Maternal
Instinct
The young girl’s vision was cloudy. Jaga only knew
how long it had been. She didn’t belong here. She was only six. True she
was almost seven, but in her culture that was still too young to be off and
alone.
A drop of mositure fell onto her mane. She looked up at
the sky. Dark clouds had gathered. She wiped her cheek. Her hand came back with
damp mud. She looked down at her uniform. Her clothes were torn and
mud-splattered. But the symbol of the Thundercats was still forever present in
her torso’s center.
How in the name of New Thundera had it happened? This
place was alien to her. The sky was too blue and the trees were too tall and
green. Whatever happened to Thundera? To her home?To friendly snarfs all around
her? To the old snarf who had helped raise her mother? She missed him now. She
had been living in Cats Lair with her mother and the rest of the Thundercats.
Their lord was in his late thirties. The oldest Thundercat was approaching his
eightith birthday. Her mother was one of the most youthful in her late
twenties.
She had been playing outside. Then suddenly the clouds
had appeared. There had been a huge clasp of thunder and then a flash of
lightning. She wasn’t even aware that the lightning had hit her until she
heard her mother’s cry of“Tabithina! No! Jaga, no!”
After that everything had been ablaze. She swore
remembering her mother’s face flash before her body was suddenly spun up
into the air and she began moving further and further from her home and her
realitives. She remembered her uncle and aunt tearing outside as her mother
stretched to her, crying her name. Her uncle had grabbed his sibling and pulled
her back saying, “We’ll get her back, we’ll get her
back.”
Her mother had torn from him and ran off, racing to her,
her Thundercat skirt flying behind her. Her uncle was following her while her
aunt went to get help. She felt the tears come as she remembered watching in
shock as the lightning swirled around and she felt her being teleported first
through space and then through time.Her last curtling word before
unconsciousness had swept over her had been,
“Help me Mommy! Save me Mommy!”
She had then felt her sight go and then finally her
hearing but she had distinctily heard,
“I’ll save you darling! I’ll find a way
to get to you!”
Tabithina wiped the tears from her eyes as she sat up.
The winds were swift now. She had woken up a few minutes ago and the landscape
was threatened by rain. She reached around her shoulders and found the ends of
her cloak. The cloak that her mother had woven for her. Although because of her
noble statis her mother had the authority of a Princess and not to mention the
riches and treasures of one, she was a warrior. She had not forgotten the hard
times.
Best archer on Thundera, Tabithina thought smiling. The Mistress
of the Silver Bow. Goddess of the Swift Arrows. Legend of the Stinging Points.
Those were my mother’s many nicknames. She hadn’t seen herself as
becoming a archer when she was young. But it had come out. The good thing about
Thunderian arrows were that certain “surprises” could be added to
the points.
Some of these suprises were sneezing powder, sleep gas,
or even hallucination gas. She remembered the tales that her Mama used to tell
her about when they didn’t have the aim and distance range that the
arrows provided. They would have to throw them by hand. She giggled despite
herself.
“Hello?” a voice called. Feminine. Tabithina
immediately took on a fighting stance. A tourch appeared. A woman stepped into
the light. Her black hair was bound behind her in a ponytail and she wore a
dress of deerskin. Swung over her shoulder was a bow and on her back was a
quiver of arrows. Though she had the appearance of a ruthless soldier, the
woman’s facial features were kind.
“A little one?” the woman said again. Her
eyes fell on the talisman on the center of Tabithina’s chest. Her eyes
widened. “Another Thunderkitten?”
Tabithina’s heart skipped a beat.
“Thundercats? Here?” she managed to stammer. The woman knelt by her
and propped her tourch up carefully. She smiled.
“And who might you be, little one?”
“My…my name’s Tabithina,” she
managed to say. “But everyone called me Tabby.”
“Well Tabby,” the Warrior Woman smiled again.
Tabithina felt a warmth of security spread over her when she heard the name of
the woman was Willa. Queen of the Warrior Maidens.
“What year is it, Queen Willa?” Tabby asked
gently. The woman smiled and offered her a hand. She took it.
“Please Tabby,” Willa smiled.
“Willa’s fine. No need to be so formal. And if you’re
Thunderian as I guess,” she paused and Tabby nodded adding, “Small
Cat Tabby Clan.”
“Then,” the Warrioress continued.
“It’s 7001 in your years.”
Tabby swallowed. Then she must have…
“Tabby?” Willa asked. “If you would
like I can call the Thundercats would you feel better with them around?”
She merely nodded. Willa continued.
“You can stay with my sister and I in the
“Okay, but Willa I’m not from here. I’m
not even sure that…”
“That what?”
“I…I must have gone through time! I
wasn’t born until 7020.”
Back
to Fanfic Archive