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 Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:24 pm
The days had seemed to pass by quieter now, especially since he’d been able to finally sleep again. His soul was no longer restless, his heart no longer ached, and he could finally stop pacing from the thoughts that had been racing through his head. He felt relieved since he had finally spoken to Ihlo, since he had gotten that horrible weight off of his shoulders. He felt like he was finally at peace, that his life was no longer shadowed by worries, that he could perhaps finally find happiness – happiness with Ihlo. The thought of her made him smile, put a shine in his eyes, and he came as close to blushing as lions were capable. She had turned his life around in an instant, with only a handful of words, and he felt like he had been riding on clouds ever since then.
He smiled to himself as he began to walk, towards the river where he and Ihlo had first met. He had been thinking lately, trying to decide if it would perhaps be a good time to ask Ihlo to finally be his mate. He couldn’t see himself with anyone else, and he was already so in love with her that he was surprised little hearts weren’t bubbling over his head by this point. However, he didn’t know exactly how to go about asking her this. After all, it wasn’t every day that a lion asked someone to be his mate, and it certainly wasn’t every day that a lioness was asked herself. She wouldn’t laugh at him no matter how he did it, he was sure, but he wanted it to be special.
“Ihlo?” he called out upon reaching the river’s edge, red orbs shifting as he tried to pick out her pretty white form from among the surrounding trees. True, she wasn’t necessarily there, but he really did hope that he didn’t have to go out and look for her. The lands were big and he wasn’t entirely sure where her den was – he just had to hope that she traced her steps back to find him as often as he did her.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:52 pm
It was fortunate that Njozi knew Ihlo very well actually. Although she didn't always come back to the river to see if he was there by chance, since she could appreciate he might have a busy family life (she had one too), she did however always walk along the river everyday. Whether she was out hunting or just strolling, she always walked along this part of the river.
Because it made her smile. Ihlo held the same sentimental attachment to the river now as did Njozi.
As if his very words had the power to, she appeared from the grasses as if summoned.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:01 pm
Njozi heard the soft parting of the river rushes and a smile crept onto his handsome maw before he ever turned around to actually see her. With her had come scent of her, a smell he loved and craved at times when she had been too far away from him for long periods of time. It was that scent that told her she was near even before his ears picked up the soft brush of river grass against a soft hide. She hadn’t even spoken yet, hadn’t even acknowledged, but he was already beaming with the simple joy of seeing her once again. Although, admittedly, she really hadn’t been out of his sight for too long.
“Ihlo!” he said with a purr lingering in the depths of his deepening voice, his paws reacting instantly to bring him up face-to-face with the pretty lioness. He purred, softly, leaning out to nuzzle gently against the side of her neck. He was so overcome at the joy of seeing her that he barely remembered why he had been looking for her in the first place. Of course, that could wait for a little later – right now he simply wanted to bask in the joy that her presence presented to his lonely heart.
“I missed you,” he said finally as he pulled his head back, immediately letting his ruby-toned eyes find her own. His smile had faded to a generally content look while his eyes conveyed that overwhelming emotion that had been lingering in them since that day in their little heaven. He was lovesick, no doubt about it.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:20 pm
Ihlo's smile beamed. Had her smile been any wider she might have resembled a crocodile. She felt his weight against her as he began to nuzzle into her and she felt that irrepresible need to nuzzle back against him, returning his purrs with deep affectionate rumblings of her own. For now, words didn't matter, and really, they never mattered when a smile or a glance or a nuzzle could say everything that needed to be said.
"I knew you would," she teased, then licked his cheek. "I missed you too."
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:20 pm
He laughed softly at her tease, shaking his head in amusement. It really did feel better to be back in her presence. Everything was better around her. His heart felt lighter, he laughed easier, and he couldn’t pull the smile from his maw completely if he had tried. To see those emotions on her face, mirroring his own, made everything that much sweeter. To know that he loved and was loved in return was something he couldn’t express to the world if he had every word imaginable in his vocabulary.
With a little smile, he leaned to lick her ear, purring softly to himself as he did so. A few months ago, he was sure he would have laughed at the thought of settling down with a lioness. True, he had always thought they were pretty, but he supposed he never thought he’d be like his father. With a little shake of his head, he turned to look down the river, a soft smile stretching across his maw.
