Rock, rock, rock, tree, rock, rock, stream, lion... Lion? Lion! Adohk sat up from where he'd been laying, bored, gazing across the Pridelands. Pride Rock loomed overhead, casting him in shadow where he relaxed before the prominent jutting point. He could probably climb up there, but.. He was feeling a bit lazy today. Plus the lands were buzzing with new faces here and there, something tat excited the tan-brown lion. He wanted to hear about the places they'd been, the lions they'd seen! He wanted to-- His thoughts were cut off by the sight of a heavily-scarred white lioness. Now THERE was a lion who probably had stories to tell...! He stood up and went trotting over to the limping lioness. "Hello!"
She was still stiff, that was something Kimiko was certain of. She wasn't a spring lioness anymore, something she was assured of. Every day it felt like her children left her further and further behind, but she didn't frown at this. It was the way of the world, and she felt that she'd made it a slightly better place with their presence. Finally she felt she had atoned for her misdeeds in youth. She'd earned her happy ending, even if the lion she now called her mate hadn't first met her under good circumstances. Continued circumstances hadn't even been good, but they did eventually get BETTER. She closed her eyes as she found a spot to lay down, flopping down in the shade of a tree with a happy sigh.
And then she heard somebody speaking to her. One gold eye slid open as she watched the tan and black lion approach. "Well hello there, Adokh, is there something you need?"
As he got closer, Adokh watched the lioness lay down. She had clearly used this spot many times to relax, as she had closed her eyes to do so. "Oh, I was just wondering... Um... About your scars... You're from outside the pride, right...?" He found a spot and sat down, eager to learn. He'd loosely heard a rust-orange lioness talk about her parents' past out in the roguelands before, and he swore from some mentioning that one of her parents was a distant cousin of the king... Of course, he may have been eavesdropping on accident that time, because she'd then said she didn't want it brought up, as she'd been talking to that lion, Kushindwa, who fell down a lot. Given the markings on a couple siblings of the lioness in question, he at least knew he had the right lioness. What WAS miss Kimiko's story?
White ears folded back a moment, before moving forward again. "Yes, I'm from outside the pride originally. I was a stupid lioness in my youth, and did many stupid things. These scars are my reward for my stupidity." She looked at the scarring on her left foreleg, before closing her eyes. "I'm guessing you want the whole story, don't you?" She opened her eyes to see him nodding. "Alright... I'm not proud of my past, and I have many sisters who found their own way to atone for what our father was like... Some sisters who never believed it their burden, something they couldn't help and thus never tried to hide it... At least one who reveled in our father's legacy... I can't speak for my many sisters, but we all share a similar origin... It started with a lion..."
"Well, you're obviously not stupid NOW..." He lay down, crossing one paw over the other as she started. Adokh's eyes grew wide as he listened. She had sisters? This had his mind buzzing with questions. How many did she HAVE? Where were they all? What were they like? Were they all black and white, or were they in other colors? He crossed his paws, ears on the scarred lioness. "Wait, your father's legacy? He wasn't... He wasn't a BAD lion, was he...?" His ears folded back as he looked at Kimiko with worry.
She chuckled, smiling a bit. "No, Adokh, I'm not stupid anymore... I learned my lessons..." She cringed. "They were beaten into me, to say the least... And I've had no shortage of bad experiences with some other lions, including one who was supposed to have sworn his loyalty to an older half-sister of mine..." She closed her eyes again, grimacing while chuckling. "Adokh, never stop being full of questions... Yes... Nyekundu... Was a bad lion... He took what he wanted, and sired many daughters across the grasslands... Sometimes by unwilling lionesses. He even killed a few lions." She opened her eyes, looking up at Pride Rock. "He killed Mufasa..."
His jaw dropped and his eyes widened, ears folding back. "He... He killed..." He looked at Pride rock, then Kimiko. "He killed one of our past KINGS? But... WHY?" Why, indeed? The young lion couldn't wrap his head around the idea of killing another lion, let alone the reasoning behind such an action. Sure, there was acting in self-defense, but he'd seen the current king... If their current king was anything like his ancestor, then there was surely no reason for the long-former king to kill anybody. Which begged the question, why would anybody kill a king of theirs?
The black-marked white liones sighed, frowning and crossing her front paws. "My father was trying to steal a cub from the Pridelands... Mufasa happened upon them, and attacked. He died... Defending one of his subjects. Unfortunately, from what I've learned, the kingdom fell into political turmoil for a period. Kamilika, Simi's mother, vanished with one of the heirs at the time." She noticed the confused look. "Simi had a set of siblings that were twins. As both were the oldest in the litter, both were heirs - A male and a female. I'm not sure how it was going to work out... But then the other heir vanished, too, and Simi took the throne to try and lead the pride out of chaos..." She closed her eyes again. "And now I've gotten off the path... I'm not sure what happened to my father, how he died... I only heard about it on the wind... I was in the Firekin at that time, a slave..."
Oh, good, Mufasa had at least died doing something worth dying for. It wasn't just an assassination, as he'd feared. But as he listened, he was saddened... And then alarmed. "SLAVE?!" His fur stood on end as he backed up a bit. "Why would anybody keep SLAVES?!" He couldn't wrap his head around it, and, frankly, didn't WANT to. "Is that where you got all the scars...? They don't still do that, do they?" He glanced in the direction he knew, from others telling him, the Motoujamii Desert was in.
Kimiko smiled a bit tiredly. "Yes, Adokh, that's where my scars came from. That's when the stupidity was beaten out of me." She spied an orange and black figure approaching. "I left when the pride re-banded into one pride again, and slaves stopped being kept... They do things differently now, but... That's the past. You best run along now.. It's time for a couple old fogies to sleep."
Adokh turned and noticed Danzi, stepping back and giving him a bow. The other lion didn't care for it, from the look he gave, but Adokh still felt he should bow to a lion related to the king. He then hurried off, buzzing with some questions of wonder... And decided it was time to step out of his comfort zone. Changing course, Adokh went toward the border.
