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// Pain, Anger, and Hunger 
// Story: Consequences 
// by shallow15 
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It didn't know what was going on. The last coherent thing it could remember was sunning itself on one of its favorite rocks in the forest, next to a stream that connected to the river outside of the place with the bright lights where the strange two legged things prowled. Then a flash of something fell from the sky and landed on a flower nearby.  

Normally, it didn't bother with flowers, not after the stinging thing nailed it in the nose one day and the pain didn't stop for nearly three appearances of the Great Sky Rock. But in this case, the flashy thing had landed on a flower, turning it from the color of the Sky Fire to the same color as the water in the depths of mating season. It really wasn't sure why the flashy thing had turned the flower the color of the water. It didn't really know a lot of things. Mostly the best places to hunt, the best places for water, the best places to sun itself on a rock, and the best places to mate.  

So it didn't really know why its first instinct had been to eat the flower. What it did know was the pain that followed. Flashes of light seared across its vision and it felt pain run throughout its body as muscles and bones grew. It felt its teeth elongate and its fur grew and became shaggier. It only lasted a few seconds, but the entire experience left it panting in the grass and its brain on fire.

Ever since then it felt hurt and angry. It rampaged through the forest, devouring anything that seemed like it could be edible. It had no idea how to stop the pain, but it was trying anything.  

It sought out food anywhere it could. The giant hollow rock behind the two legged things' cave with the bright lights which smelled of food had always been impossible to break open, but it had torn it apart with ease and ate everything it could. That sated it for a while, but the hunger and the anger had returned. It went to the place where the younger two-legs spent their day and occassionally fed the squirrels, but the pain in its head caused it to stay out of sight.  

And then, after the Sky Fire had disappeared and the Great Sky Rock appeared, it had smelled something familiar. The two-leg it thought of as She-Who-Speaks' scent along with several other scents it didn't recognize came through the trees. Light flashed in it's eyes, causing more pain, which caused it to charge forward, hoping to get rid of it.  

It charged through the trees, still smelling the fear of the two-legs running ahead of it. Two of them fell and it came to a halt, roaring to make its pain known. Then She-Who-Speaks threw rocks at it, hurting it's ear and nose. She roared back at it, but unlike other times She had spoken, it couldn't understand her. It roared again in pain and frustration. Then to its surprise, She-Who-Speaks ran away, along with the other two-legs. It had followed, trying to get She-Who-Speaks to understand.  

However, as had happened often since it had eaten the flower, its felt tired and listless. It broke off the chase and lumbered back to its shelter. It curled up and closed its eyes. It felt oddly sad. It wanted help and She-Who-Speaks didn't seem to be able to help it.

As it drifted off to sleep, it felt a longing. It missed She-Who-Speaks. It missed spending the days in the forest. It missed napping by the river.  

It snorted and let sleep take it. Maybe when the Sky Fire returned, everything would be better.