Nothing had changed. Kayin pouted and glanced about the scenery, unable to believe that, after his weeks of travel, nothing had changed. Things had no right not to have changed! Alright, so there were a few minor things… like the river was fuller now, fat with rain that had fallen not so long ago, making the waterfall just a little more active than usual. The spray cast the occasional rainbow in the air, and the rocks nearby were slick with water. Even the fish population had bounced back after Kayin’s absence. Little pink flowers bloomed in patches among the green grass. Even his favorite lounging tree had buds that were visibly swelling. And, yet, nothing had changed.
Kayin hadn’t changed much either, for that matter. Admittedly, he was healthier now. At least outside the coalition lands, he was able to lie, trick, and steal in order to get his meals once more, which was quite enough for him. “There. I’m here. Now will you stop whining at me, Lesedi?” he asked, sounding doubtful that this would be the case. The king cheetah glared up at the tree’s branches, where a bright red---mostly red---macaw clearly stood out.
“No,” she answered simply before getting back to preening her feathers. Actually, she was feeling rather proud of Kayin for the time being. She certainly wouldn’t tell him that, of course, since he would definitely take advantage of that and use that as an excuse to get away from this. He would just say something like, ‘it’s the thought that counts and, oh dear, Aailyah isn’t here, so I’ll just be on my way now’ and then merrily go off to… to just continue what he always did. Lie. Cheat. Steal. Have fun. Never think of anything beyond the moment. Admittedly, that made for a great show for Lesedi, but… the thing was, the brightest stars would always burn out the fastest and Lesedi was not about to let that happen to Kayin.
Besides, she felt that getting Kayin and Aailyah back together would make a wonderful show. And if anyone could properly reform the white king cheetah, it would be Aailyah. She, at least, Kayin respected. He even limited his lying to her, and would instead use distraction techniques to get away from topics he didn’t like.
Kayin gave a long suffering sigh and rolled his eyes. “The things I do to get some peace and quiet…” he murmured, mostly to himself. Well, he had always intended on coming back here anyway. He had just planned on coming back in a few years, once everything had calmed down. Oh, and after Kolo had died of old age, or perhaps in a tragic snowing accident, or maybe he had done something spectacularly stupid, like trying to eat a rhino.
“…stop smiling like that, Kayin. You’re going all glassy-eyed.”
