Freya paced around the house, back and forth, up and down. She was tense, her mind filled with a whirlwind of thoughts. She couldn't stop thinking about the enormous teeth of the tyrannosaur. It was Astra who had told her it was a tyrannosaur. She explained where her knowledge came from. That this creature had long been extinct and they should not have encountered it. Just as they should not have encountered a triceratops. Nor any other dinosaurs for that matter. But what gnawed at Freya even more was where the triceratops had suddenly disappeared to, where had they vanished? Why did they vanish? However, she was even more preoccupied with something that caught her eye as they were making their way home on their sandy-rocky path. She wasn't sure about her own observation. She doubted herself. Because that something didn't resemble any animal they knew.

Orion lifted his head from breakfast and looked at Freya. "She's scaring me," he said to Astra. "She's acting weird," he added. Astra turned to look at her friend. "She's bothered by what happened yesterday," she noted, licking a paw that was dirty with cottage cheese. "Don’t stuff yourself with it, you'll get sick again," she warned Orion. He shifted from one paw to another. "I can't help it, it's so good." "You know you shouldn't, you'll vomit and have diarrhea," she pushed the bowl away from him. He pulled it back and bent down to lick it again. "I really can't help myself," he mumbled with his nose in the cottage cheese. Freya stood behind him and slapped his whole face into the food. "I'll help you. Stop gorging," she said sternly. Orion pulled his face out, all white, and spattered food everywhere. Few would notice, but even Freya smiled at his expression.

"Let's go for a walk," she said after they finished eating. They looked at her. They never went out that early. "Why?" Astra asked. Freya sat down and looked at her for a long time. She didn't know exactly what to say. When she fell off the dinosaur, it seemed to her that she saw something furry in the grass next to the path. For a moment, she thought there was some frightened creature there with three eyes and six legs. Astra would laugh at her. "I want to go hunting alone this afternoon," she finally said. Astra hesitated. Maybe she wanted to go hunting alone, but something else was going on. "We'll explore where those, those, well, ratopses disappeared to," Orion was excited about the new adventure. He hopped comically around Astra and Freya, and the other kittens joined him.

Most of all, Darka. She loved exploring new places. She imagined herself as a great and powerful puma, perhaps a panther. If she were much bigger, she would look the part. She had a beautiful glossy and completely black coat. No spots or stripes, and then dark yellow eyes. She was like a panther. She was like a puma. She was rightly proud of it. Also because she was the only one among all the kittens, who looked like her father. Black, with large paws.

They reached the end of the path. To the place where the previous day they had fallen like pears from a tree. Freya straightened up. Her head turned to the right, she sniffed the air. She saw nothing, but she could detect the remnants of another scent. Foreign, but not too much so. She walked to the edge of the path, stepped into the still-wet grass. "Are you looking for something specific?" Astra asked her. Freya was so engrossed in tracking that she nearly jumped. "Rather someone," she muttered casually. "Someone?" Astra began to look around carefully. If Freya were looking for a triceratops, it wouldn't take her that much effort. She definitely didn't want to look for a tyrannosaur, so it had to be someone else. "Yesterday I caught a glimpse of something, I'm not sure." "Sure of what?" Astra asked cautiously. "Sure of what it was." Orion came rushing from the other side. He immediately dove into the grass where the imprint of something or someone lying there overnight was still visible. "We'll search the area," Freya decided.

Although they searched the grass and low shrubs nearly a kilometer away quite thoroughly, they couldn't find anyone. "Maybe you just imagined it," Astra said. Even though she knew it probably wasn't imagined. Freya was an excellent hunter. She noticed movements that none of the others saw. "Here, quick, here, come on, look," Darka called from afar. She darted back and forth by something that resembled a burrow. They all immediately recognized that she had found the place where what Freya had seen was hiding. They smelled the animal. But some strange animal. More scents mixed together. "It won't be one animal," Orion said seriously. He leaned toward the burrow. "Kssss!" came from inside, and something small but sharp slashed his snout. He yelped and backed away from the burrow. Astra licked his snout, from which blood flowed. She looked at the four long scratches. Then she extended her claws and held them to Orion's nose. "Big," she said thoughtfully. She grabbed the nearest kitten, Jam. The tomcat was light ginger, with a white chest, white snout, white belly, and white socks on all four paws. With darker stripes mainly on the top of his head, but also on his back and tail. With eyes dark brown in the center and gray around the edges. She pushed his claws above the bleeding wound. "Small," she said, still deeply thoughtful.

Orion cautiously pulled his head away. He didn't understand what Astra was doing. But Freya understood in a second. "Do you think there's a cat in there?" she asked just to be sure. Astra grabbed the largest of the kittens, Nukhfi, extended his claws, and held them above the wounds on Orion's nose. "Almost the same," she said. Freya straightened up. She narrowed her eyes. "Kittens." She exhaled with a certain surprise. "Strange kittens." She nodded her head. "We have to help them," Astra said. She cautiously approached the burrow. "Don't be afraid, we won't hurt you," she whispered softly. "Tssss!" "Kssss!" "Vrssss." "Ssssss!" came from the burrow. She dodged just in time to avoid nearly six paws with protruding claws scratching her face. "Wow. Kittens, huh?" Orion watched the claws and cooled his sore nose in the wet grass. "More like a ball of demons, that I'm not saving," he crawled a bit further to the large leaves covered with morning dew, letting it drip on him; it was pleasant.

