Spotted Eagle Mountain groundlight

He'd expected this, for what else could happen but denial? In Ishi's fantasies, this had all happened in a very different way of course, but now that it was happening he knew this was the only way. He couldn't just become king of the mountain lions in the blink of a happy eye. He had to prove himself, go through trials and tribulations, keep himself together. A king did not shrink from his subjects!

Though, crikey, the noise of those claws against the wall was grating. One of a number of flaws common to his first cougar.

Not yet I don't, he agreed eagerly. We met because this is the beginning of a new path for your kind. You're here to help me become who I was always meant to be. Don't you see? It's our destiny.