and a g[o]vernment for hire, and a combat site

Zenith trotted happily through the Skulls' cave, oblivious to the dumbfounded stares and confused whispers trailing after him. Was that- was that a horse? In the cave? Among the Skulls? He stood at least three times taller than any of these cats, as he now knew them to be; he had only recently learned the correct term for their species, thanks to Col-lat-er-al-da-mage. Collat-eral-damage. Collateraldamage. He kept repeating the name to himself, as well as several other words: Skulls, cat, Omorthan. Skulls, cat, Omorthan. Etcetera, etcetera.
He had come to the Skulls accidentally. During the storm, the tornado that devoured the ground and rent the trees apart, he had bolted in fright. All the horses in his herd had, and the little foal had galloped as fast as he could in any direction, as much to escape the dangerous pounding of his family's hooves as to flee from the funnel-shaped twister. And so, wandering hopefully in search of his family in the aftermath of that horrible night, he had come upon the forest where the Skulls resided. Omorthan, a tiny creature who seemed among the largest of the cats now, had emerged from the bushes and gradually, through much confusing hand and hoof symbols, led Zenith to the cave where his herd lived.
Collateraldamage, another, smaller cat, had taught him the few words he knew. The young black horse had learned enough to ease his way into the Skulls, but he would need more, much more, if he was to live there for any length of time.
Zenith frowned and shook his head as he realized what he had been thinking. No, he told himself firmly. You are here to rest until you're ready to search for your family again. The thought made him inexplicably sad; he enjoyed it here. Glancing among the massed cats, he smiled, a toothy, coltish smile that probably seemed terrifying to anyone who looked at him then.

"Collateraldamage!" Zenith's huge muzzle opened in a smile as he spied one of only two cats he knew. His clumsy pronunciation was getting better, he was proud to realize, but it was still just that- clumsy. He had to stop at that one word, that one name- he knew precious little of the language- but he hoped to learn more. Much more.

Zenith danced in excitement at the chance to learn more words. Carefully, though- no reason to crush the cats underhoof. "Hay! Gud. Toooooo. Seee. Yooooo." The 'ooo' sounds of the two words were difficult, but they were all short words, so he didn't have much trouble. Zenith peered curiously at Collateraldamage, ignoring the other cat, to find out what the words meant.

Zenith watched with rapt attention as Collateraldamage explained the words. He understood why the cat skipped 'to,' to an extent; he would have some difficulty describing certain words. "Hey!" he repeated, hoping to use them in the proper context. "Hey, Collateraldamage. Good to see you!" He pronounced 'good' slightly better, but the others were still slightly faltering; he'd get better with time, he decided.

"Pruh-nun-cee-ae-shun." Zenith struggled through the dauntingly long word, then looked expectantly at Leander for the meaning. A big word must have a big meaning, right? The sentence was obviously praise, though, so maybe not.

Zenith stared blankly at Collateraldamage. Paw....ear? He had no idea what the heck that meant. Shrugging in confusion, he nodded with false enthusiasm, pretending he knew it so they could go on to more words.