|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:54 pm
The glowing sun was radiating warmth from it perch in the center of the sky. Every ray felt like it was attracted to the shiny black fur of a leopardess. She was happy. Going back to the lush jungle of her birth. Like something in her was calling her back there. And with every step she grew closer and closer to her destionation.
Matawi stopped and looked around. Where was he? There was no way that she had gone off to far with out him...
Sitting in on the long blades of the faint yellow grass, she waited and eyed the distant green of the jungle. She sighed. It had been so long since she had left that place. As she had just became and adult she realized that there had to be more out there for her. She vowed to never come back. But here she was. Months later, and a strang longing had come over her.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 5:08 pm
There was a sudden sneeze a little off to the side of the leopardess and a fluffy orange mane popped up out of the yellow grass, framing a gray face and bright blue eyes.
"Didn't think I'd fall behind, now did you?" Tembezishaha questioned, walking up to her and then looked to the jungle.
"So that's what it looks like. Can't say I've ever been there, though it looks like a jungle should," he speculated and then looked at her, cocking his head to one side.
"Shall we keep going?" the large lion questioned, his tufted tail flicking back and forth. He'd come this far with her, but he had a deep feeling that once they enter the jungle he'd be leaving on his own once more. It was just the way of things. Looking at the trees, he knew he wouldn't be able to stay long. It looked... cramped.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 5:32 pm
With a heavy sigh she whispered, "I will never be ready. I just feel that I need to go there. Please. Do not let us stay long. I could never live there again."
She looked at him with her piercing red eyes. Since the two of them met she had just grown attached to him, and her hold on the jungle seemed to grow looser and looser. But for some reason it felt like she needed to go there and spend a single hour under those dense trees. A visit that would last her a ver long time.
Matawi had almost forgotten her homeland. There was a reason for her leaving. A reason to never go back. But why did her heart tell her differently.
"I really do not wish to stay for more than an hour." Her fluttered nervously as she stood, "Please, promise me you will not leave me alone." There was a hint of sadness in her voice. She hadn't been alone in such a long long time. This was not where she wanted to be, let alone be there by herself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 5:44 pm
This dashed his original thoughts on the matter. Shaha nodded solemly and patted her shoulder with one of his huge, but gentle paws.
"I'll not leave your side," he replied and looked back to the trees.
What could have driven her from this place so long ago? He remembered talking to her about it, but never why she had left. He'd made a promise to stay with her and protect her if need be and that promise stayed firm in his mind. His word was his honor, and in Shaha's family, honor was a deep and powerful thing. As carvings of the hairless ones were etched into the stone, so were the depths of his promises. Once uttered, he would not go back on it, no matter what.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 5:53 pm
Matawi was now taking short, yet shaky breaths as she began her way back 'home'. Some home it turned out to be. Everything she cared about had left her there.
She felt like a huge wieght had been lifted off her shoulders. Well, now for the next part, entering the under the leafy canopy.
"Shaha," She started nervously, "Have you ever left your home because something was taken from you?" She closed her bright eyes and continued her walking. Matai knew that he probobly hadn't. He had been a traveler from birth. Herself, only a few moths at most.
She had grown so used to the fresh morning air and the bright sun. Instead of the dank dark moist air she had grown up in.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:08 pm
Shaha paused and looked at her, frowning. The lion looked off for a moment, considering and nodded.
"Yes, I think you could say that. Home was always with my family," he explained, beginning the shorter version of a very long story.
"Once, we came to a prideland with lions I had never seen before. And there, sitting near the king and queen, was the most beautiful lioness I had ever seen. Oh, she was magnificent, glowing in the moonlight as if made of the very stars themselves. When I looked upon her, my will left me. After our festivities were over, I sought her out and asked for a moment. We walked together beneath the open sky and I opened my heart to her. I swear, I was still a cub then," he paused, smiling in a bittersweet manner.
"She took one slow look at me. And then she laughed. Her beauty faded into decay, an ugliness that struck me to the core as she scorned me. She asked me why a princess would want to leave all she had for a low, wandering clown. The next morning, I told my mother and father I was leaving to travel on my own. My heart gone, I left the only 'home' I ever knew, vowing I'd never let my eyes trick me like that again," he finished, nodding his head slowly. He'd also vowed never to love a lioness or a princess, but he didn't think that needed mentioning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:21 pm
Matawi felt her heart sink and she rubbed her cheep on his back. "I am sorry. But you must still have a heart to travle with such a confused girl. And you have not once left me on my own. So we must be some sort of family, even if it isn't a normal one." Matawi tried to comfort him, but felt like she was failing miserably. His story felt worse than hers. Leaving her a little upset.
"My 'home' became a prison when I was but a juvinille. When my mother left me and never came back." A discusted taste filled her mouth and her face twisted a bit. She continued her steady steps with out so much as stopping to regret this choice of visiting this place once again. She needed to face it. Face that her mother had left her for something much more important.
