Ithel
"... Dilara"
"Uh-huh"
"You named a tiger cub after your mother"
"Yes!", he answered all excited, "Isn't she cute?"
He lifted the animal higher for me to see. The little thing just stared at me
"It's a tiger"
He nodded, still not getting how absurd this was.
"She's so brave. She followed us all the way. She wants to stay with us!"
"It probably followed its mother's scent since we brought the skin"
"Oh..."
He turned the cub to face him and smiled. "You're a smart little cub, aren't you, Dilara? Using your little nose, you're gifted!"
I had just woken up and I didn't know what to make of this.
"Ceri, we can't keep a predator"
"What? No! She needs us!"
"It's still a tiger. A wild animal"
"It's a baby!"
"It's probably a couple months old"
"It's a cute little cub..."
"It will grow sooner than you'd think. Then it will be dangerous"
"Ithel.........." he gave me a pleading look.
I sighed. After everything that happened to us, he was finally cheerful and excited about something. But it had to be something that will attempt to eat us in a few months.
A tiger.
A male tiger. Somehow, he wasn't seeing the animal's tiny reproductive parts. Somehow, he thought it was female and named it after his deceased mother.
...................
"Ithel, please?"
.......... I sighed, "Fine."
His face brightened and he grinned.
"But don't get attached to it. You must accept the fact that cubs often don't last long without their mother"
"Not Dilara. I won't let her die. I'll take care of her"
"Ceri-"
"I will! She's alone because of me. It's my responsibility now. I won't do anything risky or stupid anymore. I'll be a strong hunter, I swear! I'll become the best and I'll protect you both!"
He hugged the animal to himself and the little thing didn't even protest. "I'll raise her well. Just like Aleksy did with the little rabbit"
"I can get you a rabbit"
"I don't want a rabbit. I have Dilara. Isn't that right, Dilara? Look how adorable and obedient you are! Such a good girl"
He patted the animal and it purred and stretched on his lap. Ceri chuckled and I smiled, despite the absurdity of the situation.
After washing a little and drinking from the generous waterfall, it was time to go hunting. I looked at my mate who was pampering his new friend.
My shoulder ached from my recent wound. I had to go get food and enough provisions for the winter. How could I leave Ceri alone, though?
He said that he was sorry and that he wouldn't do the same mistake again. But if I left him alone, he'd torment himself with feelings of weakness and inadequacy, or memories of that dreadful Aella-hunter. That would, once again, chase away his peace of mind and push him to act without proper reasoning. Since he lived most of his life on the mountain, he didn't have the ability to predict danger. He was too trustful to everything that looked nice and beautiful.
Just like this tiger that'll soon become able to kill an Aello.
"You're coming with me", I announced as I gathered my weapons.
"What?"
"We're hunting together."
"Really!! I mean............... Are you sure? I'm.........."
His foot tensed and pulled back a little and I understood what he meant. My Ceri had a limp in his step now and he walked much slower than he used to be able to. Which confused me because he was able to reach so far away from me in just a day and a half!
Heavens, I get chills when I remember what happened.
But I wasn't going to mention yesterday's awful events once again.
I grabbed a clean cloth and went to tend to his back. I sat behind him and he remained still as I removed the blood-soiled cloth and cleaned his wounds. Gashes that miraculously didn't tear his back open. Just the thought of what could've happened made my stomach churn.
He remained bravely calm as I treated his back, then he helped me tie a cloth around my shoulder.
"Ceri, I thought our priority was to have a safe winter, but I was wrong. From now on, we'll do our best, together. You'll accompany me to hunt and help me set traps"
He nodded, "I'll do my best"
Ceri hurried to prepare a comfortable corner beside the waterfall and sat the animal on it. It stared at him while he gave it instructions to stay put and safe while we went to get food. I wondered if the animal understood any of what Ceri was telling it.
How strange, Ceri was doing the same thing I used to do to him; keep him in a safe place and asking him to wait obediently.
With a kiss on the head, Ceri parted with the animal and joined me. We ascended the rest of the mountain and descended the other side. We went slowly, as I had to keep with Ceri's pace, who was doing his best to be walk faster than he could.
A couple of hours later, we stopped by a tiny spring of water to rest. I sat beside Ceri under a tree while he caught his breaths.
"We don't need to stop. I can go on"
"It's alright. I need to rest as well. Wouldn't do us any good if we reached the hunting area exhausted"
He nodded, "Ithel, thank you for bringing me along. I won't make trouble, I promise"
"You're welcome". I kissed his cheek and he smiled shyly
"I'm just worried about Dilara"
I raised a brow and he continued, "She's so small and cute. What if something happened to her?"
He sighed and I chuckled, "Now you know how I feel every time I left you alone"
I pushed his hair behind his ear. He had recovered nicely before. Now he had new scratches all over his body and injuries on his back. Unfortunately, those will certainly leave scars. Mine as well.
I took his lip between mine and kissed him. Then I cupped his head and he held onto my arms. This is how we should always be. Just him and me, alone, in peace.
However, we weren't alone for long. A certain chirping noise broke our sweet kiss and made Ceri jump up to stand and turn towards the noise, "DILARA!"
There was the little animal that interfered with our kiss. It was standing there and chirping towards us. Ceri hurried to it.
"Dilara! Did you follow us all the way here? You're amazing Dilara! So smart and strong. Where you lonely without us? Come here. I'm sorry I left you. We had to get food, you understand, right?"
