[RO]The past will find you

[Neela Garcia]

[html]

Set very early 5th, about 1am.

If there was one thing that had stayed the same about Neela all her life it was her love of the moon. Even when Neela had been a small pup and her life had consisted of trying to not anger her mother too much she ahd always enjoyed watching the moon. There was precious little other than the full moon currently hovering above her that could drag Neela out from the comfort of her home in the wee hours of the morning.

The chicks were still back at the house and Grynn hovering far above, invisible aside from the brief moments that she pass in-between the moon and Neela, so if was peaceful as far out as Neela was from the rest of Casa di Cavalieri; the border had been passed a few minutes before she had settled down to her stargazing with little pause.

A slight rustling caused her to jerk slightly, ears and eyes swivelling wildly, but she could see nor ehar nothing. A quick sniff brought no scents other than her own and the surrounding wildlife, so Neela settled back down to her gazing. It was only after she had lay back down that her nose finally caught up and she realised that she hadn't smelled herself, but just something that smelled a lot like her-

Neela shot to her feet just in time to receive a fist to the throat that put her straight back on the ground.

"Its been a long time-" The voice which spoke tried to be flat and emotionless but there were obvious undercurrents, of anger and triumph. Neela, gasping breathlessly on the ground, raised her head shakily to look at a figure that looked disturbingly similar to her. Her eyes wandered past long, russet and cream fur to a pair of eyes identical to her own, "-Mother."

"Leon." Neela croaked painfully, torn between looking at her son and looking away, unable to cope with seeing him again but wanting to look at him more than anything. You killed dad." There was no question to the words and Neela gave no response, staying silent and looking at the ground until suddenly Leon surged forward with an angry growl, kicking and punching at her. There was no technique to the blows but despite his superficial similarities to Neela, Leon had inherited his fathers large build, putting a lot of force behind the blows; Neela could have sworn that she heard something crack when his first kick hit her ribs. Eventually Neela managed to roll away, slipping down a small grassy slope and coming to a rest in a crouched position, clutching her ribs and hissing in pain.

The idea of hurting Leon was unimaginable to Neela but some instinct forced her to pull herself up and draw a knife from behind her back, eyes narrowing and tracking the short sword Leon had produced in response. Neela didn’t have any idea how her son had found her, so far from home, but at the moment she was painfully aware of how much trouble she was in right now, stuck outside the pack territory and being attacked.

Leon's anger was more evident now as he once again moved, this time lashing out with a sword strike that cut along Neela's arm when her aching ribs slowed her dodge. Leon was strong but he had no training and normally Neela would have dominated the fight but, injured as she was, Neela was continually pushed back down the slope, accumulating a wide range of cuts and scrapes of varying severity before a strike to the temple sent her tumbling back down to the ground.

Leon strode forwards, sword twitching and mouth opening as though to say something, when Grynn struck. Rather typically for the bird there was no sound to preface the strike and nothing but a scream and a spurt of blood from Leon's eye marked her passing. The Peregrine tried to make a second pass but the trees nearby stopped her gaining full speed and Leon managed to hit her when he lashed out wildly, sending the bird tumbling to the ground.

The first thought that came to Neela's mind was how small Grynn looked. The bird's actions meant that Neela tended to think of her small companion as bigger than she was but lying on the floor she seemed so small. The second was how wrong it was to see the bird so still. Even when she wasn't flying Grynn was always moving, constantly shifting or looking around, but she was completely still on the floor.

Neela was only half aware of the angry growl that came to her lips, of drawing her second dagger and stalking towards Leon angrily. It was this blind aggression that saved her as Leon, suddenly looking a hell less confident with one of his eyes disabled, drew back and, with a final snarl, disappeared into the night.

Neela stood for a moment, staring after him, and then dropped bonelessly besides Grynn's body.

Word Count :: +835