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 Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:35 pm
Unyezi was out and about, away from the dens, lounging in the dimming sunlight of the evening. He was out there waiting for his eldest daughter to come back to him, having sent her out on a little errand. His wait was punctuated with what he imagined was the oddest visit he would ever get, but now Sini and Njiru were off on their.. merry.. way and he was back to waiting to see what Alcmene had made of the little scavenger hunt he'd made up for her. Most of what he had done was give her descriptions of plants with the request to find them and bring a bit back to him. It was something Miakoda was sure to ace much quicker, but then not everything he'd described had the use that Miakoda would learn for each plant she was introduced to.
Now wide awake, he lay comfortably in the grass as he waited.
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:41 pm
But daddies were supposed to be friendly to their daughters, so maybe it wasn't Shira's fault.
Carrying a mouthful of leaves and a couple flowers, she was struggling not to cough them all out of her grasp. Herbivores mystified her even more after this little exercise, these plants just did not taste good! Having found her last specimen, she rushed off to where she'd left her father.
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:46 pm
Alcmene was not very bright all over, but she had just enough blue that it was easy enough to pick her out of the dark grasses. When Unyezi spotted her (and the mouthful of flowers) he smiled and got up to greet her, it wasn't hard to see that she had at least succeeded on the flower hunt. It wouldn't have surprised him if those were the easy ones for her to find, they were definitely more distinct and even more so in the eyes of a cub.
"Alcmene," he greeted when she came up to him, "So you've found everything, let's see what you've got."
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:55 pm
As soon as her father greeted her, Alcmene spat out all of the weeds she'd been sent out for. She didn't even think they might not want to sort through them right there, but she didn't care. She was happy to be able to breathe properly again. And to get the horrid jumble of tastes out of her mouth.
"Ok," she said, flopping to the ground without an ounce of formality. This was supposed to be some kind of game, and it was just dad! It was fine, and she looked at the little pile of flowers now sitting by her paws with a smile on her face.
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:18 pm
Unyezi had to hold back a laugh at his daughter's reaction. He didn't blame her, and if she'd accidentally picked out the wrong herb having it in your mouth a little too long could make you a little woozy. At least for someone her size. He took a seat, deciding to overlook the mannerless way she flopped over. Manners could wait for another time, she'd been out in the sun all afternoon and really, she was only a cub.
"Ok, let's see- this flower," he said, putting a paw out and pulling away a small purple flower, "Where did you find it?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:34 pm
"The purple one?"
Alcmene's voice was barely above a whisper when she was asked. She hadn't expected a quiz on where exactly she'd found them all, and her mind immediately flew to the bits of grass she would have difficulty finding again. But the purple flowers, she knew where to find them- they were one of her favorite flowers. Perhaps her father knew that, but it didn't put her much at ease.
"Uh, that one is by the water hole, kind of," she said, "Or that's where I got it, there are some in other places too but it was easy to find there."
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:54 pm
The king was in fact aware of his daughter's favorite flower- or he'd had a hunch about it where he'd seen her with one at least once and from one otherwise unmemorable trip to the water hole. He did have a purpose in asking about this, but he wasn't ready to reveal it. Together, they went through the plants one by one. Being the mastermind behind the hunt, Unyezi knew a couple places she would have found each of the plants. When they were through everything, he paused for a moment and divided the plants up into two groups.
"They aren't very tasty, but this little group here," he gestured to the smaller of the two piles, which only had three different plants in it, "These ones can be used different ways, Miakoda will be learning more about that than you, though. This one is the same as on my necklace."
Unyezi carefully stuck a claw through the very familiar herb, lifting it up to show it off only to have it flutter back to the ground.
"It's the one we use to initiate rogues and cubs whose class we can't be sure of," he explained with a small smile, "And it's the reason we live here now. When I was young, when my father was king, we lived far away from here. This plant disappeared, though, and we had to come here to live."
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:05 pm
Alcmene did her very best to remember each place she'd gotten the plants, making a mental note to do a better job of it next time they did something like this. Think ahead, try to think like daddy, outsmart him. That was how things would have to be, and she was up to the challenge. Or so she imagined with a wide grin. She also watched intently as her father divided up the plants, paying more attention to the littler group than the bigger one despite it's including flowers.
