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 Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:45 pm
Being able to talk to No had been an ease on Mpaji's stressful mind. He had not imagined that he could have felt worry comparable to the days spent among bloodly, battle-lusted Firekin during the great separation. The days that Kaanga had been gone and No had been sparse brought the worry back in a different, but no less overpowering manner.
There was always the thought that something would go wrong, that a cub would be lost, that Kaanga would be lost, and that the next time he saw the shadow of their black leader on the horizon it would be because she was bearing bad news.
But earlier, No had found him and it was with a drumming excitement in his heart that he'd been told to wait at the spot he was now with his eyes straining to see the horizon and his tail swishing with apprehension behind him.
It was only when he saw the distinct white coat that he could feel relief, but it stayed for only a moment to be replaced with shock.
"Kaanga!" Mpaji answered back, though his voice strained with the urge to ask questions. He had not a moment to further voice his surprise at the sheer amount of color trailing Kaanga before he was assaulted.
It was with a deep, rumbling laugh of joy that he was knocked off his feet. Whether it was the onset of reality or simply the sheer pleasure in getting to see Kaanga again did not matter. What did matter was that he could bump her chin and neck with the top of his head and say, "Yes, yes! I see them!" growl affectionately and n** gently at the sturdy legs around his neck holding him down.
"I am a very happy man today, Kaanga," he told her, his grin broad and unrestrained.
"Come, come, introduce me to them!"
Behind An, and pretending to be independent, young Moto'Seide walked. Her steps were light and she seemed confused by the feeling of the sand beneath her toes. But already she was certain that she could walk a little further away from everyone else.
The young boy, Vutha, was busy in the middle of the pack. He thought he had figured out the dune, but it snuck up and bit him, and he went tumbling rather ungracefully a few feet down the hill much to the chagrin of his grinning sister.
It was decided at that point, that shouting "Daddy" and running down the hill such as An did was the proper thing to do, and both cubs tried this with their own varying degrees of success.
Mpaji had just begun to wiggle an attempt of an escape from under Kaanga when he heard the muffled, loud exclamations of another of one of the small children Kaanga had brought back with her.
Bones were certainly plentiful in scattered quantities about the lands, but the sight of one held so proudly in one his daughters' mouths left him beaming. "Bring it here!" he called back. "I want to see! Tell me what you've found." His mind was swimming, there were so many places he had to focus his attention.
He had never been happier.
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 6:31 pm
Kaanga smiled. If she could be any happier- hearing Mpaji's words would have surely brought her there. She wriggled and pressed her paws together. Yes- this was it! This was what everything had been leading to. She was sure of it. All of it. Her mother, her brother leaving, her siblings becoming estranged, remaining at her father's side as the pride slowly died... Uzulu, her sons, being lost when the desert split in two. And now this happiness. Kaanga was the kind of lioness who always seemed happy. Surely, she smiled more then most firekin, and maybe she was just a little crazy. She was her own Ophelia. But this... this was happiness. This was what it had all meant.
"Look!" She brimmed, half dizzy from the excitement. She watched Shula present the scrap of bone to her father with as much pride and devotion as though it had been the sun itself. "You see? They are so smart! She knows this. Now Mpaji knows this."
"-- and, and! The others too." She reached down and grabbed Seide and the Calixte. "Look, your son! Calixte, he looks just like you! And, and- this one, this one!"
With another paw, she picked up Keegan. She had the vice grip of a seasoned mother, despite the child's wriggling. "Look! She looks like Kaanga! And these two! Look, they look so much alike except their eyes, and then these two except for their faces...!"
Her voice fell to loving babbling as she spoke of her cubs, giving out names and random facts. [This one bites hard! This one cries loudly! This one is very calm!] "And this one-" She grabbed Gepeto with her mouth, as she was running out of space. "...well, she doesn't know who he looks like, but she is sure its from your side of the family!"
No watched the whole event with a kind of bemused love, and nudged on a few of the stragglers. "They are a fine lot. Ten children! And here I thought nine was the worst we'd ever see."
"Surely not, my next litter will be twenty." Kaanga sighed, setting Gepeto down.
