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 Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 3:19 pm
The sun was passed its zenith in the sky, and it was falling rapidly toward sunset, perhaps nearly halfway there. Clouds scudded across the bright, burning ball and dappled shadows upon the lands far below. One such shadow washed over the form of a pale, reclining lioness, stretched out on a rock that jutted up from the long grasses of the pride lands in which she resided. Resided there, yes, but didn't consider it truly a home. She could take the cubs she had raised and move on to a different place, and she wagered it would not feel much different. She felt calm and safe here, but that was only because the surroundings were familiar. The only thing that truly made this place seem like her true home, which connected her to those lands through his own connection to them... was gone. He wasn't here, and each day it seemed more like he wasn't coming back.
She wanted Taabu here more than she had ever wanted anything in her life. So much had happened since the day he had left and taken Njozi with him, and she had been unable to curl up in his comfort and let herself be eased through any of it. Though, somehow, she had managed to find the will to get up each morning, found the will to smile for her young ones, so that none of them ever suspected the grief she felt deep inside. She had thought she was over the worst of it, had put it down in a place where it was no longer likely to burst free without warning. But the recent and completely unexpected visit of Asherah had thrown all her emotions into turmoil once more, after having to reveal all she knew and open the wounds afresh.
With a sigh, Nyunya rolled onto her back to stare up at the sky, her forepaws resting against her chest. Her sad, crimson eyes followed the trails of the clouds high above her, but she didn't really see them. All she saw was Taabu, and her son, because that was the only way she would see them for a while yet, she was sure. It was a despairing thought, but one she couldn't prevent her mind conjuring. So little good news came into her life these days that it was difficult to stop her mind wandering down darker paths. It was worse when she was alone with her thoughts like this, the curse of solitude; but it was also a blessing, because she didn't have to put on a brave face, and she could practice holding back the tears that often threatened to fall.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 3:43 pm
It was a relief to be back in these lands, back in the home that he had known since his birth. He was royal blood, the son of a princess, and this was the home he had been given to watch over. He had long been training for his duties here. He was the protector of his people, from outside threats and inside ones as well. It was a conflict he was sure would never pass, not with the sickness that plagued the blood and ruined genes. However many duties he knew he was facing in the long months and years to follow, he knew that one was more important than any other at this moment.
At this moment, he was a lover - and he was a father.
With his face set into determination, he set about scanning the lands of his family, turning over every inch in search of his family - or at least part of it. He loved his children dearly, and they were more important than any other duty he had in the world, but at this moment his heart was aching for the site of something else. His mate was here, after so long without her touch, without her love, he was ready to have her back. He expected to be screamed at, to be punished, but he would swallow it all just to have her pressed against his body.
Pushing down tall grasses beneath his body like water, stalking silently but quickly through the emerald shoots, it was at a distance he saw that beautiful sight. His heart skipped a beat, suddenly, and he let out a roar of her name like he never had before.
"Nyunya!" it bellowed, echoing, scattering birds and prey, and he didn't care. Every raw emotion, every second he had missed her, was bundled into that primal yell - he had just thrust his heart out into the world. Without a seconds pause, he set off at a dash, his large frame speeding like a bullet across the plains.
He needed to be near her.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 5:09 pm
Nyunya's entire body jerked as though she'd been zapped with a thousand-volt burst of electricity. It was impossible for her not to hear that pure bellow of her name, but it was not the volume that made her start so. It was the voice. Even through the roar, she recognised it better than she would her own.
Rolling back onto her stomach, her eyes widened considerably, she scanned the horizons in every direction, her black-tipped ears straining every which way. Her heart was beating furiously, like a trapped bird fluttering its wings against the cage of her ribs. She was terrified that voice had only been her wishful thinking, even though logic told her she couldn't have imagined it.
And then... then, she saw him.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she stood up on the rock she'd laid on as she stared out across the lands, watching him race toward her. She wanted to run to him, but her legs felt so weak they barely supported her. It was relief and hope. Relief that he was alive and well, after sleepless nights wondering; hope that he was back to stay with her for good.
She managed to jump from the rock, but her landing wasn't as graceful as it usually was. A few paces forward she moved, at a snail's pace compared to the one Taabu cut across the land. "Taabu..." The way his name was spoken was a striking contrast to the way he spoke hers. It fell from her lips in a whisper, and she was unable to raise her voice any louder.
