Believe - Chapter 18: Caring

Again, it was not Red who woke Imya up but she woke up by herself. At first she did not remember where she was and what happened. Only after she yawned and stretched and her gaze fell upon the sleeping Red who still had tried blood in the fur of his leg she remembered the fight of the last night. She took the step to him and nudged him with her nose. He was still asleep. He sure had been exhausted after the fight last night. For Imya it was something new to see him this exhausted and weak. "G'Evening Kiddo!" he whispered when he opened his eyes. "Imma hatta rest tonight, sure Imma does, yo!" his voice did not have the spunk and energy it normally had. Alone the fact that it sounded more like a whisper and exhausted was enough for Imya to know that he was not in the condition to run this night. She nodded but did not respond and Red closed his eyes again and went off to sleep. She liked over his leg and discovered that the wounds were not bleeding. She did not know how serious they were, but at least they were starting to heal. He had been able to walk as well the night before, even if he had limped strongly. Imya herself was full rested. She had not received any injuries from the fight. Only a big shock and some bruises and wobbling legs but the day sleep had brought her a fresh mind, a safe stand and energy back.

"I will get something to eat for you." She whispered more to herself. Red was already sleeping tight and she was sure he did not hear her. Carefully Imya crawled out of the den and scanned the surroundings. It had snowed over the day and the tracks from the last night were gone. She tried to memorize the surroundings. The snow was still falling from the sky but only a few big snowflakes. She was sure that when she was quick she would still see her tracks in the snow if she returned. All the thought about at this moment was to get food for Red but how she was about to get it, she did not know. The only food she had found before had been at the start of her journey form one of these ... Mimi called them houses, right? ... where the human lived. But she was not going to search for a human. Mimi had warned her that not all humans were nice and when the hound fled the day before she had seen something around his neck that looked like the band Mimi had worn. She was sure that this hound was related to humans in some way. No, the humans were not the right choice, she was sure of that.

"You have to go hunting then." Imya whispered to herself again. "You learned how, didn't you?" Imya was not so sure if she was ready for that. Sure, Red had taught her to read the tracks to discover a prey and he showed her how she could capture it theoretically, but she never hunted a real animal. But it was a fact that they did not have food for one night already and that Red needed food to get better soon. She remembered how the food in the house of the human had helped her to get back her energy and heal. The white pup chose her steps softly and carefully and without making any sound she ran through the snow. She was surprised herself that she was even running quite fast but silently like they practiced. Her legs and paws remembered how to move and roll so that only a bit of snow was pulled into the air. Her eyes noticed any bulge in the snow cover that could have been a fallen branch of a tree, a hole or something else that could make a sound and she jumped over them. Her nose was quivering in the try to get a scent. She was careful but brave. She scanned her surrounding and analyzed every scent while she continued to run. A few times she stopped when she heard something or when a scent was new to her but she did not see any other animal for over an hour. She wondered how far she had run already. The moon still hid behind the clouds and also her star was not in sight.

Imya stopped and calmed down her breath. There was a scent that she remembered. She was sure that this was a rabbit. He turned her ears to pick up any noises while she tried to get the direction of the scent. A rustle in the bushes to her right, behind some trees, made her directly move the head towards this direction. It was upwind and so she directly noticed that the scent came from there. Slowly and without hesitation she prowled closer, step by step. The rustling stopped for a few seconds and then the animal seemed to move further. It took three more minutes until Imya saw her target. It was a rabbit, just as she had guessed. It was fat and big, much bigger than the ones Red had brought with him, and it did not look into her direction. If it had a nose as good as Imya it was probably not picking up her scent because she stood downwind. Around the bushes it was harder to move without making a sound and Imya slowed down even more. She finally was just a few steps away and her body moved closer to the ground. She tensed up and felt the excitement of being a hunter in all her muscles. Her blood pulsed through her veins in anticipation of the jump. Her heart and mind was focused on what would come next. She did not think about Red anymore. She did not think about the fact that this was her first actual prey and that she was inexperienced or what would happen when she would fail. She only concentrated on this brown and white bundle of fur in front of her that just poked its head out of the bush. Imya felt the tension growing until it nearly hurt and then releasing in one big jump. She flew, just like in the last night, and everything around her seemed to stand still again. The snow stopped in midair, the branches, the prey and even the wind seemed to hold its breath. Somehow in this moment, while none of her paws were on the ground, her heart made a jump and she felt happier than ever before.

"You should eat up!" Imya let the big rabbit fall between the legs of Red. She was proud of her achievement and of finding her way back. But the proudest she was about the surprise in the face of Red and his words. "Did ya catch da rabbit?" he asked and she smiled from one of her ears to the other. "Yes, I did it. You know I moved around in the forest really silently and then ..." Imya told him the whole story in real time for hours. Even after Red had eaten his share and insisted that she ate something too she still explained every minute how she ran through the forest, got the track of the rabbit and killed it with one jump and one bite. Imya lost track of time and when she finally was at the end of the story, the night was nearly over. Red had just listened to the overjoyed pup. He smiled at her and looked as proud as the young pup that she managed to do as he instructed her just after learning about it. "Ya sure learn fast, sure ya do, yo!" was all he said but for her it was the biggest praise she could have wished for. She made sure that he had it comfortable and Red joked by saying "Imma not ill Kiddo! Ya don't worry. Imma back on ma feet da next night, sure I am, yo!" He got a bit of his energy back and his voice sounded like always. They went to rest early this night and even though Imya thought she would have a hard time to fall asleep with her body still being full of happiness and excitement about her first hunt she was in dreamland the moment she closed her eyes. She had not noticed how exhausted she had been from the hunt and from telling her story.