She was a small cat, not yet fully grown, and about to give birth. It was a late spring night and the wind brought rain in torrents. Princess, for that was her name, given to her by the human children who had picked out the little black and white kitten from the litter of three others, was lost and homeless. She had strayed far from the safe haven where she had been fed, loved, and cared for. She was now lying in her den under an old shed outside of town. She slept with her paws tucked under her, occasionally taking a nap or gazing out at the rain with her enormous green eyes. She was starving and there was no hunting that night. The family, who had taken her as a kitten, were attentive enough to her needs which all life requires – food, warmth and shelter, which translated in her feline mind as affection.
Princess was entering puberty, she was restless, and she wanted to be outside to find a mate. Because she was naturally curious, she had gone too far one time and couldn't find her way back. She had left a devastated family that made every effort to locate her, but Princess was unaware of this. Just over half a year old, she had begun to be filled with strange insistent urges. She began to be ruled by her desire to reproduce, and she sent out screams and odors to all of the tomcats in her vicinity. In addition, she gave birth that night. This had happened a few weeks prior, and even though her urges to conceive had quickly subsided, she was now experiencing maternal feelings that intensified with each passing day and night. As a result of her inherent survival instincts, Princess spent the majority of her time hunting, becoming her primary concern, not only for herself but also for the spores of life growing within her. As a result, Princess became an isolated, self-contained creature. Except where her belly swelled with the new life, she became thinner over the course of the days. Finding food had become unpredictable and inconsistent and not always successful. She no longer received food on a regular basis; rather, given her current circumstance, food had to be caught or discovered. Everything that came her way that she found eatable she did. The small cat snatched up mice, voles, birds, and once a small rabbit, which she killed instantly, while she roamed the area.