All she could do... was wait for him to reach her.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 5:38 pm
Even at that aching speed, as things blurred past and nothing was recognizable beyond a colorful blob, he could see her perfectly where she stood. Her white form was like an angel on earth, and his eyes were locked firmly onto it. He wouldn't have been surprised to see her glow with an angel's light right then and there, a beacon calling him home to his family. With that thought in his mind, he pushed himself faster; his lungs ached with the strain, his muscles threatened to revolt - but his mind and heart worked together, pushing him forward and never allowing him to stop his breakneck pace. He would die before stopping, die before he ever stopped short of his lover. He had been too long gone from her and it was high past time that he should be here for this.
Finally, with his last burst of energy, his body propelled forward the last few feet and came to a skidding halt beside her. In the same instant that he managed his clumsy stop, he buried his face into the soft fur of her mane, drinking in the scent that had haunted his memory for agonizing months that he had been gone. He was so scared that if he moved, if he pulled away from her, he might find that she had only been an illusion; he was scared he might find that she had never been there at all. He needed to know that she was real, that she was here. After so long, it seemed like a dream, a fantasy.
"I'm so sorry," he panted, his voice strained from the run and his breath coming in short gasps. His eyes were watery, both from the wind in his face and the emotion that was threatening to drag him under. They left tiny little tear tracks on his furry face, but he noticed them as much as he noticed the wind. "I'm so sorry for being gone, Nyunya, I'm so sorry for leaving you with everything" he whispered, shutting his eyes and burying them against her. He knew she was hurt, he knew that she had hurt the entire time he was gone. He couldn't make that up, he knew it, but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to try.
He was home, that's what counted, and he didn't intend on ever leaving her again. Next time, she could be gone.
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Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:40 am
She could still feel her heart pounding faster and faster with each leaping stride that brought her love closer and closer to her. It was hammering out a staccato rhythm, one that sounded in perfect time with his paws striking the earth. She felt - no, she knew - that, if for any reason he stopped coming toward her now and turned away, her heart, too, would stop, never to start up again. She needed him more than she needed the air frozen in her lungs; she needed him more than she needed water to quench her mouth gone dry. Now that he was this close, how much she'd truly missed him was clear in the relief she felt at just seeing his shape racing towards her, and she wondered how she had survived even the first full day without him.
And then, there was the proof, the proof that he was really here, and that this wasn't just another of those bittersweet dreams that came to her at night. She could feel him, more real than any dream could ever be, and just that alone was enough to break the dam, and to make her release the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding in a shuddering gasp. Burying her face in the midnight black of his mane, she did not even try to stop herself crying. She wanted him to know, to see, how much his absence had hurt her. She needed him to know that so he would never be so foolish as to leave her again, no matter the reason. Once she had survived through luck, and the sheer determination to raise her cubs well and be there for them always; a second time, she didn't know if she would make it without him.
She drowned in the strong scent of him, and let her tears dampen the fur her face was pressed tightly against. She leant against him, her full, light weight, and she let him support her. She was owed that, at least, for being left on her own to carry such burdens as she had. Her legs still felt weak, and the heady musk of his scent filling her head at long last only made it worse. Her dream, her fantasy, had come true finally, after months of waiting for it; she wanted to bask in it right now, and let it ease her soul the way only this feeling of completeness could.
"You're home," was all she could think to say, murmured passed the lump of emotion in her throat and through her dry mouth. No accusations, no acceptance of his apologies. Those, perhaps, would come later. "You're home."
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Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:33 pm
He stood there for the longest time, simply supporting his mate and breathing in the scent of her; that beautiful smell that he had missed for months, the scent that had teased him, tricking his mind into thinking she was close. He couldn't have said how many times he had smelled that ghost and turned around expecting to see her there. He couldn't tell her how often she was in his dreams; he would always wake up expecting her tiny body to be beside his - it never was.
He had left to make sure this pride was safe for her and his children, as his mother had, but it had cost them all a toll. It was a test, in a way, to make sure that your heart was strong and that your mind was even stronger. He had done it once - he would never ever have to do it again.
"I'm home, I'm home," he whispered in her ear; over and over. "I'm home and I won't leave for anything, Nyunya, not if the world falls apart and the sky comes crashing down; I'm staying by your side for the rest of my life," it all came out rushed, breathless for his still aching lungs, but every word of it was true. The world could end, and he would be beside her, saving her from what little grief he could.
