He tilted his head, curious about the now, dead thing which lay on his nest. Kho didn’t expect him to eat that did he? Rayne lifted a five fingered paw and tapped the creature with a claw. When it did not move, he lowered his head and sniffed. He reeled back, insulted by the foul stench wafting up from its flesh. A bout of raucous laughter in front of him, caused his head to swivel up.

“Ea… eat it Rayne!” Kho said in between fits of giggles.

Rayne glanced from his father, back to the… thing he was meant to consume. It was interesting, but also grotesque and unlike any animal he had seen before. Even the Kaishin were more like earth animals than this thing was. It seemed like it would have been from some kind of strange science experiment. A cruel joke by the teachers in science class. He looked back to Kho and raised his eyebrows.

Kho shook his head. “I know you don’t like it, but this is all there is.”

Disappointed, Rayne turned back to the mammal, reptile, avian creature. Its eyes were wide open, but no life existed within them. The Kanflasnakter stared back at him, lifeless, dead, deceased. Rayne swallowed.

As much as he didn’t like it, he still had not eaten anything after hatching out of that egg. This was the first meal Kho had been able to bring back for him and he was really really hungry. He breathed in, more to calm himself than anything else, and opened his tiny maw. Rayne couldn’t stop the saliva from forming when he brought his teeth closer to the creature’s flesh.

A snake-like appendage, long and thick and scaly, grew from the creature’s tailbone. Rayne hesitated, following it with his eyes. There was a head with beady snake eyes staring back at him. The snake’s tongue flicked out and then back in again. He squealed and stumbled back, falling over in his nest.

That seemed to be the tipping point for Kho who fell in a chaotic fit of laughter and giggles. He was supposed to be the adult, a father figure whom Rayne should be able to look up to for advice and for comfort when he was feeling down. Instead, here was Kho, father of Rayne, rolling on the ground and unable to contain his mirth.

Annoyed and embarrassed, Rayne rolled back to his front paws and stood up, recovering from his less than graceful retreat. He furrowed his brow at Kho and snorted his discontent.

“Kho,” Chida said as she approached from the outside. In her voice, there was a hint of authority. Not overbearing, but just enough to get Kho’s attention.

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He rolled to his feet, trying to recover from the apparent hilariousness from what Rayne had done. There was still water in Kho’s eyes from laughing so hard. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry, he’s just…” Kho trailed off and immediately sobered when Chida gave him an expression of unamusement.

“This is all there is,” she said. “Eat or you will not grow stronger.”

She did have a point. If he didn’t at least try this meat Kho had brought back for him, he would starve and whither away into nothing. Rayne snorted again, shook his head and sighed. His stomach then rumbled so loudly that he swore the entire cave could hear it. And indeed, looking around the dark interior, Rayne could see other eyes on him besides his parents. He sighed again, opened his maw and bit into the snake portion of the Kanflasnakter.

He chewed… and chewed… and chewed, all the while doing his best not to spit the horrible thing out. The taste was just as it had smelt or perhaps even a little bit worse than that. Rayne squinted his eyes, tears running down his cheeks, and shook his head in distaste.

It was mainly the toughness of the meat he didn’t like and how it turned into a gooey mess inside his mouth. How could they possibly, as his parents, expect him to eat something so horrid? Rayne swallowed the meat reluctantly and turned his attention back to his parents, one of whom, stood there, bemused.

“I am sorry Rayne, but that was all there is,” Kho said.

Rayne laid both ears back and let out a small whine. He didn’t want that to be it. That dead thing in his nest was not something he could find himself eating the entirety of. It was strange and gross, he wanted something better… something more tasty than what he had been given. He stared at them both, pleading for something better.

A steak would be nice, he thought.

Chida shook her head. “We don’t have… oh nevermind,” she turned to Kho. “In time, he will learn to eat what he has been given.”

Kho sighed. “Should we leave him here then? With that thing… I mean.”

“Rayne,” Chida said. “You don’t have to eat the whole animal, but try to eat more. Okay?”

He would try but Rayne honestly didn’t think he would be able to stomach the whole thing. Maybe not even another bite, even if it was a small one. He sighed and fell into his nest, the comfortable, warm flora around him. Rayne watched from there as his mother and then Kho, turned around and began to walk away.

The odd mix of three animals that should have never gone together, lay in his nest, smelling of terrible things. Rotting flesh and fruit. A sickly sweet smell. It stunk up the place and continued to decompose. Yes he was still hungry, but even if he starved, he refused to eat another bite of that. He lay his head down and closed his eyes.