"Come ON, Taka! I wanna go exploring, but I don't want to do it alone," Hakuna argued to his older half-sibling with quite the glare on his face. Taka did nothing but roll her eyes and attempted to avoid what was his secret weapon- that pouty face. It was the bane of her existance, and no matter what her plans were, they tended to crumble at the sight of it. Taka had been planning on hanging out with Mawi today, Not with Haku again. She turned her rosy eyes skyward before saying, "No Haku, I won't do it. I had other plans today an-" She had been shaking her head before she glanced down at the cub, his face growing a distraught, sad expression.
Yes, that one.
"Aw, Haku, do I have to? Can't you get... I dunno, can't you get mom to go with you? Or Mat, or Timon? Why me?" She asked in a whiny voice, hoping that he could come up with some answer that would free her up.
"But I like hanging out with you, Taka!" Knife to the heart. Taka never would have known, but she's a sucker for cubs.
She could see that there was clearly no winning this and gave a sigh- she'd have to meet with Mawi tomorrow. This distance from her sister was... Well, it was painful, to her. Mawi wasn't only her sister, she was her best friend, and she hated not being able to hang out with her because a cub of her mom's was always begging for her attention.
"Alright Hakuna. I'll go exploring with you," She tried to make it sound mean, but the tone just wouldn't come to her. She just accepted it and rose to her feet. "But let's try and not take up the whole day, ok? I had plans..."
Hakuna bounced up to his paws and pranced around, gleeful. He'd mastered that face and he knew it, it worked on his mother too. Haku practically started dancing, but he stopped directly in front of Taka. "Do you have somewhere you wanna go? Because I have somewhere I wanna go, so can we go there? I hope so, because I've never gone there and I think it'd be awesome if we went there-" the words came spewing out of the cub's mouth. He'd turned around and faced south in the meanwhile, and therefore didn't see Taka's headshake. She wondered how she got into all of this in the first place, but decided that she'd count her blessings- at least the cub didn't hate her, she'd feel worse then.
"Well, where is this place?" Taka asked the babbling cub, cutting off his long string of sentences. She hoped against all hope that it wasn't the mountain, but realized it probably was, seeing as he was facing it. The mountain meant rough terrain and steep slope climbing. Not that she wasn't up to it, no, not at all, but she didn't exactly want to go for a hike today.
"The mountain," Haku said in a rush, turning his rose eyes to hers. Taka closed her eyes and nodded.
"Well, I guess we could go check out the mountain if you wanted to... But wouldn't you rather hang out at the lake with the fish? Where it's cool, instead of where it'll be hot?" As before, the girl wasn't up to it, she just wasn't in the mood for it today. She'd woken up with other things on her mind, and the mountain was so much farther than some other places. She was looking to minimize time so she could get back to her plans, not spend the entire day.
"No, I'd rather go to the mountain, I've never been there before, Taka!" He said, brows slightly furrowed. "I wanna go somewhere I haven't been, silly. Today, a mountain adventure!"
"Alright then," she said. No use in fighting him, so she surrendered to the fact that they'd probably be getting back to the dens late. "Does mom know you're with me?" She asked, it'd probably be a good if Isi knew where he was.
"Yup!" he said cheerfully. Hakuna could hardly wait to go, he was practically ready to burst with excitement. Mom had said it'd be ok if he had someone older go with him, and Taka was the perfect travel partner, once you got her going. "Let's run, alright Taka?"
"Now that's more my style!" The golden lioness replied happily. Yes, speed, yes. "Lead the way, expedition leader!" She said dramatically with a little bow and the extension of her paw.
Perhaps if Taka didn't act so silly with cubs, they wouldn't like her as much, but as it was... It was kinda fun to hang out with them.
"Alright!!" Hakuna said, eyes bright. He burst off southward, toward the mountain that divided the Nchi'Mahadhi pride from their neighbors and allies, the Mtaishi'Miele's. Taka was just glad he hadn't asked to go near the border where she'd met the firekin boy. She'd gotten lucky that day, she'd never forget his favor. Or his warning.
Their paws carried them relatively quickly, for which Taka was grateful. "So Haku, what're you looking forward to the most on the mountain?" She asked as the pair of them ran.
"I'm not really sure. I always wonder if there're monsters there, or gods! I'd like to find out..."
"Well, we are not going to the top, just so you know," Taka said forcefully. That's where the line was, he wasn't going to cross it.
"Alright, alright," Hakuna said dismissively. "Anyway, it'll be a blast, I'm sure I can bring back some rock or something and all will be good!"
"Yes, I'm sure it will be," Taka said with a chuckle as they ran.
The rest of the way was run in... essential silence. But there was something odd about it. Not only did the lions not talk (Beyond Hakuna's occasional excited, "Look at that! That's so cool.") but there... weren't many birds, either. Taka took a little bit of notice, but quickly blamed it on the last bout of rain.
Well, whatever, The adult thought to herself as they reached the base of the mountain. "Whelp, he we are, Hakuna! You actually wanna climb it, right?" She asked him.
"YOU BET!" He said, eyes wide. The cub had seemingly endless amounts of energy, how he could remain excited about a mountain this long was beyond anyone. "Well, what're we waiting for, let's get started!" He said making the beginning leap that would start his ascent. That was, until he felt something stopping him by his tail. He turned around angrily to find Taka smugly holding on to the black tuft of his tail, stopping him from exploring. "Hey, what gives Taka?" He demanded rather angrily.
