Her grayish blonde fur, her pale gold eyes, it all shimmered in the sunlight as she ran. Running, faster, leaping over obstacles, escaping her predator.
Who could be predator to puma concolor?
The apes.
The apes with the fur-less skin and pelts made from other beings. The creature that walked on two legs and used its forelegs in ways unimaginable to the felines and most of the animal kingdom. This creature had upset a balance.
This creature, so-called “man”, had trapped Dawn's Breath not many seasons ago. They fed her, true, but they also poked and prodded her, put her into sleeps where she no longer knew what was happening to her.
And so, at first chance, she escaped.
Now she knew her life was at risk, she knew they would come after her.
Why?
Why her?
Run, run, leap, run.
Paw pads thumping, claws tearing into the grass and soft dirt of a recent drizzle.
Sliding down a hill, a sharp turn to avoid a cliff's edge, and then she tumbled.
It was not on her own doing that she tumbled, but on his. He was a dark fellow, dark eyes to match. He was tall and lanky, he was quiet and shy. She would find out though, he was kind.
But in that moment, he was in the way and caused her to crash into him because she had not taken a breath to smell the male of her species. They rolled together a short ways and almost slipped into a creek, instead only getting lightly drenched at the edge of the water.
As they stood up, she frightened, he eyed her.
“What's the rush?” he asked with his surprisingly creaky voice.
She explained in a breath, “Men are after me!”
He blinked and his mouth fell ajar. Moving his head slightly from side to side as he scented the air, he came to a conclusion, “I don't think so.”
“What?” she asked, “I know they were behind me, I know they want me!”
He blinked at her, “Why?”
She scuffed the rocky creek-shore, “I can't tell you; it is too humiliating.”
Unwilling to pry, he shrugged and swished his thick-tipped tail. “I'm Eagle's Wing.”
“Dawn's Breath,” she nodded in greeting to him.
“How long have they had you?” he inquired.
She admitted, “Too long; I don't even know where to go. Where do I belong?”
He blinked slowly at her and then explained, “The mountain lions live down north, in the Ozark Mountains. Sometimes they go as far down as the saltwater I've heard and hunt big lizards. To the north, where it gets colder, are the pumas. They don't like it hot so much. I've heard if you go far enough toward the setting sun, there are more mountain lions, but that could just be rumors. And supposedly, there are panthers even beyond the Ozark mountain lions. Somehow, there's more land beyond the saltwater. I don't know much about it though, it is merely something I've heard in travels and meeting other passersby.”
“Who is around here?” she asked him.
He laughed, “How could I forget? My own kind, we are the cougars.”
“I don't know where I'm from,” she told him, “I can't remember my first year, and I doubt I'm much older than that.”
“I agree,” he told her, “you smell rather young.”
He gave another sniff about her, “In fact, you smell as though you're with young.”
She shivered at the comment, “Please don't say that.”
He said nothing more. He walked away, and flicked a nicked ear to tell her to follow.

They rested together in his den, a concave in the rock wall that stood holding up the creek; the freshwater tumbled over the edge and fell in front of the opening, but there was enough space for the cat to make his way in.
“It is funny,” he told her, “A spirit bird came to me in a dream not long ago. He told me I would meet a mother, and she would bear but one cub.”
“Do you suspect she to be me?”
“Who else?” He looked her dead in the eye, “No one else needs caring for, no one else is yet with litter.”
The cougar looked down at her paws, ashamed.
He nudged her gently, “No worries, miss, I'll take care of you and your son.”
“Son?”
Eagle's Wing proclaimed, “According to the spirit bird who visited me, his name is to be Sun's Shine.”
“Sun's Shine,” Dawn's Breath repeated.
Sun's Shine was born on a cold night. There was a snow storm, a very late snow storm for the season, the last one that would grace that sun-cycle. He was born healthy however, and he would grow with both cougars acting as parents, an oddity in their culture.
