The pebble

He liked to lay around pointlessly by this forest lake and thought it was a really good way to spend time. He liked the reddish trees, as well as all the ferns around them.

He had nothing to do here on Cihan anyway and so he could also enjoy this 'nothing to do' as far as it was possible for him. Rakthaya was not alone though, the two Atabey brothers were with him. So was Inci Bianca, who was happily telling him something. However, he listened to her with his almost completely deaf ear. He had no desire for a conversation and thought it was better to let her talk before Bru'san or Miguel stressed out about why he was bothering poor Bianca. She didn't mind his lack of answers.

He didn't want to start a discussion. It would only upset him and then he would become aggressive. As a result, they would argue and Bru'san had specifically asked him not to be annoying or stressful, because he and Miguel were on holiday or something. He had no idea what that meant exactly, but there he went. He tried to stick to it, even though it frustrated him immensely. He didn't really understand why he was being so careful and, annoyed, he picked up a pebble that was lying ion the shore and examined it closely.

It wasn´t an ordinary grey one, as he had often seen them before. No, this one had a greenish base colour and many lighter spots. He knew such lighter spots in pebbles, they were hard to bite through. However, he only knew them as lines that crossed the stone and not as spots. Really interesting, he thought to himself, and his tail twitched more excitedly, unnoticed.

Where did this stone come from? Curious, he looked around from his prone position to see if he could find another like it. It seemed to be the only pebble that somehow looked so special and disappointed, he rumbled softly to himself.

"Oh, what have you got there that's beautiful, Thaya?" he suddenly heard the bright voice of Bianca beside him and before he knew it she had snatched the stone from his clutches, causing him to let out a dark hiss in her direction. How dare she. Angrily he sat up and just as angrily his tail thrashed against the stony ground around him.

"This. Is. Mine!", he snarled angrily, but Bianca, as so often, seemed unfazed by this. Instead, she just staggered off smiling and didn't even seem to catch his mood. "I'll give it right back to you. I just want to look at him, he's so pretty!", she smiled seemingly kindly, but this bounced off him. Just now she was just a mean thief who had taken his property. However, his growl attracted Miguel and Bru'san, who had been lounging around relaxing.

"What's got into you, Rakthaya?", the elder one of the two tried to find out what was going on now. Something was always bothering this Taarih. The said Taarih also thought he was right to be upset. It was his ragged stone. His all alone and no one should have it. It belonged to him alone.

"I just wanted to look at his stone. I'll give it right back to him, Bru'san", he could see Bianca smile and Bru'san look confused. He probably didn't understand that he was bothered that his property had been taken away from him and found it trivial. The older Atabey's words confirmed his assumption when he heard the other ask in astonishment: "A stone? This is seriously about a stone? Rakthaya don't act like a child, it's just an ugly rock".

He wasn´t surprised. Rakthaya wasn´t surprised. He was just a stupid taarih after all. He despised Bru'san so much sometimes. So much so that he didn't even want to say anything anymore, but just stared at him hatefully.

However, that changed when he saw the Inci simply give his pebble to Bru'san. He didn´t notice her words about how beautiful it was and that Bru'San had to look at it. It was his stupid pebble! No one but he should have it and, snarling, he reached for the Atabey's hand where his pebble already lay and, without giving it a second thought, he stuffed it into his mouth and began to chew on it with a grumble. He would rather eat it than let any of the others touch it or even look at it. He did not care that he had torn open the other's hand with his claws, nor that the sharp edges of the stone hurt the roof of his mouth.

A familiar spicy taste filled his palate and it wasn't long before Gaashi stood protectively in front of him, apparently having already gone to her back legs out of reflex. Astonished, he was looked at by Bru'san before the latter shook his head.

"You are both absolutely stupid..."