It’s been 4 months now; I almost stand at Mom’s shoulders. I feel my growth is a little fast. I’m taller and larger than all my brothers and sisters. Dad seems to spend a lot of time staring at me, I don’t understand why. Mom is letting me wander more and further now too. At least further than my siblings, I mean.
I caught a weird rabbit the other day when I was exploring in the bushes to what I assume is north of the den. It was just resting in a sun beam in the middle of a clearing. It was fast, really fast. I almost didn’t catch it. The rabbit had golden fur, with obviously strong back legs, and a small horn growing from its head. I’m calling them Horned Rabbits, but my gut… instinct… conscience… is wanting me to call them Sunfire Rabbits. I don’t understand the difference. Anyway, when I brought it home to Mom and Dad, they seemed very happy. They didn’t try to steal it or eat it when I offered it to them, just kept nuzzling me and giving me happy sounding chuff noises before encouraging me to eat it.
The rabbit meat was very tender and soft, made me feel energized and happy. Almost like chugging 3 energy drinks, an espresso, then wrapping that in a warm hug from a loved one. Next to the heart was a weird crunchy bit, hard to bite through but tasted even better than the rest of the rabbit. After eating that I felt really full, almost like I wanted to throw up. I curled into a ball on the spot and as soon as my head was on my paws, I fell asleep.
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When I woke up, it was mid-day. Mom and Dad were watching over me, staring at me again. I saw they cleaned up the rabbit, or maybe gave it to my siblings. I felt better than I had earlier so I stood and stretched, upon standing Dad pressed me back down to the ground and stared at me more. He looked expectant…
“Can you hear me now, son?”
I jerked, snapping upright and looking all over for the voice I heard. Crouched low and expecting to see humans or at least a bird or something that could have made those speech sounds.
“You aren’t going to find anyone around; this is our forest.”
A softer sounding voice this time... I looked to Dad and Mom. It had to be them. There was no other explanation. She had a relieved look on her face. Wait… since when have I been so easily able to tell their expressions apart?... She came over and started giving me head licks and nuzzles, mumbling something in this new weird speech that I couldn’t really make out through all the affectionate, happy noises.
“This is a simple technique called Qi Speech, son. You haven’t been able to hear us since you were born, we worried you were born a Wildling.” There was obvious worry in his voice this time. “You have worried Nasha and your siblings. Catching that Sunfire Rabbit must have finally triggered your awakening.” This is news… I guess Mom is Nasha, and my gut was right, the rabbit had a neat name after all. Mo… Nasha and Dad looked at me with concern again. “Can you not speak back? It’s simple, just channel the Qi from your core into your throat and talk.” This didn’t make any more sense to me than the idea of WOLVES SPEAKING OUT LOUD. I guess my brain was overloaded because of all the revelations, and as my vision narrowed into a cone, Mom caught me and helped me not slam face first into the dirt before consciousness faded.
