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 Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:49 am
 He lifted his weary head and drew in a lung-full of moist, cool air. He liked it here, he had decided. Liked the heaviness of the scent and moisture that he breathed, liked the soft ground beneath his worn old pads. It was comforting, too, to listen to the squawks and chatter of birds as they squabbled and debated above his head. They were up there now, chattering some nonsense about how many berries one could eat before making themselves sick. Kebwa didn't know the answer but he didn't much care, either.
However, at awaking, the familiar ball of grey fur was gone. Little Lu. He'd affectionately named her that from the moment they had met. She lost, weeping, all alone. He, a lonely old fool who couldn't just turn away. Now he was her grandfather and he had vowed to care for her until her real parents returned. For he had never once thought her abandoned. Merely, left behind. For who could leave behind such a sweet child? Besides that, he'd never had children of his own - not that he could remember anyway - and having her hear had given him a new lease of life.
He stretched, listening as old joints popped, and rose up onto all fours. He breathed into the mist and stepped out from the shelter of his little den.
"Little Lu?" He called. Perhaps she'd woken with one of her headaches again? Perhaps she'd gone to slake her thirst? Hmm...yes, he'd go to the water first. She'd always said water helped ease the pain.
She'd been having these headaches since the day he had met. Some bump to the head or something. She suffered with them terribly. Woke in agony or driven mad by them. She was a bright and intelligent little thing when in good health. But when those headaches hit she barely knew up from down. He worried for her health, worried whether an injury had led to her separation from her parents. He'd heard that a good knock to the head could rattle the brain. Perhaps a fall had rattled hers.
A rustle in the undergrowth ahead drew him to a slow halt. He tipped his head towards the sound, drew up both ears and gave a small huff. "Little Lu? No hiding now. Do you want to scare this old fool?" He chuckled and lowered his head a little to try and peer between the branches and leaves.
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:57 am
 She had indeed woken with a headache. A terrible, splitting headache that had driven her almost insane. She'd dragged her head across the ground, shaken it so hard that she made herself dizzy and battered it against a tree trunk until she'd almost blacked out. It seemed a silly thing to do. For if your head hurt than why aggravate it by hitting it? But somehow adding that pressure seemed to ease the hurt - if only for a brief couple of seconds.
And she had, indeed, gone to the water to drink and dunk her face into its cool, watery depths. The water here was cold and it shocked her system every time she plunged her face into its depths. But it had done her good and now that headache had receded to a rhythmic thump behind her eyes.
She knew what caused the headaches but she didn't like to say. She didn't want to worry her Babu*. She didn't want to worry herself.
The rustle in the undergrowth was her. She was sneaking back, attempting to curl up at his side before he had noticed. Sadly, however, that seemed destined not to be. He was already awake and he seemed to know it was her hiding in the bushes. She giggled and, with a little growl, leaped out into full view.
"Rar!!" She puffed herself up as big as she could, laughing merrily. "Did I scare you, Babu?"*Babu - grandfather
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:02 pm
"Little Lu!" He exclaimed, laughing hearily at her attempt to 'scare' him. He nodded and lowered himself into a crouch so he could see her better. Her forest-green eyes were so bright and full of mischief. He barely remembered what it was like being her age. So full of love and joy and innocence.
"You scared your Babu! Better be careful, Mjukuu*, because one day you really will be scary and I might just keel over!" He laughed again and with one paw, reached out and scooped her into a loose embrace. He rubbed his whiskers across her face to tickle her nose and laughed as she wriggled to try and free herself.
"Where have you been, Little Lu? Not too far, I hope. I thought I'd lost you the other day. Do you really mean to worry your Babu, hmm?" He knew she didn't and there was a playful glint in his eyes that would let her know he was only teasing. Besides this place felt safe. He doubted any harm could come to her.
*Mjukuu - granddaughter
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:07 pm
She laughed and squirmed to get free of his embrace, not liking how his whiskers tickled her nose. It made her want to sneeze! Did he want her to sneeze? She leaned back, pressed her hind legs into his chest and pushed as hard as she could, prising open his arm so she could drop. She did so a second later, falling unceremoniously to the ground.
"Oof." She winced, not liking how the motion jarred her head, then peered up at the pale-pelted lion.
"Babu won't ever be that scared of me!" She replied in a matter-of-fact sort of voice. "No reason to be." With a little purr she gathered her paws beneath her and shifted so she was standing on tip-toe. She buffeted her head roughly up beneath his chin, the purr vibrating in her chest.
