9" x 12" color pencil

A very special commission for a very special occasion.

This is the first feral only drawing I've done since 1978. Yeah, I'm old.

excuse the punctuation, formats didn't see eye to eye.


It was early spring and he spied her once again, sunning herself in the small meadow that overlapped this part of his territory.

** He had first seen her three years earlier and had quickly become infatuated with her and began following her around as best he could without being seen. He knew it was possible that he may have been just a meal to her though she had glimpsed him a time or two but seemed to pay him no mind.
He continued his observations of her but his interest, instead of waining, increased till he’d fallen in love. How could he not, for she moved with a sinuous grace unrivaled by any creature he had ever seen. She was also powerful and able to take down the biggest rams with ease. Then her fur, it was so thick and plush and he had imagined time and again, what it’d be like to burrow his muzzle into her chest fur to discover its depth and inhale the scents that might be hidden there in. But it was her eyes that had captured him, heart and soul, the first time he approached close enough to see them clearly. An indescribable blue that mesmerized at a glance.
She was full grown when he had first seen her and appeared young and in prime breeding condition. It was this that puzzled him most because in the three seasons of his observations, she had produced no litters. She would, during the season, disappear for a time, then return and continue her normal routines. Was there something wrong with her that prevented her from producing young? That would be a travesty, he thought, not being able to produce more of her exquisite species. Or perhaps, there were no males of her kind within a reasonable distance.
No matter, something just seemed wrong and he felt sad for her and easily empathized. This was because he himself was in a similar situation though by no machinations of his own. It was just a blur to him now but he remembered coming of age and going out to look for a mate for the first time. Instead, he found himself caught in a trap, a box thing that did no harm but held him captive. He remembered being moved and then being released into a slightly bigger box, then being moved again and again. Finally though, when the cover over the opening where food and water was served to him opened, then closed once again, this time there was something different, a gap with light shining through where none had been before. So, with some considerable force, he pushed and clawed till the box opened and he made his way to freedom.
He may have been free but he was not “Home” he realized, once he had made his way into the nearest woods and had time to sense his surroundings. The air was thinner, crisper, and he recognized none of the scents that assaulted him. The terrain was the biggest change, with mountains that would have towered unimaginably higher than the rolling hills that he had called home. He finally picked a direction and headed that way.
Two years he searched but the mountainous land changed little and worse, he found no sign of his kind, his people. He was tired and he resolved to stay where he was for but a month or two before moving on. It was a nice land, quiet and rich with food and sweet water. Then he discovered “her”. **

He watched her now as he had done so many times before, lying there in the meadow, and it hurt. He was lonely and he did not want to admit it but he was starting to give up hope, feeling deep inside that he would never see his land or people again.
She too would soon be departing to look for a mate, leaving him once again, utterly alone, during the time that his people would also be out searching for the same.
Each season she went off in search of a mate was of a longer duration than the previous. Was she traveling further each time? If so, there was always a possibility that she might finally find a mate or a better territory and never return. The thought of this hit him hard and he didn’t know what he’d do if that came to pass.

He pulled himself out of the depressed stupor he had sunken into and suddenly came to the realization that he had little to loose now, life included, if he just strolled out into the meadow and introduced himself. Just being able to speak to her would mean so much. So, he took a deep breath and did just that.
He moved stealthily, which was natural for his kind and had approached within a few meters before stopping. He pause just a bit but finally found the courage to speak before he had time to consider retreat. “Hello”, was all he could think to say.
There was no response so he repeated himself but with a little more volume. Still nothing. Without thinking about that he’d be to close to avoid any unpleasantness should things go south quickly, he moved up right beside her. This time he said, “Hello miss, are you OK?” Still nothing.
He didn’t know whether to laugh or be concerned that she were ill. He watcher her slow steady breathing for a moment then saw her paws start to twitch. Sound asleep and dreaming, he realized with a smile.
He never remembered what insanity prompted him to do it, but with his front paws only, he stepped up onto her midsection, and like he’d imagined, they disappeared deep into the fluff.
“Hello Miss, Wake Up”.

She had been dreaming of a stealthy hunt for food, then it shifted to an overt hunt for a mate. She then heard a voice calling to her from a distance and she rushed towards it headlong…. Then she woke up.
She was laying on her back and felt a slight movement on her lower chest. She tilted her head up then to see if some small rodent had ventured there to seek premium bedding for its burrow or perhaps a large bug…
The last thing she expected was to find herself nose to nose with the small red whatever it was, that had been trying unsuccessfully to follow her around unseen for the last few seasons.
She had no fear of it for it showed no aggressiveness in all the time she knew of its existence, only just… curiosity.
She was thinking what to do when it spoke.
“You have beautiful eyes”, was all it said, then it froze and she realized it was a male.
He spoke in an odd dialect but still understandable and she was taken aback. “OK, am I still dreaming?” she thought to herself and then she slowly raised her left paw up high enough to touch his shoulder. “He’s real.” she thought and the first thing that came to her mind to say in return was, “And you look like a tasty snack.” The claws on the paw that was still on the creatures shoulder slowly extending on their own at the idea, in anticipation that it would be so.
She looked into his eyes then, rather than just *at Him* and her claws returned home. She paused for just a moment…
There they were, a snow leopard and a red fox, the most unlikely creatures in the most curious situation.
She then replied in a deep sultry voice, “You have beautiful eyes too.”