However, Taabu knew that this reunion was not alone for his mate - and though he loved her, he had an aching need to know how his children were. He had already heard passing rumors that Rengo had run off. Though he knew he was a big boy, he couldn't help the remorse that he felt; Rengo had gone before he had gotten to see him again. His only hope was that he would see him sometime soon, and that his other children (besides Njozi) were safe at home.
"How are the children, Ny?" he murmured, pulling back enough to look down into those crimson eyes that so nearly matched his. His thoughts nearly slipped away again, he almost drowned in those eyes.
Gods, but she was beautiful.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 9:02 am
Pressing closer to her mate, her love, her life, she let his reassuring words soothe her soul like a balm. They were exactly what she needed to hear; she needed to know that she would never again have to walk the path of life without him by her side. Only the rigid determination not to fail her children had kept her from falling as pain buffeted her from each side. She needed his love, his presence, to shield her from the pangs of living in this world, and from the aching emptiness of standing alone.
"I missed you so much," she whispered hoarsely, so quiet, and the only reason Taabu would hear is because her face was pressed tightly into his mane, her maw just below his ear. "You were gone too long." She couldn't stand being without him; she had to have him beside her through thick and thin, and she could not be happy if she was not by his, supporting him as he did her. Their love and their bond was her oxygen.
She sighed sadly as he pulled back, for more and more every day did she think of her Mirengo, and how he had just taken off without a word or reason. Every second of every day, awake or asleep, niggling doubts haunted her. Was he well? Hurt? ...Alive? She refused to believe the last was not truth, but she could not know for sure, and it killed her. It was bad enough that she was without Njozi, but at least he was accounted for. Even if she couldn't help but worry over her son, she knew his father would lay his life down to keep him safe. That was quite a comfort. Who was there to do that for Rengo? No one. And she had no way to find out where he had gone, or why he had vanished.
"Amani and Tifu are good... They're beautiful. And they've grown up so fast. Tifu looks more like you every day," she said softly, but her tremulous smile was short-lived. "But Rengo... He left, and I don't know why. I don't know where he is, or if he's even ok. My baby's out there all alone..." Her ears were flattened tight against her skull, and one glistening tear ran down her cheek. She wanted her son home, now, before it drove her crazy.
"But where is Njozi?" she asked, looking up at Taabu. "He should be here.. where is he?" She had missed his growth, his achievements in learning, the growth and expansion of his character. She wanted to miss no more. She wanted to get to know her son. He might be a stranger to her now... and she might be a stranger to him. Did he even remember her?
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 10:07 am
There was nothing else that Taabu could say to make her feel an better about his being gone. She knew he was back for good, and he meant to live up to that promise he had made. He wouldn't leave her - and she knew it. He knew that she would probably stay pretty emotional for a little while longer, yet. He really didn't mind it, though, he was here for her to cry on as long as she needed to. He had never mocked her for her tears, and he wouldn't begin to now.
"I missed you too, beautiful," he said, softly, nuzzling his face against hers, finally beginning to regain some fraction of his breath back. He hadn't estimated just how far that run was. "I was gone as long as my mother thought we needed to be, but it wasn't easy for any of us." He frowned, momentarily, as he remembered back to some of his mother's weaker points - if you could really even call them weak, she was a strong lioness. She was a mother separated from her children, and it ate at her more than it ate at himself, he was sure - and even he had thought he would die from the grief of it.
"She must be a very pretty little girl then," and chuckle before continuing, "but I'm glad they're ok." He had worried about his little girls most of all. In his mind, daughters needed more protection than sons, but he knew Nyunya's fear for Rengo; he had seen it in his mother. "I'm sure he's fine, Nyunya. On the way home I talked to some lions in the Southlands who mentioned a lion with a big pink mane in the company with a green leopard - bright colors don't go unnoticed, I suppose." He smiled, almost sadly, and leaned to lick her ear, "when I got home and realized Rengo was gone, I thought that it must be him. He's just lovesick, probably, Nyunya - he's a big boy, I think he'll be ok." He didn't know if telling her that her son might have a love interest would make anything better - Nyunya could get tempermental over things like that.
"Njozi?" He said after a minute, furrowing his brows as he tried to remember where the little git had gotten off to. Then he chuckled, glancing back in the direction he had come, "I think I left him behind when that lioness said you were over this way. He should be here any min-" and he nodded as Njozi's pale form topped the hill that Taabu had first spied Nyunya from.
