Mkia was wandering. For once, it was a more... preemptive strike, so to speak. She had a fear of being alone, and she needed to deal with it. Which meant a little exploring... but that didn't change the fact that every step she took was a little on the worrying side. She moved through the trees, but she made sure that she didn't get too far away from her parents and siblings. She didn't want to get lost... or put herself in real danger. Real danger that never bothered her when she was with others.
"Right paw... left paw... back paw..." She instructed herself, focusing all too hard on the ground. She just had to be calm and cool, that was all. Being alone wasn't so bad.... who was she kidding? She was completely terrified. She wanted to break and run at the slightest sound... and there were so many of those that she was pretty sure she was only making them up. "Come on Mkia... you can do this..." She told herself boldly, "You're not afraid of anything..."
It was rather unusual for Kyprioth to be in this particular part of the Savannah. However, his paws had led him here, while his similarly wandering mind had been elsewhere. His furry visage was a lot different from what it had been only a few moons before. His fur was scruffy and a bit dusty in places, something he would not have allowed earlier, but now, he was less focused on how he looked, and was focusing more on how he felt. It was a rather strange experience.
Kyprioth moved quietly through the trees, barely noticing the fact that he had left the main area of the Rogue Lands that he usually frequented, and was now entering a place he was familiar with. His thoughts were occupied with the problems he had and the numerous solutions he had whirling through his mind. He didn't notice another presence around him until he almost ran into them. He stopped abruptly, shaken from his thoughts as he noticed another leopard in his path. He blinked, unsure of what to do. "Hello there," he said quietly, the only words coming to mind.
Mkia lept about a foot in the air and latched onto a nearby tree so tightly that her claws nearly bled. She was terrified.... the fact that neither she, nor the leopard whom she had just nearly run into, had been paying attention to where they were going had seriously not helped her nerves very much. "EEEEEK!" She cried out, burying her face in the tree.
Until she realized something. She had nearly run into someone. Someone. There was someone else there. And he had been very polite about nearly running into her. Which was nice. And very much less frightening than a strange thing that could have been anything that was trying to kill her. She pulled her face out of the tree and turned around, looking at him, though she still clung on for dear life. "Oh... Hi..." She said quietly back.
Kyprioth blinked a few times, not expecting that particular reaction. He bit back a chuckle that would have been rude, but instead turned into a reassuring smile. After all, he had frightened the younger leopard and it was his fault if she was scared enough to jump into a tree. Kyp took a few small steps forward and settled far enough from the tree to give the other leopard some space, but close enough that he could hold a decent conversation.
"Well hello there. I'm very sorry for scaring you. I assure you that I didn't mean it," he said with a kind smile. He paused before adding, "You can let go of that tree you know. I won't hurt you, I promise." His words were sincere and calm, and Kyp took a second to marvel at that. A few short months ago, the sight of a younger member of any species would have sent him running. He'd never been very comfortable around cubs, but he was making a lot of progress.
"Oh..." Mkia looked back at the tree, almost seeming surprised that she was even still holding on. "Oh my! Sorry, really sorry about that, I didn't even... Man..." She sighed, "I really could have sworn that I was getting better... I'm sorry I squeaked like that! I'm not usually like that... I just... I'm practicing." She said, trying to stop stumbling.
Still, she was a little bit proud. She was talking, not screaming, and usually after being alone for that long she was quite hard to understand over her terrified shrieks. Now she was talking fairly normally. This must have been progress. This was good. She let go of the tree, "I'm... sorry. I'm Mkia." She said finally, smiling a little, "I shouldn't have shrieked... that was very silly of me."
Kyp continued to smile, almost affectionately at the young leopardess. He was rather observant if he chose to be, and couldn't help but noticing that she was uncomfortable being alone or being around strangers. He glanced around quickly and saw that there was no one close by, though his nose told him that there was a leopard family nearby. Likely, that was her family. And she had mentioned practicing, so he guess that she had a problem being alone. He couldn't quite understand that fear, because he'd been alone for so long, but he sympathized with her.
"Please, don't apologize. It was my fault entirely, for simply running into you like that. I should have announced myself sooner, but I was rather lost in thought," he said with a sheepish expression. He used a little bit of his practiced charm to help put her at ease. Or at least, he hoped it would help.
"My name is Kyprioth, and it is nice to meet you Mkia." As he said that, Kyp took a good look around himself and realized finally that he had no idea where he was. That was very unusual for him, as he'd traveled so much. Being lost was . . . embarrassing. "Um, well, actually, now that I think about it, I'm rather lost now too. May I ask where we are?" he said with a chuckle, hoping that she might be able to help.
