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 Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:34 pm
 The former prince had been mulling over a decision for quite some time now, his mind constantly wandering and leaving him unable to hold a considerably decent conversation with anybody. Having been informed of an escaped slave by the said slave's mate after running into him while searching for their possible new home left him the responsibility of informing their king. It was an unpleasant responsibility, but he had already decided that he would deal with whatever Unyezi would do. He'd been unlucky enough to run into the slave, after all, so the most he could do now was keep Unyezi from having the satisfaction of watching him openly suffer.
It was high noon now, and he'd been in search of his brother for several hours already. He cursed quietly to himself as he sat down with a gruff sigh. "Of course when I actually want to find him he's not around. And when I don't he's always around. Useless piece of...." He held his tongue there, silver eyes looking across the vastness of the land before him. The other four he was traveling with were a few miles behind him now, probably walking as slowly as ever. He grunted at the thought and started walking again, taking a whiff of the air to see if there was any familiar scent nearby.
Naturally, no such luck.
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:10 pm
Unyezi was working on getting to know the whole extent of their new territory, finding every little hide away and body of water large enough to be of good use to them. He was happy again, very happy. They had new members already, everyone was cheering up again and so far he hadn't had to deal with Njiru. The king was not stupid, he knew his brother would be back, but he almost felt he could handle it right now.
He was heading away from the dens towards his latest area of interest, he was mostly now trying to decide what exactly might mark their borders. And he was happy to do it, and keep an eye out for other neighboring prides in case he needed to go and speak with them.
The king's cheerfulness did not last, for he soon spotted someone familiar walking nearby- but unfortunately not looking in his direction. So they'd finally been retrieved. It was time to welcome home his elder brother, it seemed. Sighing, he jogged towards Njiru.
"Njiru," he called out.
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:43 pm
Njiru's ears perked up when he heard his name called, and he turned his head in the direction he heard it from. If he had any sort of discernable expression at all on his face it would've been wiped clean off, for before his very eyes he saw the one lion he loathed the most jogging toward him. If it were any normal situation he would've regarded his king with the least respect as possible. However, things were different right now, so he bowed his head a little in greeting.
"Brother," he said. "It's been a while. Have you had any luck in finding a new home for us?"
Njiru got straight to the point, wanting to leave Unyezi's presence as soon as he could. Though he showed at least a tiny bit of respect for his king, he wanted to be done with his task already. It was a burden on his shoulders, and he hated carrying someone else's mistake in their stead. He had his own problems, after all, and they were far greater than any slave's. Or...at least they were in his own mind.
He looked around, wondering if his brother was alone, and quirked a brow. "Where are your traveling companions?" he asked. "You had a few others with you, right?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:36 pm
"So you have wandered here by pure luck," Unyezi commented, noticing that Njiru seemed oblivious to the fact that he was now at home. It seemed he had missed whatever memo the king had attempted to get to him and his little party, but Unyezi pushed that little bit of information from his mind for now. He knew it was difficult to track different groups down, and ultimately it did appear as if they were drawn here, all together.
"My group of companions grew from three to six and more," Unyezi said plainly, continuing with a slightly amused tone of voice, "It appears you are the last to find out; welcome home."
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:04 am
His brother's initial reply surprised him. He wandered into many other very different, very random places by pure luck. How would this be any different? So the former prince took a seat, eyes fixated on his brother as he rested his tired legs. Njiru listened as his brother explained how his group grew, then his ears twitched at the very last word of his last sentence.
"Home?" he asked, almost in disbelief. Had they really found a new place for the pride? It seemed as though it'd been such a long time since the entirety of the pride was all together, and at that precise moment he really couldn't believe it. The search was over. The traveling was over.
But despite the comfort he felt now that they had a home again, he still had a task to finish. So Njiru heaved a sigh. "My party grew as well. The slave I was initially traveling with and I ran into another slave, and 2 other priestesses not long after that."
The male paused an shifted a little uncomfortably.
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:05 am
"Yes, we're home," he repeated and assured his elder brother with a grin. It was a second great relief to the king to know that the second major group was back home now, though they were still missing two priests, an apprentice and a hunter. And he realized as he listened to Njiru's list, a slave- and as far as he had known, none of those missing had taken one with them.
