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 Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:52 am
He had been lying kitten-like in the sunshine. His forepaws curled against his chest, his eyes half-lidded. His tail curled up around him, the tuft whisking patterns in the sand.
Kidondo's angry roars had unsettled him for a while and he'd slipped off to hide, to wait for everything to pass. And when it seemed that he had, he'd tried to relax by dozing in the sun. Now, however, he decided that he'd had enough of hiding and it was time to go home and see what was going on. Azarax would know. Azarax always knew everything. Udd guessed that's what came of being important.
His admiration of his tan-pelted brother had grown everyday. He adored his brother more than anything, looked up to him in a way that he never had before. And yet, even having Azarax here did not help heal the hole in his heart...a hole left behind by his siblings back in his old home.
His old home. His family. There wasn't a day that passed where he didn't think about them. And, oddly, they were on his mind as he strolled back towards the den he shared with Azarax and his mate Yin Li.
He knew why these thoughts had been awakened so dramatically. It was because of those roars. He remembered the day his mother had arrived with him. Her roar. The roars in return. The panic. Yes. It was just like that day...
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:01 pm
In one day Zapaliti had felt almost the worst she'd ever felt: lonely and scared and surrounded by strangers who were so busy being suspicious and angry with each other and herself getting caught up in the middle with nowhere to go...And then she'd met Ursa, and things had begun to look up. The black cub was of the Simo (no, of the Firekin, she reminded herself. They were all the same now.) but had shown her kindness. She'd offered a place to stay the night and more, news of her dearest brother. She'd even taken her to where Uddhava lived.
Uddhava. The name was still so foreign, but it felt so good to say it. The little white cub had been content to rest in the den her brother used for a time, but when it was clear he was not there she'd begun to become impatient. The weeks apart had been long enough, and as kind as Azarax and his mate were, they were not who she wanted to see. Finally deciding she'd explode if she lay in the den any longer she set out. She could go find Ursa maybe, and thank her...Or see if she really could find Kenna's den, if only to know where it was.
She almost missed the movement out of the corner of her eye. Gold on gold was hard to see, but the speck of white and red got her attention. She froze, feeling her heart pounding in her chest. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe...Suddenly the spell was broken and she wheeled around, running towards the boy with his head held low. "...Uddhava!!"
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:09 pm
His name?
Who was calling him like that?
Wait...he knew that voice! And as he turned to see the source, he felt his heart flutter wildly, felt his chest constrict, felt a lump gather in his throat. Suddenly, he knew who it was. The voice that had lulled him to sleep. The voice that had soother him as a cub, those weeks ago before all this had happened.
His sister.
His sister was here?!
But how, and why?
His eyes fell upon her and it was like seeing a dream burst into the folds of reality. Suddenly she was an image conjured in his mind and then she was real, running towards him. He could smell the familiar scent of her fur and see the prints left behind by her paws.
He gathered his words then and pushed past that lump in his throat. "Zapaliti!" And then he was hurtling towards her, as fast as his short, little legs would take him. And as the distance between them dissapeared, he pushed himself forwards on his back legs, intending to collapse against her.
The sunlight danced in the tears of his eyes.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:26 pm
She saw him look up and recognize her, and the look in his eyes was all it took. She couldn't reach him fast enough, and then suddenly he was there. She reared up, balancing on her hind legs to embrace her brother even as he too stood. Her nose bumped his and she fell, tugging him along with her. She rolled with him in the sand, ignoring the flecks of it that stuck to her where his tears had wet her fur. Or were they her tears? It didn't matter, either way they were happy tears.
"..." She wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come. And she knew they didn't matter a moment later. She licked at Uddhava's tears, nuzzling and nipping at him. To see them you'd almost think they were newborns again, rolling and cuddling with complete abandon.
Part of her had been afraid she'd never find him. That he'd be long gone from the Simo, or worse, gone from the world. Now that she'd found him again she almost couldn't believe it. She had to keep touching him, smelling him, to make sure he was real.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:32 pm
There was so much he wanted to say. So much he wanted to ask her! But the moment he made contact, rolling with her across the sand as if they were no more than innocent carefree cubs, all thoughts were forgotten. He breathed in the familiar scent of family, felt the overwhelming memories swampign his mind. Of dark, safe den. Of parents watching over him. Of his brothers tumbling across the floor. He pulled her close, pressing his tears to her fur and pulling back to look at her.
She washed his face of tears and he gave a small, choked mewl of joy.
"You're here..." He finally breathed. "H-h-how?" And he hugged her again. His dear, dear sister.
Now, the hole in his heart was healing and one of those lost puzzle pieces had been found and slotted into place.
"You're here."
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:46 pm
"I am. I'm here..." She curled around him, still just a shade bigger after so many weeks. "I'm sorry it took so long." She should have come sooner. The look on his face when she'd called his name...What had he been through without her? Without their family?
She'd have to tell him the others hadn't come. Later. Now was for the two of them.
"I told you if you got lost I'd find you. It just took a long time." Leaving their family had been worth it. To make Uddhava so happy, and to be with him again. "I met Azarax..." She rubbed her face into his budding mane. She could smell her other brother there too, but he still smelled mostly like her baby brother. The den had been so empty once Momma had gone. The others had been mad and wanted to be alone. She'd done her best to support them, to comfort them, but without Uddhava she'd had no one to go to herself. Now she had him back, and she'd never let him be taken away again.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:53 pm
Safe. He was safe now.