Mkia smiled a little as he kept talking. He seemed rather nice, which was always good to know. If someone was friendly, then she was less afraid... which was useless for her practicing, but fun regardless. And he was another leopard! Big, like her dad, which was interesting. "No, it wasn't just your fault, don't worry." She said quickly, grinning a little now, and feeling rather sheepish herself, "I was looking straight at the ground. I could have wandered right under your feet and not noticed."
She looked up at him and sat a little closer, "Kyprioth is a nice name. But um... as to where we are, there's a river over that way," she pointed south, "and the jungle carries on a long way that way," she pointed north, "and there's a field that way, where my family lives, right on the edge of the jungle," she mentioned, pointing west, "and that way is where my mom goes hunting." She finished, pointing west. "That's all I know." She said with a smile.
Kyp listened closely, and nodded, pleased that her description helped him place himself. He did know where he was after all, he just hadn't traveled this way in quite some time. That was good though, it gave him some time to explore and reacquaint himself.
"Thank you, that helps a lot. I do know this area actually, I just didn't recognize this specific spot." Remembering her compliment on his name, he hastened to thank her, "Thank you. I quite like the name myself. I like your name too. I take it your family lives around here then? May I ask why you are out here then, and not with them?" He asked the question as kindly as he could, not wanting to embarrass her, but he was curious about why she thought she needed to practice being alone.
"Oh... um... well..." Mkia blushed a little and smiled, "Well... I'm getting bigger... which means I have to learn to hunt on my own soon... and I need to go out alone..." She sighed, "And I'm scared... really scared, all the time of being alone... So I need to stop being afraid all the time. So I need to practice... which means I need to learn to be alone. Because I'm sure my brother and sister would make fun of me if they found out... and mom and dad would worry... So, I need to be strong." She said meaningfully.
She had only ever told Jude that before... somehow she couldn't quite tell her own family what scared her. And it was such a stupid thing to be afraid of too... really. Everyone was alone sometimes... she was just good at making sure that never happened. But sooner or later she was not going to have a choice, and she needed to be realistic. She couldn't exactly live with her parents for her entire life, now could she?
Kyprioth settled down in the grass and regarded Mkia soberly. He thought a moment before speaking, wanting to make sure that he said the right thing. After all, he was not used to giving advice to others, but he hoped that there would be some way to help this little leopardess. After a moment, he decided to tell her the truth.
"You know, Mkia, adults are scared of things too. I've met some that are, like you, afraid of being alone. Sometimes they show the fear a little bit differently, but it is the same." He smiled a little before saying, "For a long time, I was very scared of something. You might find it funny, but I was scared of cubs like you. I couldn't explain why, but I was very uncomfortable around anyone young. And really, it stemmed from a larger fear. Rather than being scared of being alone, I was scared of not having time to be alone. I was scared of having to settle down in one place and raising a family. Recently, I've managed to deal with that fear, but I'm an adult. You are very brave for dealing with your fear now, and it isn't something you should be ashamed of."
Kyprioth smiled awkwardly, wondering if he had said the right thing. He was still unused to the paternal feelings he'd been having, but he needed to practice. If he was ever going to have to truly face his own fear, he needed to follow Mkia's example and practice. "You are a lot braver and smarter than you probably think you are," he added quietly.
Mkia, if possible, blushed a whole lot more. She had really expected to be made fun of. She hadn't expected such friendly advice, and certainly not expected to be called brave of all things. She certainly didn't feel brave. She felt like an idiot. But... it was nice that he thought so. She even thought his fear was a little silly, because it was the opposite of her own, but she didn't laugh. He hadn't laughed at her. That wouldn't have been fair at all.
"I'm not scary." Mkia offered in a friendly way, "Promise... I don't bite or anything. But I don't... you know, I'm not all that smart or... or brave or anything like that. I'm just... well, you know... I just want to make sure that when I am alone... I don't... I don't just want to go and find someone again..." She smiled at him, "Being able to be alone must be such a wonderful thing. I mean, I love being around other leopards... But I want to, really, really, want to be able to be alone. And it sounds like you really want to be with someone else." She grinned slightly, "Kinda makes us alike, eh?"
Kyprioth nodded, once again surprised by the wisdom that the young seemed to have. He'd run across it before when speaking with another young member of the Savannah. Her lack of confidence made him sad though. Kyprioth had always had enough confidence for ten leopards, though he'd been rather humbled in the past few moons, but still.
"We are rather alike, you and I. However, I had a bit of an advantage. I've been alone for so long that I know what it is like, and I've always been a bit of a wanderer, so I've never had any troubles like that before. I think though that you are doing the right thing by practicing. I that that you will end up surprising yourself with what you can accomplish."
Despite all that had gone on, Kyp still managed to surprise himself by what he said, and he chuckled softly to himself a the changes he had undergone. Perhaps if he'd managed to do this, he could face his other fears too and perhaps, maybe, he could have a family after all.
