"Do you feel ready for your second test, Valja?" Salim looked attentively at his daughter, who was clearly proud of herself for having mastered her first task. And yet there was still a hint of excitement in her movements. She nodded and wagged her tail impatiently.

"The second task will consist of you having to answer ten questions about hunting. Seven of them must be answered correctly, otherwise you will fail the test." Somehow the words from Salim's mouth sounded a little harsh and he tried to soften them a little by putting on an encouraging smile.

Then he continued with the first question: "How does a normal hunt with lone lynxes work?"

Valja hardly had to think before she gave the right answer: "You lie in wait for the prey, stalk against the wind and jump off at a suitable moment. To kill it, you bite its throat. The death should be quick so that the animal doesn't have to suffer unnecessarily." Renewed thoughts of the fatal bite on Alicia and Miles clouded his mind and he could hardly think clearly about Valja. A lynx had murdered his two companions, biting their prey. And a lynxess with a similar scent to the two crime scenes had sought out an area next to his. His eyes widened in horror as he realized that she would probably want to murder his last kitten as well. And he had also been talking to her. Salim immediately decided that he would have to let Valja pass the test.

"What do you have to watch out for when hunting a hare?", he asked the second question and Valja answered after a moment's thought: "A hare has long ears to hear, which is why you should make a special effort to sneak up on it. It's also difficult to follow a hare over a long distance."

With this statement, she elicited a smile from Salim, which immediately faded when she was unable to answer either the third or the fourth question. All those accusations, suspicions and half-truths immediately came back to him and worries plagued the lynx until Valja suppressed her nervousness and gave correct answers to the remaining six questions.

The lynxess heaved a sigh of relief when the round of questions was finally over and Salim was glad too.

Some time passed and Valja answered another ten questions about different attack and defense strategies and had to use all kinds of techniques. She was shown herbs and diseases and wounds, which she had to and could name. Together they roamed through her territory, looking for plants whose uses and locations had to be demonstrated.

However, as they searched for and found mugwort near the border of this most likely dangerous lynxess, Salim could make out a dark pair of eyes between the branches of a bare bush. And when he looked at the spot more closely, he also discovered the body belonging to it.

But he didn't address it, as he wanted to concentrate on Valja right now.

"You remember the lynxess that set up her own territory here a few moons ago? The border starts over there", he spoke loud enough for every lynx present to hear and Valja nodded before turning back to the herb and explaining its effects.

And to make even more sure that she didn't attack his daughter, he said after her list of healing methods: "Very good, Valja. You will definitely pass your final test and find your own territory in just a few days. You are so strong that you could take on anyone." Valja just looked at him, uncomprehending at his sudden loudness, but smiled at the compliment. Then both lynxes turned away from the border again and trotted deeper into their own territory together.

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Even though Salim was sure he could feel those light brown eyes on the back of his neck, watching him in a deep and mysterious way, following him for a long time to come.

After a fight with retracted claws between Valja and Salim, in which the lynxess only narrowly won and made the lynx give up, her father released Valja into the territory to complete the last of the eight tests.

She was now to hunt until nightfall, which, unfortunately for him, was not long in coming. She had to kill at least seven prey animals, although size was not an issue, in order to complete this task successfully. The feast would fortify her for the following days if the time of death struck too hard or she was exposed to famine.

Salim felt the pride of a father when he thought about the fact that she had passed almost every test so far with sufficient success and had even surprised him with her knowledge on one occasion or another. Even if the night of the real decision was yet to come.

On this night, she would be visited by her deceased relatives, her mother and her two brothers. Perhaps she would also be able to speak to her father, who could not be found and who would also have to appear there.

He involuntarily thought back to his own travel night. He had never been allowed to meet his father, but it had been wonderful and indescribable to see him for the first time in his life. And, above all, to realize that he was not unlike him. He could still remember exactly how he had thought he was looking into his future and seeing his older self. He grinned at his gullibility at the time, but the thickness of his fur, that particular shade of brown in it and the black spots that ran in a row across his flank were just too familiar to Salim. These were all traits that he also possessed, and he was still proud that he had inherited them from him.

And yet he was a little sad when he thought of him. He had never been there for him, he had never learned anything about him. The few heartbeats he had been able to talk to him in this dream had not been enough for him to figure him out.

But then Salim shook his head vigorously. Enough with all the thoughts. Valja was about to successfully complete her exam and soon set off for a new and unknown territory that would make her happy forever. And that was a reason to celebrate and rejoice.

He trotted back into his gloomy and barely lit cave and sat down on the cold floor to wait for his daughter. Surely she would catch birds in abundance, which she loved so much. Although he was a little worried that she was taking the hunt too aggressively, he simply had to trust her. To distract himself, he watched the snow that had settled on the branches of the trees and now occasionally fell to the ground when it became too much and too heavy for the branches. Somehow, the small ice crystals caused a pleasant tingling sensation in his ears and if he listened carefully, it almost drowned out everything around him. It was like a song that the snow wanted to sing to him and lull him to sleep, even though he absolutely had to stay awake to wait for Valja.

But now reassured by these sounds, he looked into the ever-darkening surroundings and searched for his daughter. Hopefully she had been able to catch enough prey in this short time.

And then he finally spotted her between some bushes, her head raised close to the ground from the weight of her catch, walking towards him. Salim rose immediately, but he could not see whether she had caught enough animals because of the darkness that was spreading.

Tensely, he walked towards her.