Cougan could only listen solemnly as the other cat spoke to him. He didn’t know what to say, or how best to comfort him. He was never the sort of cat who knew what to say to people in emotional distress. Sure he was good enough in picking up the ladies, but empathy wasn’t his strongest suit. He could only watch as the clouded leopard began working at his forge, hammering and hammering and suddenly with a loud clang that startled Cougan out of his wits, the flaming-red metal broke into half and the other leopard dropped against a wall.

The cougar got up to see to him, to see if he was hurt, but hearing what the older, bigger cat say to him both surprised and confused him even more. How was he supposed to react? Why him?

Cougan decided to lighten the moody cat - and himself - up. He spread his hands and said in a half-joking tone, “You’re right, I don’t understand what you’re saying at all.” He grinned. “You’re like a giant lump of coal you know - a major downer!” He patted his trouser pocket and was pleased to hear a slight metallic tinkling. “We should go out and do something instead of staying in like two old boogers. We’re young and we’re - ” he punched the clouded leopard’s muscular chest playfully, “not-so-bad looking. We should get out and rule the town! But first - we’re going to have to get you bathed.”

Feeling more and more like his usual self, Cougan got to his feet and dusted the soot off his pants. “I’m Cougan. And you are?”

To say that he was surprised when the leopard suddenly seized his arms and made him follow him to his house was underdoing it, to say the least. Cougan couldn’t even find the words to let the leopard know that no, he was fine, and he had a house of his own to get back to anyway, and his mother would be expecting him to return home by sunset and she would have dinner ready for him too but his tongue had turned to lead and he couldn’t speak. When some idiotic cat had bumped into him and caused him to drop his armour, Cougan stooped and quickly picked them up before running after the leopard. Strange, he could have used the opportunity to steal away. It wasn’t that he was frightened, he just found the leopard a little odd.

And lonely.

They arrived at the leopard’s home. It wasn’t even much of a house - it was messy, sparse and not even homely. Dirty rags that, upon further inspection, were actually pants, were strewn across the house. Cougan dropped onto a stool near the fireplace and was still taking everything in when he happened to glance into the bedroom where the leopard had walked into and saw him stripping off his pants. He quickly looked away, feeling the blush creeping up his cheeks again. Curse you! he muttered to himself, stop making me look like a fool! 

When the leopard finally came back up to him with his question, clothed this time, Cougan could only nod jerkily and say, “Yeah, yeah it’s fine.” Awkward silence fell between both of them, until finally Cougan placed his armour gingerly on the grimy floor and said, “Say, uh… you said that you hadn’t any money to take a bath…” He winced before continuing, “No offense but, uh, you have a forge.” He picked up a sword nearest to him among a smattering of blades near the fireplace. It was dusty somewhat but obviously it had never been used as there were no sign of scratches on the blade. “You can make money out of the stuff you make, no?” He didn’t want to pry into the leopard’s personal life, but he suddenly felt a burning curiosity to know him better.

Cougan picked up the last of his armor plates and looked hesitatingly back at the clouded leopard. He noticed the sidelong glances and whispers that the people were giving them both, or more specifically him. He didn’t understand why they did, but that could probably be due to the fact that he smelled.

“Yeah I’m all right,” he answered. He decided to sit on the ground next to the leopard. People now stared directly at Cougan as well, as he was still half-dressed in his Royal Guard attire. They probably wondered what the hell was a respectable-looking cat doing sitting on a dirty street beside a smelly cat, but Cougan suddenly decided that he didn’t, and couldn’t care any longer. What did he have to lose? His career was over. His mother would probably yell at him for the next few days and then go back to her gossiping with the neighbours. 

“No, the armour isn’t a get up. This is genuine Royal Guard armour,” said Cougan, showing him one of the breastplates. “I’m - I mean - I used to be, a Guard - until I got dismissed not too long ago.” He drew his knees to his chin with his hands and sulked.

Cougan walked in the marketplace aimlessly, with his eyes downcast and his heart heavy in his chest. He had stripped himself of the Royal Guard armor and now carried the separate pieces in his hands. Half of him wanted to go home and just curl up in a ball and sleep, hoping that all of this was nothing but a bad dream. The other half of him wanted to go to the tavern and get so intoxicated that he could barely remember his name. There would be plenty of female cats there who would enjoy his attention, no doubt. They would appreciate him like no other cat in the Royal Guard ever could.

Screw the Chief. Screw the system. Hell, screw the monarchy even. No one recognised his talents - well, that was THEIR loss then. 

The only question was: how would he answer his mother? How would he ever be able to honour his father’s memory the way his mother wanted to if he couldn’t be in the Guard anymore? She would be thoroughly upset, and Cougan hated seeing his mother upset. It didn’t help too that she wasn’t at all as young and healthy a cat as she had used to be.

He thought he smelt something familiar and abruptly something bulky and hard slammed into him, causing him to yelp in shock and drop his armor - and if that wasn’t enough that huge - wait it was a CAT - toppled him over so that Cougan fell over and landed on the filthy cobblestone hard on his butt.

