13: Harmony

Leopira settled down on top of one of the Elephant's buildings, watching as they hauled in the harvest. She was amazed that Panthro, even with the help of Aburn, could lift those baskets of food. They were so gigantic! The leopardess watched in awe, having tried to lift one earlier. She stretched out in the sunlight, enjoying the warmth. Tygra had wandered of a while ago and she lost track of him, so instead she opted to take a little quiet time.

"Leopira! Leopira!" WilyKat shouted from below. He scrambled against the rock but couldn't find purchase no matter how high he leapt. "Leopira!"

The woman rolled and looked over the edge, "Trouble?"

"No!" WilyKat slid back down and crossed his arms. "Just wanted to see what you were up to, and if you wanted to help Kit and I. Cheetara's busy, and we wanted to learn how to fight some more!"

This seemed like a good enough reason to interrupt her chances for a nap, so Leopira leapt down and landed gracefully beside him. "Alright." She heard a faint scrape of rocks behind her and spun, catching WilyKit midair and rolling with the girl's momentum, to kick her backwards. The dappled woman continued to roll, getting her hands beneath her and spinning to her feet again. "Not a bad idea, but Kit, you need to be more quiet."

Kit bounced up again and grinned, "Sure." She sprang at Leopira, while WilyKat went for her legs. He just about had grip on one when the woman jumped upwards, clearing them both easily.

"Good, but you're not at equal distances for your jump. WilyKat got to me quicker," Leopira explained as she landed. "And I could jump you both. You need to keep an eye on your team." She got a matched set of nods before she jumped at Kat, grabbing him and holding him in a choke hold, though careful not to actually cut off his air supply. "Now what?"

The boy struggled while Kit paced a circle, calculatingly. She pulled out her flute and began to play, the same tune that had enraptured many a victim for their pick-pocketing pleasures.

Leopira's brows rose and she wondered just what the girl was up to. "What …" Faintly she felt her mind grow fuzzy, and she started to forget she had a hold on WilyKat. Hypnotic music. Shaking her head in an attempt to clear it, she tried to focus on anything else. Any other sound. Like that growing buzz. What was that.

A few of the Elephant children cried out in fear, and the three combatant Cats stopped. Leopira gave another shake of her head, clearing the last vestiges of hypnotism away. "By Thundera…" She murmured, watching the bugs flying overhead. Dropping Kat, and assuming he made it to his feet, she sprang for the other adults. "What is going on?"

Cheetara shrugged at her friend. "I don't know…"

They watched the bugs stream into the food vault, and then return with the baskets of food. Everyone looked shocked, save Panthro who had helped move all of that heavy cargo, he looked rather pissed.

The Elephants? They had taken to sitting in a meditative circle again.

"Why are they just sitting there!?" Panthro exclaimed in exasperation.

Tygra offered a suggestion, "I think they're… meditating."

Lion-O walked up to Aburn. "Aren't you going to do anything?"

Aburn opened his eyes and turned to look at Lion-O. "But we are, we are understanding."

That didn't settle well with the young lord. "Well the Thundercats handle things a little differently."

Leopira's gut dropped. She hated bugs, and right now she wanted to get out of sight. But it looked like they were going to go fighting them instead, as Lion-O had drawn the Sword of Omens.

"Thundercats, HO!"

In an instant, Leopira had both blades out and singing through the air. It seemed pointless, though she clipped the wings on one insect and slashed another. Most of them, however, simply moved out of the way. It was as useful as trying to cut down snowflakes! "This is impossible!"

"You, Leopira?" Tygra chuckled, "Never would have thought to hear you say that."

She gave a frustrate snarl and kept at it. Soon however, the insects had simply left.

"We have them on the run now!" Panthro exclaimed, watching the horde disappear.

Lion-O ran up beside him amidst the spilled fruit. "Yeah, and they got what they came for."

Leopira stayed behind to help the Elephant children gather up the spilled fruit, finding a new basket for it all to go in. Between herself and four of them, they hauled it into the vault and closed the door. The children stood around, grinning and whispering to themselves as they watched Leopira. "What?"

With a shared laugh, the little calves ran off to their mothers.

Leopira shook her head, "I don't think I understand kids sometimes."

Panthro walked up behind her as she spoke, setting a hand on her shoulder. "I think you do well enough. You were doing pretty good training the twins this morning." He offered her a supportive smile. "I think you'll do fine once you get to that point."

The short woman smiled up at him, "Thank, Panthro." She turned to look for Tygra, wanting to speak with him. She spotted him stalking over to where Lion-O and Cheetara were talking. He looked upset, though after a moment Cheetara seemed to say something that soothed him. Leopira wasn't sure what that was about, but she soon dismissed it as the twins ran up. "More training?"

"Yeah!" They cheered simultaneously.

The three of them trained until the sun began to set and Leopira sent them off to eat. She was getting hungry herself, and though the fruit of the Elephants orchards had a distinctly bitter taste near the end, she settled to dine on those.

Lion-O joined her, dropping onto the grass beside her, under the small tree she had picked. "I don't understand… why don't the Elephants fight back?" He took a messy bite from his fruit, and looked down as the juice splashed over his lap.

Leopira rolled her eyes at him, "Lion-O, you have to understand, all these different places are going to have different cultures and place greater value on different things." She shrugged a little, "Perhaps they do have enough to survive, and feel that their time is better spent in meditation."

"Meditation…what's so important about that?" Lion-O grumbled as he tried to brush off the quickly drying juice.

