He steadied his white stallion Abbrevail by patting him on the neck and reined him to a halt.  The sun shone down brilliantly and warmed and cooled his back and head in a soothing combination of dappled light and shade.  The trees were spaced far enough apart for him to canter Abbrevail easily, he knew, but today was not the day for speed, rather a leisurely stroll.  He loved being up amongst the trees in the forest, and knowing that his adopted father hated him being there so much made it much more worth the while.

A smile twitched at the edges of his mouth as he urged the huge white horse into a slow trot.  It wasn’t that he didn’t like his adopted parents, far from it, and he was grateful that they had been willing to take him on against all the advice they had been given, but he wasn’t used to people wanting to protect him and never would be.  He would do what he wanted, when he wanted to do it, and they would just have to learn to live with that.

He could see an eagle, far off in the distance through a break in the canopy.  The bird circled once then dove as it caught sight of pray.  People had often compared him to the large bird, master of all the skies, but he would have picked a different animal for himself.  Probably a wolf, now wolves he could relate to, they were strong keen-sensed and knew exactly what they were up against before they took it on, and he never took something on without first thinking about it.

At length, he rode up the side of a hill, he was somewhere in the middle of the forest he guessed, and it was about time he stopped for something to eat.  Just over the hill he knew there would be a small, sunny glade with a sparkling, clear pool at the centre where he could relax and eat in the warmth of the sun.

Once he stood in the glade he dismounted, removing the stallion’s saddle and leaving him to wander and graze at will.  He knew the horse wouldn’t go anywhere.  Abbrevail had been his one constant friend since he had arrived at his new home.  He hadn’t really been looking forward to the move and his adopted parents had tried to cheer him by informing him that they owned horses and he could take his pick of the new yearlings if he had a mind to bring one up.  He had actually jumped at the chance, he related to animals more easily than people, and his parents had been so happy they had taken him immediately to look over the young horses.  Although they were all fine horses none had stood out to him – good breading wasn’t everything – and he had asked if he could look round the rest of the stables before making his decision.  Of course, they had agreed and he had wandered round until he had come across Abbrevail, tied to the back wall of his stall, hobbles on both sets of legs with his head nearly touching the floor.

“Why is he tied like that?” he had asked, only getting the reply that the horse was wild and could not be broken.  He was dangerous and they would take no chances with him.  But he was also exactly what Heero had been looking for.

He had told his parents that he would tame the horse and remove the danger if he was allowed to keep him afterwards.  They had, at first, told him not to be silly and to choose a better horse but he had been so persistent that his father had eventually given in.

He understood Abbrevail and the stallion understood him.  No one else could ride the horse, or would dare, but he had upheld his end of the bargain, the horse was no longer a danger to anyone who didn’t provoke him.

“Lovely day isn’t it Abb?”  he asked the horse, running his hand down the pure white neck of the stallion and his fingers through the snowy mane.  The horse looked at him, huge blue eyes holding a wisdom too sharp for his species.  Heero could swear the horse understood just as much as he did himself and just didn’t let on.

Walking down towards the pool to splash his face with water he noticed a huge cat lying by the waters edge.  He marvelled at how the animal hadn’t run as soon as they had entered the clearing and how it was still lying there even as he approached.  He stopped, standing well back, but at an angle were he could study the beast.

It seemed to be a cougar but, unlike the trademark of its species, it didn’t have sandy fur.  The black streaks were still by its muzzle, the white flash of fur down the front of its chest, but the rest of its fur was a rich russet colour, a lovely red-brown that shone in the sun and displayed the quality of the coat so that no one could doubt this was a fine animal.  The black streaks along the tips of the ears only served to outline the fur and make it seem to shine with a light of its own, the whiskers long and straight.

Heero crept a little closer, wondering when the cat would make its move to escape, but it didn’t seem interested in him, in fact, it didn’t seem interested in anything.  Then he noticed that there was a gash down one of its legs out of which blood must have been flowing for some time as a pool of it had been created by the side of the cat. 

If he left the cat here now it would die.  If the blood somehow managed to stop flowing and it didn’t die from blood loss it would not be able to walk and would soon starve to death.  He had to do something but he couldn’t even move the beast by himself, he would have to go back for help.

