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 Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:08 am
Chapter Five - One Step Closer
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Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:12 am
Uumi could almost feel the moment he and Sye passed from the southlands to the pridelands, even if he'd only made the crossing a few times in his life. It was something that was just part of him, knowing when he was in his birth home and knowing when he was not.
His crimson gaze took in the gradual change of yellow to green grass, the trees that seemed to frequent the land more than the southlands. Pride rock. His heart was thumping against his chest as he moved forward, glancing back to Sye. "Seems that we're here." It was a stupid thing to say, but he wanted to break the silence.
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Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:34 am
Syeira smirked softly as she watched him, her pace perhaps a little slower than his - she was taking the time to look around her, pick out the colors of the land, the movements around her. Yes, it might be too much to hope that her beloved son would be lingering just on the other side of the borders, ready to run up to her and apologize for ever leaving.
But a mother could hope, right?
She purred as she caught up to his side, her eyes lingering on the distant horizon, knowing that any instant the likes of pride rock could be lingering on the edge of their vision. She let her eyes flicker around her, from spot to spot, "I hope he's here."
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Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:50 am
The morning sun was drifting past it's peak, trailing through the cloudless blue as the heat brushed down on a copper form. Many lions were out under the shade, or even in the waters of the clear pools, and yet one loomed out on his own, away from the crowd and slumbering on his own. The copper lion was one who never liked to be around others, content with his one friend and his lack of family. Trying his hardest to meet others dispite it all, Ta'Ziyan was forced to take a break from his task and just enjoyed the day ahead of him.
Lifting his head up a few hours after his first nap, the copper lion let out a large yawn, maw cracking slightly from the release of pressure. Standing up on the rock, his tail swang a moment while his groggy eyes skimmed idly around, until suddenly he caught sight of two forms. Muscles tensing on old habit, he forced himself to relax before jumping down and sniffing the air.
It was than he noted the red pelt, and his memory played back to the only one he knew who had that color, the red twins who were related to Kami.
"...I...should greet them," He murmered to himself, tentative in his options and weighing them openly. Realizing he would have to gain the acceptance of each member sooner or later, he raised his head and puffed his chest, before letting his shoulders sag as he moved forward. Hopefully this would be a better meeting than before, and hopefully he wasn't wrong about who the red lion was before him.
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Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:54 am
Uumi shifted a little and nuzzled her side lightly. "Where else would he go, Sye?" Actually Uumi didn't know that Taabu knew of the Mistweaver lands. At least he'd gone there and then to the pridelands, right? Luckily. Not that Sye or Uumi knew any of it.
They were beginning to get close to pride rock, and Uumi could smell many scents in the air. Many of the unfamaliar, but he'd never bothered to see who was who in these lands.
Slowly the copper lion was coming into view, and something about him picked at Uumi's memory. He couldn't recall their meeting, though.
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Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:07 pm
Syeira too noted all the scents drifting around them, swirling and confusing her senses - so much so that even if her son had been near, she wasn't sure she could have distinguished him from those lingering in the same vacinity. With a deep breath, she sighed, her eyes flickering away and to those ahead of her. Even if hse had been able to pick one scent out from another, she didn't think she knew any of these - not unexpectedly, of course, considering she knew very few in the pridelands themselves.
That's when her eyes noticed the copper lion towering before them, slowly making his way towards the pair that had just entered the lands themselves. Her pace slowed, her eyes searching him for any ounce of familiarity - of course, of this, she could find none. She simply frowned and glanced back in the direction of her mate, tail flickering idly behind her.
"Do you know him?" came the words, calm, for she saw no threat from the lion at the moment. Usually, those that would cause one harm showed that sort of hostile attitude instantly - even without saying a word. She just didn't see this in the lion coming near them - and most lions in the pridelands, she thought, were nicer than the rogues one might encounter on one's travels.