She choked it down and faked a smile. "But there is no better way to get over it than to see it once more."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:27 pm
Shaha shook his head and smiled.
"It's nothing to worry over. It was a long time ago and I've realized my error. Never fall in love with someone before you know that they can stand you for more than five minutes," he chuckled, returning to better spirits. He patted her shoulder once again and looked to the trees.
"I've seen many that were left on their own at younger ages, but it is always hard. Do not think of her. Her leaving was her mistake and she should be the sorry one, not you. Don't waste tears, be they anger or sorrow, on someone who didn't think to see her daughter grow into a proud leopardess," he suggested, the words once more taking a poetic tone as they slipped from his mouth, buffeted by the deep voice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:48 pm
The jungle was layed out before them, the trees now towering high above them. Matawi hadn't noticed that the lush moist air had surounded them and was getting thincker as the began to break the outer shell of the gorgeous trees. Matawi sighed. These were the tress that she had slept in so long ago. Now she could hardly remember how to keep her balance in one for a night. She had grown so accustomed to sleeping on the warm savanna grounds.
Matawi had hadly even noticed that the ground was softer and that the sun had started to fall away behind the dense leaves abouve them.
And with a single breath she whispered. "I'm back..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:55 pm
Shaha stayed by her side as the entered the trees, watching her all the while. She seemed really anxious about this and he would have to be there for support. The muscles in his jaw flexed once when they entered the dense trees, but that was all the outward appearance of his being uncomfortable in the think growth.
"Are you alright?" he asked, just checking to make sure. Sometimes, when things were hard, talking with someone else helped.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:48 am
Matawi nodded. "I will be fine." She didn't know if that was a lie or not. She could never tell when it came to such an odd feeling in the pit of her belly. Half of her wanted to stay, the other half wanted to run. Far far away. But if worse came to worse, Matawi knew that she could hold her own ground.
She coughed nervously as they went in, deeper and deeper. Why did something beg her to come back? Why did she come back anyways? There was nothing here for her.
"Just do not leave me..." she whispered under her breath and hoped that he didn't hear.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:01 pm
Shaha padded slowly by her side, looking around him, observing.
So this is what a jungle looks like... he thought to himself, frowning slightly. He took in a deep breath, his chest puffing out slightly with the intake, and slowly released it, quietly though his nose. She had to do this and he wouldn't stop her.
But she wanted him by her side through it, so the large lion kept his thoughts to himself for once. He was there to help her with her troubles, not share his.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:59 pm
It felt as if they had walked in silence for a very long time. Matawi shifted uneaslily on the damp ground beneath her. There had to be something that they coul talk about without brinking up scars of the past of healing wounds. Matawi barely knew Shaha and vice versa. They hardly talked, just travled together in what she now felt like calling 'an odd family' But this was the family she chose. They lookeded out for eachother even though he was usually the one looking after her while she played around.
Matawi's bright red eyes lit up as the came to a pristine jungle spring with silver fish. The few sun beams that managed to get through the canopy above danced upon thier shiny scales as they swam. This is what she came here for. For a glance at the serene and simple life in the fresh spring water she had grown up around.
She looked at Shaha with unhidable happiness and she padded up to the crisp water and stared in it with eyes that shone like the beautiful fishes scales.
"What do you think?" she asked, obviously pleased with how easily she had found it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:14 pm
Shaha had by then grown used to the silence and the pleased question breaking through the soft noises around then caused his eyebrows to rise suddenly.
"Ah, it's nice," he said, blinking at the clear depths. He'd tasted fish once or twice before, never really taking a liking to it. He rather prefered to watch them swim around in their fishie ways, not really caring about the world outside of their little pond or stream or river.
The large lion beamed at Matawi. He was glad to see her happy now, since before she had seemed so... tense. It was true that he was just as bad, but nothing could be helped with that. His problems were his own. He realized this was very contradictory, him wanting to help everyone, and yet wanting to keep his problems to himself, but... He was just a very odd lion.
"It's very different, a jungle. But I can imagine why leopards would live here," he added looking up at the trees. "I've never been a very good climber."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:08 pm
Matawi shook her head. "Climbing? Oh I lost that talent a while back. I have just felt less and less balanced latley." It was so odd. SHe used to be able to spend all day in the leafy green trees, but now... She was lucky if she could hold on for dear life for more than a few hours.
But she had seen what she needed to see and was almost ready to move on, the jungle was filled with quite life and it felt to small for her now that she had spread her perverbial wings and flown away. The savannah was her home now and quite frankly she liked it better.
Matawi turned from the pond and sighed. She was definatly ready to begin to make her way out of the jungle and back to her new home.
"You ready to go?" She asked him, already knowing the answer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
