There was precious little to do in the den, and the day was nice enough for Anwar to decide a little bit of venturing out was in order. Not too far of course, he wasn’t fond of getting himself into trouble, but far enough to get himself a little bit of space. Far too many siblings, or so it seemed sometimes. How was he ever going to find a way to stand out? To be the best at anything, to make his father proud? The task seemed impossible, even more so when his strength and stature were taken into account, barely passing as nearly average… at best.
But strength wasn’t the only power to be had. There was another way to sway others, though Anwar wasn’t quite sure how to implement it just yet. But…knowing things. That made him feel bigger, made him feel stronger, made him feel powerful and important. It didn’t matter that he didn’t know how to use the knowledge yet, it just matted that he had it. And having it made him crave more, so much more. He needed to know. Anything. Everything. All that anyone had ever known before and more.
Question was, how to find out? He usually listened, overhearing all sorts of things, some of which he didn’t understand at all that sounded frustratingly important. Specific knowledges were harder to come by, he didn’t want to ask after all. What if they didn’t give him the real answer? Or, worse, what if they told the person he wanted to know about? Even if they didn’t do those things, they’d still know that he knew if he just asked. And…well… that sort of almost ruined the whole thing.
Quietly, Anwar padded slowly after a tiny insect, trying to memorize everything it did. He hadn’t seen one like this before, it was something new to learn about. And once he’d learned about it, he’d know if he saw one again what it would do. So it was worth following, even though it wasn’t moving very quickly and didn’t have the bright colors of some of the other bugs, or the shiney shell-thing. It just inched its way along, ever so slowly, on tiny little legs…
Low to the ground, dark striped olive colored fur helping him to blend into the grass and shadows in a way he had often taken advantage of, Anwar crept secretively after the bug, often dropping to lay on his belly when it seemed he might overtake it. If it knew he was there, it might do something different than it usually would. And then the knowing that he got from it would be wrong…
