"You have a kit purr," I blurt out.
I chuff and can't seem to stop. She uses her elbow to deliver blows to me several times, grumbling the whole time, but I just keep right on chuffing.
Soon after, she relents and joins me with a low version of her trill.
I pull her close to me. "You are perfect. Including your dainty purr."
It starts back up again and I add my own deeper rumble to it.
We fall asleep wrapped up in each other's arms.
?
I wake us both up well before dark.
The wind was howling for most of the morning, but it has improved now.
I'd rather hunt at night, but I feel like we would fail her Silver to not keep moving. She groans, but grabs on to me without complaint.
We continue our practice of me leaving her in a nearby hiding spot, but I decide to be more choosy today. There are several newly downed trees, presumably from the wind storm.
There are more and more hunters each day.
If I took the time to kill them all, it not only increases the risk when my Ree wouldn't be able to get in and out of our nest alone, but it also lengthens the time before we can help her Silver.
I've already checked several camps with no sign of the equipment we need when I come across one with a small cache of supplies covered with a heat-reflective material.
It piques my interest and I spend some time observing the mixed camp of genali and braceaaer.
They aren't getting along well, as usual.
I only know a few words of the clicking braceaaer language, but from the insults being hurled by the genali it seems like they are on the brink of pulling weapons on each other.
I suppress my purr, mentally urging them on.
After a few more minutes of observation without violence, I decide to help inflame the situation.
Some careful creeping is all it takes to position myself above them. I carefully detach a branch, then carve it into a sharp point.
It would be more helpful to have one of the knives we've pilfered, but it's not worth the discomfort of carrying a pack when I have plenty of sharp claws.
The small spear works just fine when I drop it from a height onto the exposed neck of a bending over braceaaer. They dart their long-fingered hands up to their neck, whipping around to berate the innocent genali behind them.
I sharpen another projectile, but it isn't needed. It seems like all it took was a little nudge.
Bullets and knives are flying not long after. One of the two braceaaer simply picks up one of the three genali and hurls him into the trunk of a tree.
They are far stronger than they look. They're one of those species where size and strength don't align with expectations.
It stuns the slime just long enough for the other braceaaer to run in and slash his blade across its quivering body, spilling entrails before they reverse the trajectory and stab forward through one of the screaming blob's eyes.
Several bullet wounds open up on the torso of the triumphant killer, and he lets out a series of high-pitched clicks as he crashes to the ground, green blood pumping out of his blown open chest cavity.
There's plenty of competing noise now, so I let out my suppressed purr, its rumble increasing my satisfaction.
This is the most entertainment I've had in a very long time.
The remaining braceaaer learns from the blind rage of his companion and dives behind a tree for cover, still peppering the two remaining genali with blasts from his handgun.
