Despite his normally good-sighted and nocturnal eyes, the darkness, or perhaps it was his own fear and pleading, blocked his view of Valja. She approached only slowly, which gave him hope that she had hunted seven preys despite everything.

“Did you succeed?”, he called out to her and then hurried towards her, snow and clumps of ice catching on the fur on his paws again.

Valja, however, gave him no answer to his question and remained silent, somewhat embarrassed, which blew all his hopes out with a puff of air. Then, when he finally reached her, he could see that she had lowered her head slightly and hid her eyes under her lids, even though he thought he could see a disappointed gold gleam underneath.

Salim bent down to the animals she had brought with her, which were still leaking blood one by one. As he had expected, she had caught several birds. Judging by the feathers, it was obviously a blackbird, a chaffinch and a magpie. And she had even caught an eagle-owl, although Salim couldn't imagine how she had managed that. Among all the birds and night fliers were a slightly larger marten and a hare, which she must have spotted in the meadow.

He looked up as he counted through the six. Not seven, as had been requested.

“The night came far too quickly,” Valja complained, looking down at her prey in embarrassment. He knew just as well as she did that this was one of the most important tasks and that this test was the main part, along with the combat demonstrating techniques. If you didn't pass these two, it would be critical for you to successfully complete the rest.

“I'm sorry, Valja”, Salim meowed and reproaches about his less than optimal teaching skills bubbled up in his head like water does on a rainy day. He didn't know if he could release her into the wilderness so unprepared. And if he did, would she survive? Or perish in the time of death?

He took a deep breath before turning to his dejected daughter: “You passed most of the other tests and often amazed me with your knowledge.” It was a tough decision, because if he kept her with him for another moon, he risked making a mockery of her. And yet he wondered if it was safe enough for her to leave.

“You can still set off on the night of your journey. If your ancestors appear, you will be allowed to set off the following morning. However, if no one appears in your dream, you will spend another moon training.” His chest ached a little as he uttered these fateful words, but he could feel Valja's last spark of hope slowly fanning into a blazing flame. And Salim did not want to destroy it with the wrong word.

“Eat some of your prey so that you can leave in the morning, if necessary”, he said, helping Valja carry her many birds, the marten and the hare into the cave. Salim himself grabbed the chaffinch, which looked as if it had eaten something recently, while his daughter bit into the eagle owl.

They ate their meal in silence, as each of them was preoccupied with their own thoughts. The lynx, at any rate, was worried about the upcoming travel night, the night Valja would meet her mother, father and brother Miles. He hoped they would get along, worried about whether they would let her go. He knew only too well that they would never put her in danger, but he was beginning to suspect that she wouldn't be safe here for long either.

This lynxess, whose scent was simply too similar to the one he had found at both murder scenes, had sought out a territory that bordered his. She was noticeably often hanging around the border, apparently watching them secretly. She had also invaded his territory while he was still sitting by the lake with Valja and Akuma. It seemed like yesterday to him, but it had been moons ago. But he wasn't at all comfortable with all this and this story stank to high heaven. But he didn't know exactly where the rotting corpse was hidden and under which plateau of snow it had been buried.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“I'm going to lie down now.” Valja stood up and licked her muzzle. She turned to walk to the bed of moss but stopped short and looked at him for a few heartbeats. “Wish me luck”, she murmured, and Salim could hear in her voice how much she feared the coming, or rather not coming, dream.

The lynx quickly buried the bones in front of his den and scraped some snow around the remaining prey to keep it fresh before lying down with her. He had to be with her now, even if that would do her no good in her sleep. He snuggled up close to her and licked her forehead while Valja closed her eyelids.

Salim could feel that although she quickly slipped into a restless sleep, she kept waking up and looking around frightened. Even though he tried to calm her down every time, he was simply unable to give her a restful night.

Salim could hardly sleep either, he was far too preoccupied with what was going on in Valja's head. Had she already seen her father? Was she talking to her mother, snuggling up to her two brothers or not dreaming about them at all? He was afraid of the truth that awaited him in the morning and that they would both have to endure.

And the following day came faster than Salim had wished. Soon the sun was shining with all its power on the landscape below, melting the snow, which had already frozen to ice in some places. All that remained were huge masses of water, even though there were still plenty of places that were buried by snow.

Such a wet and muddy mixture had also formed in front of Salim's cave, continuously lining the ground, and it was almost impossible to avoid slipping and thus inevitably acquiring the appearance of a wild boar. Although some of the water evaporated, the sun was hardly as strong as in the green days and therefore only heated the air slightly.

The temperatures in the two lynxes' den were therefore unpleasant and cold, causing Salim's fur to stand up involuntarily. He could hear the snow slowly thawing and separating from the ground with a tingling sound. It must have sounded almost like a plop if it had only been a drop of water, but as it was, it sounded like a light rain in the sunshine.

“Dad?” Valja's hoarse voice snapped him out of his awareness of his surroundings and back to his place in the moss. He looked at his daughter tensely and with great uncertainty. They would probably have to spend another moon together. To make matters worse, her family hadn't shown up after all. With such and similar thoughts, he tried to prepare himself for what was to come, which he feared more than anything in the world. Except for the lynxess in the neighbouring territory.

“I'm awake.” He swallowed softly and licked her ears with his tongue. “How was your night? Are... Was it successful?” He almost didn't manage to utter the question.

“I... I think...” Valja yawned quickly and sat up. Her dark eyes began to shine in the gold of the sun and suddenly a smile spread across her lips.

“I've seen Mama!”, she exclaimed happily. “And Akuma and Miles. My father was there too. He has the same gray fur as Akuma. And Akuma said that...” With the twitch of his healed ears and the quick flick of his tail, he silenced Valja, who tilted her head in irritation.

“What?”, she asked, confused. “I have to tell you everything! It was so great!” She jumped up and down excitedly. But Salim shook his head, even though an immense pride filled him and made his fur hairs shake. They had visited her, encouraged her to look for a new territory. Even if he was a little sad to have to let her go.

“No one must know about your dreams. The travel night belongs only to you”, he explained and Valja nodded, her enthusiasm barely contained.

“I'm going to have my own territory!” she exclaimed enthusiastically.