"Are we doing something special today, Babu?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:14 pm
"That's right. You need to take care of your Babu. And I'll take care of you." He blinked. "Something special?" A smile appeared on his maw then and he nodded, standing and shaking the dirt from his pelt. That was the problem with a pale pelt such as his. It showed the dirt if he didn't spend a lot of time caring for it. A pain, but one that he had plenty of time for now that he was getting on in years.
He nudged her shoulder gently and indicated for her to follow.
"Your Babu wants to teach you something today, Little Lu. He may be old, may be losing his marbles, but he's not forgotten everything." He winked at her and ducked his head beneath the low hanging bough of a tree. "How would you like to learn a little about sneaking?" He paused to wait for her to catch up and tipped an ear in her direction, eager for her response.
She was old enough now, he thought, to start learning the tricks of the trade. Besides that, stealth would help protect her in dangerous situations.
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:20 pm
She followed him with a slight bounce in her step, ignoring the pounding in her head enough so that it hardly seemed there any more. It was getting easier, she realised. Or maybe she was just getting used to the pain. Either way was a good thing, she supposed.
Her ears picked up then and as he spoke she gasped, holding her breath. A second later she released it with a 'whoosh'. "You mean the art of the sakubimbi*?" Her voice was quiet, hushed almost. She'd heard so many stories of her babu's skill in stealth, in sneaking around unnoticed despite the pale sheen of his pelt.
She drew close and peered up into his silvery face, noting those faint markings there. "Please, Babu. I'm ready." She seemed to realise that he'd accepted she was getting older. Now she was going to learn skills that would enable her to move without being seen.
How wonderful!
*Sakubimbi - sneak
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:28 pm
He nodded his head towards her and indicated for her to follow again. He did not say another word then and he didn't plan to until he had reached his destination. A place where he could teach her the beginnings of becoming one with the backdrop, of becoming invisible. It wasn't a new skill. In fact lionesses had been taught it when they were taught how to hunt as youths. And yet, Kebwa intended to teach his daughter the skills not only necessary to hunt, but also to escape from danger or to avoid being seen by other lions.
Prey were easy enough once you learned the tricks. A fellow predator, however, was not so easy to avoid. But he had done it all his life and successfully and he having no child to pass on this knowledge to, he had chosen Lujayn'yue, his mjukuu.
The trees parted, giving them a clearing in which to talk in. He moved to its centre and then turned to face her before sitting down. "Okay, your first lesson, Lujayn'yue." He made sure to use her proper name to show he had entered a state of 'seriousness'. "How to befriend the wind." He paused for dramatic affect and then began again.
"Remember when I told you about how lionesses hunt? How they keep the wind in their faces so that their scent cannot be drawn to the prey? Well, the same goes for hiding yourself from lions. We have a good sense of smell and it's the main sense we rely on when locating others nearby. Go ahead, move into the trees and try to mask your scent."
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:57 pm
She did so, moving into the wind, knowing it would drag her scent to his nose. She knew the theory if not the practise. She knew how the wind carried the scent from her fur to the noses of others if they were in its path. To prey. To friends. It was how they found one another.
She pushed back into the undergrowth and began to circle around. Here the breeze was nigh impossible to feel, but she knew it's rough direction and finally found a position she thought was right. And then...she found it! Her Babu's scent! She smothered an excited giggle into the back of her paw and lowered herself into a crouch, waiting.
How long would it take for him to find her?
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:02 pm
He watched as she dissapeared, feeling his heart swell with pride as she began to find her way. He heard her easily in the undergrowth, the snapping of twigs and branches but knew that that would come later. He knew also, in his heart, that he should not find himself so attached to her.
She called him Babu, but he was not. Not really. She had a family somewhere else out there and one day they would come for her. He knew it because he didn't think she had been abandoned. He knew it because if he had lost her he would be looking for her, too. His heart constricted with sadness, knowing that someday she would no longer be with him.
But maybe that day was distant. Maybe he would have died of old age before that happened.
And then all was still and he assumed she had found the place she deemed a secret. He stood, moved to track her scent, sniffing leaves, the air. His eyes scanned the undergrowth and, quite unexpectedly, came across her forest-green pair, glinting in the morning sunshine. He gave a low grumble and smiled. "Found you, Mjukuu. So you know how it works? You see how scent is one of the most important factors of remaining hidden. You have to move as one with the wind. Move as one with the earth, too. It sounds hard now, but it'll come to you in time."
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