He wasn't quite sure where he'd wandered at the moment... Just that he wasn't where he -should- be and he wasn't quite sure how to gete back. He couldn't hear the sounds of his brother and sister playing with the big, white lion that had taken the roll of 'older brother and favorite distraction' and he was sure that he'd passed the last of his father's pawprints long ago. "... Mama? Da?"
Yawning he stretched out and padded toward the exit of the little cave he'd tucked himself into for most of the day. The sky was clouding over so he could finally make his way back home. Shaking himself out he looked over the area so he could get his barrings once again.
"Mind where you step!" came a voice from very nearly under the paws of the lost young cub. "You never know what you might be stepping on! And in this case it's me!"
His eyes went wide as he stumbled back, hind legs catching on his tail which lead to a tumble as he rolled. "I didn't mean it!" He yelped as he tried to cover his head with his paws.
He frowned slightly as he heard something, ears cocked, and decided that was where he was headed first. No sense in missing something going on.
"I'm quite sure you didn't but you very nearly did! It's rude you know... But seeing as you are very young I will forgive you" Said the voice authoritatively, and a fat brown spider skittered its way up a blade of grass and waved one twiggy little leg scoldingly.
"W-wait..." He got slowly back up to his paws, leaning down to peer at the... The weird thing with eight legs. "What're you? I've never seen whatever you are before... Do you bite?"
He raised a brow as he caught sight of a cub talking to what at first appeared to be nothing. That was a new one. He couldn't ever remember seeing things like that before. But there had been a second voice so there couldn't really be nothing there.
"Well of course! but so do you! If I did not bite how would I eat my dinner?" it said tucking 2 arms on each side to its fat little abdomen quite unlike any other bug to be sure. "I...am Ananasi! And just now I am a -spider! But I am always -always- magnificent"
"My name's Kivuli, but Mama says I shouldn't talk to creatures that I don't know... But I guess it's not that bad 'cause Mama isn't around right now." His nose wrinkled and he almost pouted at that. "You're not going to bite -me-, are you?"
An-anasi? He blinked. He hadn't heard anything from their god in longer than he could remember. Clearing his throat he laughed softly. "If you give him reason to i'm sure he could be persuaded"
The spider, oddly enough looked like it rubbed its chin. "Well....you do not -look- like my dinner...Hmm...and you seem a great too much like a lion to -be- my dinner, so I think...you are NOT my dinner. So, no! I shall not be biting you!"
He swallowed, stepping back as he heard a second voice. "I..." He shook his head, glancing back down at the spider. "That's because I -am- a lion, silly." He giggled, tail twitching behind him.
He walked over, careful to stay on the other side of the cub since it already seemed frightened. "Baiting cubs now?" he looked down at the spider. It was odd to think that the God they praid to was that thing down there.
The little creature paused. "...that would depend entierly on your definition of 'baiting'... your one of -mine- aren't you!" he said sudden and proud.
He blinked, little brow furrowing slightly. "You know him? Is he okay to talk to too, Ananasi?"
"I suppose you could call me that." he nodded. Being possessed wasn't what he'd usually call it though.
"EXCELLENT!" declared Ananasi... "You see? He's of my tribe!" it gestured as grandly as a spider could given its size.
"What's... A 'tribe'? I don't think Mama an' Da an' Chang an' sis and brother an' I belong to one of those..." He blinked, gazing up at the large lion. "What's -your- name?"
"It's a group in a sense. Generally a group that has stuck together for some reason or another, though they are not usualy related like a family." He nodded. "I am Arifu"
"Their stuck together because of me!" Declared the spider..."Wait...that doesn't sound quite right" it rubbed its small chin again.
"My name's Kivuli... Or did you already hear me say that to the talking spider?" His brow lofted as he continued to watch the large lion for a moment before looking down to the little eight-legger. "Why'd they stick together because of you?"
"We believe in him" He grinned. "Anasasi is our God. We stick together in a sense because of our mutual believe in him and his ways."
"My people speak wisely" nodded the little spider authoritativly.
"So... You follow a little spider?" He tilted his head, eying the spider for a moment before glancing back up to the large lion. "It's good? To have something to believe in?"
"Generally .. no. It's not a spider we follow." He laughed softly. "It is nice. Everyone has it though, you just have to find it"
"Oh!...right!" the spider skittered down the blade of grass and you could see other blades twitching as it made its way through the grass....and... -grew-. Big, brown, taught bellied, many eyed, spider-leg-winged, grey-maned tattooed old lion.
"Ahh!" He sprang back, diving behind Arifu where he hid his head under his paws, quivering. He wasn't used to seeing little things become giant things.
Hearing a startled sound in the distance he took off running towards it, knowing that his youngest son was out there somewhere. "Kivuli!"
"Hmm...I was hoping more for an 'ooooo' and less of an 'Ahhh..." mused the old god.
He blinked and looked behind him toward where the cub had hidden. Maybe he'd seen to manything sin his old age. "It's alright. He's .. known for that."
"Da?" He peeked out from behind Arifu as he heard his name carried on the wind. "I think... That's my Da trying to find me... Will... Will I ever see the two of you again?"
"I should think so...you've already linked your story to our own" Nodded the old lion sagely.
He leaned down and nudged the cub toward where the voice had come from. "Everything is intertwined. If you choose you can make your story cross the paths of whoever you wish."
"Kivuuli." He called again, pausing as his ears flickered, listening for any sound that the cub might make again. Kindoro would never forgive him if he lost another cub...
"Coming Da!" He called in response this time, looking back to the two large lions. "Bye for now!" That said he took off, barraling through the grass towards the sound of his father's voice.
"It's not every day cubs wander their way back this direction." He looked over at his God.
Ananasi looked smug. "Every new web has to start somewhere..." he nodded. "Perhaps he is the first stitch"
"You are right." he nodded. "He seems like he has a good mind to him. He can weave a strong web"
"Mm...and I think you may be at the heart of it." He said his voice growing more somber. "Find Devi...the old web needs mending before the new is woven... but another time...this tale is done...Kaluu Kalaie" He smiled.
"Devi should not be too hard to find." All he had to do was get back to the caves and he could find the Queen. "You should speak to her if you have not ..." he got up. "She would love to hear from you"
"We have spoken" he nodded. "And we will again."
"Good, then she will hopefully be in better spirits."
"Till then!' He said and started walking in tight circles growing smaller and smaller till -pah-.... he was just a little spider again, vanishing into the savanah.
Fin.