"Yeah, I remembered!" she said proudly when he pointed out the herb's place on his necklace. That was the only reason she'd recognized it, and because it had come up in casual conversation before she knew it had to be important- and that she was lucky not to run into Shira while hunting for it. Her attention was turned from the plant exercise to her extended family when her grandfather was mentioned.
Her voice was quiet but she got brave, "What happened to your father?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:18 pm
The conversation changed fast. Very fast. Unyezi hadn't expected the mention of his father to turn on him like that, but he supposed it was a valid question. He hadn't exactly spoken a great deal about his family to the cubs, and where his father was not around and Unyezi had taken over for him as Alcmene would do for Unyezi.. it was a good question.
"Well," he started slowly, wondering how much detail to give his young daughter, "He died, when I was almost all grown up. He was helping to defend the pride, like your mother's parents as well." It was something to be proud of, in it's own way. He only hoped it did not give her any worries that something like that would happen to him.
"It's very peaceful here, though," Unyezi continued, hoping to avoid any hints of such a thing before it came up, "Relocating has done us a great deal of good."
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:48 pm
Alcmene listened, and she opened her mouth just when her father moved on to an explanation that stopped her. She didn't want to think that something like that would happen to her mom or dad. She knew she was supposed to be queen when she was bigger, but if that meant her parents died then maybe it wasn't so good. She was reassured, though not completely.
"S-so, nothing will happen to you and mom?" she asked, "What about when, when I.."
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:56 pm
"No, nothing will happen to us," he answered confidently despite the uncertainty on the future. He wasn't about to tell any of his cubs that something bad was going to happen or could happen. They weren't meant to worry about that kind of thing. And he knew what she was getting at and was more than happy to cut her off.
"My father's death was the reason I took over when I did," he explained carefully, trying to sound as cheerful as he could considering the topic, "But that isn't always the situation. When you're all grown up, your mother and I might decide to step down and let you take over. We might get too old or we might just be crazy by the time you lot all grow up."
He grinned.
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:10 am
The cub went quiet again when her father interrupted her, rather glad she didn't actually have to ask the whole question. It wasn't a happy thought- and she was glad to hear his reassurances. He even got a smile out of her when he said they just might be crazy by that time. With a laugh, she got to her feet and scrambled over to her father, putting two of her small paws on one of his big ones.
"Daaad," she laughed, "We're not going to make you crazy!"
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:24 am
Unyezi laughed at her reaction, her declaration that it wasn't going to happen. With a smile, he lifted up his paw to gently toss Alcmene off it. With two beautiful daughters, it seemed unlikely. And his sons- well, they had more opportunity to shift around in class, to have less certain stability though they certainly had a profession they were being encouraged into. That put them in his worries too.
"I don't know about that," he said, feigning worry, "You have us outnumbered by two. But I bet your aunt Lela would help us against you, and uncle Thoth when he's around." Thoth had not yet met the cubs, but he was mentioned because they knew exactly where he was, he was due for another drop in sometime soon and hopefully he would find some stray members.
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:39 am
Unyezi was good at knowing what would distract Alcmene, and she happily let the conversation change though she didn't even notice the transition. The idea of her, Miakoda, Erion and Taigi beating mom and dad was pretty funny. She laughed as the sudden movement of her father's paw sent her tumbling back to the ground by her little pile of flowers.
"No fair," she said, "You can't get help from anybody else!"
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:44 am
"Ok, ok," he agreed, laughing at the face his little girl made when she argued his getting help from her aunt and uncles, "But I can't promise we'll make it to all-grown-up in one mind, then." Unyezi winked, and got to his feet. It was getting late, and he was sure someone would be missing them though they weren't so far from the dens that they couldn't be spotted easily enough.
"Ok, let's head back now," Unyezi said, leaning down and licking Alcmene affectionately, "You did very well today." He stepped over her and nudged her with a paw to get her up and moving again. Hopefully they would always have this much fun together.
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