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Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:22 pm
Continuing his steps, the adult padded along at a slow gant, his paws lifting like led was attached to each nail. Fear always traced his mind before he met others, always brushing down his spine and turing his hair on end. With Kami, he worked on ways to push it back, to get used to meeting others and speaking warmly with them.
Eyes raised, he watched as they moved closer as well, eyes trailing to where the smaller of the two walked, a darker one though not red. Maybe he was wrong, and as that idea trailed across his mind he paused in his steps and looked to the side. There was no twin, it was only a red creature, and possibly a firekin from the story Kami told him just a few days before.
Slowly, he settled on his haunches, trying to push back the dizzy spell that threatened and working it away with soothing breaths. It was only two lions, and hopefully pridelanders as he suddenly thought of it. Odds were, they could also be outsiders, coming to trick the king. Frowning, he lifted a paw to itch his ear, a clear sign of unconfort as the scar was well gone, and turned his eyes back ahead. They were closer now, so close that had he let out a loud bellow, he was sure they would hear and react right away.
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Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:25 pm
He kept his eyes on Sye while he gave her his answer. "Something about him seems famaliar, but I can't put my paw on it." He shrugged lightly.
He was unsure if they were supposed to greet the other or not, Uumi wasn't really up to it. "Would you like to ask him of Taabu or keep walking..." He trailed off, looking a little confused. He could smell his sister's scent on his other, just faintly. No, he was imagining it. It might not even be Kami's. Uumi had never even interacted with her really, so why could he sense it was her scent? His ears flicked back and then forward again. His mind must have been playing with him.
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Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 1:37 pm
Now, Syeira was never one up to meetin a hundred new lions here and there - but you honestly have to admit that she really was in dire need of finding her son; she would likely go to the end of the earth and question the entire population if there was a need to. With a little sigh, she moved closer to the lion, her steps easy and hardly any threat in her body at all - besides that prideful glimmer in her way of moving.
"I think we need to," she said quietly, ever closer and closer to the lion before her. She moved past Uumi, her pace obviously now dirrected to the copper male lounging (rather uncomfortably louning, at that) before her. Her tail flickered, a moment's hesitation (the sort barely noticeable at all) flickered through her frame. Now or never, Syeira - you want to find Taabu don't you?
"Excuse me," she called out, her body still coming closer to the male, "could ask you for a bit of help? We need to find our son, he's gone missing, I wonder if you've seen him?" She tilted her head, stopping short, a bit away from him - but close enough to converse. Certainly not in his personal space. "He looks like me, only with a black pre-mane like his father, and red eyes?" she watched him, expectantly, hoping that the male would say something of seeing him.
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Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 9:43 am
The rogue-gone-pridelander shifted as they neared him, realizing they were indeed directing themselves right to his spot. Blinking as the female took the lead, and his eyes glancing towards Uumi quickly in turn, he just took a deep breath when she called out. Flicking an ear in reaction, his cloudy copper eyes narrowed just lightly in thought as he tried to picture the youth, before a frown crossed his maw.
"I'm sorry, I just returned to these lands myself, though if anyone saw him it would be the king," Ta'ziyan never really heard of others, but as he looked towards Uumi again, he got a good look at the eye color and remembered the same in other eyes.
"Y-you're eyes..." It was more of awe than anything else, before his soft voice broke into a curious one, "You must be the red male I met, rigth when I was trying to get to know others as a youth myself..."
Lowering his head, he looked back to Syeira, "My name is Ta'Ziyan, and if you would like, I could go speak with the king for you, or even ask Kamilika to gather a search party. This pride is very friendly when these issues arise." He wanted to help, and as he pushed back his fears, he realized this was just a mother in search for a son, and looking for as much help as she could get.
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Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:42 am
Uumi hung back slightly to let Sye be the sociable one, as much as asking for a missing lion could be called sociable. His tail flicked and suddenly his ears perked a bit more attentively.
