Five - Part One

CHAPTER FIVE: FAUNA AND THE HUMANS

"This is all my fault!" Fauna paced as she nervously bit on her fingertips. "She's dead now and it's my fault!"

"Fauna!"

"How is it even possible that Zara is dead? I mean, it's Zara! She's unkillable."

"Fauna!" Saber tried again, but Fauna wasn't listening.

"I'm bad luck. I put you all in danger, and now Zara is dead because of me. I should just –"

"For the love of dragons and all things green!" Hailey snapped and grabbed Fauna by the arms, stopping her from pacing. Fauna looked up into the pink eyes of the tigress. "Look!"

Fauna followed Hailey's gaze into the water below where Zara was grinning widely at them. Her red hair was clinging to her body and even in the distance, she could make out the mischievous glint in her violet eyes. Zara waved at them before she took another dive into the water.

"For a tiger, she sure seems happy to be in the water," Hailey noted before she let go of Fauna.

"Did you really think I was going to die?" Zara shouted. "I've done this a hundred times. Jump in already, fur-balls!"

Saber shook his head at the tigress, then he turned to Fauna and stretched an arm out to her. She took his hand and together, they took some steps back before running off the cliff.

"Great! Don't ask me if I want the moral support too!" Hailey mumbled under her breath as she shook her head. She waited for Saber and Fauna to reach the bottom before she also flung herself off the cliff and landed rather ungracefully in the water.

The moment her body made contact with the water, she started trashing and flaring her arms around at an attempt to reach the solid ground, but she was unable to swim. Laughing hysterically, Zara moved over to her and helped her off the water.

She sat on the bank and hugged her legs closer to herself while she just stared into oblivion, not quite over the adrenaline rush. Zara on the other hand looked like she wanted to do it all again. She had a huge unwavering smile on her face as she squeezed the water out of her locks before she sat by Hailey on the rocky ground.

Fauna and Saber got out of the water in a fit of excited giggles. They joined the tigresses on the rock and just stared at the waterfall, trying to catch their breaths.

"I never want to do that again," Hailey muttered when she had finally gotten over it. They all laughed and got up. Zara stared into the thick forest, then up to the sky.

"We're running late. Come on!"

They all followed her through the forest. At one point, Saber suggested taking a run with their beast form, but Hailey refused, stating that they had to get used to the fact that they would not be morphing for a while.

Eventually, they made it into the human settlement which was a little quieter than Fauna had anticipated.

"Where's everyone?" She asked as she stared at the pathways which had no grass and the tall structures that lined the path. There were tall poles that lit up the way and Fauna thought it was weird. Could the humans really not make their way under the dim moon?

"It's late. Look, there's the university. The gates are closing for the night." Zara pointed. "Come on."

The short tigress picked up her pace and the others followed her lead. They got to the gate, and much to Fauna's surprise, she short man with a protruding belly and a weird moustache recognized her.

"Zara," he greeted with a smile and he and Zara shared a weird greeting where they bumped their fists together. "Who are these?"

"They're my peeps. We're here to see Jamie. And who knows? We may decide to enrol here eventually." Zara wriggled her brows at the man who shook his head, but allowed them in.

"See you around, Alfie." Zara raised two fingers to the side of her face, and in confusion, Fauna mirrored the gesture. This seemed to make the man – Alfie – smile, so Fauna figured it was a good thing. Perhaps that was how humans said goodbye.

Though, why they couldn't just say 'goodbye' was beyond her.

They walked for a while longer with Zara showing them various buildings and ranting on about their purposes. People – humans – stared at them as they walked past, probably taken aback by their weird cotton and wool clothing, but they said nothing as they pointed a weird box to themselves.

Fauna watched as the box produced a flash of light that seemed to make the people happy. It was all so fascinating. She could feel their excitement and they all seemed to be heading in the same direction. Perhaps it was an important event.

Zara suddenly stopped in front of a building she said was their e-library, which lead Saber to question what exactly that meant.

"Electronic library, and I can smell Jamie who will walk through these doors in three, two –" The huge wooden door flung open and someone stepped out.

Fauna stared with furrowed brows as she accessed the human. She couldn't tell whether it was a male or female. This Jamie had low cropped dark-purple hair with bangs that flopped over their forehead. Jamie wore silver jewellery and black heeled boots and from most of the people Fauna had earlier witnessed, that was feminine.

However, Jamie's stance, clothing and attitude was almost masculine. Fauna turned to Saber who was also staring at the human in confusion.

Jamie stopped when they saw Zara and a huge smile formed on their pierced lips as they engulfed Zara in an embrace.

"Nice to see you, furball," they said. Fauna noticed their voice was not quite deep and masculine, neither was it high and feminine.

"You remember Hailey?" Zara pointed to Hailey. "Turns out the clan is actually pretty amazing. This is our Lord's son, Saber, and this is his adopted sister, Fauna," she introduced and Jamie waved at them.

"It's nice to meet you."

"I must ask," Saber spoke up. "What are you? A man or a woman? Or does your species have a complete disregard for the sexes?"

Jamie chuckled in amusement. They held their black sling bag closer and jumped off the pavement and gestured the party followed.

"I'm nonbinary, and most of us really try to break down gender norm."

"What does nonbinary mean?" Fauna inquired. She was learning their culture and it was amusing.

