Taban:
Taban watched the sun rise from the same place he had ended the previous day on. The cheetah had his head rested on his crossed paws, his eyes parted halfway, and his tail flicking idly to one side. The encounter with the rogue had him troubled. Not so much the lion's words, but the mention of his father.
A discrace to his kind...
His ears slowly rolled back and his eyes narrowed just slightly. He could still remember the detatched look in Korvo's eyes. The creature that had taken him as his own, the -lion- he had always believed to have been his true father as a cub didn't even reconize him...from that day nothing had been the same. Nothing impressed him, nothing was good enough. Taban was no fool, he knew what he was.
He rarely allowed himself to dwell on his personal matters. Perhaps it was the main reason he had become what he was- a tactitian, a creature with a mind for strategy and nothing else. But would his own true father approve? His mother?
Chinedu:
Chinedu frowned as he watched Taban. His father was off hunting and still seemed bothered about the rouge. He crept toward the rock, unsure if he could do anything to cheer up his 'uncle'. He decided he had to try. The cub suddenly put his paws ontop of Taban's muzzle, peering questioningly into the older male's eyes. "... Uncle Taban? How come you're so sad today?" He asked with a curious yet sympathetic voice. "Is it cause no one will play with you?"
Taban:
Taban's eyes slowly dropped down to the cub's paws and his eyes softened a bit, "I'm just thinking." He answered calmly. "You're certainly up early."
Chinedu:
"Does thinking make you sad?" He inquired with a frown. He beamed up at his trainer. "Early to bed and early to rise makes a cub healthy..uh... unflea ridden... and wise!" He said proudly with a smile on his maw. "Do you wanna play? Er I mean train?"
Taban:
Taban chuckled and lifted his head up. "Playing is just fine. There is no need to work every moment of the day. What did you have in mind?"
Chinedu:
The cub scrambled to keep his paws on his the cheetah's muzzle before landing on the ground with an 'oof.' He picked himself back up and grinned. "We could play tag but you always win tag... uhm... how 'bout hide n' seek? I'm a real good hider, Uncle Taban! Honest!"
Taban:
"Hm... I have a better idea." He glanced over his shoulder towards the rest of the troupe. Fubar alone stood awake, his ears and tail perked as they'd been last night as he listened. "Have you ever eaten a fish? Quite good, difficult to catch though."
Chinedu:
The cub tilted his head, curious. "What's a fish?" He asked starting to look excited. "You mean you're going to let me go on a hunt?! This is so cool! I bet I'll catch the biggest fish, Uncle Taban!"
Taban:
He leapt down from the rock and began walking towards the Mistweaver jungle, "It's not quite hunting...it's more like a test of skill and wit. Fish live in the water, and water makes hunting far more difficult. You can slap your paw on where you see a fish- but it will miss. If you slap your paw just to the side of where you see the fish and scoop it- you get the fish."
Chinedu:
Chinedu scrambled to follow after him and tried to keep pace with the other's long legs. He looked extremely confused. "They live in water? How do you miss if you see it?" He questioned scrampering between Taban's legs and ahead of him before waiting for him again.
Taban:
Taban chuckled, "Well... back in the first days, they say that all the beasts were given a choice to choose their form. Bird and fish never got along, they were always competing one against the other. When the time came for them to choose, bird asked for the ability to rule the skies. When the creator gave him his wings, bird gloated by flying around the land in a single day. When he landed, he said to the fish-
'Behold my gift! While others cross the earth and all her trials- the desert, the mountain, the grassland, and the swamp I soar through the endless sky with only the wind to hinder me!'
For days fish pondered his own form while watching bird soar through the skies. When the time came for fish to choose, fish had one simple request-
'All creatures are at the mercy of the wind.' He said, 'The beasts that walk the earth must draw breath to live. The land is shaped by the wind, from the highest mountain to the lowest valley. Even bird is at the wind's mercy, for where it is stale, he cannot fly- and he too must draw breath. I wish not to rely on the wind for my breath, but the water- for water shapes the land, water travels accross the land, and water stales the wind over its vast seas.'
And so fish was given the ability that none other had even considered- the ability to live without the wind's rule. In doing so, fish was given the largest territory of all, for water surrounds all land, moves through the rivers into the lakes, flows from the mountains...and it is the great water that stales the wind."