At Ta'ziyan's mention of his eyes in that awed manner Uumi mistook it for something else and began to growl, the red eyes in question narrowing. But then he began to say something else and Uumi burried his anger away. "Met?" He mumbled softly to himself, looking again puzzled. Copper fur, copper fur... "Something about you is famaliar. It must be your fur." Was all he said, gaze flicking to the pride rock.
"If anyone saw him it would more likely be Sarabi, not Mufasa." He said slowly, gaze moving back to Ta'z. He had no idea Uumi was royalty. Well if he did know he was just being formal, or something. Uumi could speak to the king himself, couldn't he? Uumi had no need to tell him of it, though. "A search wouldn't be necissary..." His mind did a mental flop and his brow furrowed. Kamikia, his sister? "How do you know Kamikia?" He was suddenly a little tense, and then a little shock at his sudden caring for a sister he barely knew. Damn today!
He coughed slightly, trying to think of a way of fixing that sentance.
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Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:42 pm
Syeira smiled, though it wasnt that unkind one she usually produced - seems something had really gotten into her today, and just shook her head. "No, no, if I need to speak with the king or queen, I'll ask them myself. I'm sure Sarabi knows more than Mufasa, being that females are most likely to tell her of things more. I at least know her well enough that she would help me in such a case."
That's when she heard the words passing between the male and Uumi himself, shaking her head slowly at the thought. If this male had seen her son, then he would have remembered - considering the fact that Taabu possessed those same, brilliant red eyes. However, she would wait for Uumi to converse and find out what his curiousity was bidding him to. She didn't mind. They were in the pridelands, there destination, and she had the feeling TAabu would turn up sooner or later - perhaps sooner if he found out from other lions that the prince had come home looking for his son.
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Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 7:20 pm
Ta'Ziyan returned the smile to the female, before it faltered lightly, "I guess that usually would be the case, but the queen has been getting sicker with each day passing...she has issues even leaving her den..." His tone was soft, sorrow with the whole idea and unconfortable for actually being the one to pass the news.
As both seemed so keen with it, Ta'Ziyan just silenced and let the reconization conversation also come to a close. Shifting a moment, he just looked to the side before looking back towards Uumi when he spoke of Kamilika.
"Yes, the princess and I are...close...I mean..." He felt foolish telling a complete stranger that he and Kami were best friends, and that he loved the girl. Ta'Ziyan knew Kami never got out much, and just assumed most who knew her knew that he was always by her side, save the past few months.
"We are just really close, always together," Turning to Sye, his meek smile returned, "The day is getting late, and I am about to return home as well, so if you would like an escourt, maybe you can discribe your son more. I end up patrolling the borders every few days, so there is a chance I could see him if I took the chance to look while I wander."
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Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:33 pm
Uumi's face became shocked. "My mother is getting sicker.." He sounded very upset about this, and he began to move forward with out another thought. His mum! The only person he'd let into his heart as a cub, besides Kiuma really.
He glanced back though at Ta'z other words, frowning sternly. Well, he didn't seem as bad as the other idiots his two sisters had taken for mates. He just 'hmphed' and began forward. "Accompany us if you want but hurry it up. Sye, we go." He hissed out, his voice void of the emotion that had just been in it.
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Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:14 am
She smiled at the words of the kind male, but behind those brilliant eyes she knew that Uumi was now in complete worry not only for his son - but for his sickening mother. She had seen the weakened condition of Sarabi, but for all that, she supposed that she had always thought the lioness would always be there. Don't most lions think that of their own mothers? Why shouldnt she, then, think so too of her mate's?
"An escort would be fine," she muttered, staring off after the suddenly cold Uumi. She sighed, though the smile remained for the lion as she began to walk.
"My son is my color, this brown, with my backstripe - but in black. His eyes are the red like his fathers. He's probably a bit bigger now, but he'll still look young." she nodded, thinking over anything else as she trodded along after her mate.
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