But, instead, Puma sounds his fiercest caterwaul, and launches himself at Mooin, which confuses him, because he'd expected a stare-down to take place before any kind of battle. No opportunity to roar a final assertion of power before the too-proud Puma rushes in. This all clogging Mooin's mind, freezing him from action, while Puma simply slashes at Mooin's breast with talon claws and knocks him to the dusty stone surface. When he rises up, Mooin is enraged, and imprudent. He bellows a deafening roar, and rushes at Puma, who leaps clear of him swiftly, leaving Mooin very close to the edge of the most dangerous cliff on Mount Shasta.
Many bones lie in the sharded granite below.
Mooin tooth-carved the night before. Peering over the edge at her two bloody mates, Puma and Mooin, Puma-la weeps not. A quiver quiets her constantly droning purr, and she shudders momentarily to stifle a sob. Mooin, first and last of the Yonvas. Puma, father of her son, her long-time partner and lover.