[PRP] Surprise~? [Muroki/Safiya]

[Successful Edit]

Muroki had been back from the Temple for a few hours and when he was sure the birds were unlikely to have followed him back, turned to the next task to paw. Not informing Jo, Laini, Kainda and the others of his find. No. He had a personal message to deliver first to one of 'his' lions that he'd decided was allowed to take priority.

Besides, the youth had touched the king's heart. He'd been brave but sad, a trapped male about the age Muroki'd been when he'd first attempted to come home. Muroki'd do whatever it took to free him and the pitiful few slaves who were still kept alive at the Temple. Takasika...

So it was to Safiya he went as soon as he'd found Johari and Kainda for a sift joyful reunion. Towards where the cubs were often found playing about their nanny, a nice spot by one of the pools.

"Safiya? Are you about?" He called softly.  

[Lisirra]

Safiya raised her head up languidly, turning with a pleasant expression toward the voice of her king and friend. She had been relaxing, enjoying the sight of the children playing and the beauty of the desert backdrop. The peacefulness of the scene had lulled her into a dreamy state. "Here, Muroki," she called to him, pulling herself up to a seated position.

Though she was mildly puzzled at what he wanted to talk with her about, she assumed it was either to perhaps chat about the children or make plans for the coming battle. The first would be welcome, but the second...necessary. Not exactly fun, but, something she would have to stop putting off thinking about. "How does this day find you, my king?"  

[Successful Edit]

"Oh well enough. I've had an...interesting morning.." There was no Jua in him now and he was just plain old Muroki. He gave her the old charming lopsided grin and a quick answer. No need to bother her with the details of holy rituals and such. Though one day he'd love to have someone to pour over them with again besides dear Kainda. He could have chatted for hours about such things. But now was not the time nor place.

"I hope you've had a pleasant day so far? And might I steal you away from our little ones a while, please? Something rather... well, you'll see." Reassuring, and asking nicely rather than ordering her.  

[Lisirra]

Safiya nodded smilingly, sincerely interested in her friends' words. She had not known about Muroki's venture into the temple; if she had heard of it, it probably had not registered the importance or danger of it. But had she known he had gone into such danger and come out alright, she would not be so passive in her happiness to see him again. As it were, with only a distant cloud of worry ahead of her, Safiya's mind was serene.

"Oh, yes," she said warmly. But before she could go on sharing the little details of her day, something in his tone of voice stopped her. Still not worried, Safiya nodded. She caught the eye of Banda, her oldest boy who always jumped at the chance of watching the children for a few minutes. Giving him a look which was understood to mean she would be away temporarily, she felt fairly safe to follow Muroki's lead out of earshot of the others. Her eldest boy took his job seriously; he was responsible. And besides, the cubs were getting older now and knew not to wander off far. Time passed so quickly...

Shaking herself out of the nostalgia, she smiled at Muroki curiously. "Yes, my king? What is it?" There was no anxiety in her voice; she did not know what to expect him to say, but as usual, expected nothing bad.  

[Successful Edit]

"Safiya, dear one, - " He used the endearment for she was indeed dear to him. She was one of his closer friends. Muroki didn't even think of it as he added it. "- how are your memories? You've said before that you felt like this place helped invoke them, if I remember rightly."

He wanted to know if she remembered much of this place or not. She was a Dawnwalker anyway, having joined his band when there was just a pawful of them. But it seemed as though she was also one of the cubs of the old pride, his own generation, that was scattered through the lands when the pride tried to fee from the plague. Muroki himself had been fostered by Pridelanders and rogues after being found on that trail, curled by his mothers body.

If what Takasika said was true (and Muroki thought it was) then Safiya....but she didn't remember. Hadn't when they'd first met.  

[Lisirra]

Her memories? Why, Safiya wasn't sure. She thought hard, trying to find her earliest, clearest memory. It was of her playing with some other little cub in a field of grass. But they had both been alone; Safiya remembered feeling lost and lonely. Quizzically, she looked at Muroki. "I'm not sure what you mean. My old memories are very fuzzy. But of course, they were not all very happy. I remember the important things, the good things from when I came with you to live here." Safiya smiled.

But then her smile faded a bit. "You are right, though. Ever since we came here I've been getting flashes of things..do they call it deja vu? Sometimes I turn around and could have sworn...sometimes things feel so familiar...Like the way the sand feels in my paws, or if a warm breeze tousles my hair just so..." Her face scrunched into a confused expression as she tried to grasp harder onto those little glimpses of feeling.

They eluded her, however, and she gave up. Shrugging it off with a smile, Safiya looked at her friend cheerily, waiting for him to continue.  

[Successful Edit]

"I see." Muroki considered what she'd said for a minute. Well, even if she didn't remember, there was a possibility, right?

Besides. For as long as Muroki had known Safiya, she'd wanted a home, friends, family - she was such a sweet lioness he'd liked her from the start and he was beyond happy for her to be in the pride, so glad he'd found a loving mate and had such lovely children here. The only thing she hadn't got was a family beyond the one of her own making. It was worth the risk.

"I met one of the captive slaves this morning - I couldn't bring him back with me but we were able to talk for a few minutes. His name is Takasika and he...said he was your brother. He knew who you were at any rate."  

