Nkiru was a mess. A sticky, dirty mess. From nose tip to tail tip, she was covered in mud, blood and bee stings. Honey clung here and there to her forepaws and a piece of wax was stuck to one claw. “I did it!” she called triumphantly, paw placed on the neck of a gazelle. A very dead gazelle. Kiongozi wasn’t impressed. “Savage,” she muttered. Nkiru shook her head, a dopey smile on her face. “Oh, go back to eating that silly bees wax of yours! A trade is a trade; I knock down bees nests, you find my food.”
Scheherazade couldn’t believe her eyes. The rogue lands held so much life to them, more than she had ever thought possible within the confines of her pride. Not all of her experiences thus far had been pleasant, but it was enough to keep her curiosity peeked higher than her fear. The loneliness, though….the loneliness was bitter. It ate at her every step, and she was constantly looking over her shoulder for a friendly face, or maybe a less friendlier Pad ready to steal her back home.
As it was, she was following the scent of a dead gazelle straight to a strange pair. Using her mother’s skills, she ducked down, trying her best to hide, but failing due to her florescent coat..
Kiongozi was the first one to spot the intruder. A flash of white here, a flash there. Nkiru was much to absorbed in her kill to notice, ripping her way through the stomach. Ugh, what a savage! Eating dead things? Gross. “Oi, furbag,” Kiongozi called once the leopard was nearly upon them. “Mrrrrrf?” Nkiru lifted her head to look at Kiongozi, only to spot the strange leopard. “Mrrrfargharrr!” Swallowing the meat she held in her jaws, she tried once more. “ ‘Allo!”
Scheherazade squeezed her eyes tight, mentally cursing herself. Her mother would be appaled at her atrocious technique, but could she expect better? Scheherazade never had been much of a huntress, preferred to lounge in thought while the other Banu hunted, and now that she was out on her own….things had changed. “Hello, Ba-” She barely caught herself, a still look on her face where a flush should have been. “Would you….consider sharing with me? A strange request, I know, but I know not where else to turn.”
Nkiru stared at the strange leopard thing for a full minute, then broke out in a full smile once more. “Of course! Kiongozi will help me find another gazelle after this. Won’t you, Kio?” “No.” “Oh, well… well you can have some anyway!” Nkiru grimaced at the bird, but didn’t argue the point. It was all about bargains… that was how Kiongozi had explained it. If Nkiru wanted a favor, then she’d have to break into a bee’s nest and get the wax for Kiongozi. Fair’s fair. Fair also ended in some fairly painful bee stings… but the mud helped with that, it really did. But as to bargains, and this strange visitor… “Are you familiar with the lands?” Nkiru asked hopefully. “I’m new to this place myself. But forgive my manners! My names Nkiru, and that bird there is Kiongozi. She’s all right.”
“I shouldn’t take your food, then. You’ll starve without it.” And if she was eating that, then she was sure to be close to it. Judging by the lioness’ appearance and that of her avian friend, Scheherazade knew that she wasn’t the only one resorting to tactics just to get by in these harsh lands. As it stood, the leopardess shook her head. “Sorry, but no. I’m new as well.” She turned her light gaze to Kiongozi, then back to Nkiru. “It’s nice to meet the both of you. I am called Scheherazade.” Even as she talked, she was wary and hollow, scared and tired. Everything in her bones screamed at her to return to the Pride, but she knew she couldn’t. There was no place there for her anymore.
“Are you certain?” Nkiru asked. Hungry as she was, she didn’t want to turn the stranger away. That wasn’t how things were done, back home. Everybody hunted together, everybody ate together. Only… this wasn’t home. She had Kio and that was about it. Things were different in the rogue lands, although how different was still something Nkiru was coming to terms with. Meeting leopards and other strange critters was already a plenty big adventure, although she was handling it better than the first time she had run into a leopard. Some runty green fellow or something or other. “Scheherazade is a nice name,” she said encouragingly, noting the leopard’s fear. She frowned, wondering what made this Scheherazade type so jumpy. Surely she wasn’t frightening? Maybe it was the blood. And the mud. And the way she twitched now and then due to the stings. Okay, maybe she looked a little strange. “Look, don’t worry about me any. Kio’s a grump, but she’ll still help me out later if I need it. These lands haven’t been the best, but I’m not going to stay for too long. Too many things I want to see, I guess. Never left home until pretty recently. Me and my sibs. I miss them, the rotten lumps.”
Scheherazade nodded her assurance with resignation. This meal wasn’t hers to take and she needed to accept that fact so that she would have enough strength to hunt afterwards. Some day soon she would run into her brother, and for all of his feminine faults, he would be able to show her the tricks to becoming successful. Still, the lioness was being very kind and considerate. It was a welcomed relief after going so long without any contact at all.
“How can I not? You look like a corpse.” Blunt as ever. “You’re the same as I am, though. I left home less than a moon change after my mother had her little freaks.” The way she said it wasn’t without love, and yet, it held no warmth. It simply was.
A corpse? Nkiru grimaced at the remark. Was she really slipping so badly? She’d have to get better at this whole “solo hunting” thing. Kio was helping, really she was, but it wasn’t the same as hunting with her siblings back home. A wave of home sickness washed over her, but she refused to give in to it. This was the way it was. There wasn’t enough food to feed her and her siblings and her parents’ new litter, so her and her siblings left. Simple. Easy. Simple except for the odd painful way she missed her home, missed her family… especially her favorite brother of all, Azubuike. Where was he now, she wondered. Would she ever see him again? “Little freaks?” she asked. What a strange way to talk about your siblings! There was no bitterness or anger in the leopard’s voice, so why would she refer to them in such a manner?
“My siblings are hybrids.” She smiled softly, with just the slightest touch of love. They were little freaks, but they were her little freaks. “My mother is a leopard, like myself, but her chosen mate is a lion.” To her, that explained everything. If she had stuck by Behnam’s side, she was sure that was what her children would have looked like as well. “I hope they’re happy, regardless of circumstance. Those cubs will be surrounded by love, I’m sure.”
(To be continued in pt. 2.)
(WC: 1,241)
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