The Beast had come down from the hills and a violent struggle had ensued, but she had managed to drive it off. Though not without some injury to herself that was painful and would take time to heal. Why the beast, after so long dwelling there peacefully, had suddenly attacked her, she was not sure. She was not really even sure what the beast was and had no desire to hurt it; but she had been forced to defend herself in order to keep it from causing her hurt. It was not like the other beasts she had encountered. In fact, she had only ever seen a couple other of its kind before, and that had been nearly two dekons ago, when she had been out hunting rock pig and had first noticed the strange looking cave that had appeared, as if from no where, in the valley. The cave had not been there a few treks before, when she had last passed that way, and that had made her curious. There had been three of the small beasts outside it and she had thought to speak to them, if they could speak, as they seemed to be more of a beast-thing, like her, and not an animal thing, like a rock pig, and were perhaps intelligent enough to know how. One was a big small beast, the other was a not as big small beast, and the last appeared to be a small young beast cub. The beasts had become excited on seeing her and the big small beast had picked up a strange looking stick or small club and began waving it at her as she moved closer to speak to them. The club had made loud noises and had given off flashes of light that had stung her as she had approached. She had called out to the big small beast to stop, saying it was causing her hurt, but it had kept waving the club at her, and had not listened, as she had said, it was causing her hurt. So, she had hit it with her club, as she often did when the male of her kind got too playful, hoping to make it stop. She had not meant to hurt the big small beast. But it was not very strong as her gentle tap had left it dead at her feet. She had felt bad about that, and had had turned to say so to the other not as big small beast; but it had only screamed noises that had sounded very much not like the intelligent speech of a beast at all, and had grabbed up the small beast cub and fled into the hills. That had been the last she had seen of those strange beasts; till this one had attacked her that morning. They were very strange beasts. She still did not understand why the big small one had waved its stinging club at her, to hurt her, as she had clearly called out a friendly greeting before approaching their cave, and had even even shown her fangs and tusks in friendship. It had seemed even more strange to her why the not as big small beast would take the small cub beast and run away; and leave behind such a fine, though rather odd looking, cave. They had confused her very much. Nevertheless they had done all those things. The stinging hurts from the club, the big small beast had waved at her, had left her tired and very weak. Too weak to hunt for rock pig, so she had been forced to stay there and cook and eat the big small beasts, deciding it must not be a true beast after all. It had not been good, not tasty like rock pig. But, it had filled her belly and had made her feel less weak. So, she had explored inside the cave, needing a place to shelter for the night. Her cave was many treks away and the stinging club had left her not well enough to make the journey there. It had been a very strange looking cave on the outside, and it was even more strange on the inside; but it was warm and dry, and the wind and dust that often blew hard in the evening time did not seem to get far inside it, so since the other two beast-like things had deserted it, she had stayed there. There were many good rock pig nearby to hunt and water in the valley to drink. It had been that way for two dekons, and she had been content there. But now this beast-thing, that seemed to her to be the small beast cub only a big small beast now, had come down from the hills and attacked her. She really did not want to hurt it, whatever it was, and had tried to be extra careful this time as she shooed it off with her club. Remembering how she had killed the big small beast before, and trying not to do so again. But the beasts had terrible fang clubs on its paws, that had caused her hurt, so she finally had to hit it hard enough to make it yelp in pain and run away. Fortunately this one was stronger and she did not killed it; and she hoped it would get better soon, and it would stay up in the hills and not come back down to attack her again. She liked this strange cave, and the rock pig here were very fat and tasty, and she did not want to have to leave the valley; but she would do so, if she must, if the beast-like thing kept coming back to attack her. It still seemed to her to be more a beast, than an animal-thing, though plainly not a very intelligent one; and she did not want to kill it. The beast-things were not good to eat. But they did not seem to be very nice beast-things either. Credits: The SciFi Living Room Poses and Cameras, along with inhabitants and dwelling, etc., used to illustrate the story are all found on planet Daz3D, located in a galaxy not too far away. Thank you for your support and encouragement of my humble efforts to create content and to amuse and divert you during these times of quarantine and self isolation. Stay well and be creative.