"Well, you might not feel brave or smart, but look at it this way: you are facing your fears now, making a positive effort to do so. A lot of 'wise' or 'brave' people never do that."
Mkia looked up at him and smiled in a silly way, "Really? That's nice of you to say... But if someone un-brave and un...smart... Like me anyway, can do something like this... and it's a lot harder than it looks." She admitted, looking down and smiling a little, "But I bet that if I can do it, you can too, right? I mean, you're big and strong, and you're really nice to me, even though you don't know me... and you didn't laugh. You didn't laugh and lots of others would have laughed because it's such a stupid fear. You said I was smart. So... that makes you a good person... who should share your niceness with other leopards."
She looked back up at him again, tilting her head to the side slightly, "I think that they'd all really appreciate it. Having someone who's as good as you around... you're making me feel better about something I hate. So... you're special." She said with a final decisive nod, "So if I can do it, so can you."
Kyprioth blinked a few times, unsure of what to say. Strange as it was, it had never occurred to him that others might enjoy having his company around for more than a short stay. He'd always assumed . . . that others felt exactly the way he did. A ridiculous notion, when he thought about it. He tended to focus a lot on himself. Another thing he needed to work on. His thoughts turned toward Senatla and Binafsi. Both lovely lionesses he'd spent a short time with, however both had almost wished that he could stay. Maybe . . . just maybe he could make a life with them after all. It was something to think on.
Kyp smiled at Mkia with affection and admiration in his gaze and said, "Thank you Mkia. I think that both of us have things we need to work on. But you're right. If you can be brave and smart then I can too. We'll both be brave and smart and face our fears." He paused and then added, "Thank you. You've helped me more than you know."
Mkia looked down again, blushing again, but she still smiled. He had been awfully kind to her, and she was glad she could help him. But being with others had never been something that had scared her or made her shy. Neither did saying what she thought. And she thought that Kyp was certainly a good leopard... And she wanted to do her best as well. Both of them.
"So... let's make a promise." Mkia said, suddenly showing her age as she jumped up happily and trotted over to him, "I promise that I'll stop being scared of being alone if you stop being scared of others, okay? I bet we can both do it, especially if we promise!"
Kyprioth grinned, amused and touched by her child-like behavior, but he nodded seriously. "I think that's a good idea. If we promise, then we have to work on it. And then I'll come and visit you again sometime and I can find out how you're doing. And you can check on my progress too." It was a little silly to Kyp, but really it was also a good idea. A promise to a young friend might just help motivate him to actually doing what he promised.
Sitting up straight and tall, Kyp said clearly, "I promise to you Mkia, that I will work on my fear of being around young children and others, and that I will practice being around others." And practice being a father, he added silently, but he didn't really need to throw that in. He didn't want to make the situation more confusing.
"I promise that to you Kyprioth, that I will work on my fear of being afraid of being alone. And that I'll keep practicing being alone so that I can be big and strong when I get older." And eventually leave her parents and siblings... maybe even go traveling. Yes, that's what she wanted to do. She wanted to learn not to be afraid.
She grinned up at him, "See? A promise is a promise. And when you come and see me, I'll be all on my own. Just you wait. And I bet you'll have lots of friends too." She told him, hoping that it would be true. She was absolutely sure it would. After all... her mother and father had always said that she should keep her promises.
Kyp grinned down at Mkia happily before glancing around to take note of the time. His expression turned to one of chagrin as he noticed how late it was getting. Mkia's family was no doubt wondering where she was by now, and he needed to find shelter for the night before planning his course of action for the next few days.
"Well Mkia, it is getting rather late, and I think your parents will be wondering what's become of you. May I escort you back to your family? It is the very least I can do for all that you have done for me. And now we are bound by a promise that I swear to keep."
Mkia looked up and the sky, and nodded... with quite a bit of relief. No need to start on the promise right away, now was there? "Yes... Thank you. I'm sure they're wondering where I am... And I'm sure they'd like you too, if they met you. But if you're too afraid, it's okay." That wasn't a challenge at all, more of a kind promise.
She didn't want to walk back alone... but she certainly didn't want him to go if he would be too scared of her siblings and her parents. That wouldn't be fair, especially after he had been so nice.
Kyprioth smiled. He wasn't too afraid to meet a family. After all, because of the area, it was unlikely that it would be someone he had a history with. Besides, he actually wanted to meet the family of such a smart young leopardess. He didn't doubt that the visit would be enlightening.
Kyp grinned happily at Mkia. "Really, it would be my honor to come and visit your family. I don't think that it would cause me any fear at all. Shall we?"
Mkia nodded, looking quite thrilled that he was coming with her, "We shall!" She then headed off in the direction of her family.
It turned out that being brave was quite productive after all.