"Ahah-! Well, uh. Lets work on this litter first before that!" No chuckled.
Flustered over not having a gift for her father like Shula did ["No one told me daddy liked things!"], An ran a small circle around the couple as though to show off how fast she was. "An is very fast! You see her? No, you don't see her she is so fast!"
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 6:40 pm
He was quite the grouch this morning, stirring from slumber only to be propped up on his paws and marched out of the den site. The childish growls he emitted went unheard by the two lionesses, both seemingly excited for what was ahead of them. The outside air was nicer, the shining rocks and glistening sands a bit of compensation for the removal from a perfect slumber, and though he did not particularly like the clutter of the birthing hole; Gepeto undoubtedly missed it, especially his mothers’ girth beneath his head at noon.
However, this world was rather fascinating; filled with very little life, but enough to note just how drab their den had been. Out here, the air was pure, the sights bore color; that of lion and nature alike! Gepeto saw his siblings for the first time beneath the sun, every fine hair allowing the light to dance and reflect with each step or stumble. He even saw the black of his paws and the brown of his torso while scanning the dunes and never once questioned the differences!
Under watchful eyes, he too gathered a bone here or a rock there, traveling along the path Kaanga paved and never too concerned with straying far from the female pair. As curious as any cat could be, Gepeto continued to scoop and cup the trash left in the wake of predators, sticking his nose in tiny dens beneath the dunes briefly and always unaware of the past each consisted of. It was not until the shriek from his mother, followed by the rambunctious hoots and hollers of cubs that his gaze lifted and would meet the wild looking males. "Papa?" His words were muffled by several stringy, weed-like plants harvested just moments ago and partially mocking the siblings who also referred to him as 'dad'.
Was this what fathers looked like? It amazed him how much hair there was to a lion! AND THAT HEAD! Gepeto rushed to keep pace with his family, a sense of competition falling over his quickened pace, but the need to hold fast to his items were an apparent hindrance to his gait.
He was not last, at least! That gave him some leverage to feel accomplished.
"PAPA" he squealed for a second time, certain this was who Kaanga spoke of. Skidding to a stop, the dark brown male swung his head to keep the hair from his eyes and grinned wide, yellow-ish plants still gripped between every fang.
"Look! Look! I got things too momma! Papa! I got pretty things!"
Just as he spoke, his mother was snatching up the loose skin around his neck and carrying him nearer to his father. In a desperate attempt to keep all that was gathered, Gepeto coiled with knees near his forehead and grinned through his paws.
"I look like PAPA!" Gepeto cried with so much excitment that he nearly dropped several pebbles from his hold. All that mattered was that he thought he looked like his father...!
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:05 pm
Calixte remained slightly isolated, watching as all of his other siblings rushed forward and made a fuss over their father. He noticed all of their findings and gifts, many of which they presented to their father for approval. The fair colored male wondered if perhaps he should have gotten something to show off his skill. Would his father think him incapable if he failed to retrieve something of value? Not sure of how fathers normally behaved, the cub frantically searched around him for an interesting item that he could show off.
Yet before he could even spot anything, he was swept up and away by his mother, to be shown off to his father. At first he was embarassed and slightly afraid; Mpaji was so huge! Bigger than mother, especially with all of that hair around his face. But when Kaanga spoke proudly about how similar in looks he was to his father, he suddenly beamed with pride and wiggled with childish excitement.
The mother then moved on to the next cub, and Cal found himself out of the spotlight. He didn't mind it so much, as it gave his siblings some time with their father and it also gave him time to search for treasure. But what could he possibly find that his siblings hadn't already discovered? There was nothing but sand and desert for as far as the eye could see, with small rocks and bones spewn about in various places. All things that his brothers and sisters had picked up already.
Determined, he began to wander aimlessly, although making sure not to travel too far from the group. Perhaps digging through the sand would reveal something, he suddenly realized. And so he set to work, completely engulfed in his work and oblivious to his family.
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Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 10:48 pm
They were smart. Mpaji was certain it wasn't his own momentarily bloated ego speaking. His children were probably brilliant and he had so many things he could teach them.