Njozi gave a large huff as he topped the hill, spying his parents below. His heart gave a little jump at the size of his mother, but there was no way in the world that he was going to take off like his dad. That lion was crazy - he had run faster than Njozi had ever seen anything go. Yeah, he knew his dad loved his mom a lot, but that was a long way. With a shake of his head, he pushed himself into a trot, meeting the two in about twice the time that Taabu had cleared the area.
His first action was to attack his mother with quite the happy little snuggle. Still, being bigger than she was (he was as big as Taabu was at his age), it made a kind of awkward. He simply smiled, tossing his black mane out of those large crimson eyes and showing his swirl-marked cheek better. "I miss you, mum," he murmured, all the innocence of a child in his deepening voice. Aw, he would always love his mommy. He couldn't forget her if he tried.
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:06 am
Oh, Taabu could not even begin to guesstimate at how emotional his mate was at this point in her life. How could he? There had been no rumours that she was faring badly, because she had kept locked inside all that she had been suffering for the sake of her cubs. She couldn't burden them all with her sorrows when they looked to her and her alone for support through their growth in Taabu's necessary absence. She could feel the newly-constructed walls around her pain fracturing, though, and soon she thought the dam would burst and release all that she held back. But, as was part of her nature, she ruthlessly gripped her control on things for as long as she could.
Every time he touched her it soothed her and reaffirmed that he was really here, that Taabu was with her at last and he would never be leaving again. Solid and real as he felt against her, how strong and there his scent, she still had this terrible little niggling doubt that this was just a very vivid dream. "A moment away was still too long, though," she whispered quietly, pressing her face into the nuzzle, returning it with a low purr of happiness.
Hearing her love, she got the old urge to lightly smack him for that comment, but instead she just pressed more comfortably into his body and laughed quietly. "Good thing she doesn't have your ego, though," she lightly teased with a smile. But the news that Rengo was likely off with a leopard surprised her, so much so that she pulled her head back to look Taabu in the face again. "Really? A leopard?" She didn't know whether she should be happy or worried. After all, she thought her boy far too young to be flinging his heart around and chasing after girls. "Well.. that's comforting, I suppose. At least someone has seen him. But I still just wish he'd stop running around after some girl and come home."
She turned toward the hill that Taabu indicated, and as she caught sight of Njozi, her breath caught in her throat. He was there, he really was. Her baby boy, the one that Taabu had chosen to take with him. Oh, how she'd missed him; how it had hurt her to not be able to play a part in raising her son. "Njozi..." she whispered as he came toward them. Not having him with her, she'd finally understood just how special a bond between a mother and cub was. She'd felt like she was missing a piece of herself, like a limb, only much more dear and far more terrible to lose.
She couldn't stop the big grin that split her maw almost in half as Njozi 'attacked' her, and nor could she help that more tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over as she buried her face in his neck (it was all she could actually reach, because he was bigger than her now, damn Taabu's humungousaur genes). Breathing in the scent of him, fighting with the lump in her throat, she couldn't speak for a few moments. When she finally did manage, her voice still came out slightly strained with the tears dampening her son's fur. "I missed you, too, baby. So much."
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:42 am
"Then I promise every minute left in my life will be spent at your side, beautiful," he whispered, leaning his large maw down to nuzzle softly into the gentle fur of her throat - which looked rather oddly, all things considered, since he was so very much larger than she was. He meant to keep his promise of being with her for the rest of his life, and he would keep it unless she told him otherwise; at which point, he was sure, his large heart would just break clean in two. She owned that heart.
He quirked an eyebrow at the comment on his attitude, and for all the world, looked completely innocent and half as if he had no idea what in the world she was talking about, "what do you mean my ego? I think my ego would suit her nicely." He chuckled at the thought, though, and simply shook his head. At her mention of Rengo again, however, he nodded, "Aye, a leopard. Bright green one from what I heard - probably why the pair weren't unnoticed." He smirked as she babbled on about her baby coming home, quirking that eyebrow again in her direction, "yeah, but if I had stopped running around after some girl and gone home when I was his age, we wouldn't be here." It wasn't exactly how things happened - she just happened to be everywhere he was running, really - but it was the thought that counted.
As his mom snuggled into him, he let his eyes close in the comfort that only came to a lion when he was around his mother. Everything bad that had happened to his poor little soul was suddenly perfectly alright, because his mom was here and that made everything else in the world perfect. He sighed and snuggled himself against her, albeit it looking odd with how tiny she was. He was probably far too big to be snuggling on her now, but he couldn't have cared less at that moment.
