Tete was not in a very good mood, as he had not been for much of the search for his cousin. He was feeling uneasy and he couldn't stop, he was sure they all felt it as well but there was just something that wasn't normal about how he felt. He supposed it might have something to do with his seer abilities, something explored after Tili had brought it to his attention and once again when trying to use it in favor of finding Vikasini and the other girls, with the help of Wahabu. It had been useless, but perhaps there was still something he couldn't quite grasp about it and this was how things had to be for him.
Since the decision that it was time to turn back and go home, Tetemeko had been imagining striking out on his own to continue looking for them by himself. He was an adult and he didn't have nearly as much to go back for as the others did. He couldn't just slip away, his father would never be OK with that, but he could convince them that he could keep going while everybody else went back home. The nearer they got to home, the more he considered it. That morning, Tetemeko was awake before all the others and he was pacing as the sun rose. Should he? Could he?
Sharifu was the second one awake that morning, he stretched out and got up to really get woken up before they would continue on home. By his estimation, they weren't much farther than a day away from home now. He was anxious to return to Auri, who had started the journey with them but had turned back when the threat of pregnancy became to realistic. He was furious they had not managed to locate the girls but life was moving on without them, they had to go back home. He had to be there for Auri, for their cubs. He was sure Auri would not be too worried, she had had an escort home and it had been sent back to him to keep an eye on him. Erevu, the little bird that had helped them come together. It had been a rather welcome find when they came across the bird in their first couple days.
"Morning," he muttered to the bird, who held tight to his shoulder as he too began to wake. Then he spotted Tetemeko, he was looking apprehensive. He knew about his seer abilities, they all had known, they had hoped to use them. Perhaps he had seen something, something useful. Sharifu had to go back home now but perhaps the others..
"Good morning," he called out, walking towards the pale lion, "You look worried, Tete. Is something wrong?"
Erevu chirped sleepily from Sharifu's shoulder when he was spoken to, and did not immediately wish to wake up. With a snore-like chirp and slow, wobbly rearrangement of his feet, he turned to face Sharifu's mane and go back to sleep. He would need more time to wake up, and he might start now but for now he was happy to doze on the dark lions shoulder. Sleep. Sleep was good.
Tete was startled out of his thoughts when Sharifu suddenly appeared nearby. He looked over and offered a meek smile. He'd been caught in the midst of his escape planning, though he realized he was really unlikely to run away. He couldn't do that to his father. That didn't mean he had to be exactly.. happy about going home. He sighed and shook his head.
"No, I'm alright," he assured the other lion, "Just thinking about going home, I guess."
He paused before he continued, unable to help but vent what was on his mind now, "It doesn't feel right, going home. We should keep looking. I could keep looking."
Sharifu walked closer to Tetemeko, getting comfortable and taking a seat. He didn't expect they would be going anywhere, they had to wait for everybody to wake up anyway. He nodded when Tete said he was alright, offering a small smile when he said he was thinking about going home. It didn't take a very perseptive lion to figure out where this was going. He was disappointd, they all were. It was an unfortunate situation but they could wander forever, it didn't mean they would find anything.
"I know how you feel," he offered with a sigh, "Everybody feels that way, I think."
Erevu let out a shrill but quiet cry when he suddenly went tumbling to the ground, his footing lost and gravity winning out when Sharifu took a seat. He ruffled his feathers and grumbled as he righted himself and sat by Sharifu's back. He yawned and blinked a couple of times, starting to make a real effort to wake up. He had no idea what the conversation really was about but he wasn't involved in quite the same way the others were. He was here to help out, he had made a promise to keep an eye on Sharifu, but they weren't any of his family members missing..
Watching Sharifu take a seat, Tete anxiously decided it was probably best that he take a seat as well. He sighed when he did, however. His eyes briefly drawn to the chirping around Sharifu's tail but then he put his focus back on the lion before him. He nodded silently for several moments, but there was clearly more on his mind. He knew they all felt the same way, and yet they had all agreed to go back. Who had decided for them? If someone said they should keep going back, would they all go back? It was hard to say how it would work out.
"Then why are we going home?" he finally put his thoughts into words, making a face as he did.
"We've been looking for so long," Sharifu responded quickly, keeping his tone as neutral as possible as he tried to offer some explanation that might placate Tetemeko, "We can't spend forever looking for a group of potentially violent lions that could always be at least one day's walk or run ahead of us. We can't even know we've gone the right way." It was grim, but it was the truth and Sharifu had to say it. They knew the general direction but so many variables made it hard to make sure they stayed going in the right direction.
"We don't know but I know," Tete argued, pausing, "Well, I really don't but I know I should know. If we just kept looking, we could find something."
