Enzi was happy to laze around the den with his mate every day, but it didn't happen every day so he enjoyed it when it did happen. They were laying out in the sunshine, enjoying the afternoon without any of their sons harassing them, without any of the others stopping by to visit, with just.. peace and quiet. For now, anyway. In the meantime, Enzi was laying half curled around his mate, chatting with her about recent news from her side of the family.
"Theluthi went with Nyota?" he asked, repeating some information Kafara had already given him, "That's really two losses- er- well, not losses. Two that left."
Kafara had been out to see her mother when she found out that her great-niece had disappeared, along with one of the hares that the family was so close to. It wasn't too strange for family to disperse, Hodari was gone but not without some indication. It just seemed like a big deal to those who stuck around when someone decided to leave the pride.
"Definitely, but Theluthi going is the only reason we know much about it," she said thoughtfully, "I guess Theluthi was telling Mnyama, and Mnyama told Anga but neither will tell anybody else much except that they aren't too worried about them going. My guess would be it's something about her father, Anga doesn't normally care to keep secrets. But maybe not, she just had more cubs so she might not be looking for things to worry about."
Like Kafara, Shani had got some sudden and surprising news that afternoon and was off on her way to pass it along. Tetemeko was leaving and Shani had mixed feelings on that, her nephew was just a little bit older than her, it'd be hard to really worry a lot about him that way but.. still. She was headed out to chat with Enzi and Kafara, since neither had been around so far during the morning or the earliest part of the afternoon. She wasn't shy of coming to call at their den, either. When she was getting near, she could see them and while it looked like they were having an intimate moment, it was out in the open so it didn't seem so wrong to intrude.
"Enzi, Kafara," she called out, "Good afternoon!"
So, Nyota told Theluthi, Theluthi told Mnyama, Mnyama told Anga and Anga told.. only vague details to anybody, presumably one of them was Kafara and now Kafara was telling him. It sounded like quite the chain of gossip hearing it that way, and while he was sure she had the major details, it was still something else to consider. Either way, Nyota was gone just after her mother had more cubs. It was interesting. He didn't get to say anything else to Kafara, though, because his name being called out caught his attention and he looked out to see his mother heading their way.
"Good afternoon," he called back, putting a smile on his face.
"Mmm," Kafara mumured thoughtfully as Enzi just seemed to be nodding at her and not immediately voicing his opinion on the subject, but they didn't get to go much farther with it as her attention was soon on Shani as well. She didn't often come out to visit on her own, it made Kafara wonder.
"Hey," she greeted her, smiling as well, "What brings you out here, Shani?"
Not about to force them out of any comfortable positions, Shani sat down once she was close enough to join in the conversaiton easily and smiled at the pair of them as they greeted her. Despite the somewhat disappointing news she had to pass along, it was hard not to be cheerful. It all came back to the muddled opinion she had of the entire situation.
"I was just talking to Kubwa and thought I ought to come chat with you. You two are the easiest to find, probably because of how bright Enzi is," she said, grinning at first but not so much as she continued, "Kubwa says Tete has decided to leave, he's heading out with a friend of his."
Enzi started at the news that Tete was going to be leaving, they were cousins but Tete had always been much older than him- as old as his mother, though he was, truthfully, his nephew and the grandson of his birth mother. It seemed to be a popular thing to do suddenly, leaving the pride.
"Tete's leaving?" he repeated, "What friend is he going with?"
Kafara, too, was startled by the news that Tete was leaving. It was funny how it coincided so closely with the news that one of her nieces was going off into the roguelands as well, though she was doing so on her own. Unless you counted Theluthi, and while a hare would be fine company, there wasn't much to be said for added safety. If anything it might be more dangerous trying to keep the fuzzball safe from other predators. At least in a pride they could become familiar faces that the others knew not to try to snack on.
She glanced over when Enzi asked questions but didn't add any herself, looking to Shani for the answers.
"Well, I guess I shouldn't say leaving so much as he's already left," she said, unable to hide her frown, "He was talking to his father but he wasn't going to make his friend wait forever just to go hunt for everybody to say goodbye, which is understandable in a family our size, I suppose." It would take a lot of hunting to find everybody at any random moment of the day, unless it was early enough or late enough that most of them would be in their dens.
"It was no friend we'd know, someone he just met," she said, still frowning.
"He left?" Enzi repeated, frowning. He couldn't imagine being in such a rush you couldn't say goodbye properly.. though he supposed if he were going anywhere, the most important one to talk to would have been his mother. He tried to think about the slight sting of not being important enough to say goodbye to face to face. It was nice to feel important but it was silly to overthink something like that. He couldn't even form any full opinion on the rest of what Shani said next, it was .. surprising.
