What Hunts in the Dark?

Quietly rustling through the underbrush, only the whistling of the wind masks the sound of my movement. Moonlight reflects off my black coat as I occasionally reveal myself to the sky, darting from cover to cover. I round my prey into a corner, sealing its fate as it frantically looks around, finding itself trapped between me and solid rock.

The prey’s life is ended as quickly as I can snatch it away. A single cry escapes into the night sky, quickly fading away back into dark silence. Successfully completing the hunt, I carry my catch back toward my home with noble grace.

I think of the warmth of my home waiting for me to return, then I think of the vassals that abide there with me. While normally they were able to provide for themselves, one of them, Sarah, had begun to wither away. She constantly presents the finest meats for me to eat, yet she never eats any of the wonderful leftovers for herself. Instead, she simply chews upon leaves and meager cuts of other vegetables. And whenever I went through the effort to point out to her the many options that she could eat, she always seemed to ignore them. 

As a noble lord, I was saddened by this, Sarah had proven herself to be useful to me many times and has always remained loyal, even if she was being rather unreasonable at the moment. Perhaps giving her this fresh game to eat will finally show her that she needn’t eat solely plants. I do not wish to see her die from starvation.

As I return to my abode, I make my way to Sarah. Hopefully I wasn’t too late. I jump up upon her bedding and carefully place the hard earned game before her face. Much to my relief, Sarah wasn’t too ill to get up. Her eyes slowly open to gaze upon this glorious gift.

Sarah suddenly jumps up and shrieks, startling me. 

W-why is she acting this way? Perhaps she is just expressing her gratitude in a peculiar way tonight?

Eventually though, she looks me in the eye and no doubt opens her mouth to shower words of thanksgiving upon me.

“Fluffbutt!? Noooo, why did you do this?”

I am taken aback at this statement. Am I hearing this correctly? Where are the jubilant expressions of gratitude? How could Sarah have such a lack of courtesy and gratefulness toward me? 

Flipping my tail aside, I jump off her bedding and off to somewhere quieter.

No, I will not be bothered by this, I will just let her stew in her misguided ways for now. 

Perhaps to teach her a lesson, next time I defecate it shall be right outside the litter box. Maybe that will teach my vassal to be bit more grateful.