Tikki flicks her ears, shakes herself off, briefly paws at her neck, which is 
unaccountably itchy, then makes her way down to the forest floor. She does not 
hasten to the hunt. A cub might make that mistake, not her. She moves with a 
slow, deliberate stride that carries her quietly over fallen leaves and through 
the green branches of shrubs and trees. High up in the trees birds exclaim, but 
none cries out in alarm. Perhaps none has noticed her yet.