"He didn't even know who he's going off with?" Kafara repeated, verbalizing the surprise that was slowly registering within her mate, "How does his father feel about all of this?" It wasn't something she could imagine doing, going off with a complete stranger.. and the idea that it happened was also somewhat unsettling to her. Her sons were old enough that they could make their own decisions, they hunted and were getting settled out on their own now. Could they just up and decide to leave one day with only a last moment's notice?
"Kubwa, well, I think he was more upset than he let on," Shani said quietly, thinking about how easy it had been to lose Kubwa once he had found and told her. But she had offered to hang out with him for a little while, it just wasn't happening without force so she let him go.
"Maybe he's still a bit stunned," she suggested.
"I would be," Enzi muttered, thinking along the same lines as Kafara, "Kafara's neice just up and left suddenly recently, too. It's funny that it happened more than once so close together. And I guess there's no way of knowing when they're just up and leaving like that. Tete wasn't acting any different, was Nyota?" He looked to Kafara curiously. Could there be some common sign they were missing? Did it really matter, though?
"No, she wasn't," Kafara said honestly, shaking her head, "But I didn't see her often enough to notice anything, I'm not sure anyone was expecting it."
Her point hadn't been to cause any concern about it, she was merely making conversation.. talking about something interesting that had happened lately. The more they talked about it, the more unsettling it was becoming. They didn't actually have to worry, did they?
"Is- is it really that big of a deal? We're happy where we are but if we weren't we could go find something else, somewhere else," she said thoughtfully, trying to see it from their perspective.
"Oh, hm," Shani made a face when she was informed about Nyota, and while it was funny it should happen that way there wasn't much anybody could do about it. She looked at Kafara when she tried to lighten things up a bit and make them focus on the bigger picture rather than their own worries about it and at once she was glad someone had said it. It was the other side of the mixed feelings she had on the subjet.
"Yes, we're being rather paranoid parents right now, aren't we?" she said, suggesting they were all wondering the same thing, "It's happened before, my sister- Vikasini, Demeter, Persephone and Uzumaki's biological mother- she left very suddenly, even though she had four newborn cubs to worry about. Persephone left quite suddenly in her pursuit, in fact. If this is what they wanted, Persephone, Tete, Nyota.. then we can try to be happy for them." She couldn't be quite happy for Ghali, though. She had gone out seeking revenge, it was what she wanted but it wasn't the same. Persephone had left pursuing the mother that had abandoned her, it isn't quite something to be happy about but..
"It's not like Vikasini, even- even if- she chose-"
But she couldn't finish that thought.
Enzi frowned, not so willing to try empathy.. until his mother started talking about all the other circumstances under which they had lost other family members. Thinking about on Ghali and Persephone's departures, even if he didn't know his sister-aunt Ghali.. and Vikasini's disappearance.. he was much more easily able to accept that maybe this wasn't so awful.
"Ok ok ok," he said, trying to draw attention away from the unhappier thoughts, "I think we can all agree we'll miss them but we can.. be happy as long as they're happy."
"I don't suppose being any more protective of our boys would end well, either," Kafara suggested with a smile. Smothering would be one way to predict the ultimate departure of a son or daughter, she figured. Or she could imagine it with some of the attitudes in their families.
"Kikimu was just by to visit not long ago, and Kimya and Kinya visit sometimes, too," Kafara recalled optimistically, even if it were about Wahabu's family and not their own families, "Perhaps Nyota and Tete will be back to visit." Hope for some of the others who had departed over time was slim, but in the meantime..
"Too true," she said, a smile returning as the younger pair took over directing the conversation and she forcefully pushed Vikasini's situation from her mind, "Perhaps I ought to go make sure Kubwa is really OK, maybe he'd like to hear some of this." Tete was all Kubwa had had for some time, and Kubwa was all Tete had had.. it wasn't quite the same as one cub of many, or one cub from a whole family.
"OK," Enzi said, untangling himself from his mate's side and getting up to say goodbye properly to his mother. He went over and nuzzled against her affectionately, then he looked back to Kafara, wondering if they might go and do something other than lay around and chat now. Part of him felt the need to go spy on the boys and he would need some helping in deciding on something else to do.
Kafara didn't move immediately- until Enzi stopped and looked at her, obviously he had something in mind for them to do now or he would sit back down with her. Smiling, she got up and went and stood by him, "See you later, then, Shani."
Shani nuzzled Enzi back, taking a moment to appreciate the fact that neither of them would be going anywhere. She could go look for Kubwa now, perhaps go check on Anya and Demeter as well, let them know what was going on.. it didn't seem like such a big, dramatic deal after a bit of conversation but everybody still had to find out somehow. And she wouldn't bother these two anymore. So she offered a farewell nod and turned herself around, heading back out to see if she could find her brother.
Fin.
