| Mishanti | |
 Mishanti made by viergacht on DeviantArt | |
| Description | |
| Species: | Dinaelurus illumina sapiens
(1/4 Named cross)(presumed) |
| Gender: | Male |
| Pelt Color: | Silver gray |
| Affiliation | |
| Current: | Named Clan |
| Past: | Un-Named |
| Ranks | |
| Current: | Herding student |
| Past: | orphaned as Un-Named |
| Family | |
| Members: | Shongshar (presumed grandfather)
Bira (presumed grandmother) |
| Appearances | |
| Book Appearances: | Ratha and Thistle-Chaser, Ratha's Challenge, Ratha's Courage |
| Status | |
| Status: | Alive |
Mishanti is a supporting minor character first introduced in Ratha and Thistle-chaser. He is the adopted cub raised by Fessran and Thistle-Chaser.
Appearance[]
He is possibly the grandson of Shongshar, as his mother was described as a feral, gray-coated Un-Named. Mishanti has also been described as having bright orange eyes similar to Shongshar's. If this is true, then Mishanti is the grandson of Bira. So far she has not acknowledged this connection.
History[]
Ratha and Thistle-Chaser[]
Mishanti makes an appearance for the first time in Ratha and Thistle-Chaser. Khushi's suspicious behaviour gets him caught by clan leader Ratha and his mother Fessran, attempting to care for the cub by feeding him chewed meat when he isn't ready to be weaned yet. After Khushi explains how he found him on a scouting mission after his mother's supposed abandonment, Ratha orders him to leave the cub in the wilderness as she is reminded of the cub's resemblence to Shongshar and makes the connection that he could be his grandson. Fessran persuades her not the condemn him to death, so instead bestows the responsiblity of the cub onto Khushi since he brought the cub to the clan.
Ratha absentmindedly notices the strangeness of Fessran's washing patterns from some bushes licking her belly fur, since traditionally, the Named washes their faces' first before gravitating elsewhere on their bodies, and that only mothers breaks the pattern in their cubs best health. She is furious to make the connection that Fessran and Khushi were co-conspiring behind her back to raise the Un-Named cub against her orders and confronts her about it. The old friends gets into an arguement where Fessran reveals that she has named the cub Mishanti and sees no reason to punish him because of his suspected heritage, and Ratha questions her as of where her loyalties lie.
Another confrontation ensues as Ratha later catches Fessran in a makeshift den she made to suckle Mishanti in secret. She tries to swallow her fury and reasons with her that Mishanti has no hope in teaching a naturally born witless cub, advising her to wait until she have her own cubs and to save her love for them. Fessran tells her that despite that she sees possiblities in Mishanti's future with the Named if the clan leader would just give him a chance, but it falls on deaf ears as Ratha still takes the cub away to abandoned far from clan ground.
On the journey to ditch Mishanti, Ratha is attacked by Thistle-Chaser and during the clash, Ratha struggles to keep the small cub protected. When the trio are stranded on a rock island and Ratha's front limb is wedged in a crevice, Mishanti bravely gets in the way between her and Thistle-Chaser when the latter was going to kill her mother. Despite being knocked out of way by Thistle-Chaser many times, Mishanti refuses to give. Eventually, Mishanti's stance makes Thistle-Chaser understand that she is turning into another "Dreambeater", and stops her in her assualt. Later when Thistle-Chaser ask her mother why she had bit her when she was cub, Ratha nudges Mishanti to her and says that "this is what you looked like to me", meaning that the dullness in her eyes gave no indication of understanding and that she couldn't cope with knowing that she would never understand morals, reason, emotion and spoken language but admits that she was wrong on both of their behalf.
Ratha finally permits Fessran to keep Mishanti in the clan and the question pops up of how to raise him. Thistle-Chaser volunteers to rear the cub with her on the beach since she had just recently learned to speak and that she will have more patience than Ratha, Fessran, Thakur and rest of the Named when he himself is ready to do so. Fessran still insist on helping her since she has never been in the care of a cub.
Ratha's Challenge[]
Mishanti makes a brief appearance at the beginning of Ratha's Challenge being babysitted by Fessran while Ratha tries to bound alone with her estrangled daughter Thistle. When scout Khushi comes to the coastline to relay Thakur's message requesting Ratha and Thistle's assistance, Fessran volunteers to watch over the cub in Thistle's absence. Before departing with her mother, Thistle performs a high chirping call to bring Mishanti to her who is covered in wet sand, evidently from digging a den. When Fessran asks her how long she has done that, Thistle reply not too long ago since it seems to grab Mishanti's short attention span.
Ratha's Courage[]
Mishanti isn't seen again until Ratha's Courage half-grown since his last appearance. He is now accepted and settling into Ratha's clan as a herder. He has become less rebellious and disobedient, and can also speak better although his speech is still choppy, remnants of Thisle-chaser's "odd phrasing". It is noted by Ratha that he and the herder Bundi shares a brotherly relationship, having brought Bundi out of his shell since is near death incident in the second book. The two has brought two strange creatures to the clan's flock Bundi named the Rumblers, whom Ratha still allowed to live due to their rapid growth and now being too large to cull.
...To be continued.
Quotes[]
"Why do we love cubs? Why, when they cause so much fuss and trouble, when they grow up and forget who you are, or when they die and you have nothing left? Do you know why I'm so sure about him, Ratha? Because at night, when I'm lying in the den with him, smelling his scent, I can see what he will be. In the dark I can see him running along a hill crest with a torch in his mouth, his fur sliver and his eyes flame. And that fire will burn for the Named, if you give it a chance."
-Fessran to Ratha begging to keep Mishanti in Ratha and Thistle-chaser, pages 179-180
"I made him sit down and told him to stay there, I have no doubt that he is now tearing all over the beach. I am beginning to think that his ears have no connection to the inside of his head."
-Fessran to Ratha in Ratha's Challenge, page 28
"Perhaps it was their similarities that attracted them to one another. Bundi now treated Mishanti as a younger brother. Bundi, once injured by fire and left with burn scars down his neck and shoulder, used to be withdrawn and sullen. Mishanti's arrival drew him out and made him forget his own troubles. Chasing the lively Mishanti about the meadow and up and down trees had also given Bundi more strength and speed."
-Narration in Ratha's Courage, page 24
