Nihil Timeo! I Fear Nothing!

It isn't difficult for me to focus my sole concentration on the cougar. I had learned in my time away, not to mention all that my mother had taught me, that to be distracted was to ask for failure. One mistake was all it made. I just trusted, instinctively, that this female would remain ready to leap in whenever she had the chance. Hadn't she already had my back before? So I snarl and grapple with the languid creature, my own sharp claws raking across that tough hide and doing less damage than her pointed ones.

We peel apart from each other and that is when Nymeria takes her chance. I see her gray figure dart forward, head low, and she slams her shoulder into the unsteady cougar. Whatever easy meal it had been hoping for, surely by now it was beginning to realize it's mistake. Still the cougar reacts and my ears flatten, my chivalrous side daring me to get in there and separate the two females, but I know that doing so could cause more harm than good. I think by now the cougar was starting to understand it was out-manned and outmatched; as Nymeria stands her ground I creep forward until I am at her side, a solid front with my own fur bristled and fangs flashing.

It took a breath from her for me to realize what she had planned. My mother had taught me all the best marks of hunting so even as she coils and lunges, I am alongside her. The cat hisses but turns tail and lopes into the brush. It might find easier prey elsewhere. I come to an abrupt stop, forelegs apart and head lifting high as I scent the wind and strain to make sure the cougar didn't double back. Only when I was certain did my ears prick and my orange eyes turn to Nymeria. Then I offer her a wide grin, tail waving lazily behind me as if we had not just had a brawl that could have ended in death. "Nice job knocking her like that. Hope she finds something to eat elsewhere but I'm not much in the mood for being a snack. Thanks, by the way, for saving my skin." Some boys might have a hard time offering thanks but it comes smooth and easy to me as I look her over, noting the blood that seeps on her shoulder. "I'm Vortigern, from Taviora."