Freya watched the burrow. They all watched the burrow. They thought the kittens were lost. But they weren't sure. Their mother could easily be somewhere nearby, just gone to get some food. They had to figure out how to get them out if their mother didn't return. "What do you suggest?" Astra looked at Freya. "Orion will go back and bring some food. If they're lost, they'll be hungry, they'll come out." "If they're not lost, they won't be hungry," Astra nodded in agreement. "I'm not going anywhere," Orion mumbled. Freya stood over him. "Scram and take Nukhfi with you!" she ordered him. Orion bristled. "Tssss." he lunged at Freya. He was big enough to make his own decisions. She couldn't keep ordering him around. And to think he should play nanny to that impetuous little tyke who took liberties with him, but couldn't survive outside on his own for two days. Freya narrowed her eyes, leaned toward Orion. She didn't utter a sound. "I'm going already," Orion conceded resignedly, nudged Nukhfi, and lazily left the find site.

When they placed food in front of the burrow, four white-gray heads cautiously peeked out. Snouts at the ready, but afraid to come out. "We'll hide to the side," Freya said. Everyone moved far enough away that the kittens in the burrow didn't have to fear being caught. "They're terribly hungry," Astra noted as four little bodies appeared outside. "I thought they were smaller. They're big enough to take care of themselves," Freya observed them. "They're dirty, scraggly, look at that," she nodded toward them. Astra looked. The kittens looked ill from not eating properly, and when they got hold of something to eat, they gobbled up absolutely everything. And then they felt sick. "No one taught them anything," Astra said. Freya looked at her. "A kitten must be taught how to take care of itself, what to eat, how to hunt. It needs someone to see it from. They don't have and don't have anyone," Astra explained. Freya frowned. "How did they get here if they didn't have anyone?" Astra turned to her. She opened her mouth to speak, but Freya shook her head. "Don't even say it," she said seriously and approached the burrow. It took them long days to gain at least partial trust from two of the kittens. They had to come up with a really good plan to get them from such a distance to the safety of home. They watched them constantly, never taking their eyes off the burrow or the two that followed them step by step. For food.

Although they guarded the burrow really thoroughly, the other two kittens disappeared one night and could not be found. Astra was right. They didn't know anything. They were filthy, their fur was glued together. There was no question of them catching anything on their own. When they finally managed to get them inside, wash them, and feed them properly, the kittens rewarded them with hissing, growling, and clawing. Soon, anyone who dared to get even a little closer to them was all scratch. "We can't go on like this." Freya shouted one evening when the kittens managed to escape and they chased them all night in the garden. With all her strength, she tied them both to the leg of the table. "So. And until you calm down and learn what you have, you'll be here!" She stood over them, all bloody welts, tufts of fur all around. The kittens were shaking and huddling together. "But they've got guts." Orion watched them. "You're being unnecessarily stern. They need love and care." Astra watched them. "I don't care what they need. I just need to sleep again!" Freya watched them.

In the end, it turned out that Astra was right. They needed the love and care they never got. Once she laid down with them so they could drink milk with her kittens, suddenly everything changed. They stopped hissing, sizzling and clawing at anything that came near them. They snuggled up to Astra. They let her wash them and gradually let the others spend time with them. And so Freya allowed them to run around the room, and eventually out. They were named Ajax and Luna. After a skilled warrior and his faithful companion.

To Orion's displeasure, instead of running around with kits their own age, they both clung to him. He didn't have a moment's peace. They followed him everywhere, slept with him, ate with him, even wanted to drink milk from him. He had a hard time explaining to them that he is a big cat and not a nursing mom. He chased them away as much as he could, ran away from them wherever he could, but he couldn't escape. "If he raises them, we have something to look forward to." Freya remarked once. Astra smiled. "Orion happens to be fast and strong." "Yeah. A fast and strong boob. I don't need him three times." "He's not a jerk." Astra defended the friend she practically grew up with as a sibling. "Isn't he? This one he wanted to escape them. He climbed that bush over there." She pointed to an elderberry with thin branches that could barely support a pigeon. "He swooped down and charged. What do you think gave him that bump on his head?" Astra smiled. "Okay, he's a bit of a dork. But kittens learn from him a lot of things we don't have to." Freya rolled her eyes at her. She just shook her head. "Get rid of them, tie them up, lock them up, put them in the burrow, yeah, back in the burrow, stuff them back in the tiny burrow." Orion whined, trying to scare Luna and Ajax with his evil warrior expression. But they weren't afraid of him, they clung to his legs and wanted to lick him. "I've already washed! Do you hear?! I washed!" Orion shouted, and with a mighty leap he made it almost to the top of their bedding tree. Relieved that they couldn't climb up there yet, he laid down to rest. Astra and Freya just smiled in amusement. "Give him a moment." Astra said pleadingly. Luna looked at Orion. "Or he'll stuff you back in the burrow." Freya muttered, thinking for a moment that she would like to stuff them in there herself and bury the burrow someday.