DISCLAIMER!
All of the thoughts of my characters are just that- my character's thoughts and opinions. I rarely separate their trail of throughts from their actions by italics or whatever. It's my writing style. It has always been my writing style. Any offense taken to that style is an assumption made by those that are reading it.
The pride was now an almost completely new set of individuals than it had once been. Many had left without so much as a word, leaving no trail to betray their whereabouts or direction of relocation. Those that had once been close as family that remained had suddenly become...well very different lions. The sharp looks and cold atmosphere of the 'new' pride had the prince turning the past few months over in his head. He'd not had contact with Enki or Ramses...but both behaved as if he'd turned on them as well. He'd not seen tail or hair of either of them for moths, and their last meeting had been a pleasant enough one. Where their sharp looks had been rooted from he could only guess... both he'd taken in without hesitation. While neither had been given the knowlege of the pride's written language, it hardly meant they'd been looked down upon. Enki was but a cub when he was forced to leave so he only knew that writing existed. To actually learn it would take months, perhaps longer. The pride didn't have the comfort of time for such things.
It was a very different place. There'd not been a kind eye or any acknowledgment of his time and efforts here seen in any of the members.
"You're quite far off." A familiar voice chimed in from behind him. Maji turned his head back over a shoulder to find Taban casually making his way into the cave where he rested. An older, smaller one than the one he'd grown up in. Far from the main chambers.
"Still clinging to delusions of a merciful storm king?"
"No." Maji answered quietly as he turned to rest his chin back on a paw. "There is no such thing as mercy in these lands."
"That is apparent." Taban chuckled and took a seat by the mouth of the cave. "Perhaps there is a lesson in all this for you to take away, dear princeling."
"And what would you suggest that is?" Maji growled, slowly bringing his eyes back to settle on the cheetah.
"Masika didn't obtain the throne because of some divine right. It seems both you and her were under the impression that you were chosen, your lives spared for this duty."
Maji didn't answer. So Taban went ahead, "Now, I do not think that the lack of rain here is because of a god. To be honest, I doubt the existance of your storm king. If he exists I doubt he particularly burdens himself with 'gracing' mortals with a divine purpose that they won't fight for themselves. The dry lands happens. Some lands were getting unusual amounts of rain. An odd year for weather, it had nothing to do with a god. You were simply unlucky is all."
"Luck..."
"Yes luck. Or rather, in your case, the lack of it." Taban lifted a brow, "Where members of -your- pride slowly began to leave the lands, perhaps as a result of the rotten luck with the weather, Masika was gathering lions as she traveled. Perhaps luck on her part, perhaps she was preparing to overthrow whatever government was established to obtain her 'divine right' by force. Either way, divinity had nothing to do with it. It was a matter of fortune and misfortune, dependence on a likely non-present god and dependence one one's self. You waited for power and authority from a god, where as she gathered herself a force of lions and- it seems -drew in some of your former pride. What remained of it. Thus leaving you with... two lions perhaps at your back and quite a few at hers."
Maji's brow creased a bit, still no answer.
"In short- you were outwitted. Out muscled. Your dependence on a god has cost you everything you've been sitting around waiting for."
Maji shook his head a bit. He knew it was true... the others had left shortly after the rogues had. Shortly after that, Ramses, Enki, and much of their family had kept to themselves. At the time he thought little of it... perhaps they had wanted to raise their offspring by themselves. Or perhaps the threat that Nyek had posed had them taking caution. Who was to say?
"Are you here to pour dirt into my wounds or do you come as a tactition?" Maji finally sighed.
"I come as a friend."
That was an answer that Maji didn't expect to hear. Taban was reserved and very careful who he associated himself with. In fact, the lion couldn't remember a single time that the cheetah had used the word 'friend'. "..."
