Lindani's eyes snapped open as he struggled to recollect where he was. He was on the ground, grass tickling his nose and face as he watched a swarm of flies buzz around the meal he had caught earlier. Smelling it now, he could almost tell it was cold, how long had he been out?
"nn..." The cheetah twisted his body upright, forcing himself to sit while wheezes from his lungs emerged through his breaths. Tilting his head upwards he could see through his good eye that the sun had shifted high into the air.
It was afternoon now, so he couldn't have been out for too long...
Something clicked within his mind and Lindani instantly remembered his vision. His daughter! His daughter lived! This was incredible! No words could express his joy over the situation at hand! Leilani was alive, bless her soul!
"Damu!" Lindani sounded off, wondering if the leopardess was in the area or still hunting. "Damu!" He cried again, this one sounding more painful than the first.
A little ways to his left a red head poked out from the field of yellow grass.
"You called?" The leopardess asked. Lindani struggled to breath with all his excitement and although all he could smell was smoke he felt that simply seeing Damu was enough to tell she smelt familiar to him.
"I- Vision - Daughter!" He moved his mouth fast, too fast that words couldn't get out.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down." Damu watched as the cheetah stumbled over to where she was.
Damu had been hunting earlier, yes. She had taken the time to go out and tell Lindani she'd find them something to eat, since she was a grand explorer and all that. It wasn't as if being an explorer was a factor as to why she had chosen to hunt for the duo, rather it was the condition of which Lindani lived in.
She pitied him, and then felt terrible as she had vowed not to pity or judge someone based on looks alone. She felt no fear towards Lindani and yet here she was feeling sorry for him. It made her feel like a terrible person, stone faced and all.
Upon returning from her hunting session she had struggled to find Lindani, even when the smoky smell his pelt forever retained was evident within the tall stokes of grass. She had almost given up before he called out to her.
"Explain it to me again, slower this time." She knew next to nothing of Lindani besides from the past few days they had taken to get to know each other.
The cheetah gasped to grab his breath. He slowed down and breathed a little more normally while looking at Damu whose eyes looked like an excited child as she waited.
Usually he maintained a certain amount of elegance or a proper air to him, but with the recent impact of news he couldn't find it within himself to act as grouchy as formerly.
"My... My daughter lives, I saw her in a vision." He huffed.
Damu's eyes widened. "You have a daugher?" She asked, this was something Lindani had neglected to share with her.
Then she noticed just exactly what he had said. "You're a seer?!" She exclaimed.
“Yes.” Lindani sighed, finally able to find his words properly. “My daughter- she lives! And yes, I am also a seer. Though mine is a particularly useless gift. I see the now most days, now as it happens to others.”
Damu nodded. “Alright, I think I get it now. So you saw the present time and what you saw was this daughter of yours?” The leopardess repeated what he said only for sake of clarification. Lindani did not seem to mind this and was happy to expand on her horizon of knowledge.
“For the record I don’t think seeing the now is useless, how else would you know your daughter is alive anyways?”
Lindani pondered this briefly, but moved on without comment. “My daughter, I must travel to see her. I doubt she knows that I live, as I had doubted that she lived. Will you accompany me leopardess?”
Damu mauled over this for a moment instead of simply directly answering the cheetah. Would she accompany him? A good question. She had no reason to accompany him. Really, she didn’t. On the other hand she thrived for adventure and exploration, the idea of going to some forgotten landscape to find this Lindani’s daughter was appealing. In fact, it was thrilling, and she nearly blurted out yes to him without hesitation.
Yet another thought struck Damu, which was that she had yet to find any knickknacks in this area of her travels. She had a few new scars from her adventures in the valley where she had lost Renzi, and feathers from her travels to the party pride. Now, what could she have now? She wanted some new memorabilia to add to her collection, even if it was only something she would later give away. Treasure-seeking was slowly becoming a part of her life, a part she could not overlook as she had before.
"I will." She watched as Lindani breathed in relief. "But I want you to help me with something first."
At this the cheetah raised his eyebrow. What possibly could the leopardess want for him to assist her with? He had accepted long ago that his injuries and broken bones made him useless.
"Remember when we first met? I said I can be your company and you can help me with finding treasures. Well, now is one of those times."
Lindani held in a gasp. This was very un-Damu like. Usually she just went along with whatever he wanted, wherever he beckoned they go. Granted they had known each other a whole week at most, but still, the thought swelled on him.
He didn't want to be put in danger again. Not when he had a reason to live at last.
Still, he found himself saying "Where shall we search?" To which he could feel Damu trying to grin.
"North."
1016 words
514 - Damu
509 - Lindani