[Lisirra]

((I know Taka is younger than Safi, but since the timelines are kinda off I'm probably gonna have to fudge her memories a bit. Hope thats okay ^^ I don't know how else to make it work.))

Safiya sat, serenely smiling for a moment after Muroki had finished speaking. Slowly, though, as the words sunk in, the smile dissolved and her eyebrows knitted. It felt like...like...something grabbed hold of her heart and was banging it against her ribs. She stared at him desperately in confusion; she wanted to speak but her throat felt choked off. Her thoughts were swirling like a sandstorm.

"Takasika?" Takasika, Takasika. The name tossed around in her head. Safiya closed her eyes, feeling dizzy, and images came to her. A tiny, pale yellow ball of fluff curled up next to her in a warm den. Aqua eyes sparkling at her as they played tag among the dunes.

Safiya opened her eyes but still felt dizzy as old memories floated before her. Her eyes searched Muroki's, wanting more answers, but not knowing how to put voice to everything going on in her head. "My brother? My brother...I remember....little things. But...I had a brother, Muroki! And he's alive? Is he okay? Can we get him out?"

She knew in her heart that this was her brother. Memories would take a while to resurface, but just hearing his name had sparked something. Oh, how she wanted to see him! There was so much she wanted to know.

She beamed, and her paws fairly danced. "Muroki, I have a brother and he's alive!"  

[Successful Edit]

"Yes he's alive - a little worse for the wear. Things are not well for the lions held by the vultures." He remembered the cubs they'd found killed, the slaves who'd since left the desert, not wanting to remain in a place that had turned from home to nightmare. Takasika had seemed mostly well. He wasn't broken from what Muroki had seen. Bold enough to approach even though he already bore scars from talon and beak.

"We'll get him out dear one, soon as we can. The battle is being planned and our top priority is to get the slaves out...they've sent some away with some of the birds and others have been killed. But your brother was being ordered about by a princess of theirs and I think the royals slaves should be safe until we can free them."  

[Lisirra]

The sudden joyful realization that she had a living, breathing blood relative was soon overshadowed by other thoughts. He had been captured; he was a prisoner of the vultures. This was bad news. Safiya's heart suddenly sank. She wanted to go to him immediately, beat up those vultures with her own paws and free him.

So many thoughts swirling inside her head. She had a brother - he was a prisoner - but for how long had he been the slave of the vultures? Why couldn't she remember his face? Her heart ached and went out to him; her eyes filled with tears. To hear she had a brother and yet not be able to see him...it was like dangling all her hopes and dreams in front of her face and then taking them away again.

Safiya's face became determined, seriously - a rare look. "Vile birds," she said with real anger. "Vile, evil things. I hate them. You will get him out, won't you Muroki?" Her shining blue eyes turned to him, one of the lions she trusted and respected most in the world. "You'll rescue my brother for me?"

If Safiya had a fighting spirit, she would have stormed into that temple herself. But her body had never been trained for battle; she knew she would be nothing more than a nuisance to the Dawnwalker soldiers or an easy target for the vultures. But oh, right now, Safiya burned to take them on. She put her trust in Muroki to do this for her, what she could not do on her own.


It hadn't quite dawned on her yet that if her brother had been captured by the vultures, then her parents must have originated from these lands, making her a true Dawnwalker. That would not come later, until she had calmed down and was able to think clearly.  

[Successful Edit]

"He's a brave lion and I think he's sun-blessed, able to See things in the past and future. It'll help him stay safe in the meantime and in the battle to come." He tried to reassure her.

Muroki was aware how much it would mean to her to find our she had a blood relative but also how awful it would be for her if she lost Takasika without ever even meeting him again. So if he was surprised by her uncharacteristic anger he didn't let it show, trying to be someone she could rely on, who'd take her anger and use it against the vultures for her. Muroki could fight even if Safiya couldn't, and he'd fight for her brother for her.

"And of course, Safiya, I promise. I'm planning to head the group who'll strike where the slaves are kept myself. You have my word I'll do everything I can bring your brother out safe to you."  

[Lisirra]

Safiya willed her head to stop spinning so that she could listen to her friend speak. Though the commotion in her head was reduced to background noise, it was still hard for Safiya to really understand what Muroki was saying. He could see the past and the future? Why, that didn't make sense. But Muroki wouldn't lie, would he?

Letting it go for the time being, Safiya focused her thoughts instead on simply the prospect of meeting her brother, no matter if he was sun-blessed or not. "I know you will, Muroki. I know I can trust you." She gave him a wavery smile, tinged with worry for her friend and her forgotten brother both. "Just...just be safe. I want to see both of you come back!"  

[Successful Edit]

Muroki didn't reassure his dear friend again, lest she think he was overdoing it because he had no confidence that they would return safely her and to the pride after the battle. It wasn't going to be easy. He couldn't guarentee it...but reuniting this Takasika with Safiya was yet another reason he needed to succeed.

"My lady." He smiled at her and nodded, before bidding her an affectionate farewell. Safiya had been told, he'd done right by Takasika - now he needed to go inform his fellows and plan some more - then at last he could just be with Johari.

THE END