His smile was entirely white as she picked up the cubs and showed them to him. The excitement was almost nauseating. He could feel his head spinning with Kaanga's words and the images and colors that flooded his head.
Calixte did look like him, but he was sure that was Kaanga's soft eyes looking back at him, regardless of their color. He watched the cub wander, keeping a careful eye on him, even when the cub had begun to dig. "You will end up in Kindono's lair if you're not careful!" he warned the cub, though his voice was not angry, and there was no reason to stop a boy from having fun in the sand.
Gepeto was an odd one, in terms of colors, but Upendo'Mpaji had an answer for that, too. "He looks like a handsome young man," Mpaji told Kaanga when she said she wasn't certain. And he was at that. Who they looked like was such little importance compared to the fact that they were there. He nuzzled the brown cub in the belly as if to affirm this fact, pleased that the cub thought he looked like him, and he thought that perhaps he did. "Yes, you have my feet," he told the cub. "And, I think, my rambunctious heart. Maybe that's your mother's."
He got to his feet, shaking the sand from his coat, his burly mane swaying from side to side with the effort. They looked so much different from high up, and imagine how fast they would grow!
"I see An, too, yes!" Mpaji answered, his voice deep and his pride for her as obvious as it had been with Shula. "You keep that up, and no one in the pride will be able to beat you!"
He had a moment, just one, to look over at An and smile his approval. He would have to talk to her, thank her for everything she'd done after Kaanga and the other young cubs were resting, but for now he was too busy and much to excited to offer more than that.
"How about it, Kaanga, should we go show them the lucky bird?" he asked, hoping to take his family home for the first time. The cubs would love it, he was sure.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:34 am
An gasped in mid run and rolled to a stop in the sand. Daddy said she could beat anyone?! Her little heart fluttered, and she practically glowed. It was the kind of compliment a child would remember, even after they were grown. She was so spell bound by her father's words that her eyes went wide and blue, and Kaanga simply scooped her up with the rest of her children.
With a low thrum of affection, she licked the tops of their heads before settling them down into the sand. Oh! All ten of her amazing, beautiful, genius children! Their blood was strong! Full of firekin kings and queens, and Mpaji's vagabond strength! It didn't even seem to matter to her, that perhaps only a year ago, her own father might have condemned her for having such mismatched cubs. No. Had he been around, she knew he would have seen the wonderful strength they had! Oh! The only thing that could have possibly made her heart soar more would have been to have her two older boys beside her. She hoped wherever they were, they were well.
Her bright eyes fluttered upwards as Mpaji mentioned their home. "Oh! Yes, yes! She thinks they will love it. She has told them all about every inch of it! Although.... she also thinks it may soon be quite crowded!"
"We have a bird?" An sighed.
"We have the best bird of all! It does not make any noise, and never flies when you pounce on it." Also, never needed to feed it, which was a good thing because Kaanga was certain she would have forgotten by now. "And I will show you all the marvelous places of our home! There is so much to tell you!"
And she wanted them to know everything! She wanted to know their history, and she wanted them to know how they had fought. She wanted them to know that they were firekin- and how lucky they were! Firekin were best at everything! They were strong, they were smart! There was no one cleverer, and no one braver!
But, all this was quite overwhelming. So she resolved herself to lean into Mpaji's warm form, and sigh with delight. "...it is a lot of work to do!" She commented. "But it is good to start first by taking them home. Little ones! She thinks its time to go now. We have a home to see- you will like it! It is the best den!"
No smiled, nodding her head at Mpaji, and nudging Calixte, who had been wandering the farthest. "I'll send Ea over later to make sure you all are not too maimed. It would do her some good to start pulling her weight." Hopefully. "But, I'm sure Kidondo will want to visit when the day is over."
Kaanga gleamed. "Yes! This is good. Come on- there are lucky birds to see! And also- oh! So many things!"
Kaanga moved forward and went about rounding the cubs up- biding No a short goodbye, and scooping up any of the stragglers with her soon to be legendary sneaky mom tricks. "Alright everyone- follow your father!"
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