Chapter 00 - Introductuction
#1 of In Exchange For Love
This is the story I wrote back in the original days of when I was NightCat, in 1998. I was in Canton, Ohio, USA when I began it, and ended it in Ocean City, Maryland, USA.
There are some some names, like Kel and Raahk and Arrilon, that have appeared in other artists' creations since then, but I mean no intrusion on their creations. This was 17 years ago when these names were orginial.
It's longer and deeper than GreenMount. It's a big secret from those days, written when I was 18, in 1998, back when furry was so much smaller. I give it to you all now, because this may be my last chance.
It is my gift to you all. From the author of The GreenMount Chronicles, Ball of Yarn, Blue-eyed Diamond, The Butterfly, Warrior Wolf, Joint Interrogation and others, I give you "In Exchange for Love".
"clawtips tickle the vines bark of the winding trees, which split the sky into starry windows" - Kel philosopher
"outside was rumored to be the szwalt, an upward climb of steepest whitecliff chisel-stone spiraling up into the final object. this was to be avoided, of course, by the gentle and the uninitiated. it was a thing close at hand yet so noto be imagined that the distance of character could not be retraced once walked..." -Kel philosopher
If the world of the forest were a great ocean, then the feline race of the Kel would be the gentle, fragile creatures that crawl upon the sand in the benthic depths. If the forest were indeed a great ocean, the Kel would play beyond light, beyond the sun, beyond knowledge of the upper world. Miles above them the tides would ebb and flow, storms would rage, and lives would be born and lost. However, the happy little creatures, so far removed from the surface, would know of none of these things.
Rather than a great ocean, however, the Kel inhabited a forest, deep in the heart of the land of Arillon. They lived among the trees, the fruit and the water. For millennia, longer than anyone could remember, the small felines never ventured beyond the boundaries of their forest home. As far as they knew, they were the only beings in existence. They had neither seen nor felt any other reality, so they assumed there was nothing else. Rather than actively excluding other possibilities, they simply never asked such questions.
Such complete innocence is a rare treasure.
The Kel are my people. I was born Kel, surrounded by my brothers and sisters. We have furry bodies, long tails, and soft-furred, pointy ears. We walk upright most times, unlike some of the wild, insentient cats.
There was no war among us, and very little fighting. We had never heard of things like metal, machinery, fire, or currency. We lived in the trees and ate the bountiful plants that grew all around us. If one of us needed something, he searched for it-- whatever we needed, the forest provided. We trusted it to keep us alive, and in turn we took good care of it.
None of us ventured beyond the limits of the forest, and no one had ever come in from the outside. Not even one. Then, one day in my youth, it all changed.
I still remember the day when we first learned that we were not alone in the world. I was a only child, but the day is forever etched into my memory.
He just wandered in. We had never seen anyone like him. He was feline, but he was so different from us! He was tall-- taller than most of us by at least a head. His body was powerful as well, full of big, round muscles. Dark stripes hugged his orange-furred physique. Everything about him looked dangerous-- his black claws, and his sharp fangs.
At first we were afraid of him, but to our surprise, he was kind. Aggressive and frightening, but still kind. He told us that many of his kind lived farther north, beyond the forest walls. A new whole world waited for us!
They were called the "Raakh". They had many things that we did not-- technology, deadly weapons, new types of artwork, and diverse forms of magic we couldn't possibly comprehend.
The outsider, the tigerish male, brought more of his friends with him. They showed us many things over the next few months. They provided new ways to grow food, gave us tools to do our work more easily, and clothed us in new forms of beautiful fabric. Although we had been happy for centuries before the Raakh came to us, we began to wonder how we'd gotten along without them.
Although they gladly shared their knowledge with us, they really needed some of us to live in their world. They explain that, without actually living in their society, we would never fully understand their way of life. So, a few years later, they invited several of us to leave our homes and move north to be with them.
It was the opportunity of a lifetime-- there was still so much to gain from them! Though they seemed warlike and intimidating, they never harmed us, and they welcomed us into their land with open arms.
Since the first time I saw the great tigers, they truly fascinated me. The newness of what they brought to our lives, and the enigma of their thoughts and desires beckoned to me. I was young when they invited me-- I had only just become an adult, capable of making my own decisions.
I decided to be one of the first to move with them. The Raakh promised me a home near one of their greatest libraries, where I could learn their strange custom of keeping books and perhaps gain a better understanding of their history and their way of life.
I had to leave my family and friends, but in return they were giving me a chance to spend time in a totally different world. So many things were still waiting to be learned and discovered, I couldn't resist!
I prepared for the change as best as I could. The journey north was overwhelming. I cried a little as I watched my home disappear in the distance, but I promised myself that I would visit someday. I promised myself that I would never forget all the things I had learned from my family and friends.
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