However, as she started crying, his little heart let out a pang of guilt. He had made her upset by leaving, and now he was going to have to cheer her up. Putting on the best smile he could manage, he licked her ear in a comforting gesture, "aw, don't worry mum - I won't squish you." He managed an amused, half serious grin on his pale mug, but it didn't stop the affection burning in those deep red eyes.
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 11:03 am
That little promise sounded like heaven to her after the hell she'd lived in comparison while he'd been away. There was no chance she would ever tell Taabu that they would no longer be together. Rather, she feared that she would not allow him to even leave her sight for the smallest of moments, and that he would eventually become annoyed with it. But that was a worry for another day, when her desire to keep him in sight started to become a real problem. "That's the most beautiful promise I've ever heard," she whispered softly back.
At that looks of faux innocence on his face, Nyunya lashed Taabu lightly with her tail - though, with all that bulk of muscle he had, he probably barely even felt the little love tap. "No way. I don't think I could put up with two of you in my life," she replied teasingly. She ponder the idea of Rengo with a leopard, and still she could not decide whether it was a good or a bad thing. But she quirked an eyebrow right back at Taabu for his little comment. "That was different. I wasn't worried about you getting hurt at the time." She had to smile. Oh, it felt so good to be teasing Taabu again. And how strange it felt to think of a time when she didn't love him so much it almost hurt. She hadn't even liked him at first.
She managed a little laugh at Njozi, nudging his shoulder with the top of her head. "You had better not," she replied with faux sternness, leaning closer into him. It felt as good to be breathing in his scent as it did Taabu's. The last time she'd let it fill her head, her son had been a little cub tumbling over the ground around her paws and chasing her tail. A hole as big as the one Taabu had left had formed in her very soul when Njozi left. Only now were both beginning to fill.
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:40 am
Taabu smiled to himself as he let everything wash over him. They were together again, the three of them, and he would soon see most of his children as well. He couldn't begin to describe how amazing it felt to simply be back in the comfort of his own family. True, his mother and his son had always been with him, but it wasn't the same as having the mother of his cubs standing there beside him - it wasn't even remotely similar. He loved Nyunya unconditionally and loved the family they had built between them. This is what he had missed.
"I think now would be a good time to head home, beautiful," he said with a smile, his tail flickering behind him idly. As he glanced in the direction he knew his den to be, he couldn't help the little pang in his chest that told him just how much being separated from his little girls had hurt him. It had been so long since he was here last.
Njozi's ears perked up as he heard his father mention home, his own little heart beating with glee at the thought of seeing his sisters. True, he would miss Rengo not being there, but to see Amani, Tifu, and Buu was enough to mask that sorrow to the point where he would at last not feel it for now. After all, Rengo had to come home one day, didn't he? Grinning slightly, he nuzzled his head gently against his mother's neck, his own tail flickering but more in excitement than anything else.
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 1:17 pm
Nyunya smiled at the mention of going home. Home would seem more like home with those two back. It would only take Rengo to make it completely, finally. But if Rengo was lovestruck and chasing after some pretty leopard girl, Nyunya had little faith he'd be back home soon. If this was the girl he would settle down with, there would at least be a time where nothing mattered but each other, not even a worried mother. And if the leopard wasn't the one... there was the chase, the relationship, the end, and then another chase would begin. No, Nyunya didn't truly expect to see her one missing soon.
She looked up at both of them (yes, up even to her son), her eyes sparkling with happiness. "Heading home sounds like a perfect idea. Everyone will be so happy to see you both." She pushed herself into a trot toward home, getting a bit away from them before looking back over her shoulder. "Are you boys coming or what?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 2:03 pm
Taabu never worried too much over what Rengo would do, and thus, he was the last thing on his mind. He had faith in his son, faith that he was capable of taking care of himself, faith that he would come home sooner or later to quell his mother's fear. Besides, if he was gone to o long, then Taabu would just go get him - there was no where he could hide that Taabu wouldn't eventually find, anyway.
With a little chuckle, he brushed past his son (who was very nearly his own size now) and followed his mate in a fast walk - after all, his legs were longer than her own.
Njozi glanced back in the direction he had come, then glanced after his parents with a grin. There was certainly time to go explore later, and what was important right now was that he spent time with the family he hadn't seen in ages. With a little chuckle, he leaped into a run and bolted out ahead of his mother - pausing to glance back with a smirk. He may be big, but he was still playful.
Then, he simply grinned, and loped towards the den, knowing his parents wouldn't be far behind.
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