When the snow tiger woke from its perilous sleep it found cooked meat in
a dish beside it, warmth all around it, and the burning ice gone from
its fur. But it also saw strange creatures, an unnatural barrier, and
the calculated stare of a wolf. He tried to lift himself quickly, felt
something catch at his leg. He was overcome by the same intense
dizziness, then yielded against his will to the pull of gravity. He lay
helpless on his side, looking at the others with wide-eyed fear and
uncertainty.
'No one move,' said Kalus, rising cautiously from his seat beside
the fire. Sylviana took hold of the pup, which had begun to growl and
yap, and silenced it as best she could. Akar might have been a stone in
between, but for the narrowing fire of his eyes.
Kalus moved slowly to the door and opened it. It was cold and black
outside, but the wind had subsided. He began to move carefully towards
the tiger. It growled at him and curled its upper lip, but the great
head would not be supported. It lowered to the earth as before.
'It's all right,' said Kalus reassuringly. 'I won't hurt
you.' He took a piece of meat from the bowl, and set it a few inches
from its mouth. Then feeling the cold, he moved back to the door and
began to close it. Again, as he thought it might, the tiger reacted.
It felt trapped and closed in. He began to move away, but then thought
of something else. Going to the opening, he went outside and brought in
a piece of crusted snow. This he placed as close to its mouth as he
dared, then closed the door and returned to his place beside the fire.
'Snow is the most constant part of its existence,' he explained to
the girl. 'And I think it needs water even more than food.'
Together they watched, hoping for the best.
As the man-child hovered about it, the tiger's eyes had followed his
every movement. Now it turned its senses, heightened by physical
extremity and need, toward the objects placed in front of it.
The big cat hesitated, then reached out its tongue and licked the hard
snow. Again. Then stretching out his neck, he took the blessed
substance in his teeth and brought it closer. And chewed off a small
piece.
Kalus smiled quietly, remembering a time not so very long before, when
he had shared his meat with Akar. And this time there was no one to
angrily question his will, or rebuke him for showing compassion. This
in turn gave him a cautious feeling of pride and independence. He
looked around him, seeming to remember that all of this was now his, and
that if he could but live to see it, the world still held much for him.
In that swift moment of emotion, he felt an almost exaggerated desire
coursing through his limbs, as if in compensation for his illness. His
thoughts returned to find the girl watching him, eyes glistening. She
spoke.
'You're thinking that you finally have something to call your
own.'
'YES. How did you know?'
'Because..... I've been waiting since I've known you to see
that look. To see you look at ME. Don't you know what you have?'
At that moment the tiger, seeming to revive a little, stretched forward
and rolled one forepaw beneath its head, and with a last glance at the
others, began to study the proffered meat more closely. As Kalus looked
on, understanding at the last, it took the first piece in its jaws,
chewed tentatively, then swallowed.
'Yes, Sylviana. I have hope.' As the tiger moved itself weakly
over the bowl and began to eat, he wrapped the fur up around his eyes,
overcome.
'I love you,' was all he could manage.