Maia of the Mountain

Cheers echoing into the mountainside cave startled Maia awake. "Wh-what?!" Maia exclaimed jumping to her feet. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and looked around. At least there was no one else in the cave with her. So who was doing all the cheering? She walked to the opening of the cave. After a moment of looking around for the source of the commotion, she spotted a group of Katragoon with a Sikeri making their way down the mountainside. She tilted her head watching them. Well, they were excited that's for sure. But why were they excited? Maia stepped out from her cave and followed the other Kats down the mountain.

"So what are we going to do to celebrate?" the pink, blue, and yellow Katragoon asked.

"Hmm..." The other two Katragoon stopped to think. Maia stopped and leapt behind some boulders so she wouldn't be spotted. She peeked out around the boulders at the group.

"Why don't we figure that out on our way back to my house," the rainbow Katragoon said.

"Good idea!" the light blue one said. The group started down the mountain again.

Maia stepped out from her hiding place. She took a few steps before stopping again. There was something laying on the ground where the group had been. She hurried over to it. It was a notebook! Did one of them drop it? She picked it up and opened it to a random page. "I have decided to name my Sikeri Bolt," she read aloud from the page she had opened to.

"Eep!" the Sikeri exclaimed seeing Maia with his Katragoon's journal.

Maia jumped dropping the journal. "I-I'm s-sorry," she stuttered taking a step back.

"Bolt! Did you find it?" the rainbow Katragoon called out as they came back into view. Maia took a few more steps back, backing up against the side of the mountain. "Oh! Who's this?" he asked glancing over at Maia.

She tucked her tail between her legs and lowered her gaze. "M-Maia," she said just barely loud enough for the rainbow pair to hear.

"Well hello Maia," the Katragoon said with a kind smile. "What are you doing up here?"

"I-I w-was s-sleeping," she replied barely glancing up. Her tail curled around her as she sat back. Her hands found her tail ring and she started fiddling with it.

"Oh," the Katragoon said taken aback.

"Hey, Quinn! Did you guys find it yet!" called up one of the other two Katragoons before the rainbow Kat could continue his thought. They walked back into view and stopped next to Quinn. "Oh. I didn't think anyone else was up here since your exam was scheduled here." The yellow, pink, and blue Katragoon was the one that spoke.

"This is Maia," Quinn said noticing that the grey Katragoon had tried to push herself back against the mountain some more. "Maia, this is Zion," he gestured toward the one that had spoken, "and Maxwell," indicating the light blue Kat.

"Eep!" the Sikeri chirped.

"Oh yeah! This is Bolt," Quinn said glancing over at his Sikeri.

"H-hi," Maia stuttered with a slight nod.

"Why don't you join us?" Quinn asked. "We're on our way to my house to celebrate me passing my Sikeri exam."

"A-are you s-sure?" Maia asked slowly glancing up at him.

"Yeah," he said. He turned to the rest of the group. "Are you guys ok with that?"

"Yeah!" everyone said in agreement.

"Well, that settles it!" Quinn exclaimed. "Let's get going!" The Katragoon turned and started heading back down the mountain. Maia hesitated before following them.

"Eep!" Bolt exclaimed before picking up his owner's journal. He raced after them.

"Oh yeah! My notebook!" Quinn started. "Thanks, Bolt." He patted him on the head before taking the journal and putting it back into his bag. "What would I do without you?"