"You've gotta be more careful than that, Hakuna!" Sure, he was a pain sometimes, but she'd never forgive herself if the cub got hurt on her watch. "I know sometimes the ground on the mountain looks solid, but sometimes it's not, you've gotta be careful with it and watch out. The mountain- it doesn't want to be conquered. Treat it with respect, and be careful, and DON'T run. You'll probably fall." She told him, hoping that would help put things in perspective. Those warnings issued, Taka released his tail.
Hakuna listened and nodded. He'd figured that there'd be rules here too. He rolled his eyes once his head was turned around before he started padding up the mountainside, his half-sister padding along with him. "Whoa Taka, look over there!" He said. "Can I go over there?" He asked, pointing in one direction, where a large rock jutted out from the mountain's slope. It looked solid, and it'd give an amazing view of their lands.
"Yeah, but I wanna come too!" Taka said, almost like a cub herself. The pair of them padded over towards it quickly and inched their way out to the edge. Hakuna had crawled on top of Taka's head and perched himself in her fluffy head-fur. He got an even better view. "Wow..." Taka said "You can see most... If not all of our Pride lands." she pointed out.
"Really, that's ALL Nchi land?" Hakuna asked in astonishment. It was a rather large area they were looking at. Taka gave a gentle nod in response. "I thought it was smaller than that..." Everything is large when you are small, a truth that Hakuna had yet to realize. He turned his rosy gaze over his homelands, making a mental map of places that he could see from here that looked interesting. Taka, herself, made a mental note- this place was a good place to come, it was a stunning view.
Hakuna, however, wasn't still thrilled by the view. He carefully slid down Taka's back and back onto the rock. He waited for a few moments, but when his sister didn't budge, he thumped one of her legs. "Come on Taka, I wanna go over there, is that alright?"
Jua Na-Taka turned down to the boy. "Yeah, sure Hakuna. Hey, you can explore as you want, just stay in sight of me, alright?" That was easier, and the golden lioness saw no need to slow him down too much. That gave him a lot of freedom and took some stress away from her. She moved from the rock and watched him go here and there. Hakuna was excited by the sights, smells, little creatures under the rocks. He was careful with his footing, as Taka had told him to be, but not so much as to stop him from moving about. There was so much on this mountainside that he didn't have on the plains. He grabbed a rather pleasant looking rock when it happened... And it all happened in a few moments.
He felt a rumble beneath his paws. The earth shifted, he wasn't accustomed to it. "Taka, d'you feel that?" He asked curiously, perplexed, and with just the slightest hint of concern in his voice.
Indeed the golden lioness had, and it was like nothing she'd ever felt before. But with footing needing to be watched without the earth rumbling, this definitely wasn't just a safe place anymore. "This can't be good, Haku, get over here!" It was getting worse. "HAKUNA!" She yelled again, now desperate to get the cub off of the mountain. Haku, however, seemed frozen in fear as he came to a realization. His rose eyes were locked onto a mass... of rocks and dirt- a landslide coming down the mountain, right at him.
Taka darted as soon as she saw that he wasn't going to budge, snatched up the cub by the scruff and started running down the hill quickly. She had no idea of the landslide, until she heard it coming over the sound of adrenaline racing through her hard-pumped veins. There was no time to look back, only to try and find somewhere safe... Where do you run when the mountain itself is chasing you? Hakuna could do nothing but hang from Taka's mouth in terror.
If nothing else, Haku must get out of this ok, he was on my watch, I need to make sure he's safe. He wasn't even Taka's own cub, but she knew he wouldn't stand half the chance she did should something happen here.
Luckily, the lioness spotted an opening, and she could only hope her idea would work. She was about halfway down from where they had climbed up to when there was an aclove in the mountainside. It was their only chance, she couldn't outrun it. She skidded into it, she could only hope that the momentum of the mud that was chasing them would carry it further down the mountain and not bury them inside.
She plopped Hakuna down once inside the cave and curled up with him. Poor little cub was trembling terribly, he'd never seen such a thing, but neither had Taka. They watched as a waterfall of earth made its way over the opening, but they were glad when they saw light. Neither lion said a word, but the rumbling was gone and so was the falling dirt. They sat, waited, both had their hearts in their throat from nervousness. Even after the landslide was settled, they sat. There was a small pile of rocks at the mouth to the cave, but nothing that Taka couldn't push aside. Eventually, the golden lioness rose to her paws, and whispered to Hakuna, "Stay put." He simply nodded, Haku knew how weak his voice would sound, and he didn't want that weakness to show. Taka padded to the mouth, shoved the rocks aside and took a peek out. There was a mass of earth and rock down at the mountain's base, but nothing too serious.
She sighed an exhausted sigh of relief. Hakuna picked up on it and padded to the mouth himself, realizing that they had survived whatever had just happened. "It's... over? What happened, Taka?" he said, still trembling with adrenaline as he sat and tried to calm down.
Taka herself was shivering too. "Yeah, it's over. And I'm not sure... I don't know at all." she said, eyes towards the horizon. Everything down at the Pride seemed alright, for what she could see. "Let's get offa this mountain right now," she said firmly. Hakuna, though, wasn't about to argue the point. He gave a nod before running down the mountainside himself. They would go find their mother, Isithunzi, before resting for the day.
However, the event solidified in Hakuna's mind- Taka led the best exploration adventures.
