After nearly a day of wandering through the dense jungle, Puli felt ready to give up. She'd been searching high and low, but she couldn't find a single thing that could make her a tiger. She considered just turning around and going home. She missed her tiger friends. But she didn't want to give up. As much as she desired to return to the tigers who had taken her in as a baby, she craved to be one of them... maybe even mate with them. Steeling her resolve, Puli wiped the sweat from her moist brow and valiantly pressed deeper into the lush jungles of India.
After another hour, Puli came to a pool of sparkling crystal water. The surface was unnaturally smooth and glassy, even though a waterfall cascaded down into it. Even stranger, no animals were gathered around the pool to drink their fill. Curious, Puli knelt down and sniffed the water. It certainly smelled safe to drink. Delicious, even. So why were all the beasts of the jungle avoiding this ample reservoir of clean, appealing water? It went against everything Puli knew about life in the jungle!
Standing back up, Puli stared longingly at the inviting water. Her throat burned with thirst; she hadn't had a drink since she set out on her quest to become a proper tiger. She wiped away the sweat from her bare breasts. The glistening layer of perspiration was so heavy that it was actually smudging Puli's painted-on stripes. (She made a mental note to repaint them as soon as she could get her hands on some ingredients for dye.) Puli severely needed both a drink and a bath. It seemed stupid to ignore this massive source of clean, refreshing water. But something about it definitely seemed... uncanny. Puli just wasn't sure if it was uncanny in a good way or a bad way yet. It definitely wasn't a regular pool, though. The jungle girl pondered her options.