“What the - ” Cougan began angrily, but he saw that it was none other than the clouded leopard, the blacksmith from the forge in the slum. A blush crept up his face. He couldn’t let the leopard know that he had been disgracefully discharged from the Royal Guard. He could tell that if anything he would only find it hilarious and, well what would an oaf like him do? Laugh out loud there and then and make fun of him in front of the whole of Thundera. No, maybe it was best to just not have anything to do with him. Not to mention that those green eyes were so intense that it was a little unsettling even…

Cougan slid out from under the other cat and got to his feet. “No, no you don’t know who I am. You’ve mistaken me for someone else,” he said nervously as he picked up the pieces of armor off the ground. His face flushed. Stop it, Cougan! he scolded himself silently. Why in Thundera are you blushing, of all things? He’s just a giant oaf of a clouded leopard, yes a really rare race of cats but he’s just a cat. Just another cat.

As the carriage rode away with the captured lizards and the other Thunderian guards keeping them prisoners inside, Cougan thought he spotted the blacksmith that he had bumped into earlier among the dissipating crowd. He squinted. Yep, definitely him, and he had that frowning, unamused look on his face.  Cougan arched an eyebrow. What was his deal? They had all cheered for him save that one grumpy clouded leopard. The carriage turned a corner and the cat was out of sight. Ah well, he had other more important matters to think about anyway.

Like what excuse he would give the Chief this time.

One very silent ride later, the carriage arrived at the Royal Guard headquarters, which also doubled up as a temporary prison for petty criminals before their further fate was decided. As his colleagues marched the lizards down into the dungeons, Cougan headed above ground to where the Chief’s office was. He rapped on the door.

“Come in.”

“Hey, Chief!” said Cougan cheerfully as he plastered a huge grin on his face and stepped into the Chief of the Royal Guard’s office. It was a large and sparsely decorated room, just like the man himself. The expression on the Chief’s face was eerily similar to that of the blacksmith’s.

Cougan sat on the chair opposite him and began talking. “Look, we both know the drill. I’m sorry and I can’t help it it’s my duty to - “

“Who gave you the permission to talk, much less sit?” snapped the Chief. The young cougar fell silent at once and got to his feet. The Chief really meant business now.

The Chief sighed and massaged his right temple. “Look, Cougan, I know that your father was a legendary member of the Royal Guard and that you aspire to follow in his footsteps, but wrecking chaos in Thundera’s most populous and socially problematic area, not to mention an area where most of its residents are cats that barely earn enough to get by every day, isn’t the way to go. You’ve set a bad example and - “

“How was I setting a bad example?” he nearly shouted. Screw the Chief, even if he had been a family friend. “If I had done nothing like the other guards, the lizards would have gotten away and we’d have disgruntled Thunderians instead.”

“That’s not the point!” bellowed the Chief with a slam of his fist on the desk. “You’re out of control, Cougan! You don’t listen to anyone, you think you own Thundera’s streets, and you don’t take anything seriously. Everything is just one big game to you, isn’t it, including the Royal Guard? You want to be like your father but you don’t have what it takes to be him. He was disciplined, honest and trustworthy - qualities in a Royal Guard that are far more important than agility and excellent marksmanship alone. I don’t think you get all that, Cougan, from the astounding display of mischief that you have enthralled us all with these past few months.”

“But I do get it!” said Cougan indignantly. “I was being the good guy, Chief, don’t make me sound like the bad one - because I’m not!”

“I know you’re not,” the Chief replied wearily. “But at the same time I don’t think you get the whole point of the Royal Guard. We’re here to keep the peace and to serve as role models for the citizens. Imagine what you must have seemed like to the young ‘uns. Your repeated recklessness is bad for both the Royal Guard and the Thunderians.”

Cougan could see where this was going. “No, Chief, please no…” he whispered, his eyes wide with plea. “Please… I was only doing my job!”

“This has been the ninth incident of this sort, Cougan. If I don’t take decisive disciplinary action the King will have my head on a silver platter. And I have to be fair to the other Guards,” he paused. “You’re dismissed.”

His jaw dropped. “What? But - but you can’t!”

“Oh yes I can,” hissed the Chief. “Now hand over your helmet and get out of my office.”

Cougan merely stared back at him in disbelief. He couldn’t have meant it. He couldn’t. What would he do with his life? How would he get on without the money?!

“I’m sorry, Chief, I truly am sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“If I let you carry on like this, I will be disrespecting your father’s memory,” replied the other cat in a low voice. “Don’t make this any harder for both of us, Cougan.”

With a heavy lump in his throat, he finally acquiesced. He placed his helmet reluctantly on the Chief’s desk and took a few steps back.

“I’m sorry, Cougan,” said the Chief. “Duty is duty. As a former Guard, you should understand that first and foremost.”

Cougan no longer had the heart or the will to face the Chief, the cat who had at first promised Cougan a long, prosperous career with the Royal Guard, the cat who had always dropped by his home and regaled Cougan with stories of their days as rookie guards when his father had still been alive. He left the room without another word.