"You're an idiot." Taban said simply, "But one that means well. You simply need to be re-taught how to go about the game of life. You cannot depend on anyone else, to include the gods." He glanced over, "A goddess did not come looking for me, nor did I spend my life in search of her. I was raised to believe in one god, the god of tricks, and in the end all my devotion and loyalty never once turned the god's head. So I took to the freelands where I belonged. I could not change that I was a cheetah no matter how much I wished it, and my adopted parents would never truly see me as their son. I have met two gods. Well...rather a god and a goddess. Both came to me rather than me to them, and not because I was devoted to them. Perhaps luck, perhaps fate, perhaps I'm just doing a damn good job at being what I am." He smirked a bit, "The point is... you can count only on yourself. And the gods come to those that are strong in that."
"Strong in themselves...", Maji shook his head, "Lions live for their pride."
"Stop trying to live as a pride. You are a lion before you are anything else. You are you. Not a pride. You cannot change what others do or think... the lions here are like anyone else. They seek a place to live, someone to maintain order. While Masika is a fool in your eyes, she may be brilliant in theirs. While that may speak a bit about their intelligence or hers on either side of the spectrum, it's beside the point."
Maji frowned and turned away once more.
"You have a right to be angry. True. But if you were as wise as a lion as you fancy yourself, you would realize that a bit of blindness on your part played a large hand into your current situation."
"I don't know what to do... it seems too late to fix it."
"Perhaps." Taban shrugged, "I've learned to see bad luck as a challenge rather than an obstacle. We aren't given greatness, rather the opportunity to obtain it."
"I wanted what was best for the pride."
"Perhaps, yes. But for one- this is not the pride that you once knew- as you said yourself. And two- perhaps this is what they feel is best. If it turns out they're wrong then they're wrong and they'll pay for it. They've washed their paws of you so if they fall it will be on their own. None of your concern. Wash your paws of them."
"What do you mean?" Maji turned back towards the cheetah with a frown, "Abandon them?"
"Or mope here for the rest of your life. It seems to me they're keeping you here as a formality. It's obvious the general feelings towards you are hostile. Now it's your turn to think. Why do you think they'll tolerate your being here if you're already gaining a cold shoulder? Why not just exile you?"
Maji frowned and settled himself back, a paw curling under his chest as his frown deepened. "I never taught them how to read and write..."
"Precisely." Taban smirked a bit. "Now... you're faced with yet another choice. Will you stay with that knowledge? Knowing that perhaps they wish only to gain this wisdom from you? Or will you leave and share your gift with the outside?"
Maji watched the ground a bit. "...I was spared."
"Hmm?"
"The illness. Something or someone kept me from it."
"An immunity perhaps." Taban shrugged, "It's not terribly uncommon for a few animals to survive. Antelope, rats, the like. Some simply are not effected by illness. It is the same stroke of luck that might strike someone blind or mute."
"Perhaps..." Maji didn't much like entertaining the idea of leaving. This was his home. His pride, like it or not, and the lions he'd always watched over.
"Well." Taban tapped at his chin a bit with a claw, "Perhaps you should learn to be a bit more tactful yourself."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, you have quite a few options. Only a fool decides quickly. Take time. Observe. See how everything plays out. Is it a game you wish to entertain longer? Perhaps it might be...well refreshing not to have to put yourself at the head of a pride. Perhaps that is the only life you ever wanted. Perhaps the new ruler will run the pride to ruin. Will you be here to pick it up? Or will you abandon them? Perhaps you can learn to be a lion rather than a pride. There's a broad range of possibilities for the one question."
Maji slowly laid his head down on a paw, he felt uneasy. Like he was digesting something that just didn't sit well with him. "I need time."
"Of course." Taban rose to all four, "I do have my troupe to report to. I'll inform them that I plan on observing this...ceremony of theirs. I'm afraid I'm as curious as a pup in that regard...but I want to see for myself how the pride starts its game."
"Thank you." Maji answered quietly. "I'll escort you there...when they make the call."
"I would expect no less of my host."
