Whitebark Stream don't think we need to engage in any pleasantries

and colt would not give it again. she no longer needed it. this moment of admiration was spoiled by a moment's fear; suppose she was growing away from him. suppose indra opened her eyes one morning and no longer needed colt? no longer wanted him; no longer feared him.
his stomach fell away.
it was this moment that indra chose; she whirled and her teeth flashed. he reacted without a milisecond of hesitation, uppercutting with a harsh knock of his jaw.
too late he saw she had been playing. he laughed, a single dusty syllable, then fell into an apologetic playbow, paws sticky in the cooling blood.