“Want to see something?” he said with a little quirk of his brow, moving his paws slightly and turning himself around so that he faced upstream.
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 3:05 am
He was always like an amplifier of good vibes. For everytime she smiled at him, he smiled back at her and she could only try to broaden her smile. This felt really quite wonderful, and Ihlo was often to be found with a bounce in her step these days.
"Certainly!" she said enthusiastically at Njozi. She'd come to expect certain things from him, but she was at that stage where he could show her a dead animal and she'd still be happy.
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:45 am
Njozi was always happy to see Ihlo, and even happier when she always seemed to be in a good mood from simply seeing him as well. That was a good thing about the pair – no matter what they did, they were always happy together, even if they were doing nothing at all. It was that sort of relationship that he thought his parents had – always happy together, even if they were only laying around and cuddling. He really thought Ihlo was the one, the only one, and he was going to work up the guts to make her his, to finally ask her what he had been dying to ever since that day in their heaven.
“Alright, then follow me,” he said with a grin as he began to lope off in the direction of the river. He wouldn’t have thought to show her this if he and Damu hadn’t had that little talk the other day. Sure, he hadn’t really given Njozi the idea since he already knew all about it, but he did remind him that girls liked pretty things – and this was certainly very pretty.
“How are your sisters?” he asked with a little purr to his voice, glancing over at her as the pair walked along. He liked to know about her family, and he thought it was probably a really nice gesture to ask. She loved her family, like he loved his, and if they were going to share a family together one day (like he hoped) then it was best to know about the parts they already had, right?
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 1:51 pm
She could always trust Njozi, and never hesitated once in following him. Ihlo trailed along beside him, almost trotting with a musical rythmn in her paws. Tail flying high as usual. One could only hope her cubs wouldn't have the same trait - a trail of cubs all following behind with tails stuck up like flags, like some carnival procession.
"Oh, they're growing so fast! Hard to keep up with them sometimes!" she laughed. "They make me feel all old. But thats what a big sister is for."
She bounded a short distance to the right, to bat at reeds blowing in the soft breeze, and then bounded back to his side.
"And your family?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 7:18 pm
He chuckled as he watched her trot off, following her movements with his eyes. He was more than happy to keep walking as she played, sticking to their path and letting his paws beat out the pace to the surprise he wanted to show her. The way they were walking was towards the river, but at an angle, so that they were also walking in the direction that would lead against the river’s flow. In all actuality, they were actually headed near the border – that’s where the source for the river began.
“I’m glad that they’re doing alright,” he said with a small smile lingering on his maw, thinking of cubs growing and families. “Mine? It’s doing pretty well. I mean, the new cubs are a handful, but besides that everything is going smoothly. I just hope mom and dad don’t crazy from trying to keep up with them all,” he said with a laugh, shaking his head.
With a little grin, he glanced up, ears swiveling on his head as he heard the faint rushing sound of water. It wasn’t like a river, though, it sounded different, although it was obviously moving water of some shape and form. “Come on,” he encouraged and began to trot towards the small group of tiny trees that hid the other side of the river. He leapt through, to the other side, to come upon a rather large spring. Water shot up out of the natural spring and formed a pool, then that pool formed into the river that everyone knew so well.
He grinned, glancing back to her, “Surprise.”
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Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 9:55 am
"Haha, yeah! Big families are the busiest, but I wouldn't have it any other way. With so many sisters, and a few brothers my age, there's always plenty to do, and I can keep my girlish figure," she began, ending with a vigourous laugh.
Ihlo would have been happy to keep walking all day, just playing about and talking idly about things that might not seem big, and might not matter to anyone else but them. Little things that were the foundation for something much stronger. And thats how she felt about Njozi. Everything, right down to his favourite thing to eat or the worst bug he'd ever seen, it all mattered to Ihlo. Before she went to join him near the river's origin, she stopped and just looked at him. His mane was coming through and he was already a big lion. It was as if she was seeing him again for the first time, and it felt great.
"Coming," she chirped and then bounded after him throuhg the small clump of trees.
"Wow," she gasped, watching as the water sprung from the very earth to create the river that so defined the Kusini lands. She'd never seen anything like this, she assumed all rivers were somehow connected to a 'mother-river' or even a 'big-water' of some sort. But to come from the earth itself?
