The glowing golden sun rose hesitantly from behind the mountains and cast a glorious light on the surroundings below. The shadows of the night slowly faded and were illuminated by bright colors. The sun seemed to use all its strength and power to illuminate the land below. It cast the sky in a bath of red and yellow lights, covering the last bright stars and the round full moon. The ever-warming wind drove away the clouds that had already gathered to rain down on the forests and freed the land from the burden that lay on its back like extra weight.

At last, the first rodents crawled out of their burrows, the deer and stags stretched their heads towards the sky and the first blackbirds sang their morning song.

A small lynx family also seemed to sense the wonderful moment of the dawning day, as they dug their way out of their cozy burrow like a mole digs its tunnels. The burrow was hard to spot if you didn't know where it was. It was well hidden and camouflaged by small grasses and bushes. At first, only a hint of a reddish nose flashed out of the lair, carefully drawing in the air.

But then the lynx realized that there was probably no danger here and forced itself outside into the fresh air. The animal, which was clearly a female, shook itself so that a few drops of night frost were thrown around. Behind the lynxess, two smaller ones squeezed out of the den, looking around curiously. The two seemed to be still young and barely able to sustain their lives without their mother.

The larger, but also much leaner of the two, toddled a few steps through the grass and looked at its wet paws in surprise. The kitten bent down and sniffed at them with interest before licking the cool water carefully and letting it melt on its tongue. Then it sniffed at the individual blades of grass that swayed gently in the wind and reflected the bright light of the sun. A smile appeared on its lips as it observed what it had never seen before and pursued its own thoughts.

"Come with me”, her mother's voice snapped the kitten out of his thoughts and it looked up.

The mother smiled as the second cub, who had remained motionless in the same spot until a moment ago, trotted over to her and snuggled up to her.

"I want to show you something”, she said and returned the touch. They took a few steps before the mother turned around and signaled to the boy who had stayed behind. Without saying a word and without making sure that the kitten was really following her, she turned and entered the forest that opened up before her.

The kitten lowered its head and followed his sibling and mother at a distance. The few spots on his body still showed barely developed muscles, but you could clearly see the beginnings that had already formed. The little one's brown eyes darted back and forth in disbelief between the countless fir trees, the blooming snowdrops and the small hazelnut bushes as it tried to process all the impressions and smells. Every now and then it stumbled over a root that it had overlooked in its enthusiasm or rolled through a stone into a bramble bush. Perhaps he would have run on like this forever if his mother and his only sister had not finally come into sight.

The kitten immediately quickened its pace and hurried to catch up with them. He pricked up his ears and brushes until he heard his mother's loving words.

"Do you see how the sun is reflected in it?", she whispered, looking around as the one behind stepped onto a branch.

"There you are at last. Come and sit next to your sister", she meowed, pointing to the spot with the tip of her tail. A smile crept onto the kitten’s face as it pressed himself close to his littermate in order to get hold of his mother's fur as well. But his sister did not think to remain well-disposed towards the kitten, but turned her head and gazed at it with the most beautiful amber eyes the kitten had ever seen. The golden rays of the sun refracted in the wonderful color, creating a fire in them that was almost palpable.

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"Mama is mine alone”, she whispered into the other's light brown ear, lowering her voice so that no one but the one for whom the words were intended could hear. Then she lowered her paw briefly onto the kitten’s head and pushed it back so that their pelts no longer touched.

The kitten lowered its gaze again and looked dejectedly at its paws, which had found their footing in the damp grass. But then it regained his composure and straightened its shoulders to look taller. Its dark eyes took their eyes off his sister and focused on what was in front of it.

The light that the mother of the two had spoken of earlier almost demandingly plunged into a small river that lay just a few roofs in front of them. The water seemed to absorb the rays like a bee absorbs the nectar of a flower, so that no one could see the bottom of the river. The splashing that was triggered by every movement of the liquid mingled melancholically with the sounds of the birds, so that it was almost like a song.

The cub was even more amazed and rose to creep closer to the depths, but his mother skillfully held him back.

She shook her head and explained: "You'll have to keep your distance for now. The water is too cold and deep for you." It nodded in understanding and sat down again at a suitable distance from its family between the blades of grass, which pricked the lynx's fur unpleasantly, like the thorns of a hedgehog.

"Do you see the fish?", asked the mother, nodding her head towards the water, which was still flowing relentlessly. Both cubs squinted and tried to make out movement in the water. The cub, still cuddled in his mother's fur, quickly detected movement and nodded eagerly.

"Yes, there!", it said enthusiastically and pointed resolutely to a small, shiny silver spot. The mother nodded approvingly and licked her gently on the head.

"Well done, little one."

The light brown cub in the grass was still searching the surface desperately, however, squinting his eyes against the sun.

"Where exactly?", it asked in a bright but clear voice, looking at the individual waves, their white foam beating against the stones that had collected on the shore. His sister turned her head so quickly that the cub feared for a moment that the jerky movement would cause her head to dangle from her neck and fall into the water. 

"Now you've chased it away!", she complained, flapping her tail angrily.

"Mummy, say something!", she continued to meow and stood up.

But her mother gently stroked the lynxess' back and then said to her second cub: "Next time, be more careful with your volume. You'll only scare away the prey, you know." The cub nodded dejectedly and took one last look into the bubbling river, which it wouldn't see again anytime soon.

"Let's go back to the den and eat something. Then we can continue exploring our territory”, the mother comforted her two cubs and stood up as well.

The two nodded quickly and followed her. The cub, who had discovered its first fish, pressed itself close to the one in front and purred loudly. Again and again, the two whispered loving words into each other's ears and licked their fur dreamily.

The second cub, on the other hand, trotted along behind, lost in thought.