Papa was ever so strong, Larkin thought as she perched on the broad shoulders of her Kuguar father, her small hands entangled in his braids.The dusty feline smell that typified the feline male wove around her, sending a sense of well being in the child of mingled heritage. Her beatific smile brighntened the already soft spring day as she beamed at her brother, her twin, Tristan.<br/><br/>"Tristie, we will be big and strong like Papa some day. When we are big you will make the Earth tremble  just like his does and I will hide in water like Mama. Right, Papa?" Tristan strode alongside Papa, almost keeping pace with him. Tristie was not afraid of anything and he usually took good care of her. Only in the dark was she braver and held him close when the bad dreams came on him. His green eyes, so like his father's, snapped with mischief and intelligence as he manfully strode along.<br/><br/>"Tristie needs a sword like yours," Larkin piped after hearing Tristie's thoughts about the matter. He would never ask, she knew. He was proud to be a man Kuguar, he had often said, switching his long red tail. Larkin wished she had a tail but in form, she was very  much Taryn's child, except for her eyes.<br/><br/>When she was younger, she thought the bunnies were their siblings too because Larkin had red eyes like many of them. Now that she was older, she just thought that Tristie had red fur and she had red eyes.<br/><br/>Taryn joined them as they walked, reaching up for Lark.<br/><br/>"Come now, you must walk like the rest of us. Father must be able to defend us at a moment's notice which he would struggle to do with you atop his shoulders. You and Tristan must be able to defend the bunnies and help them to shelter. That is your duty to our family. Everyone of us is important to the other's survival."<br/><br/>Larkin joined her mother and Lily, somehow managing to allow no one to stand between her and her twin. Taryn smiled at this positioning, as if an invisible cord joined them.<br/><br/>"Where we going, Mama? Who will we see there?" Lark chattered with a spring in her step.<br/><br/>"We are going West, darling and right now, I have no idea who we will see. So far, the mountains had protected the animals and they did not mutate as did the Kin on our side. We might only see Hume on the other side, people like me or we might see Kin, like Father, Aunt Lily and Uncle Jax. Who knows, we might even find other families that are blended like ours. But no matter what, we will be together and we will be safe."<br/><br/>The group made good time and soon noticed the sky was becoming darker. In the distance, the rushing of water  roared in the air and Taryn noticed a light flickering ahead.<br/><br/>"Raschen?" she asked softly, "Is that a campfire?"