He kept talking to the animal and this latter chirped every time as if blaming my mate. And it worked perfectly. The mischievous animal ended up being hugged in Ceri's arms. And, of course, I was given the 'Can we please bring him along?' look.
I sighed. Well, maybe the animal would decide to wander into the forest alone so we'd get rid of it before it tried to get rid of us.
And that was how we got a tiger in our hands. The little one walked alongside Ceri and eventually, he waited for him when Ceri took more time than us, just like I did.
The little animal was the only one who got praised, though.
We arrived at the area where I had set a few traps. We found a fox and the remains of what seemed to be a rabbit caught in two of them. I assumed another predator found the rabbit and helped itself to the easy prey. As for the fox, I let my Ceri skin it, but we tossed to meat away at it didn't smell too fresh.
I helped Ceri climb a tree and gave him the fox skin to occupy himself with. The tiger chose to walk circles around the area, and mostly around the tree.
In the meantime, I left to hunt. I tried to hurry the best I could, but it still took me a couple of hours. Finally, when I managed to secure our dinner, I hurried back.
I found my Ceri beneath the tree, a few small branches set beside him and ready to make a fire. He was laughing while he played with the tiger, making the little animal stand on its hinges to try to catch a stick that my Aella lifted up and down to taunt it. The animal growled and jumped, successfully pulling the stick down with its teeth. It wasn't an angry growl. It seemed playful. And my little pearl knew that and went on praising 'Dilara, the bravest tigress' as he called it.
The animal's ears twitched and it let go of the stick to turn towards me and take a threatening stance. The tiger growled, threateningly this time. And Ceri raised his eyes to search through the trees. I emerged immediately as to not scare him. And he grinned as soon as he saw me
"Ithel!"
"I brought dinner"
"Great! I'm hungry. Little Dilara as well. Isn't that right, Dilara?"
The tiger relaxed and took a step back from me as I came close, but it kept watching me with an unkind stare.
"You climbed down the tree", I stated.
"Sorry. I got bored and Dilara was restless. Next time, you'll join us to play, right?"
I nodded. "As long as that thing didn't try to eat us"
"No way. This baby is too smart to eat family. Right, Dilara?"
The little thing's answer was to pounce towards the meal to try and steal it. I was amused to see Ceri grab it midair and hug the animal to himself.
"Dilara, we have to wait for the food to be cooked. We don't want it to upset your stomach, do we?"
The animal struggled a little and chirped, but it didn't try to hurt Ceri or try to bite him as I feared.
I chuckled when the animal gave up and went limp in Ceri's arms. I started the fire and watched them. It was very amusing that Ceri conveniently forgot that animals didn't cook their food, and that this little cub wanted him for a raw meal two days ago. Now the cub was following the meat with its eyes and growling deep whenever I touched it or turned it over the fire.
Ceri sighed blissfully. It was sunset already. Since we took too much time to reach this area, I decided that we should spend the night here, do as much hunting as possible tomorrow before we headed back home.
I saw with my back to the tree and my Ceri between my legs. I hugged him from behind and he caressed the cub slowly. The little thing ate half the meal all by itself. It was now contently spread over both our laps while Ceri caressed its back.
I looked up to the reddish sky through an opening between the trees. "This was a good day", I said.
Ceri looked back at me and smiled, "It was the best! Thank you for bringing me along"
"It's a long walk from home, but I'm glad you're here with me now."
"Ithel, can I come again when you go hunting?"
"Of course. You've been a big help to me today"
".......... I just played with Dilara. But she needs someone to take care of her, so I guess I helped"
I kissed his temple and hugged him closer, "You skinned the animals and cleaned their fur. You also prepared the fire"
"And tomorrow, I'll tend to the traps! I can do that on my own"
"That's a good idea. But I need you to promise me something"
"Anything!"
"I'd like you to refrain from following this cub in case it chose to leave"
"................ Why would she leave?"
"It's an animal, Ceri. It could choose to wander in the forest and I can't have you running after it and getting lost again. Also, it's a male cub"
"WHAT?? That's impossible"
I threw my head back and tried to find the proper words that wouldn't crush his hopes. After all, his Dilara was a male
But it had to be done, so I lifted the cub's tail, "If you look closely, you'll see its reproductive parts"
Ceri tensed, "Stop lifting her ass, you're bothering her!"
Suddenly, he made me feel like I was doing something indecent so I let go of the animal's tail. "I...It's not a person"
"I'm raising her to be a good girl"
"Ceri-"
He turned to pout, "I don't care if she has male parts. Her soul is like an Aella and her look reminds me of the one I saw under the water"
"Underwater?"
"...... When I fell... back on our island"
I just realized what he meant. Ceri thought he had seen his mother's spirit when he hit his head and fell into the sea. Since then, he has been wondering if it were true. Maybe naming this animal by his mother's name made him feel closer to her. Maybe that reassured him that she was still watching over him.
I raised my hands. "Fine, you win"
He grinned and I continued, "But I still need you to promise that you won't run after the cub if it leaves."
"She won't leave. I'll take care of her"
"Just please promise me that?"
"........... ok, I promise", he mumbled reluctantly.
"And I promise we'll look for it together if that happened"
"Really!!"
"Yes. IF you do not follow it."
He nodded and leaned in, rubbing his temple against my cheek, making me laugh
"You're becoming more like a tiger cub"
"No, Dilara is very strong. And she's adoooorable!"
I chuckled and hugged him close. "And that's exactly you, little pearl"