Story (c) Belic Bear 2004

K'gra, Belic, and Bryen (c) K'gra and Belic Bear

The leopard princess, K'gra, had come to the Furry Forest from a distant land deep within the dark mists. Her parents had separated when she was four, and she had grown up spending time with both older leopards. In a cubhood filled with struggle and loneliness, she had been closest to her father, Bryen, a soldier in the Plains Army. He had served with distinction and honor, earning the title of the oldest active Jumpmaster in his native country. When he had struggled most, his daughter had been his strength. Bryen often said that the princess was his courage, and the only thing that kept him together when he felt everything around him falling apart. And in return, the older leopard supported his daughter in all her endeavors, and encouraged her to always be herself. The only thing that mattered to him was that she was happy. No father and daughter loved one another more.

When the princess had ventured away from her homeland to start a life of her own, the bond they shared remained, and they often thought of one another. While in a distant land, she found her soulmate in a Kodiak Bear-Knight named Belic, and was pawfasted. Even though Bryen's duties as a soldier kept him from making the journey to be with them on their special day, he sent his loving wishes and blessings. Caught up in the struggles of their lives, the couple never made the journey back to the leopards' homeworld, and the soldier was never able to visit his daughter and son-in-law. News of the old soldier's failing health lent the couple a sense of urgency, and they made plans to travel back to the felines' world during the first week of March.

On a cold February night, when the bear and leopard's spirits were at their highest, a messenger bird came and delivered the news. K'gra's father had passed away in his sleep. He hadn't wanted his daughter to see him sick and weak, and he didn't want to die in the care of a healer. He wanted to return to the Earth in the arms of the hills and plains that had been his home. He wanted to be remembered as he was. The couple fell into each other's arms and wept, the feline mourning the loss of her beloved father, wishing she had gotten a chance to see him one last time. The bear wrapped himself around his mate and prayed for the SkyBears to take her pain away. Through their bond of love, he could feel her agony, and it tore him apart. He would have given anything the Fates asked to trade places with her, for he would rather be destroyed than have her feel this pain and sorrow. Whimpering and yowling in despair, he tightened his powerful arms around the princess' shaking body, his paw clutching her chest . . . as if fighting with all his might to keep her heart from breaking.