Salim generally referred to Baldskins as stupid animals. They were usually stupid and very predictable when he encountered them. And even that was all too rare, because who wanted to meet such strange creatures voluntarily? The stench they emitted usually crept up his snout too quickly and rendered his otherwise good nose useless. If you ran into one of them or got stuck in one of their burrows, as he did at the time, you would carry its smell for days on end and would hardly be able to get it out of your hair even after a thorough cleaning of your fur. This made the search for food much more difficult, as the prey was warned too quickly when this smell rushed ahead, provided the animal had already been noticed beforehand and was not distracted by the stench.

The Baldskins, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind, didn't even seem to notice when something rustled in the undergrowth, or a thunderstorm approached from miles away. They simply always followed the same path through the forest that could be learned, always carrying the same yapping beast that would sound the alarm if an animal they couldn't detect was near them.

Their sense of smell was even so weak that they used such stinking Steamers, if they had to cover a longer distance that a lynx could easily manage on foot. Salim had wondered more than once how they could endure this kind of smell, that they even built a cave near them and poured a black path to let the monsters come to them.

Salim couldn't understand these creatures, neither the Baldskins nor the Steamers. They made the territory unsafe and polluted the air.

And yet he was grateful to them for one thing in his life. One time they had managed to earn his appreciation, even if he hadn't wanted to believe it at the time.

~

Calm had returned to the boxes where the lynxes sat, worrying about everything and nothing. No one here seemed particularly keen to talk and converse and Salim could understand that only too well. He wasn't in the mood to socialize with other lynxes either. He only heard Alicia talking to herself or the lynxes and lynxes next door from time to time. That was usually the only sound he heard, apart from the regular breathing, the buzzing of a fly that had found its way into this dark hole and the brief movements of the others.

Time passed, perhaps a lot of time, perhaps just a few heartbeats, several days or had it already been moons? Salim no longer knew, he could hardly get a real sense of time. He had watched as seemingly hundreds of lynxes had been taken away, how they had said goodbye and never returned. He had watched as Baldskins brought sleeping lynxes that were just as confused as he had been at the beginning. But eventually they too were carried off again and he had to stay here without receiving a sign of life from anyone. They, who were still squatting here, were kept alive with meat that had long since spoiled and left their stomachs aching, were fed with water that was pushed through the bars.

It was a mystery to him how Alicia could still display such optimism. He had long since given up hope and had grown tired of believing that he could still escape this prison. Because he knew that he would never see the light of day alive again.

But Alicia was different. There were days when no lynx was willing to talk and so she simply talked to herself. Asked herself how she was, what she was doing and feeling. Each time, laughter rang out from different corners of the cave. She didn't mope, but distracted herself, distracted them all.

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She told the newcomers stories she had heard from other lynxes and accepted them into her troop, even though everyone knew that it wouldn't be long before they disappeared again.

"Alicia, can you tell me something?" Salim asked into the oppressive silence and Alicia immediately stopped talking to herself.

"Tell me what? What do you want to know?" She sounded a little pleased that he had finally decided to take part in what little was going on.

He hesitated briefly. "Why don't they ever take us with them?"

Alicia could be heard pacing restlessly in her cage. He assumed that she was also sitting in a cage that had been made for adult lynxes. As a young lynxess, she could stand and walk in it. A luxury that would certainly not be relinquished in a hurry. Salim's legs, on the other hand, felt numb and weak from the lack of movement.

"I've been watching them," the lynxess finally began, "For a very long time, in fact, since I've been here. And that's quite a long time. They usually take the ones that are still wild. Not the intimidated ones, but the ones that bare their teeth and snarl like crazy."

Salim nodded slightly and was satisfied with this answer for the time being.

He had never been one of them, always curled up in a corner. The hideous face of a Baldskin always sent a shiver down his spine. Those eyes, the way they bulged out of their sockets and the mouth whose lips were swollen blood-red. And the nakedness written all over those faces didn't make it any more pleasant. It was terrifying.

"Haven't you tried? The snarling?"

"Of course! Every time that a Baldskin stares into my box, I snarl and try to bite him. Every damn time!" she growled, outraged by his question. "But they just don't want me!"

~

Salim still remembered that moment clearly. His Alicia, how she had been so brave and had fought off this oppressive atmosphere so convulsively that she had fallen into obsessive self-talk. No one had been able to protect her from it. Not even herself, because somewhere such a delicate creature as she had been, needed a gap through which she could find herself again. Through which she could live out her dreams and desires. And she had found it in talking.

He had never been able to drive it out of her, this conversation with her inner self. He had tried, both during the day and in his sleep, but it hadn't worked and he hoped that if these small and innocent kittens survived, they wouldn't become like that.

Salim sank back into his thoughts, to his little Alicia, to the day when everything was to change in one fell swoop.

~

Salim heard the soft sound that announced the opening of the gap that meant eternal darkness for them all. The lynx could see the light that sparsely fell into the room, illuminating the lynxes cowering in the boxes. All it took was a single, fleeting glance and hardly any of the prisoners moved. Each of them hoped either to be taken away soon or to be able to stay here. Because no one knew what awaited them when the Baldskins came and took them away. No one knew where they were going and no one wanted to imagine what terrible things would happen there.

But this time it was different. This time it wasn't one of the three usual Baldskins who dimmed the lights as he stepped through the entrance.

A single glance was enough to realize what awaited them this time.