She approached the pools edge and watched the water bubble up, glugging and rippling.
"Hehe, its singing."
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Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:50 pm
He smiled as she walked past him, watching her intently as she made her way to the pool. He really had meant it when he called her a fallen angel, for he couldn’t compare her beauty with anything else in this world. From the tip of her nose, right down to her toes, she was beautiful beyond reason. Every time he stopped to look at her, to truly see her, she took his breath away. She was ultimately and utterly the most beautiful lioness he had ever seen and he couldn’t even put the right words together in order to describe it. If asked, the best he could offer anyone was that she was simply beautiful. She was beauty. That was just.. it.
“That’s not even the best part,” he said as he heard her comment about the river ‘singing’. He stalked over, staring at the rather high, bubbling spring. For a moment he simply stood there, watching it, but then he began to move closer – right to the edge where the earth parted to make way for the pressure of the spring. With a little purr, he reached out with his paw and began to shift away the rocks on the river bank, the area closest to the spring.
“See?” he said with a little grin, having turned over quite a few of the large river stones. Beneath were small gem-like stones, in varying colors, as well as pebbles in more vibrant colors. Damu had said something about the pressure and the constant movement of the spring causing them to be that way, but he really didn’t have any idea. He had listened, but in the end, he had just wanted to get away from him. Too bad, if he had paid attention, then he might be able to tell Ihlo. Of course, there was always the very likely chance that she would rather not know – she seemed to like for things to have a bit of mystery to them.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:38 am
There was more? Had her secret expectations of Njozi proved to be true? It had been Patch of Heaven the last time he had showed her something, and that was extraordinary in itself. And now, water bursting from the earth and something else? Ihlo was indeed spoiled.
"Oh? What else could you have?" she padded over in glee, excitement in her voice.
Ihlo stood beside him and sort of watched over his shoulder as he parted the rocks, gradually creeping further forward as curiosity engulfed her. So, she couldn't help herself as the colourful gem-like stones were revealed and she craned right in to get a better look.
"WOW!"
"Oh, they're so beautiful! They sparkle, like the stars...but they're here on the ground..."
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 2:16 pm
He smiled as he saw the look pass her face, waiting for her to come and see them. He knew that this would never be enough – he wanted to give her the world – but this was all he knew and he could give her the world that he did know. One day, he would try and give her everything and anything she wanted. For now, he knew she’d be content with this, even if it made him restless.
“Well, I gave you stars in the sky, and now I’ve given you stars on the ground,” he whispered softly, leaning in to give her a nuzzle. He chuckled softly and moved his paws out of the water, watching her for a few long moments. Then he simply smiled and glanced away, suddenly becoming very nervous, although he didn’t know why he should be. She loved him, right? Just as much as he loved her, probably, and that should have been enough to make him feel confident – but he was still nervous, regardless.
“Ihlo,” he said finally, turning his crimson eyes to stare back her own, looking deep into those nearly identical orbs, “will you.. be my mate?” He held his breath after he said it, face calm, but his heart was racing.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 2:49 pm
She smiled widely as he nuzzled her, eventhough she was unable to take her eyes from the gems for a short while. Then, she returned the nuzzle and sidled upto him, leaning into him heavily and rumbling. Ihlo was so comfy, resting her head on his shoulders ready to fall asleep and have more dreams of him.
Her attention was quickly drawn though, and a dream was made real as he uttered those words.
She toyed with a silent response, an overactive response, a teasing response, al manner of things that, in the end, kind of smooshed into one. The one that came first and came naturally.
"YES!"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:53 pm
He laughed as he heard her excited word, all the fear melting out of him and replacing his emotions with a fuzzy new feeling of warmth and happiness. He nuzzled her softly, closing his eyes as he let his face brush against her soft fur. This had been what he had been dreaming about since that day in their heaven – he was almost speechless. He couldn’t have imagined, back when he had just come home, when he only just met her, that he would find someone so amazing.
“I was so scared to ask you,” he whispered softly as he pulled back his head, staring deep into her eyes with a soft smile across his handsome mug. “I’ve been so worried about it, rehearsing it over and over, and-” he stopped with a little laugh and simply leaned forward to lick her cheek.
“I love you Ihlosenka,” he whispered, purring as he snuggled up closer to her.
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