Clambering up onto Abbrevail’s back he kicked him into a gallop and raced his way towards home.  The horse seemed to sense his anxiety and moved with the speed his muscles told of.  He was the fastest horse Heero had ever seen, but even that may not be enough.  Clattering up into the courtyard and swinging from Abbrevail’s back he yelled for one of the stable boys and told him to call a large animal vet and then inform his father that he wanted him in the yard.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A few hours later, Heero was sat on the ramp of a horsebox waiting for word from the vet on whether or not the cat would live.  They had managed to get the animal back and the vet had said he would take a look, but he wasn’t hopeful. 

“Must we do this?” Heero’s father had asked.

“I remember you promising me a pet,” Heero had reminded him.

“Yes, but I didn’t mean a cougar, I meant more like a puppy or something.  Wouldn’t a house cat do?  Anyway, a cougar can’t be a pet, it’s a wild animal and you won’t be able to keep it once it gets better.”

“He, once he gets better,” Heero corrected, “and you also told me that nobody could ride Abb, and that worked out okay, didn’t it?  And even if I can’t keep him, I want to make sure he’s better myself before I release him and I can’t be sure if you send him to a zoo or a nature reserve.”

The vet disturbed their conversation as he walked down the ramp of the box.  He looked at each of them in turn and then turned to Heero and nodded.  Heero returned the gesture in thanks and waited for more information.

“I stitched up his leg, nearly forty stitches it took too, and made him comfortable,” he looked directly at Heero as he said this, “I can’t promise you he will be alright but if he survives the night he should have a good chance.  He’s lost a lot of blood so he’ll be very weak for the next couple of days, so that box will do for now, but once he gets up and about again he’ll need to be put in a proper pen.  You might want to think about calling in someone to pick him up before he gets too well, don’t want him breaking out!”

“Yes we - ” Heero’s father cut him sort.

“No, I’ll look after him, just tell me what to do,” Heero stared at the vet.

“You can’t just treat this cat like a house animal,” the vet looked at Heero’s father worriedly, “you need to know exactly what you are doing to be around him, especially once he can walk again.  His dressing will need to be changed and a pen would need to be built, not to mention that he will need to have another shot once he is better.”

“I can manage, I know he is a wild animal, but I’m good with animals,” he said this stroking Abbrevail’s nose, “and I’m not completely clueless on how he needs to be treated.  I’ll read up and I’ll even build the pen myself if I have to.”

The vet reached out to touch the white stallion on the neck whilst pondering the boy’s words.  Abbrevail pinned his ears to his head and would have bitten him if Heero hadn’t made a tutting noise between his teeth.  The stallion lowered his nose sulkily and kept his ears pinned back, but he didn’t bite.

“You don’t like people, do you Abb?” Heero asked the stallion, who picked up his head and rested it on Heero’s shoulder.

“I see what you mean,” the vet agreed, nodding.

“But you can’t…” Heero’s father began, but trailed off as both men looked at him, “never mind, I’ll have a pen built so long as you read up on how to look after that great beast tonight, and make sure you know exactly what you are doing.  Your mother isn’t going to like this…”

Heero graced his father with a full smile, which he had never known his son was capable of let alone seen before, in thanks, and turned back to the vet.

“I won’t disturb him if I go and see him now will I?” he looked hopeful.

“No, he won’t wake until at least tomorrow afternoon, but make sure you do read up like you promised, that cat in there is a very dangerous animal, he may be beautiful but he will kill if he feels threatened or scared.”

“I know, and I promise I will read up on them tonight, but I have to see him first.”

Heero walked up the ramp into the box, his feet thudding on the wooden door as he climbed.  It was dull inside, a faint glow from a weak wall light the only illumination in the entire box.  The smell of straw and antiseptic clung to the air and the only noise was the heavy breathing of the big cat that lay on his side in the straw bedding.

Heero squatted by the sleeping animal in the straw and looked at the stitching in the left foreleg of the cougar.  He ran one hand across the soft fur on the cat’s head and stroked the black tip to one ear.  He stroked the spine of the huge animal and placed his hand under the paw of one of his back legs and marvelled at how large it was.

“It’s okay now, I won’t let anything happen to you,” he promised the cougar as he stroked him, “I won’t let them take you away, I’ll look after you, maybe you’ll be my friend, like Abb.”