Ari was wrong. She was most definitely not a human child. Most of the humans were smaller than the werefolks – except Zara who was incredibly short for a werefolk. Jamie was a head shorter than her and lacked meat on their body. From their irregular breathing after taking just a few steps, Fauna could tell that Jamie lacked stamina.

They wouldn't last a day in the wild.

"So, there's male and female, then there are those like us that don't really fit into that," Jamie explained. "Like me, I'm trans femme. I started hormonal treatment two years ago… This way."

Jamie made a sudden turn and the party followed. They listened eagerly – except Zara who seemed to be aware of this already.

"I'm curious though," Hailey muttered. "How do you find mates if you cannot tell what sex a person is?"

"Humans mostly partner up for love. Zara told me tigers don't. You mate for reproduction, we don't." "Just like the werewolves then," Saber noted and Jamie nodded.

They arrived ata building and Jamie pulled out a shiny object from their cloth which they jammed into the door and turned it before they opened the door.

"Also, do humans categorize themselves by clothing and colour? Because I have noticed the people that walk together seem to dress alike. Is that a sort of hierarchy? And where is your place on that?" Fauna wondered as Jamie was dressed in black pants and a black shirt on top of an indigo top.

Jamie laughed and led them into the house which smelled nice to Fauna. She looked around and noticed the soft chairs which faced a huge box like the ones the humans held in their hands. The walls were white and there were pictures on them. Pictures of Jamie, some of Zara, and a guy Fauna was yet to meet.

"There's no hierarchy." Jamie laughed as they shut the door. "Everyone just has their clothing preference and I like to dress like I am going to a funeral. Sit, I'm sure Max cooked something. He left for the party. Max is my boyfriend, by the way." Jamie pointed to a photo of the boy with bright blond hair and a charming smile.

"What is a boyfriend?" Fauna questioned and Zara laughed.

"Like a mate," she told them before she turned to her friend. "We are here because we want to know about mythical creatures. More importantly, a Shapeshifter." She pointed to Fauna.

Jamie sat and gestured the others to do same. Fauna, Hailey and Saber huddled on one brown couch and stared expectantly at Jamie who was staring at Fauna with furrowed brows.

"I knew she was different. Tigers have purple eyes, as you told me. Except you Hailey, but that's because you're an albino. So, what's a Shapeshifter?"

"That's what we want to know," Saber sounded stern and Jamie hummed.

"She's supposed to be the strongest and most powerful creature ever. Some say she has the ability to morph into any animal of her choosing. She has other abilities too." Zara was all too excited to explain. "Show them, Fauna. Speak into their mind."

Fauna smiled as Jamie turned to her. "Hi, I'm in your mind!"

Jamie's eyes widened and their jaw slackened like they couldn't believe what just happened. They turned to Zara who was grinning widely, then back to Fauna.

"Fascinating. I read werefolks could do that, but I thought it could only happen between same species."

"True." Hailey answered Jamie. "And usually at a close range, but Fauna can communicate across species and at a wider range."

"Interesting. What other abilities?"

"Well, I can feel what other people are feeling and I can also manipulate their emotions. Also, I recently discovered I can see memories too." Fauna fiddled with her fingers and Jamie immediately sprung to their feet, startling Fauna.

The tigers watched as Jamie walked deeper into the house, only to stop and turn to them with furrowed brows. They realized then they were supposed to follow.

Together, they walked into another room and Jamie flipped something on the wall that caused the previously dim room to flood with light.

The room was small with only one small table and a wooden chair. The table was covered in books and on the walls of this room were shelves stacked with books. Saber wondered how many trees had to be cut down for all of the things he saw.

Jamie stood in front of a shelf and hummed as they ran a finger across the books until they stopped at one and pulled it out.

"I came across this book just last month. It was written by an eccentric man who I hear was locked in a psychiatric ward for being schizophrenic. He recently died alone in that room."

Neither Saber nor Fauna understood half of the things Jamie said, but Zara and Hailey seemed to follow just fine.

"He writes about mythical creatures… Well, not mythical." They laughed nervously and shoved some books on the table aside to make room. They opened the book and pointed to it, but none of them – but Zara – could decipher what the weird drawings meant.

"It's like a guide for our kind. Look at this!" Zara pointed. "It says that the wereleopards are the most beautiful of the werefolks. They mostly exist as solitary creatures but can sometimes be found in small clusters that are mostly made of nuclear family…"

"Yes, yes. We have a lot of things here. However, there is the last one." Jamie flipped to the end of the book. There was a picture of a girl with glowing white hair and piercing grey eyes. She held fire in her palms and different animals surrounded her.

"He likens this unknown creature to the goddess of the forest, or perhaps the goddess of the moon. He clearly wasn't sure. Made him sound even crazier, I'm sure… Wait! My book is torn." Jamie frowned at the last pages which were clearly missing from the book. "I'm going to kill Max!"

Fauna could feel slight irritation coming from them and she scrunched her brows. "Why would you want to kill your mate?"

"Huh?" A crease formed on Jamie's forehead, but it immediately disappeared as Jamie chuckled lightly. "I won't actually kill him. It's just a thing we say when we're pissed off… Some psychos go through with it though, but they always end up arrested by the police."

Before Fauna could answer follow-up questions, Hailey and Saber suddenly turned towards the door.

"A tiger is approaching this building," Hailey informed and Jamie shook their head.

"I don't see how that's possible."