Kidondo was tired. He would never admit it, but he was. The last few days had been hectic. He'd been patrolling the lands almost constantly, stopping only when seeing someone on the edges to talk to.
And it wasn;t meaningless chatter. Every time he'd ask questions, ponder on the possibilities of promotion or simply just get a better idea of his people. He wanted to be active. He wanted to be their friend as much as their Regent.
It was important to him that they had trust in him.
He tried to hold back a yawn but failed and he paused to sit by the oasis, looking down at his wavering reflection.
Umlilo watched Kidondo's gaze move back to the water, and when he spoke about how he didn't like it as a cub she too looked out over the water. She didn't care much for coming this way when she was younger either, even when she wasn't so much younger- but now she enjoyed that there was an easy way to find others if she needed to. Even if she just wanted to be around other lions without talking to anybody, this was a good place to just sit down and relax. She was nodding slowly when he looked over to her, and she started when she realized he was looking back at her and she turned to look at him again as well.
"I'm Umlilo," she introduced herself with a slight respectful bow of her head, "My parents are Bodaway and Kiunguza, though only my father and I remain here now." Pointless information, perhaps, but it said a lot. She wasn't sure if he would necessarily be able to place her where her family was gone and her fur was unusual for her family. She and Savitri were quite unique, though you could easily pick out their colors on their parents.
"It's nice to meet you at last. I feel ashamed to say that there are still lions and lionesses here that I have not met. I'll get round to it eventually, but it's harder than it seems and I wasn't much of the social type as a youngster." He chuckled to himself.
"We're glad to have you and your father here." He continued. "It's odd. Meeting others and seeing reflections of the past in them. I see your parents in you despite your unusual colours. You should be proud of your pelt. It makes you unique." He tipped an ear. "The royal red is so overdone, don't you think?" It was a joke, not a very good one, but a joke that was rather good considering Kidondo was all very new to this.
She couldn't help but smile again when he mentioned that he was not very social as a youngster. He had to be more social because of his position, and she was being more social now because she realized it was better for her. Her conflicting opinions of her parents was evident when she seemed to pause almost when he mentioned that he could see her parents in her, she didn't have to like her mother but she knew it was nothing she could escape. She was not her mother, and that was enough. The attempted joke put the smile back on her face, though.
"It's nice to meet you as well," she said, "I'm working on being more social myself, it's quite different going from having five other lions around the den to being by yourself, even if you didn't appreciate or take advantage of it then."
"It must be very hard." He sympathised. "We don't realise how much we will miss something until it is gone. It's always the way. We never fully appreciate what we were blessed with."
He shook his head. "There are many things I wish I had held onto a little tighter. My family, for one thing. But that is life, isn't it? Full of regret and pain, but full of hope, too."
He lifted his head. "If I can bring hope then maybe, just maybe, I will be forgiven." He was speaking of Kaanga, mainly. His beautiful, gentle sister. Her distressed face still haunted him to this day and he had not yet had the chance to sit and talk to her.
Explain to her why father had to die...
Umlilo nodded, fighting back a frown. She did not have to miss everybody, but she truly missed Wakia- and was starting to realize that she missed Savitri and Chanda. She wasn't the only sister to be generally ignored and picked on by their mother and the two 'special' ones. But having Bodaway around, and having met Azarax.. at least she had something! Her blue eyes wandered around, from the water, to her own paws, to Kidondo's paws.. what an unusual conversation to be having with him. She looked back up to his eyes again.
"Some things you just have to decide, to do," she said with a small shrug, "Not everybody will realize it at the same time, but everything that happened was for the best. At least, I keep telling myself that." Lilo did not want to lose everybody, she'd decided quite recently. Wakia would realize she was not there, would come to his senses. By his own admission, he did not disagree fully with what happened. And Savitri had been foolish enough to impersonate a slave, she couldn't imagine she fit in with the others.
"Yes. I believe it too. Everything happens for a reason. Besides, things can be no worse. I fight for what I believe in, so you must as well."
That kindly smile returned.
"Besides, there has been no sign of the traditionalists so it appears they will leave us be for now. They'll need time to recover and by the time they have we'll be too strong to penetrate. Or atleast, that's my hope."
He looped his tail around himself. "Although, there are some who are hoping they will see the traditionalists. Not to fight, but to welcome them. I still have hope that some might come to their senses." He was thinking of Azarax as he said this.
"I do, too." He replied. "And maybe one day their hopes will come become reality. Until then we must do what we must to ensure that things never return to the way they once were."
Lilo had not thought of how the traditionalists might still fight back, in her mind they were wounded and they had lost. But they were all a very proud bunch, it should not have been so surprising. Her mind was occupied with the hopes that those she missed and knew had doubts would come back, and with trying to fit in better now that she was an adult, now that she had to do it herself. She nodded once again, knowing herself that there was Azarax hoping for that, and her own father must hope that his other daughters would return.
"Hm, yes," she agreed, taking a seat by the water and looking down now at her own reflection.
He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Umlilo." He replied, not fighting against a yawn this time. His eyes felt heavy and he realised for the first time that he had not slept properly for a long time. Things would get easier, or so he told himself.
But would they?
"Whatever happens, we can only do what we think best. No one can predict the future, not even seers, I expect." Few people knew of his own seer abilities. He had refused to accept them, even as a youth, discarding them as something that could not be trusted.
Besides, he liked to think he controlled his own future and that it was not already set in stone.
He stood. "We'll work together. All of us. United at last under a common belief that change is and always will be for the better."
Seers, what a laugh. Umlilo was not the most knowledgable on the topic of seers, but she knew her mother was one and that two of her sisters were as well- and that was why they had always received special treatment. It was why Waka and Nususi were mother's favorites and why the other three were more or less ignored, and it probably had a lot to do with why Lilo was so eager to pick fights with those sisters and her mother. They obviously put more faith in seers than Kidondo did, and from all the little details she'd learned so far in the little conversation.. she had to say she rather liked him. He at least had all of this going for him, he had the pride on his side now, he had the rogues who had joined and the traditionalists who remained. The future was a mystery, but he could at least count on the pride.
Lilo was surprised to realize she was smiling again.
"Together," she repeated with a nod.
