[prp] And I knew you (asi x mng)

[Lethrossen]

Asi moved through his beloved Kusini lands, tail flicking and a sense of ease in his gait. It was a pretty normal day, nothing strange had been going on in the lands and they were still preparing to put his eldest daughter on the throne. Asi felt it would be a rather good thing, and an affair that the pride would enjoy rather than oppose, seeing as the elders also agreed on this matter.

He sighed softly as he slowed his walk and then sat, after a moment laying on the ground and rolling to his back.  

[Lethrossen]

Mng'Kari hummed as she moved along the kusini lands, feeling cheerful and a little playful. Still, she couldn't find any of her siblings around and knew it was probably because they were all getting older and many of them probably wanted to spend more time alone, or maybe with their own friends.

Her father was often busy with studying his herbs, and she wasn't extremely sure about her older siblings either. Still, she loved her family and didn't mind having to find time playing by herself. "Granpa!" Mng chirped out, spotting her grandfather ahead, seeming to be enjoying looking at the sky. She didn't get to see him often, but it was only recently that she'd began to understand why her grandfather was so busy. He was important in the pride!

Though she was almost old enough to find herself a mate now she was still very childish in her mannerisms. She had picked up her pace and at the right moment she pounced!  

[Lethrossen]

"oof!" Asi grunted as one of his grandcubs landed on him, he chuckled slightly as his slight surprise died down very quickly. He had to rack his brain to recall a name, it was extremely hard when you had so many decedents as Asi did.

"Ah, 'ow yeh doin' lil'un?" He purred out ruffling the girl's fringe of hair on top of her head. She was getting big, or she seemed to be. Still, even her voice alone seemed curious. "Ah, Mng, righ'?" He said, his voice becoming softer when he stated her name. He was finally able to recall it, suddenly remembering that Kenai and his mate Ayo had named many of their children after family members, and in particular that would be after his mate. "Ow yeh doin, 'ow are yer parents? i no 'ave seen em in a while."  

[Lethrossen]

Mng giggled and was pleased when her grandfather remembered her name. Her tail flicked as she nuzzled into Asi's chest. "I'm doing fine granpa!" She chirped up, tumbling off of him and curling into his side, also on her back so she could look at the sky also. Sometimes he was a little hard to understand, but she'd gotten a little used to his speech.

"Mmmhmm, Mng'Kari." She purred back, eyes wandering over the different cloud shapes. "An' momma and pappa are doing very well... though they're very busy a lot. Papa has his work.. though momma is more free." She purred as she lay next to him, her fail flicking back and forth in a calm rhythm. "You looking at the sky granpa? What shapes do you see?"  

[Lethrossen]

Asi forgot how nice it was just to be with family, but recently he was beginning to bump into his kinship more and more. It was odd, how many of his blood resided in these lands yet he didn't seem to see them often. Or rather, he didn't spend as much time with his own blood as he would have liked. Just the other day he'd bumped into his daughter... sometimes he still felt guilty for what he'd done with Tisha. He was sure, in his heart, that Ari understood though. He'd been so.. down at that time. Not just down in the sense of sadness, but he also felt as if he'd fallen into a deep pit within himself. Some nights he would come to a spot like this one and lay and stare at the stars, in particular was one star that he always liked to think of as Ari, even though many of the land regarded that as myth these days. "Ah, tha' so?" He said calmly, shifting a little as his grandcub moved to get comfortable next to him.

He smiled when she asked about shapes and let his gaze focus more on the sky above. "Wha' shapes.. hmm.." He hadn't really been picking out anything particular, and he'd only just started looking. Still, she was very young and perhaps he should humor her. "Well aye see a 'erd of gazelle in tha' mass.. yah?" He motioned with his paw and smirked, wondering if she would agree or disagree. Privately he thought it looked nothing like anything, just a mass of fluffy white. Young ones had wonderful imaginations though, so he wouldn't put it past her.  

[Lethrossen]

Her eyes followed to where Asi's paw motioned and as she looked at the large blob of white she tilted her head. After a moment a broad smile broke out onto her features. "Oooh, it's beautiful!" She breathed and then laughed. "I do see it! You're good at this granpa!" Even for her it was a bit of a stretch to see 'a herd of gazelle' but she really did believe that Asi saw it, so she pictured it really hard and that was simply what the clouds became! It was amazing, to the simple minded girl.

"And over there is a bunny! Hey Granpa.." She twisted and clambered onto his chest, peering above his face with her nose almost touching his own. "Was grandma a pretty lioness? You know.. papa named me after her." Her words were slightly unsteady, unsure if she was allowed to talk about this sort of thing with the old male. She also sounded pleased, feeling important that she was named after her grandmother. "And after granpa too, right?" Mng'Kari, a perfect mixture of her grandparents' names.  

