He had been feeling rather frustrated for a few days now. Wemusa had not been doing his job properly, and now here he was—Msiba, that was—wandering the lands feeling grumpy beyond measure. It was not the type of frustration that he particularly enjoyed, and that he was suffering it in the first place put him in an even fouler mood.
Somebody was going to pay for the injustices that had been inflicted upon him. Wemusa had no doubt sensed a s**t storm brewing, and had cleverly fled the scene of the crime, pleading starvation. That moronic bird.
The mere thought of him elicited a low growl from the pale lion. What had promised to be a fruitful opportunity for brilliant minds to collaborate had turned into something much less colorful, though he didn’t doubt Wemusa had the same potential for greatness as the bird’s late brother had had. Werevu had been king of the vultures back at the Aka’mleli, a fact that had… come in handy, to say the least, and Msiba refused to believe that a full brother to the king was anything less than up to par with what he had in mind.
And perhaps he had been too hard on the bird. Perhaps.
Then out of the blue, he caught sight of something—a flash of blue in the bushes, fleeting, but he had seen it nonetheless. There was an accompanying rustle of leaves and tall grasses, and then a moment later, a shape popped out.
The little lioness was quite a brilliant shade of blue, bright and bold against the pale backdrop of the grasses behind her, and her matching gaze bored into his with such confidence that it almost made Msiba cringe.
Wonderful, just wonderful. He had a sinking feeling that this little setup was not going to bode well for him. He hesitated for a moment, still caught in that strange, indescribable moment in which the little cub all but stared him down. Though she seemed to be doing anything but.
“Who’re you?” She broke the silence with a small flick of her tail, though she stood without moving a step closer, as if she, too, was held in the magic of the moment.
He considered ignoring her for a second, but forced himself to say at least something. “What’s it to you?” The pale lion responded warily. She was just a cub, yes, but there could be more to her story. He was by nature a cautious animal, suspicious of everybody. He rarely, if ever, gave anyone the benefit of the doubt, and much as it could be misconstrued as paranoia, his mind automatically held everybody guilty until proven innocent. And the little blue lioness had certainly done little to prove herself innocent.
He was surprised when she shrugged, and plopped her little rump down onto the ground. “I was just curious.” She said, unfazed by his attitude. “It’s nice… meeting new people. One of the many perks of being pride-less, I guess. It gets a little bit lonely, cause it’s hard to make friends, but… You also get to see all kinds of creatures go by, you know?”
The tangent was a little too much for him. The pale lion frowned, shook his head, and turned. He had just about had enough of her company. He had never been too fond of cubs, after all. He had taken two steps when he realized that she had taken it upon herself to follow him. Without breaking his stride, he half turned to glare at her. “What are you doing?”
“I’m kind of bored.” She answered, by way of explanation. “What’s your name? Mine’s Ziva. Do you live around here? I’m around here for a little bit.”
“Go away…” He muttered with a low growl, making a beeline for the nearest shade. His plan was to shake the little bugger off, settle down under the tree, and take a nice long nap. Not that that would help relieve any of his… frustrations, but it was better than nothing. A proper nap was at least a temporary cure for just about anything.
“Well, I’m not doin anything to hurt you, am I?” The little blue lioness asked, still following him. She showed no signs of letting up, and he figured he might as well resign himself to a day of the little brat’s company.
“No, but you’re annoying me.” He snapped without looking back. Little terrors, children were. He reached the shade and promptly dropped to the ground, stretching out with a contented groan.
“But you look like you need some comp’ny, sir, if you don’t mind me saying.” Came the little voice from behind him. And much closer than before. Oh crap. He was just about to retort that he did, in fact, mind her saying when he felt little paws on his back, and the little blue head popped into view. A cheeky smile adorned her face as she clambered her way onto his back and flopped, lying on him as if she belonged there and he wasn’t just a total stranger.
“What are you doing?” He growled again, shooting her a deadly look with his sapphire blue eyes.
“Keeping you comp’ny, sir,” came the response, without hesitation.
“And when did I ask for your company, hm?”
“Y’were asking for it subconsciously.”
“I’ll bet…” he grumbled, flopping his head down into the ground. He had by now fully resigned himself to the notion that he would not be able to get her away, and uncomfortable as he felt with her intruding so blatantly on his personal space, he figured that a disturbed nap was still better than no nap at all. With a sigh, the pale lion shut his eyes. Whatever. She would be gone by the time he woke up—that he was sure of.
And so they lay, the two lions, the littler atop the larger, under the flimsy shade of a flimsy tree. It didn’t take them very long at all to lapse into a deep sleep, and as the afternoon wore away, these two perfect strangers each dreamed sweet dreams of life and love and achievement.
WC: 1029
