Disclaimer : A very short story written for Kt, because she told me to.
Once upon a time there was a young girl called Katie. Her parents called her 'Kitten' because she was as soft and sweet and curious as a kitten.
She lived with her mother and father up in the tallest, darkest mountains in the land, where People were afraid to set foot. Since she had lived there all her life, Kitten saw nothing unusual with the cave that was their home, or the rocks and cliffs that were her playground, or the dark and stormy clouds that were her sky. And she saw nothing unusual in her parents or the rest of her Tribe, because she had never known anyone else but them.
Her Tribe ate People. Once a week, her father and the other men from the caves would fly down from the mountains on their soft, leathery wings. There were villages at the foot of the mountains, and that was where the People were kept. The men would bring back two or three People each trip-usually the People were already dead, but sometimes they were alive and squealing in fright. Kitten didn't like seeing them when they were alive. It made her unhappy. She would refuse to come out of the cave until her father had taken the heads off and stopped the People from squealing. Then Kitten would come out and help her mother and the rest of the women prepare the meat. Three People would last the Tribe all week.
Kitten didn't like People. She didn't like seeing their bodies, she didn't like the way they squealed, and she didn't like eating them. Their meat tasted salty and rank. They were horrible, fat, bloated creatures, so different from the elegant, graceful forms of the Tribe.
'I don't want to eat People any more,' she declared one morning at breakfast. 'They're ugly and horrible. I don't want to eat anything that's ugly and horrible. I only want to eat things that are beautiful.'
Her parents exchanged a look, and then her mother shrugged. 'That's fine, Kitten. You can eat the berries and the flower stems instead. Flowers and berries are beautiful, are they not?'
And Kitten had to concede that they were. She ate the berries and the flower stems, even though she hated berries and flower stems. Her parents gave her fond looks and assumed that that would be the end of the matter.
But Kitten had a stubborn streak. She stuck to her pledge, and from that day forward she ate only that which she found beautiful.
She climbed the highest spires of the mountains in search of speckled birds eggs. She picked spring shoots from the tallest trees. She ventured into the darkest forests and emerged, scratched and muddy but triumphant, with armfuls of honey-scented flowers.
Her parents sighed and shook their heads and told themselves that it was just a phase, and that she would grow out of it.
Kitten did not grow out of it. She continued to help her mother with the cooking and the preparation of the meat, but she refused to eat it. 'People are ugly,' she said innumerous times. 'I won't eat anything that's ugly.' It became an accepted part of her life, and eventually the rest of the Tribe stopped commenting on it.
All was fine, until Kitten reached her fifteenth year, and fell in love.
He wasn't like the rest of the People. He wasn't bloated or horrible or disgusting. He was beautiful. He moved with elegance and grace, almost as much as that of the Tribe. He wandered alone in the high forests of the mountains, fearless of the creatures that lurked there. His hair was as dark as the clouds overhead, and his face was smooth and showed no sign of the fear that marked every one of the People that Kitten had ever seen.
She saw him first by the hidden pool in the forest where she picked her wild flowers. It was a shock to see him there, because none of the People ever ventured this high into the mountains. Also, she had assumed that this pool was her own secret place; a place that no-one else knew existed. To find someone else there, especially one of the hideous People...
Kitten stayed hidden within the treetops and watched him for a long time. In that time, she realised that he was beautiful.
He was shocked when she flew down from the trees into the clearing, but he did not run away. He spoke to her in a strange, musical language, and there was no fear in his voice. He offered her food from the small basket that he carried. Kitten was delighted to see that he ate berries and flower stems, just like she did.
They sat together by the quiet pool. 'You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen,' Kitten told him, and reached out for him.
Some hours later, Kitten returned to her cave. The body was heavy and she had been unable to fly with it. But her cheeks were flushed with success and she smiled joyously at her family as they came out to greet her.
'My daughter.' Her father laughed as he enfolded her in his wings. 'Of course, I should have realised! If my daughter wants only to eat beautiful things, then I shall bring home only the most beautiful of things. Perhaps you would like to come with me to the village next week, to make sure I choose correctly?'
Kitten kissed his cheek with bloody lips. 'I'd like that very much, father,' she smiled.