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 Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:39 am
Alcmene was supposed to have a lesson this afternoon, and he knew she had been waiting outside the den for him. She knew he wouldn't be long, and yet she had disappeared from her spot. This was the first time that the heiress had gone off when she knew she was supposed to be doing something with her father. Unyezi knew how he was as a youth, he wasn't going to hold it against her- she was doing very well. He couldn't have hoped for a more enthusiastic heir. She was full of energy, she was eager and she was a fairly quick learner.
However, he wasn't easily giving up on his paranoia surrounding Njiru. Ally knew about him, he knew about her.. and by now everyone would know she was the heir. Unyezi kept himself occupied, deciding to give Ally some time to come back on her own before going out and looking for her. He would give it a couple hours. It wasn't a bad excuse to relax around home for a bit.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:46 am
Distracted by the invite to go and play by Fafnir, who was quickly becoming her best friend, Alcmene had been gone a bit longer than she had intended. She didn't think her dad would mind if she was gone very long, or she hoped! She had never done it before, so she didn't really know what to expect. She was anxious but at the same time she was hopeful, her dad wasn't ever that mad at her! Besides, she'd promised Fafnir it would be OK so she couldn't get too upset.
Scrambling along after realizing how late she was, Alcmene slowed down when she could see her father laying out near where she had originally been waiting for him. Hesitating only a moment, she picked up the pace again and jogged over to him- certain he'd have seen her already.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:56 am
She was right to assume he'd spotted her. He was idly looking around when he spotted the dark little lioness running for him. Immediately he recognized her, and he almost worried- until he saw her stop, then he knew she was just in a hurry to get back. Shaking his head to himself, he got to his feet to greet her. He weighed his options in his mind, he couldn't let her get away with everything but she had never done anything wrong before, and even this wasn't that bad. But if he let this slide, would it get worse? On principle, if she was going to be queen she couldn't just ignore her duties when it pleased her.. so he would have to say something.
His expression was serious and he waited for her to get to him.
"Alcmene," he said, "You're late." His tone suggested he was expecting an explanation.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:03 am
As soon as she heard her name, Ally knew she was in some kind of trouble. They usually were able to have fun while they were learning things, her dad was serious enough but always good-natured. Her ears folded back as she came to a stop at her father's feet, and looking up, she hesitated before apologizing and offering a rambling excuse.
"I'm sorry, daddy!" she murmured, unable to stick with formal addresses even when it appeared she was in trouble, "I was playing, I didn't think we'd get that far away or take that long."
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:18 am
Unyezi paused, looking down at his daughter as she offered her excuse. He knew she was always trying to make friends, and he definitely saw the value in friends. It was always good to have the pride on your side, and having friendly relationships with many of them was the best way to go about that. He'd been a self-centered and carefree youth, if the pride hadn't gotten so small so fast and moved.. he might not have personally come to know everybody in the pride.
"You were supposed to meet me today," he said, "You shouldn't brush off your lessons. You've done very well, and as you've learned the basics you won't need them as frequently but as you get older you'll need to take them more seriously."
He wasn't admitting it to himself, there were reasons he was so keen on her doing her best and learning right from the start. He hadn't been the best of prepared for when he took over the throne, he hadn't expected to take the position so quickly. Part of him wanted to be prepared for the worst, as it had happened with him.. but another part of him had another plan, another reason she would need to be ready. And that idea was being most sincerely ignored.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:28 am
Her face fell when her excuse didn't work, but she tried not to cower. Instead, Ally sat down as he father explained why he was upset. She sighed inwardly because she already knew much of this. Or, she at least knew that she shouldn't run off when she was supposed to be learning stuff with her father. They played games together often enough, she hadn't thought about how they would become less and less like those games. She made a face when he mentioned her getting older and taking things more seriously. She was still small!
"But I'm not that big yet," she argued, never having been taught a great deal about the pride's recent history yet, she had no idea why it might be so immediately important. "It was only this once, I won't do it again."
