White Ghost and the Poison Arrow by Kellie Steele Page B

so
guilty if I lost you.” The sun is starting to go down as they walk,
but the night time doesn't bother Arella, it never has. “So what do
we call you then? I mean, you have to have a name.” Arella looks
down at the kitten, who is staring at her with his odd eyes. “Hmm,
let’s think... Seke? What do you think? Or Koko? No maybe not.
Sucki? No that doesn't work either. This is hard. I know. I will
call you Maska. How about that?” She asks the kitten. He huffs at
her then purrs. “I'll take that as a yes then should I?”

    “You're heavier
than you look you know Maska.” She says, testing out the name as
she does so. “Yeah I like the way that sounds. But seriously, I'm
going to have to put you down for a couple of minutes, my arms hurt
and we're nowhere near back home yet.” Arella stops, kneels on the
ground and lets Maska free from her cloak. “Please don't run off
little one.” She begs him.  This is not needed however. Maska
simply sits in front of her, the end of his bushy tail flicking
slightly. “Well that's interesting. Will you really just sit there
until I move?” Maska tilts his head to the side, flicks his ear,
sneezes and blinks, but does not move from where he is. Arella sits
down on the ground leaning against a mossy tree. “I don't know
about you, but I'm getting hungry.” Arella says to the kitten. He
moves closer to her and nudges her hand until she strokes his head.
“Aww sweet boy. I hope I can do well by you.”

    As the two of
them sit under the tree in the forest, the creatures around them
sing a soft night-time song. The cricket chirp to each other,
telling stories and laughing at jokes, the owls hoot and screech
from miles away and bats flit through the trees above them,
catching moths and other bugs as they fly. Maska can hear them
chirping, and he cocks his head to listen, but Arella's ears are
not sensitive to pick this up. In the distance a wolf howls. Maska
buries himself  into Arella's side, shaking a little as he
does so. “Are you frightened of wolves little one?” She asks him.
“Well don't worry. Arella is here to protect you.

    So the fourteen
year old girl with white skin, silver hair and purple eyes, carries
an auron kitten with obsidian black fur speckled with purple, his
eyes different colours through the woodland and back to the tree
house they will both learn to call home.  As she walks, Arella
thinks. “Maska doesn't seem to be all that bothered that I am
taking him away from the only home he has ever known, and that he
no longer has his mother. This is strange, but in some ways it
might be good. I was getting lonely, and I guess I'm not going to
be lonely with this little bundle of fur with me all the time.”
Arella looks down at the kitten in her arms with admiration. “No I
really won't get bored with him around. I will need to learn how to
hunt bigger game though. I don't think Maska will be happy to eat
grue bulbs at all, and I'm not sure if he will be happy just eating
fish either. I think rabbits shouldn't be too hard. I can make
traps to catch them, and I've seen them be caught and skinned
before. It can't be that hard. Then I guess when Maska gets bigger
we will have to hunt wild pigs, and motto dear. That's a point.
When Maska gets bigger he will be able to help me hunt, and then we
can protect each other. Come to think of it. Maybe the shooting
star was signifying this moment. It must have been. This is huge,
and a lot more comforting knowing that the gods want me to look
after Maska.” Arella smiles to herself. She now feels completely at
ease with the whole situation, although a little unsure about how
she is going to manage it.

    The entire time
back to the tree house, Maska just sits in Arella's cloak, looking
out at the trees as they pass, purring as they go. He is happy to
be with Arella, although he is not entirely sure why. He buries
himself into Arella's side every time he hears a wolf. Howling
terrifies him. It is such an awful