Cougan blinked and looked right up into a pair of unamused green eyes belonging to a large, well-built and very much half-naked cat. And ugh, was that smell coming from him?

The archer wrinkled his nose as he scrambled to get to his feet. “Sorry to disturb you, good citizen. I would be, um, honoured if you won’t report this to the Royal Guard, uh…” Why the hell was he stuttering and grappling with his words in front of an ordinary blacksmith like some teenager? Granted not many blacksmiths that he had met went about their work half-dressed, but still. “Very nice to meet you, sir blacksmith, sir,” he took the other cat’s hand and shook it with an embarrassed grin. “And now, I have lizards to catch! See you around… or not!”

Before the other cat could reply Cougan had darted out of the forges and back in the direction he was originally headed in. He ran down a few more alleyways and emerged onto the road where he had expected to cut the lizards off, but he could see from disgruntled cats picking up their knocked-over stalls, frightened lady cats calming themselves and the kittens shouting at him, “They went this a-way, Mister!” that he had just missed them. They were within sight, and that was all it took for him.

“Thanks, kids!” Cougan gave them a wink and climbed onto the roof of the nearest building. The young cats stared at him, wide-eyed with amazement. Cougan jumped across the rooftops, closing the gap between him and the lizards. When he had established a good distance between them, he removed the bow that was slung around his torso and drew an arrow, aiming for their legs. He took a deep breath and released it.

The arrow hit the intended target, bringing one of the lizards down with a pained shriek. Before his partner-in-crime could register what was going on, Cougan had fired the other arrow, hitting him in the same place as well. Both lizards went down, and the Thunderians cheered. With a satisfied smirk, Cougan leapt down from his perch on the roof and bowed to the adoration and praises of bravery, and even a few shy but flirty smiles from the ladies.

“Make way! Royal Guard coming through!” The cheering faded down as a small formation of Royal Guards finally arrived. Cougan rolled his eyes. “Finally. Took you cats long enough.” The guards didn’t dare to meet his eyes or acknowledge his greeting as they slapped cuffs over the lizards’ webbed limbs. None except his friend, who returned his helmet to him. “You’re in bigger trouble than you think, pal. The Chief wants to you in his office immediately.”

Cougan merely laughed it off as the crowd dissipated and the lizards were marched into the Guards’ carriage. “This won’t be the first, my friend. And it certainly won’t be the last, don’t you worry.” He slapped his colleague’s shoulder and went along with the carriage back to the headquarters with the other Guards. However he couldn’t shake off a feeling of dread in his gut.

“Hey! He stole my apples!”

“And his friend took my cured meat!”

“They’re getting away!”

“Get those lizard swine!”

“GET THEM!”

Cougan’s ears pricked as they picked up the commotion. He and several other guards left their posts at the citadel tower and leaned over the wall to see what was going on in the marketplace below. A small crowd of ten or so peasant Thunderians, probably angry merchants, were chasing down two lizards. The lizards upturned almost every cart that stood in their way in an attempt to hinder the angry crowd, causing even more noise and chaos. 

“The King will kill us if he finds that lizards got into the city!” said one of the guards and rushed away to inform their superior.

“We have to apprehend them immediately!” said Cougan, looking over at the other guards. They blinked back at him. He rolled his eyes. He knew they’d react to him like that. These cats had been raised on rules that were too hard and fast that they would rather let themselves be scared by the Chief than to take matters into their own hands.

Cougan scoffed as he removed his helmet, shook his hair free and handed it to the guard standing next to him. “When will you ever learn, boys?”

With a snarl, he leapt over the wall and clung to it as he slid down, using his claws to slow his fall. Then he leapt onto the canopied roof of one of the intact stalls and jumped from one canopy to the other in the direction of the lizards.

Back on top, the other citadel guards shook their heads. He was so going to get into trouble with the Chief again.

Cougan wasn’t a particularly tall cat, but he was definitely a slim and lithe one. With an agility most of the other guards didn’t possess, he deftly used the bounce of the canopies to propel himself from one foothold to the other. Each time his foot would not have touched a solid surface for more than a few minutes before his eyes had caught the next landing spot and had launched himself towards it. Eventually he caught up with the chase, and the crowd had evolved into a full-blown mob.

” ‘Scuse me! Ooops, pardon me, good sir. Sorry! Royal guard coming through!” he said half-heartedly as he used the tops of their heads as launching pads to catch up with the lizards. They were exceedingly quick and by this time most of the Thunderians had already slowed down to catch their breath. But Cougan wasn’t exhausted yet. Oh no, he could go on forever.

He spied the lizards disappearing into a building and smirked. He knew a shortcut around that. Cougan turned away from the main streets and, feet finally touching the cobbled streets, darted down the nearest alley, right through a cluster of makeshift forges. Suddenly his toe caught on a crack in the cobblestone. His momentum forcibly halted, he found himself lunging towards the back of one of the blacksmiths hammering away by the fire. Gravity finally intervened and Cougan fell onto the floor with his face merely inches away from a large pair of sooty, smelly feet.