“Great Eagle sends His spirit birds as necessary,” Sun's Shine said one day, “He would never do something so randomly. He always has intent, and we must trust in Him!”
The cub looked odd. He was named aptly, however, as his fur was a bright tawny. His face-shape was off, and his tail had a weird tuft to it. His spots were different too. He simply was not like the other cubs.
He often ran off and would hide in the brush. Once found, the cub would explain, “I was listening for Great Eagle. His voice echoes in all nature!”
What were they to make of him?
What would the others make of him?
The First Meeting
It was time. The cougars would meet in the middle at a lake and chatter, worship, and pray. The cubs would play and learn about Great Eagle and His religion.
Sun's Shine was eager. His mother and step-father were nervous.
Immediately, Sun's Shine found a group of cubs and he raced at them with much excitement. The cubs were all well grown, though still smaller than adults. Sun's Shine was the largest and brightest in the group, a tuft of fur growing atop his heavy head.
“Do you all know Great Eagle's good word?” he asked with enthusiasm.
They looked at him, glanced between each other, and then laughed.
Taken aback, Sun's Shine inquired, “What is so funny?”
“You!” the largest male cub spat before leading another laugh.
A female added, “Your face!”
And a male, “Your body and tail and everything!”
Another asked, “What is that on your head? Did you roll in some dead grass?”
They laughed some more.
“I-I have come to discuss Great Eagle,” Sun's Shine insisted.
A small rosy colored female walked up and faced the laughing cubs.
 “Be nice to him,” she scolded them, “perhaps he shall be nice to you in return!”
The lead male cub tilted his head to the side, “Oh please, Dawn's Dapple, you just wanna warm up to him like you do all the guys!”
“That's not true,” she softly protested, raising her dainty nose into the air, “you don't know what you're talking about!”
“I know about Great Eagle, my mama taught me since before I could hear her,” he said, “and she told me nothing of some golden-furred, crested-head cougar trying to tell me what Great Eagle wants.”
“Great Eagle wants peace!” Sun's Shine interjected.
“How so?”
“In all ways! Between cats alike, between all creatures!”
The lower ranked male suggested, “So, we're not supposed to catch prey to keep peace?”
“That's not what I said,” Sun's Shine sighed, “if you would give me an honest listen....”
But they weren't about to do that. The female cub chuckled, “You know you're both funny-looking and funny-talking.”
The other said, “Great Eagle will save us from man, surely. He has saved us before and He will save us again for we are His cats!”
“Great Eagle is in our presence, Great Eagle, our Father-,”
The others gasped.
“What did you just call Him?” the large male cub growled.
The others' fur stood on end.
Dawn's Dapple looked between parties and sided with Sun's Shine, “Father; as he is a father to all of us! After all, He created us did He not?”
By now the attention of the adults' was met. They gathered and were mumbling until one cried out, “If Great Eagle wanted this strange cub to preach to us, let's hear his voice in thunder!”
Sun's Shine opened his squared mouth and a loud sound came. It echoed into the distance and startled everyone around. Even the large male cub was cowering.
Dawn's Dapple happily cried out, “See? Great Eagle spoke through this cub!”
Sun's Shine proudly stood, he looked to his mother who gazed happily at him.
And the others looked to her too.
“How did you beget him?” they began asking her.
“He can't be one of us!”
“Are you no cougar?”
She replied, “I am cougar, but his father is not.”
“And what is he?” they demanded.
She blinked with pride and declared, “Only the essence of Great Eagle.”
Growls erupted, caterwauls of outcry.
Impossible! Heresy! Treason!
And suddenly the wind carried birdsong, in the language of the cats, “And He will raise you up, on Eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of Dawn, and make you to shine like the Sun!”
The cougars looked around for an explanation.
They were frightened, they could not explain this. For many generations they had lived, and now this was going to change everything.
The question would carry on, “Is Sun's Shine son of Great Eagle?”
Comments