was whispering at an attempt to placate her. She heard him take another step away from her, giving her space. "However, I need you to concentrate. If you only listen to your immediate surrounding, it would be easy to sneak up on you. You have to listen past everything you can hear now, you have to smell past this... project your senses and tell me, where are we now?"
Where were they? She didn't know. She wasn't paying much attention when they were walking as Saber had been leading her round and around in circles. She nodded and slowly put her palms down. It was deafening, but she trusted Saber. She widened her ears in order to get a sound, something other than what she should be hearing.
"Everything is too loud." She shook her head in frustration as she pushed the thought into Saber's head. She couldn't bear to talk as she couldn't stand the sound of her own voice.
"You have other senses. Smell, feel, listen. Where are we?" Saber repeated.
Swallowing, Fauna took a whiff of the air and immediately scrunched her nose in irritation. She could smell everything and it hurt. Everything hurt.
"We're surrounded by trees."
"Of course, we are surrounded by trees, Fauna. You're not even trying," Saber criticized and Fauna exhaled through her mouth. She could hear the direction the air out of her mouth moved, she could hear the wind hit objects and dispel. She could hear the wind and how it caused the leaves to sway.
She could smell the birds fly and she could smell leaves which was still damp from the morning dew. All of the feeling seemed to give her an internal map, till she could see the forest exactly as it was in her head. She could see Saber standing about three feet from her. He had his hands behind his back and he was staring in her direction.
The tree to his left had a nest and there were chicks chirping - six of them. She could hear the mother's powerful wings flap from somewhere in the distance. She was carrying something in her beak. Smelled liked worms. She heard mother bird swoop down into her nest and she smiled.
It was so beautiful. She was seeing everything, but she was blind. It was a new feeling, and she loved it.
She widened her ears even more when a sound caught her attention. It was from behind her. She didn't need to turn. Her ears twitched in the opposite direction and listened past the small paws that ran across the ground, past the tiny ants that crawled over dying leaves.
"It's the lake. I can hear the lake." The moment the words left her mouth, she could smell it. She could smell the crisp, clear water and the fresh damp air around it. It smelled like heaven. "It's just a couple of feet away from us. How didn't I hear it before?"
"That's because you're always focused on what you can see. You never pay attention to what lies beyond your eyes."
She concentrated on Saber's voice and furrowed her brows when she realized he had moved. He was still moving. She could feel the air around bend as he moved. What was he doing?
His steps were light as he swayed from side to side, then suddenly, she raised her hand up. She didn't know why she did, but she did and caught a fist. It wasn't Saber.
"You're so fixated on specific things; you can't sense the threat that's approaching. In a battle field, you'd be dead before you could even blink." It was Bone. His voice was monotone and before she could properly digest his words, she felt a strong force make an impact with her chest, knocking the air out of her and pushing her backwards.
She let out a loud groan when her back hit a tree with enough force to cause it to bend, but not break. Her body immediately started working on healing her and she knew if Bone kept up with this - and she knew he would - she would be out of energy sooner.
"Cut it out, Bone," Fauna heard Saber tell Bone. She heard him walk closer to her and felt his arm stretch out towards her. She took it and allowed herself to be pulled up by him.
"With all due respect, Saber," although Bone was clearly older than Saber, he had to address the young boy with respect as he was the son of the leader of the clan, "you will not teach me how to train my student."
"Fauna doesn't know anything about fighting. You have to take it easy on her."
"Fauna is a shapeshifter who is supposed to have the strength of the bears and the speed of the cheetahs. I think she can handle it."
She heard some rustling and she was tempted to take off her blindfold, but a part of her wanted to prove to Bone and to herself that she wasn't a mere weakling. Backing down was weakness. The clan was facing the threat of war because of her. Weakness was something she couldn't afford.
"I refuse to stand and watch you -"
"I'm fine, Saber," Fauna stepped forward, but went face first into a tree, causing her to wince and rub her forehead in pain. "Ignore that. It's just a tree and I'm sure it had it worse than I did." She stepped out of the way of the tree and followed her nose so she was standing before Bone.
Saber watched her with concern in his eyes. Even though they were not really related, he loved her like she was his sister and the thought of harm coming to her made his gut twist uncomfortably. Howehruefkjefw
However, he wanted her to learn and he knew that wasn't going to happen if he kept hovering protectively around her. He had to let her feel pain in order to learn. It's what his father did and now, he was one of the strongest tigers in the clan.
Saber nodded at Bone who was staring at him all the while, waiting for his order. While Bone was stronger, he was also wise and understood the hierarchy of things. It didn't really bother him anyway. He knew he could take Bruce out if he really wanted to, but he wasn't interested in ruling.
Bone trusted Bruce with his life, and also knew Saber would make a good leader one day - if he learned how to put what needed to be done over what he felt. Feelings got in the way of things and that was why tigers evolved to feel minimal emotions.
"I'll see you at day break," Saber told Fauna who was grinning widely, overly eager to prove herself.
"Yeah, yeah." She waved in his direction, but faltered when she felt the wind suddenly bend close to her. She moved out of the way just in the nick of time as Bone's claws barely missed her face. "Hey! That's cheating!" She complained.
She wasn't really afraid though. While she knew Bone was ruthless and fierce, she also knew there was compassion beneath his heavily scarred face. Also, she knew he wouldn't really hurt the adopted daughter of Lord Bruce. He may have been hot headed, but he wasn't stupid.
Fauna shook her head and tried to focus on Bone. He was stalking her. She could feel his eyes on her; almost predatory. She resisted the urge to shiver. She knew she must not show weakness. Weakness was unacceptable amongst the Soldiers.
"Go, Fauna! I'm rooting for you!"
Her ears twitched when she heard a new voice. Zara was behind her. Her voice sounded like she was watching them from atop a high boulder.
Bone noticed Fauna's momentary distraction and charged with his staff, swinging it in her direction. Fauna heard it and was able to jump out of the way, but Bone quickly offered a counterstrike. He threw a leg out and not sensing that, Fauna tripped and fell on her back with a soft thud.
"You can't allow yourself be distracted. You have to learn to widen your senses so you are listening to multiple things at the same time." Bone's voice is stern as he waits for her to rise to her feet.
"This isn't really a fair fight, you know. You have a weapon and I don't," the girl complained as she jumped to her feet. She could feel her body heal itself, but she could also feel her energy draining. Endurance was something she didn't have.
"You think your opponent cares if you don't have a weapon?"
Fauna sighed and took a fighting stance; crouched with her arms before her, ready to strike or block an attack.
"I have an idea. Why don't the Scouts find some human weapons? I hear they have explosives that go boom!" She imitated an exploding sound and grinned widely at her brilliant idea, but Bone wasn't impressed.
"That sounds crazy, Fauna!" Zara shouted from behind her and her smile dropped.
"Humans and their weapons do nothing but hurt nature. We are not to tamper with the forest as no forest means no home. Do you not understand this?" Bone growled at Fauna who nodded and raised her hands in surrender.
"Sheesh! Okay. I just thought - oof!" The last part was because the air was knocked out of her again and she found herself soaring into a large rock. She heard a bone snap as she landed awkwardly on her wrist and she screamed in pain, but her body immediately healed itself and she held her wrist in front of her face, panting heavily.
"Okay! That does it!" She screamed. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins and Zara was hollering at her, cheering her onward.
Fauna charged, but she miscalculated and ran into the tree beside Bone with enough force to dislocate her nose.
"Holy moon and nature spirits!" Zara winced andshook her head. "I should have brought some snacks!"