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:45 am
The king was very aware of Ally's ignorance on the war and how he had come into his position. She had not yet shown a great curiosity in his family, though he suspected her run in with Njiru had made her wonder a bit more. She knew vague details, some names and that the pride had moved.. but not the specifics. Perhaps history was somewhere they needed to pick up the lessons soon. They'd focused more on the land and the plants.
"You're growing up, before you know it you'll be as big as me," he said, smiling now, deciding not to burst the optimistic little bubble that Ally lived and learned in right now. She was still young enough that he didn't want to ruin it immediately. "So now we're too late for what I had planned, you may as well tell me how you spent your afternoon."
And he took a seat.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:55 am
Ally made another face, but this time it was more disbelieving as she imagined being as big as her father. He was so tall and fluffy, but then.. everybody who wasn't a cub was tall and the boys were fluffy. She couldn't imagine being as big as her dad. Maybe as big as her mother, but not her father! Ally had known from the start she would be queen when she grew up, she wasn't completely mystified by the idea of growing up.
She perked up a bit when her father smiled, relieved that he wasn't completely mad at her. And she glanced around thoughtfully when asked about her afternoon.
"Fafnir and I were playing, his sister was gone again and he doesn't like when she's gone so I said he could come play with me when it happened," she explained, slowly coming back to her usual cheeriness as she went on, "We went exploring- we found these giant rock-turtle things and were trying to figure out how to wake them up." She didn't even hesitate going into an explanation involving the imaginary side of their game, she was fishing for questions. She wanted Unyezi to ask more about it.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:01 pm
"Fafnir?" Unyezi repeated thoughtfully, trying to recall which little lion this was. He didn't know the younger members of the pride as well as he knew the older ones, but he could easily place the name to the large litter that Malkia and Mwezi'mtoto had. This was one of their boys, he knew by Ally using 'he', only he couldn't place which one. There was that pale one and then the darker one. Hmmmm..
Wait, rock-turtle things?
"What?" he asked, tilting his head and smiling curiously, "Rock turtles?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:05 pm
The little princess nodded brightly when she caught her father's attention at the mention of the rock turtles. She couldn't help but laugh before she went on to explain.
"We went back that way," she said, nodding in the direction she'd come from, "And there were these big rock things there, and we were playing. Fafnir told me a story about them being turtles, and they like the moon like us, that's only when they move. We were going to go look for nests when I- when I remembered I was supposed to be back here." She finished with a sheepish smile.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:17 pm
He looked off where she gestured, and then back to her as she explained. They had gone off towards the mountains, it wasn't an area he was unfamiliar with. It was one of his favorite places, he remembered when Aure had found that little pass in the mountain. That was probably the first time he felt truly close to Aure, when they stopped being so awkward around each other.
"The mountains?" he asked, "You know that's what they are."
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:23 pm
"Nooo, not the mountains, daddy," Ally said, jumping up dramatically and shaking her head, "I know what the mountains are, these were smaller. A lot smaller. They looked almost like baby mountains, we didn't know what they were and that's why we said they were turtles."
She nodded matter-of-factly.
"Well," she continued with a grin, "Fafnir did anyway." She'd had a lot of fun, and it was evident in her expression.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:30 pm
Baby mountains? That was unusual, and new. Maybe he would have to go take a look himself. He nodded along with the rest of the story, smiling when he saw her smiling. It was good that she had a good friend, he remembered when she'd been asking about other cubs in the pride to play with.
"Well," he said with a sigh, "I guess that isn't a whole afternoon wasted. It's important to have friends, for many reasons. You need to know a lot of the pride when you're in charge, you know."
He took a step forward and nudged Ally.
"Now, why don't you take me to see these turtles, we should keep track of things like that," he said, taking a step past his daughter to go the mountains to take a look.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:32 pm
Ally crinkled her nose when her dad said it was important to make friends, even for the job she would have to do. She didn't like making it sound like it was work, but then.. that was something she wanted to do anyway. So it wasn't really like work! She stuck her tongue out at Unyezi when he nudged her, stumbling a bit as she tried to turn around to go along with him.
"Fine! I'll show you where we were, but there were more I think," she said, and she skipped ahead to lead the way.
Fin.
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