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I'm sorry that it took so long. ^_^

Cesium is the element Moo would like as a mendel-ish.

Four hours later, Fred pulled out of his crator,
Of woe, and of grief and of pain...
Picked up poor Riyus, completetly with bias,
And set his heals to the path once again.
It occured to old Fred, he knew not where to head.
Where to take his best friend in this season,
no family was waiting, no anticipaiting,
The return on this man for no reason.

The trek was long, but Fred was strong
After all he'd made a solid pact.
Riyus was heavy, but Fred couldn't levy,
His shame with the pride that he lacked.
The nights were cold, madness took hold,
Still Fred carried right on.
He cried and he spat, all that stupid combat.
On to the place he felt drawn.

Then a few days more, and Fred saw the shore,
Of the great streaming ocean of Gai,
This was the place, to end this with grace.
And he let down his charge with a sigh.
He built a small pyre and set it on fire,
The watched as it burned merrily.
Turned to his friend, asked his sorrows to mend,
Turned back to the blaze wearliy.

He picked up his chum, now feeling quite glum,
And chucked the poor chap on the fire.
The sizzling smacks and the ear popping cracks,
Dropped Fred's mood down to something quite dire.
Now that Riyus was dead, in who's shoes would Fred tread?
For the Man always had been a role model.
Riyus now could transcend, but he'd watched over his friend,
Since before the poor guy could waddle.

"I've done some bad things, to both peasants and kings,
but this one thing shames me yet most,
As a friend and a mate, I was pure second rate,
Of good nature I never can boast."
Then up from the smoke, came the face of a bloke.
Riyus smiled at Fred with chortle.
"Don't be daft!" The ghost head laughed,
"We always knew you were mortal."

"As a friend and a mate, you weren't top rate,
But that's what friends are for.
For ups and downs, for drama and clowns."
The waves began to roar.
"I have to leave, but please don't grieve,
I'll keep on living, in your head.
Write a ballad, woeful and pallid,
sing it, and I'll never be dead."

The wind blew strong and fed the throng,
the fire burned tall, long and hard.
A while later, while standing straighter,
He looked at his pyre now charred.
He was filled with dread, with his best friend dead,
But somehow he felt better too...
Now nothing to fret, no longer in debt,
He set off with his future in view.

http://www.sonnyradio.com/babyethan.html

Cub Name: Kopa
Meaning: Borrowed
Cub Personality: Young. That's the best way to describe him at the moment. He's implulsive and eager to please on a good day. He's not adverse to insulting Kirala and others when he's feeling hurt or slighted... but he'll always feel worse afterwards, and will sometimes appologize. There was this one time when he was drinking water, and a frog leapt out of a small oasis as he drank. He leapt backwards in sudden fright, and Kirala and another lion who where there both laughed at him. He ended up blurting out insults at them both, and then stormed off to sulk. Later that evening he appologized to Kirala, but he he still wonders what that other lion must think of him. ... . And that's the kind of thing that bothers him. Prey's on his thoguhts and mind.
Any plans for the cub: He's a rouge lion, with an excellent past, and a good sense of personal history (even if it isn't really his). He'll most likely try to institue himself into another clan or family, but will end up becoming a minor catalyst of some kind.
Prompt: Prompt C:
Open prompt! Do whatever you like. Anything you can think of. You have permission to godmode any and all family members needed, as well as make up non-existant lions, etc.

Prompt Response: Kopa rolled over and sighed quietly to himself. For some reason he just couldn't sleep tonight, and as he stared up into the moon above them, he realized he knew why. The little lion cub rolled over seveal more times before he realized that Kirala wasn't snoring anymore. He sighed. "Kirala?"

"Yes?" She hadn't rolled over, but he knew she was listening to him. The question now was, did he really want to ask her just yet? He thought through what he wanted to ask, trying to get the wording just right in his head before speaking, but the hare rolled over before he got a chance to finish. Her long legs flopped down at the end of the roll and she wrinkled her nose kindly at him, as she scratched her neck on a conveniently located rock. "What's wrong? Can't sleep?"

Kopa smiled at her as her neck fur ruffled up aginst the rock, making her look quite lopsided. That was why he liked her. She knew everything, and she wasn't afraid of anything... nothing... not looking stupid or even big ugly mean lions who thought they knew everything. He sighed. "Kira, did you mean it? What you said, I mean... do you think it's true?" He rolled over into a parital sitting position and looked eargely over at the hare.

