Hepbeth and Tragar sprawled on the stone floor of Jozlyn's tower room in Draygon's Keep. Tragar always chose the hearth, as its stones were smaller and rougher than those of the smooth floor. He liked to roll over and scratch his back on the hearth once in a while. Besides, in cooler weather the hearth stones held the heat better than did the stones of the floor. Hepbeth preferred the smooth coolness of the floor stones under Jozlyn's table year round.
Hepbeth was occupied with grooming her honey-gold paws and tail while Tragar watched lazily with eyelids slitted. Suddenly both tabbin sat up. Yes, they sensed that Jozlyn's mental vibrations had turned to thoughts of home.
"Surprise Jozlyn," Hepbeth telepathed to her companion as she got up and padded quickly to a corner of the room. Purring a chuckle of agreement, Tragar went to another corner and turned around to await Jozlyn's appearance. Both tabbin hunkered down--and waited.
Shortly thereafter, a change in the very nature of the air swirled itself into manifestation in the center of the room--and Jozlyn, the mage that the two tabbin patronized, stepped out of it.
Spring--sprang! Two hurling furry bodies thudded into Jozlyn, knocking her onto her amply padded derriere. A large pouch dropped from her sash and rolled aside. Hepbeth pounced on it, swatting it out of Tragar's reach. She held it between her front paws, daring Tragar to come and get it, her long tail spiked straight up in the air, its tip waving enticingly. Suddenly Hepbeth saw the male's long lithe body sailing past her head and the pouch--sharp pains in the tip of her tail!
Whirling around snarling a loud "mee-ouch," the female tabbi discarded her prize to fling herself after Tragar's tail vanishing out the doorway and down the stairs. As she bounded down the steps, the tabbi was vaguely aware of Jozlyn's scolding voice.
Hepbeth didn't catch up with Tragar out in the garden. He seemed to have disappeared. Well, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of letting him know she was really annoyed with him for biting her tail. It still stung. There was more than one way to stalk prey, the prey being Tragar himself. She'd just pretend disinterest for a while. She was very good at this. All her female tabbin friends said so. So it must be so. With that settled, she sat down in the sunshine to minister to her tail.
The person of Hepbeth's annoyance settled himself on the large branch he'd leaped up to from the top of the garden wall. He watched her licking herself. Why had she all of a sudden forgotten she was chasing him? Tragar felt annoyance slowly creeping over him. What was the fun in having a rolicking good chase if the chaser opted out just when things were getting warmed up? He sighed. Perhaps she'd remember after she finished grooming herself. He watched some more.
Trouble was, his stomach began informing him he hadn't fed it enough that morning. It started insisting, loudly. He sighed again. Deciding that Hepbeth had really given up their chase game, he crept closer along the branch toward the trunk. Carefully, silently, so as not to reveal his position to her, he crept backwards down to the ground, then bounded swiftly away into the woods to hunt musktoon.
In spite of Tragar's precautions, Hepbeth's sharp hearing had located him from the sounds his rumbling stomach issued, and confirmed his position as soon as he'd started backing down the trunk of that large tree on the other side of the garden wall. Her leg muscles tensed, ready for the 'spring to life and chase' command. But her higher mind over-ruled her instinctive mind, and so the leg muscles relaxed. Hepbeth was too much a lady to interfere with a gentleman's quest for a meal. Not that she considered Tragar a gentleman. In the days to come, her instinct told her, he would become less and less of a gentleman. Well, she'd do something about that when the time came. Right now it seemed the perfect time for a snooze in the sun. She found a nice place near the pond, carefully walked around the plants that the humans treasured so, then plopped down on warm bare earth.
Two finer examples of the tabbi species of Luciheptal World couldn't be found than Hepbeth and Tragar. Hepbeth, resplendent with tabbin-green eyes and thick honey-gold fur with cream-colored vertical stripes on her sides, was four years old. Six-year-old Tragar, also green-eyed as were all tabbin on this world, had rufous brown fur with beige stripes. He'd discovered Jozlyn and Hepbeth during the same spring about three years ago.
The then-three-year-old male tabbi had been conversing telepathically, as all tabbin conversed with each other, with an older male named Roshel. This male had told Tragar that he greatly enjoyed working with a human mage. Tragar wondered what the advantages were to a tabbi to associate with a hman.
Roshel had listed several advantages, "Most important--humans very interesting, amusing. They don't always use their intelligence. Important--Roshel sleep in warm room year round, if Roshel choose. Roshel always choose yes. Roshel save energy. Roshel not have to groom after cold, messy weather. Mage shares meat pieces, other treats with Roshel. Yes, much better life than living in woods like Tragar."
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