"It doesn't matter." He whispered, face pressed against her fur. "You're here now. You're here now." He whimpered and nodded, remembering and feeling guilty that he had ever doubted them. He'd never thought that she'd be able to find him. Ever.
"You met Azarax?" He blinked and pulled his head away to peer into her face. "Did he tell you...what happened? Did he tell you about...about Mother?"
He hugged her close, realising then that she'd called him by his name. "Mother named me, Zapa, she gave me my name." His voice was quiet, for her ears alone.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:08 pm
Zap was glad to hold him close. "It's okay, I'm here," she reiterated, grooming between his ears and combing his mane with her teeth, something she'd become used to after...well she didn't want to think about Makaa yet. "Any time you get lost I'll find you. But you won't get lost. I won't let anyone take you away again."
She nodded grimly, her ears laying back. "I already knew. When she didn't come back...Another lioness in the pride told us she'd seen it. We all thought...I thought...they'd got you too."
Zap settled her chin atop Uddhava's head, purring faintly. "She loved you. See? I told you..."
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:13 pm
He sniffled. Happy. So happy. His sister was with him now. That was all that mattered.
"Mother...protected me, Zapa. She carried me here, so I'd be safe. Cos I don't look normal." He tucked his nose against her neck, purring. "She did. She loved me. Just like she loved everyone." It warmed him to say it, to know it.
"But Zapa, I miss her. I wish she was here." He blinked. "Where's...where's Dad and the others? Are they here too? Was that what all the roaring was about before?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:23 pm
"Uddhava," She nosed at her brother's face so he would look up, into her eyes. "I don't think you look not-normal. You're like the sun, remember?" She looked back over her shoulder, where the golden orb was setting, tainting pink in the sky. "I like you how you are. So did she. We both love you."
"I miss her too. We all did." For a moment Zapaliti couldn't bring herself to say anything about their. She couldn't lie to her brother, but she didn't want to hurt him. And he'd find out soon enough. It was best she told.
"Papan's...he's not here. He didn't come with me. The roaring...Our old pride isn't a pride anymore. Kenna...the leader, you didn't meet her, but she's here...she said we had to leave that place. Lots of us came here...but some of us didn't. Papan...he took the others. I don't know where they went."
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:33 pm
"Like the sun." He agreed with a soft smile, recalling one of their many conversations of the past.
But the smile faded as the realisation sank in. She was the only one. The others had gone. Perhaps never to be seen again. Had they cared so little? No...that wasn't it. He knew it. Azarax had told him of the differences between the prides. Besides, they didn't know he was here. How could they? Zapa had come because she was his sister and she knew him best.
He snuffled and wiped a paw across his nose. "Gone." He whispered. Like Mother but not like her. Both, however, equally unreachable - or to his young mind, anyway.
"But...we have each other, Zapa. Maybe they'll come back someday. Maybe we can be together again, just like before."
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:44 pm
Zapa nearly couldn't bear the look that came over his face as he understood. She wanted to protect him, to chase away his sad feelings. All she could do was be there though, a lifeline for him to cling to if he chose to.
"If they'd known you were here I'm sure..." No, she couldn't lie. She still had no clue to her father's real reasons for leaving, but she didn't need to. He wouldn't have come, likely. And her siblings had needed him once Momma had gone. She couldn't leave Uddhava though, and had made her choice the day she'd learned of her mother's fate.
"We do. Maybe they will, but even if they don't...I'll always be here. You won't be alone, we'll be together. And Azarax..." She was still a bit suspicious of the huge tan lion. He seemed nice, and he'd cared for Uddhava...she would try though, he'd deserved that much. "And you never know. Maybe they will come back one day."
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:45 am
He nodded. If they had known, perhaps things would be different. He liked to think so, anyway. He had no idea of the kind of hatred that his brother Rap held for this place. Saw no reasonn at all for anyone to hate this place. Politics was not something that Uddhava understood, especially when so little had been explained.
"I hope you're right Zapa." He whispered, hugging her again, enjoying that he no longer felt quite as alone as before.
"Thank you for coming for me." And the tears gathered again, tightening his throat, but not so much so that he couldn't murmer another heartfelt thank you.
His sister was here and all was right with the world.
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Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:49 pm
Zapa hurried to lick her brother's face clean of tears. Part of her was worried he was sad, though she knew he was happy. "You don't have to say thank you. I...I'm so glad you were here." Her own fears at coming here, leaving all her friends and family, and then not finding him had been whisked away when she'd seen him come over the horizon.
Once the tears had slowed she began to look him over, sisterly love making her want to be sure he was alright, had been well. "Uddhava, have you been happy? Azarax seems nice, has he been good to you?" Now that she was here she was determined to make the world a happy place for him again. He wouldn't have to be alone or hurting anymore!
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Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 1:04 pm
He sniffled, nodding softly. "Happy as I can be, I guess, what with Mama and everything." He smiled a little at the mention of his older brother's name. "He has. I don't know if I'd ever have been happy without him. He and Yin Li are taking good care of me."
He smiled. "They'll take care of you too, if you want." He smiled. "Azarax is a bit on the quiet side, but he's really nice. He understands. He understands better than anyone else does what we've lost." His ears lifted. "And he's a weird colour too." He wrinkled his nose.
"What did he say when he saw you? Was he surprised?"
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