"Only two slaves?" he questioned, knowing they were missing three still, "Why was one traveling alone? They were all supposed to have escorts-" The king stopped, realizing quickly that he'd answered his own question. If one slave was traveling with Njiru to start, then two should have been 'found' by him.
"You were the only other traveling with slaves," Unyezi said, not smiling anymore, "What happened?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:45 am
Of course, the comfort could only last for so long between the two of them. Njiru tried to think back to when he'd run into Mvushi and shut his eyes for a moment or two. With a heavy sigh he opened his eyes again and looked at his brother, allowing the silence to lengthen for a short while longer. "Mvushi, the slave I found, had been traveling alone for a day and a night before our we crossed paths," he said slowly, trying to find the right words to explain the situation as clearly as he could. One small mistake and he'd have hell to pay, he was sure.
And he continued, deliberately speaking slower now as he told his brother the news. "He said his mate, a former slave whose name escapes me now, had slipped away while they had stopped to rest for the night. After a whole day of travel, there was no way we could track her down without being separated from the pride for more than two full moons, perhaps even longer." And Njiru took a breath, knowing that the worst had yet to be over. But his task was done, at the very least.
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:08 am
"Denge," Unyezi said plainly, not at all sounding impressed but listening to the story as Njiru finished telling it. Of course it was Denge that had run off, she was the first slave in quite some time that was a member who had joined the pride and not been born in it. Mizu had little choice, he was old enough that he took what he could get. Denge was not so old, she was one he'd felt the greatest need to watch.
"Why were Mvushi and Denge traveling without an escort, Njiru?" he asked, gladly accepting Njiru as a scapegoat. Unyezi had taken no slaves with him and made sure that only Nerit was placed outside of his brother's watch. "This is exactly why they needed someone with them, Denge was the most important to watch. Where is Mvushi now?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:22 am
He wasn't too shocked by his brother's reaction of immediately putting the blame on his shoulders as soon as he got the chance. It was almost a tradition between them, and with a gruff grunt he allowed himself to think for a minute before replying. "I had only been assigned one slave, by my recollection, and she was with me during the entirety of this journey. Wasn't it your job to ensure that all the slaves had a proper escort before we separated into our respective parties?"
Njiru paused again, turning his head in the general direction that he'd come from. "Mvushi and Alala are with Mitsuki and Sini a little way's back that way," came his response to Unyezi's last question. "I left in the early hours in hopes of an encounter with another one of our pride."
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:29 am
"I made sure Shira had someone with her, Mizu had to stay behind and the rest I left with you," Unyezi snapped, deciding not to mention Nerit's name specifically but he knew that Njiru knew who he was talking about and why that particular slave had ended up going with Shira. This journey had finally come to an end, and overall it had not been bad- they found a home, most had made it back. Only one slave had escaped and one had ended up pregnant.
"You're lucky you're good at what you do," he said finally, thoroughly unimpressed now and taking a purely business-like tone now, "Go back to the others, bring Mvushi and Mitsuki to me. Our dens are back that way." He indicated the direction he'd come from.
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:52 am
Njiru stared blankly at his brother, wanting to argue but much too tired to really bother now, so he let it go. Just this once, he'd let it go. He had a long walk ahead of him, and decided it'd be best to save his sanity for it. "Perhaps it was just some miscommunication," he replied bluntly. "Much like my being uninformed of our new home until now." And he brushed it off. "It happens."
Another pause, and a remark about his hunting skills brought his attention properly back to his brother. He scoffed. "Like you were at your birth?" he retorted, then stood to turn and begin to walk. "I'll go get the..." and he stopped mid-sentence, rolling the king's words around in his mind.
So Njiru turned back around, his face expressionless, save for a light curiosity in his eyes. "Why do you need Mitsuki, brother? Has someone in our pride gotten pregnant?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:13 pm
"Your being uninformed that we've found home is not a miscommunication, I sent for you but as you may have realized we are quite scattered and it isn't easy to find everyone," he snapped at the idea that there had been issues other than those naturally caused by the search for home that led to Njiru finding out only now. He did not bother to mention the others they hadn't yet found.