His eyes went off into the distance. What was left for them to do? How could the manipulate their seer abilities? They had connections to gods, could they use that to gain some help? This was unnecessarily complicated, or perhaps his expectations were too high. Still, he refused to acknowledge it. Even if they didn't have all these things on their side, they could keep looking, they could find them..
Sharifu frowned despite his efforts to remain neutral as Tete argued and then blamed himself for why they hadn't been able to find the girls. It wasn't anybody's fault except the lions who had taken them. They could look forever but they would be lost forever.
"We lost the trail," he said, shaking his head, "We took a wrong turn somewhere, now we've backtracked so much. We wouldn't have a chance at tracking them down, and you shouldn't put so much pressure on yourself. Doing that can't be helping you find anything out. Wait for it to happen and maybe it will." Sharifu didn't know much about being a seer but it certainly seemed like trying too hard would make it that much harder to do. He could hardly remember things by force, he couldn't imagine learning things from your mind or whatever power it was that caused visions by force.
"We have been waiting," Tete muttered grumpily, glancing back to Sharifu. He was right but he didn't want to admit it, he could be stubborn. He didn't like the idea of leaving Vikasini all the way out here, he loved his family, he didn't want to lose any of them. It was important to him, to anybody. He was allowed to be stubborn.
"I could keep looking," he said finally, "I know you have your mate waiting for you to come back, and I know everybody has their families but I really don't have the same thing. I could keep looking."
"Don't be silly," Sharifu argued immediately, shaking his head, "Your family lost one, they won't want to lose another. You came because you're close, right? I don't think anybody would like that idea very much." He thought of his own children, he would be devastated by the loss of one of them but he would never make another one of them feel like that absolutely had to go and find that missing child. He might be more stubborn himself but there was the rest of life to worry about when it became unlikely..
"You wouldn't make it far, besides," he added, trying to smile, "Your father is here with us, even if we can't stop you, he would certainly try."
Finally waking up properly, Erevu gave a chirp and fluttered up to find a good place to perch. He chose a soft spot in Sharifu's mane, exactly on top of his head. It was a comfy perch. He settled in and looked down at the pale lion before them, tilting his head.
"You even had me to help look from above," he pointed out, "We tried hard. We're all pretty smart, I think. If we could find them, we would find them."
Maybe that was a little too grim. He made a face and offered hopefully, "Maybe something new will come up later?"
They were making sense, it was more frustrating when that happened. He wasn't thrilled by the idea of facing his dad, and he supposed he would say the exact same things and then force him to go back home. He sighed, slowly giving up on the idea of going back and continuing on without everybody else. They were right, he knew they would be, but he couldn't help but think like that. It didn't feel right giving up, so he tried not to.
"I hope so," he muttered when Erevu said something might come up later, hoping that it wasn't just news that they were dead.
Sharifu flinched when Erevu came and perched on his head, but he wasn't a very big bird so it wasn't a very big deal. He smiled up at the bird as he offered help in the right direction. Erevu could be tricky, he would have been rather angry if he had to shut the little bird up before he egged the other lion on. Then he'd have to protect him from the fury of the other lions around. It was a good thing.
"It'll be ok," he offered, trying to stop Tete from thinking what it would be was that might come back was bad- and trying to stop himself from thinking it as well, "We'll be home soon and there will be other stuff to think about."
"Mhmm!" Erevu chirpped brightly, trying to stay optimistic for the benefit of the two lions. He didn't really have anything else to contribute to the conversation, now he was up so he was going to stay up. He glanced around them thoughtfully. He probably had enough time for a bit o' foraging before they all went off again!
"I'm going to go look for breakfast," he announced, winking at Tete brightly and then fluttering away to see if he could find anything tasty.
Moping now but accepting that they were going to go home after all, Tete watched the bird fly off silently. They would be home by the night and he would find something to help him relax. He needed to make more friends, this was extremely difficult to imagine doing on his own. Perhaps that was a goal he could set for himself, something to occupy his time. He could try to make more friends. Enzi had done it, though he really only had the one friend. And everybody but them knew there was something more to that.
Maybe he could just bother Enzi, that would cheer him up.
"I wonder when everybody else is going to wake up," he murmured thoughtfully, looking back to where the others lay.
His head went down as the bird took off, a subconscious effort to help in take off and keep his eyes on the bird as it flapped away. It really was lucky they had found him again. Perhaps he could convince him to stick around more permanently, they would certainly welcome him around. Though, he was quite small and with new cubs on the way.. perhaps he would be better off as a long distance friend of the family. The idea of cubs chasing him around brought a smile back to Sharifu's face, though. He looked to the moping white lion before him and then back to the group.
"I don't know," he shrugged, considering starting a bet about who would wake first as the conversation died down and they waited patiently for their travel companions to awake and resume their journey home.
Fin.