Kirala sighed and also rolled into a sitting position. When she met Kopa's gaze next it was with the most serious expression she could master. "Yes, Kopa. I did." She sighed, and rose up on her long feet, walked over to the lion cub and took his muzzle in her forepaws. "You've been with me for many months now, you should know that I don't lie."

"But... but I thought, maybe you'd said that so the lion would leave me alone." He had been so afraid that Kirala would die that day, and a part of him sobbed at the thought. There was no way he wanted her to die... couldn't even fathom going on without her. He sighed. "I just..."

She laughed slightly and butted his muzzle with her head. "Oh, Kopa, of course I said it to make the other lion go away... but that doesn't mean that it wasn't true." She pulled back again so that she could look into his eyes. "I really really really do believe that you are meant for great things. And no matter what any stinky lion may say, you belong to me right now, and I belong to you. I will never let anything happen to you as long as I live."

With that, a sob escaped Kopa's throat and he began to cry. "But Kira... I thought you were going to die! I don't want you to die!" He wrapped his big ungainly forepaws around behind her and cuddled her to his face slightly, taking care not to crush her.

"I'm not going anywhere, child." She laughed again, "even though you make it rain, and you have no sense... even though a fish can escape you, and a frog can scare you. Right now you're young and you need me, so here I am. I shall borrow you from your destiny long enough to mold you into a lion ten times as worthy as that one who called us strange today. And someday, sooner than you think, you'll be able to tell any stinky lion rogue that you are Kopa-Sudi, you control the rains, you control yourself, and best of all... you control your future." She storked his muzzle and wiped away a tear with her forepaw as she smiled up at him. "may I live long enough to point to the head of a clan, and say 'that's my son, there."

He sniffled and stared at her shocked. "You think I can be clan head somewhere? With a big family?"

"Should you so choose." The hare let go of his face and extricated herself from his grasping paws. As she hopped over beside him, she layed her forepaws on his shoulder flank and began to gently push him back over. "However, every lion cub, no matter how promising and loved, and no matter whether they have hares in their family or not, MUST get enough sleep every night to grow into great strong adults. If you don't get enough sleep and eat enough vegetables, then you'll never be big enough to choose anything, and other lions will choose for you." She curled up against his side as he let her push him over. "now relax your head, quit thinking about things for now, and sleep my love. I will stay here and watch over you... nothing will happen."

He smiled slowly at her and then closed his eyes, enjoying her warmth against his side. As he dirfted off to sleep he muttered "I love you...". And even though she replied, he was already asleep when she spoke, and he did not hear it.

-----------

In the morning, Kopa woke with a start... something was wrong, and it didn't take more than a nanosecond to realize what it was. He was alone. In the months of his life that he could remember, he couldn't recall ever waking up alone... He slowly rose to his feet and padded over to where the water source was. Once there he looked around him. There on the ground in front of him was a large tuft of brown fur. Without even sniffing it he knew that it belonged to Kirala... "KIRALA!" The panic in his voice was immediate. "KIRALA!" The small cub danced back and forth as his emotions took over, dashing this way and that... seeing the fur here and there... all the same... all brown. But there was no blood or anything other than tufts of fur. Kopa's brain clicked into panic mode, and the young lion went tearing off through the lands kalling his mother-hare's name through the land... not caring who heard him, or what they thought.

-----------

"Daddy?" Kopa raised his eyelids and looked down into the face of his youngest daughter. "Daddy, Moyo says that Kirala was never real and that you jsut imagined her." Kopa sighed inwardly. That Moyo, he always knew how to get on Kopa's last nerve. That didn't mean that he loved the Boy-cub any less... just that the child tried his old frayed patience.

"Tumaini..." He pulled the little girl-cub into his forepaws and nuzzled against her muzzle, much like Kirala had used to do for him. "Moyo, is just trying to rile you. Kirala was real, and if you're a good cub then she'll come to you in your dreams and keep you safe." Ever since that morning when he had woken up to the missing hare, Kopa had imagined that she kept her promise. She had stayed in his dreams, keeping an eye on him, watching over him as he grew... silently encouraging him to be the best, to be fair, kind, forgiving, firm... giving him endless amounts of self confidence and thus allowing him to fall in love with his beautiful mate... to have four beautiful *albeit sometimes annoying* cubs who looked like him... to give him the family that he lost... to find him the family he deserved.

"Daddy... "

"Tumaini?"

"Daddy, I love you."

"I love you too. You know that right?"

"Yeah... you tell me all the time."

"Well... I mean it." He girnned down at her and cuffed her ear lightly, fondly, with his now massive forepaw. "Go play.... And tell Moyo to come over here please."