Stories

"So, do you have a favorite book?" Naya asked, resting her chin on her talon, hoping the simple question would get Kora to open more to her.

Immediately, Kora flushed, the fur around her neck fluffing up as she broke into a grin. "Oh my gosh, I have to tell you about it. So, it's called Breaking Blossoms, its really old, so I don't expect you to have heard about it?" Kora started, looking at Naya questioningly. Naya faithfully shook her head; she wasn't much of a reader at all.

"Okay, cool! So, it's this old book, written when there were more humans around so it's different from most of our modern books. It starts with a human girl who lives by herself and has to hunt to stay alive, like she lives so far from other humans for some reason." Kora continued.

Naya got the sense that maybe she had heard a similar story before but made no motion to stop the white and purple aki before her. She sipped her coffee and continued to listen.

"So, one day she goes out hunting, and sees this gorgeous animal she has never seen before. So, she tries to track it down, but it takes days and days. She sees it a few more times but it never stops for very long. So eventually, the girl finds herself in this huge open field, with tall dry grass like at the end of summer. She decides she should stop here for the night and starts setting up a camp. Suddenly, she gets the feeling that something is watching her, so she freaks out and realizes it's the animal."

Kora was clearly into it, waving her talons and having seemingly completely forgotten about her coffee and drink, even the rest of the cafe around her.

"So, she finally gets a good look at this weird animal, and when I first read this part, I swear I got crazy chills. They describe Aether down to her whiskers. I was so shocked, like why would Aether, an aki goddess be leading this random human girl around? Anyways Aether is there, and this girl is awestruck, as anyone would be. So suddenly the girl realizes she's not a girl at all, she's an aki with this beautiful pure silver coat and double ears."

Naya nodded along, clearly enraptured with the story, and enjoying how much Kora loves it.

Kora paused to catch her breath, grinning at Naya. "So suddenly she's not even a human anymore, and she understandably starts freaking out. When she looks back to where Aether was, she's completely gone. So, the girl rushes back home, running for days on her new paws and talons until she gets back to where her house was, and its gone too!"

Shocked, Naya waited for Kora to continue, but instead she stopped and began sipping at her coffee.

"So, what happens after that?" Naya prompted, leaning even further in, desperate to hear the end of the story.

Kora smirked, looking back up from her coffee. "That's it, that's all I have."

Naya gasped, almost falling out of her chair, causing one of the baristas behind the counter to yelp. "No way!"

"Yes way!" Kora giggled. "I found the book when I was a pup but only realized it was missing pages years later! And I have no idea where the rest of it could be!"

"That is so unfair," Naya responded, looking almost upset about it. "Now I totally have to read that book," she laughed, realizing that was the whole reason Kora told her about it.