Leopira gave him a sidelong glance, "I don't quite know about their meditation, but in the Colony, we would meditate."

"Really?" The young lord looked curiously at her.

Nodding, Leopira took another bite and chewed thoughtfully before replying. "It was a training technique that we used to get in touch with the wilder side, to connect to the life around us. We were trained to become a part of the landscape, to disappear and be able to live amongst the wild."

"The wilder side?"

The woman looked back at him and smiled, "Surely you've felt it, deep inside something that whispers to you, wants to run free and wild? When you see a great expanse of land, don't you want to seize it all and defend it? Even a small part of you, in the back of your mind that you rarely hear? Don't you ever just want to drop everything and run, climb, leap, through the trees until you reach exhaustion, just because it feels good?" Her vibrant gaze stared hard into his eyes.

Lion-O shifted uncomfortably before nodding a little, "I used to… when I was younger. But…"

Leopira chuckled softly, "Listen to it again. It's an ancient part of all of us, what truly makes us Cats. It's not our bodies that give us that honor, but our hearts and our spirits."

The king smiled, "You sound like Jaga."

Again she chuckled, "The clerics understand this too, it's a part of their training as well."

"No wonder you and Cheetara get along, you're a pair of wild cats!"

They both laughed, unaware of a pair of amber eyes narrowed at them from the distance. They were soon distracted from all of this as the kittens and the Elephants played music and marched around. Leopira leapt up to follow them, using her blades to clink together on the backs and add a high note to the beat.

Come nightfall, Leopira had curled up on the roof of the same building she had been on before, napping there with her cloak pulled around her. She had hardly had a chance to speak with Tygra that day, and it frustrated her. Even now he had been busy, so she lay down to nap and forget about it all. Her dreams were plagued, and she tossed in her sleep. When Lion-O came up calling for Aburn, she woke suddenly and peeked out from her cloak.

She couldn't hear what he said when his voice dropped in volume to speak, but Aburn didn't look pleased. Anet approached and she assumed something serious had happened. A long leap brought her to the ground and she sprinted over.

"Because the harmony of the universe is now out of tune." Anet explained as he neared them. "You see, Lion-O, the wraiths would have taken some of our crops, but their loud sounds were all that kept something far worse away from our village." He pointed towards a nearing rumble that shook the earth.

Leopira couldn't help but let out a soft noise of unease. Tygra didn't hear her, listening to something Cheetara muttered with a grin.

"Our helpful King has done it again," the Cleric woman said softly.

She stared down at the approaching rock giant as Anet explained about the balance of life to Lion-O. Eventually ending with, "Come, let us meditate."

"Come on! We can't wait for it to come to us! It'll destroy the entire village!" Lion-O ran off, a plan in his head, and Cheetara followed him, Tygra on her heels, and Panthro coming after. Leopira glanced down as WilyKat and Snarf followed them, but Kit turned for a different direction. Kat turned to catch up with her, "Where are you going?"

"To meditate," his sister answered easily.

He looked aghast at her retreating figure, but when he felt a hand on his shoulder he looked up at Leopira. "She's…. going to go meditate?"

"Let her go. Come, we will help Lion-O and the others."

"But…meditate?" WilyKat still looked shocked and confused.

Leopira smiled, "There is nothing wrong with that, now let's go." She led him off after the other Thundercats. By the time they caught up, the battle was already begun. "Be careful," she couldn't help but caution him as she leapt for an attack, slashing at the giant's hands and crumbling the stone beneath her. She leapt back as a part of the arm tumbled in her direction, landing near the others.

WilyKat turned and raced back up, worried for his sister now.

They watched in awe as the giant reformed. The tree glowed, and around them, stones formed to encase them, boxing them in even over the top.

The snow leopardess gasped and keened softly.

Panthro sighed irritably, "She's claustrophobic. Fantastic."

Leopira felt a pair of arms circle her, and she leaned into the comfort, though she could tell it wasn't Tygra.

Lion-O soothed her softly, "We'll find a way out."

"Don't stand there and talk about it!" Tygra snapped, "Help us!" He and Cheetara were apparently testing for weaknesses in the stone. He fired a shot, and the bolt ricocheted once before spluttering out. It singed past Lion-O and Leopira, cutting between them.

They leapt back from it, the leopardess falling against the wall and Lion-O growling at his brother. "Watch it!"

Tygra snarled, "I had to try something!"

"Put that thing away before you blast us all!" Panthro snapped in the direction of Tygra's voice. They could all see faint lines in the pitch black, but it was hard to see who was who. Their eyes allowed them to see in the dark, though there still had to be the faintest light for them to reflect in their eyes. Boxed in as they were, there was no light. The rocks melded together perfectly. He tried not to think that also meant no air came in.

Soon the rocks stopped resonating and they were able to push the top off. "It must have been destroyed," Cheetara said as they cleared the rock off of them.

Leopira was the first to leap free. She sprawled on the ground, looking up at the great expanse of sky above her.

"You alright?" Panthro chuckled.

"Yeah, brother, I am." Leopira sighed, rolling to her feet.

"Brother?" Tygra queried, looking between the two. "Something you haven't told us?"

The two in question snickered and shook their heads. "Panthers are a sub-sect of the Leopard and Jaguar clans." Panthro explained.

Leopira nodded, "Leopards and Jaguars have always considered the Panthers to be distant relations." She stretched and they all turned to head back up the mountain.

By the next day they were on their way to the Forest of Magi Oar. After much thought on the Elephants part.