[Lethrossen]

Asi started to laugh deeply when she actually went along with it, slightly pleased for whatever reason. He wondered, though with no ill-intentions, if she was truly dense or if she was doing exactly as he was; going along with the game. He didn't mind it either way, there was a vast number of personalities in his blood line and he loved them all, regardless how much he knew about them or even if some of their personalities turned out somewhat poor. Poor personalities just needed guidance... fondly he thought back to the days when he was very young, how ridiculous he'd behaved during that time. He knew that even now he could be stubborn and brash, depending on who he was dealing with.

He laughter stifled at such a sudden subject change, a little shocked at how fast it had gone from the light hearted game of cloud-shaping into something as serious as his beloved mate, may she rest among the stars. Still, it was good that his grandcub was curious about Ari, right? Even so he felt his heart give a little pang of hurt, as if those emotions were trying to stay private and trapped within his soul. "Aye, she was stun'in." He breathed out, his words barely above a whisper. "She was beautiful an' smar... very kind too. She was an' amazin' lioness." He could not bring himself to speak any louder than he was, his eyes had grown sad as he peered at his grandcub above him, though he was trying desperately to suppress the feelings of melancholy. As she brought up her namesake he smiled slightly, nodding. Kenai always had shown much love toward his family, and toward his mother. "Aye... Mng af'er yer granma... Mng'Ari. An' Kari af'er myself. Asikari.. An' yeh be jus' as beautiful as' yer grandmother." He said, smiling sadly up at her. Perhaps she got her slow manner from himself, though he wouldn't state thought out loud.  

[Lethrossen]

Her heart had seemed to speed up as she waited for her grandfather to speak, though she was often thought of as slow and a little stupid she hadn't missed the deep sadness that had suddenly appeared in his gaze. She wished for a second that she hadn't brought her grandmother up... but it was hard to talk to her father about it.. and her mother? Well she had never met Ari, it seemed. But her worry eased slightly as he began to speak, and she nuzzled into his cheek. "She sounds amazing." She stated, agreeing with what he was saying. "I don't get to hear too many stories about her, though I wish that was different." She was beginning to feel embarrassed, selfishly pushing the matter as if she was forcing him to speak of it.

"Really, as beautiful?" She said softly, more than pleased at the compliment. Maybe this would be a better thing to speak about. "Papa says that she's up in the sky, you know! And that she watches me.. and papa... and all of our family. Every night she watches to make sure we're safe." She had rolled off of asi and back into the grass, staring dreamily into the clouds. It was obvious she felt her father's words to be very true.  

[Lethrossen]

Asi shut his eyes as he envisioned Ari in his mind, even now he missed her very much. It was as if his heart had been ripped from him on the day that she had passed away... He pushed away the thoughts and took in a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "Aye, aye." He mumbled at his grandcub's words, his mind only half listening to them.

As he felt her weight move off of him his eyes opened and he turned his head to watch her looking at the sky. Kenai... he told his children this myth? Asi suddenly felt very proud of his son, very happy that some of the young ones believed in the myths still. "I think she be lookin' down on us too." He said, suddenly his heavy mood becoming a little lighter. "Yeh e'er wanna talk to yer granma... yeh jus'ave teh come out at nigh'... 'ow 'bout t'night I show yeh which star she is?" He decided.. even if it was painful to speak about Ari, his grandcubs should know of her too. This way he could also spend time with Kenai's children, increase his family bond.  

[Lethrossen]

Mng squeaked slightly at the offer and rolled to her side to look at him. So Asi knew which star Ari was! That was wonderful! "Yes, yes... I'd like that very much granpa." She chirped out, eyes shut as she gave him a large and thankful smile. "I can ask papa if it's okay... I'm sure it will be though."

And then... she would be able to speak with her grandma! She knew Ari would never speak back... but at least her grandmother would know that Mng had her in her heart, that she cared about her even though she'd never met her. She clambered back to her feet and stumbled toward her grandfather, nuzzling into his side. "It will be wonderful, won't it?" But without even a farewell she was already dashing off, looking happier even than when she'd arrived.  

[Lethrossen]

Asi chuckled softly to himself as he watched her retreat and his gaze shifted back to the sky. "Aye.. won'erful." He breathed out the words, purring slightly. Aye still love'yeh... yeh know tha' surely. Though he did not say his words out loud he meant them just as much, tonight would be a wonderful night to let his grandcub meet his deceased mate.

end