Kivumbi - Das Tor
&
Kizingo'uso - Das Tor

Word Count: 1,010 [According to Google Docs]


“I miss home, mother.” Kivumbi looked to her son with a sad smile, nodding in agreement.

“As do I, dear one. As do I.” But...neither could stay there any longer. Oh how they missed the sea, but there was nothing in the Bahari for them any longer. Vuai was gone. The royal family was no more. The pride had...changed. It hadn’t been what Kiz had grown up with and Kivumbi had joined into. And it was just...something they could no longer be a part of. Oh, what would the royals have said if they’d known? “Perhaps we’ll find a new home, someday.” By the sea. It would need to be by the sea. It couldn’t be any other place.

“I hope so, mother.” Kiz moved to curl up next to his mother, watching her work carefully with the pelt from her last kill. “I miss the ocean. I miss the waves and the sand. I miss the fish, too.” Kivumbi paused in her work, sighing and shaking her head.

“I know, dear one. I know. I…” She missed the ocean so much it ached. She missed sleeping with the sound of the waves in her ears. She missed the warm sands and friendly faces. Perhaps...perhaps she should simply make her way back to the ocean, find a nice den for she and Kiz. Settle down and live out the rest of her life by the sea, prideless. Help her son find a mate who would accept that he would always be clumsy and love the ocean and storytelling. Gather friends to them, neighbors to share their lives and the responsibilities of surviving outside of a pride. “We’ll find a home soon. I promise, my son.” Kizingo’uso seemed to perk at that, his tail flipping about a bit and his ears pricked forward, excitement in his eyes..

“Really?”

“Really. I will not lie to my son.” She shifted a bit and nuzzled him, as if he were still a cub and not a full-grown male taking after his Firekin-blooded father in size. “We will find a home by the sea, a little piece of the shore to call our own.” Mischief danced in her pale blue eyes. “And we’ll find you a pretty girl to call your mate, so we can hear little paws once more.” Kiz made a rather undiginified, unmanly noise of protest.

“Mother! I...I mean...I can find a lass on m’own!” Kivumbi felt a pang in her heart as Kiz lapsed into the speech patterns he’d picked up from his father. She missed him so very much…But life continued on. There was no getting around it.

“Oh really now? Then why do I have no grandcubs, hm? Answer me that, dear one.” Kiz hid his head under his paws, making an odd noise.

“Mooooother! I’ll fin’ me a lassy when I’m ready!” Could his mother get any more embarrassing?! At least there wasn’t a lady around. That would have been downright mortifying!

Kivumbi chuckled and raised a paw to ruffle the top of her son’s unruly mane.

“I know, dear one. Just don’t wait too long. I’d like to see grandcubs before I move on beyond the sea!” Her son groaned and attempted to curl in on himself, to hide.

“Why’re ya teasin’ me t’day, mother? Wha’d I do?”

“Nothing, dear one. You’re simply fun to fluster when we’ve no one else to talk to.” At that, Kiz sat upright rather quickly, looking rather indignant.

“Mother!”

“It’s true. Now, let’s finish with this pelt and roll it up, hm? Perhaps we can trade it and the others we’ve collected.” Kiz nodded, moving away to let his mother finish working...and to find something for them to snack on. He wasn’t the best hunter, but hare dens were easy to wait by and snatch a hare or three before they caught on as they came out of their holes.

By the time he caught a third hare and made his way back to his mother, she was rolling up the pelt she’d been working with. Kivumbi smiled brightly at her son, and the food he brought. They shared the hares, savoring the fact they seemed plumper than usual, then added the new pelt to the bundle of other pelts. They’d gotten help from a baboon long ago in fashioning the way they transported the bundle: a harness of sorts that Kizingo’uso wore, with loose ends trailing back. The loose ends were tied to holes in a mostly-flat, slightly concave piece of wood. They secured the bundle using a larger piece of leather over the wood, kept on tight with sticks that fit into holes in the leather’s edges, that in turn fit snugly into pits dug into the sides of the wood. It was a rather ingenious thing, and made life a great deal easier for the mother-son pair.

Time passed, and more kills were made, and pelts collected. They could find no one that was willing to trade satisfactorily with them for the pelts until they found themselves in an place on a mountain, filled with leopards and cheetahs, with a lion or three seeming to fill a servile role. They didn’t ask questions, especially since they were able to get rather nice things for their pelts. Meats they’d not tried before, trinkets, and information among them. They kept a couple of pelts for themselves, spending a night before setting out again in the morning. It was obvious they were only welcome for the pelts. Beyond that…

Well, they knew it was best to not overstay their welcome.

They kept their heads down as they left, a cheetah Guard giving them a bright smile as they made their way out. They couldn’t help but smile back at him, leaving the colder areas for the valley below, and the world outside after that. And Kiz opened his muzzle wide and began to sing.

“Blow, ye winds in the morning,
And blow, ye winds, high-o!
Clear away your gear,
And blow, ye winds, high-o!”