He suppressed a growl at the comment of his birth being lucky, not in much of a mood to answer the questions about his need for Mitsuki after commented like that.
"You've been warned before about talking to me like that, Njiru," Unyezi warned his brother about the tone and comments. They might be brothers, but as much as Njiru hated it, Unyezi was also king. Being on bad terms, the pair of them seemed to prefer being on less familiar terms- leaving them more as king and hunter than brothers.
"What I need Mitsuki for is between her and I, though it would be clever to assume someone is pregnant," he answered, not liking the look in Njiru's eyes. He was especially sensitive to the question because he did not feel like being the one to inform Njiru of Nerit's state of being.
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:30 pm
The former prince smirked at his brother's reactions. If anything, even if he'd gotten yelled at, at least he'd gotten the satisfaction of an opportunity to push a few of his brother's buttons. It was a skill he was fairly good at, what with years of practice and all. Unfortunately, his brother could say the exact same thing, depending on the situation. "Well then next time be sure that I know who's assigned to my party. If I had known I had to keep an eye on two other slaves then I would have made sure to do my job."
Njiru waved a paw at his brother's threat, as usual. He didn't care much for them anymore, as he'd grown used to hearing them these past few years. "Or you'll do what, brother? Find another to provide as much food as I do for the newly re-forming pride?" He sneered at his brother, almost daring him. "Please, be my guest."
The sudden defensiveness about a possible birthing made his smirk return, however. "I don't see that it's ever a problem if I ask what you need for, should it be for something you're not nervous about mentioning." He paused to think for a moment, thinking back on their previous conversation of slaves. And he counted, in his mind, who had been mentioned, and all were accounted for. Except for one, and his smile widened.
"Could it be, brother, that you've purposefully neglected to mention Nerit because of this possible pregnancy? Or did you think that I didn't notice?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:54 pm
"You have an oversized ego if you think you could not be replaced, you're good at what you do but there are others who would be just as successful if given the opportunity," Unyezi said carefully, knowing Njiru was in fact the best qualified for the job currently- and being assigned to it by their father was another reason he'd have been reluctant to change that- but he was certain others could manage and be less of a pain in the tail for him.
"You are only a hunter, you have no right to nose through the business of your superiors," Unyezi said in a rather condescending tone, "Especially when you've lost a slave. And that was my point."
The pale king's eyes narrowed when suddenly Njiru smiled widely and hit the nail on the head about why he was looking for Mitsuki, though partly for the wrong reason. There were very, very few reasons Unyezi would have a conversation about Nerit with his brother after what he had done- even if now it was the discovery of that relationship that he had to credit his current position for.
"There are many reasons I would not mention her to you," he hissed, "Her being pregnant doesn't change that."
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:23 pm
"Well should you ever decide to push me into some sort of exile, then again I say, be my guest," he replied. "I'm not claiming to be irreplaceable; no, of course I'm replaceable. We have plenty of other hunters here who are capable of doing a decent enough job." And his tone changed slightly, eyes becoming a bit more fierce. "But I do refuse to believe that any one of them will come anywhere near as successful as I have been with my position, given the golden opportunity or not." Njiru then began to turn around, about to head back to his companions.
"I also don't believe I'm entirely to blame. Seeing as I had no knowledge of those two slaves being put under my supervision, I don't think I'm the one responsible for the escaped slave. Just...unfortunate enough to be the one to run into her mate that she left behind." He sighed, knowing this argument would lead to nothing but wasted time, and proceeded to take his leave without responding to the comment about Nerit's pregnancy. He'll find a way to turn the situation later...
"Mitsuki is of my own ranking," he continued, "So I don't see how I'm nosing into the business of my 'superior.'" He began to walk, tail swaying gently behind him. "So if you'll excuse me, your majesty, but I do believe you've sent me on another menial task to deliver something or other to you." So with that he quickened his pace slightly, chest significantly lighter now that he didn't have much else to worry about, outside of finding a den for himself to sleep in the following night.
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