It had been a couple months now, since the first meeting between the brute and the curious child, and every so often, since then, Nyota caught a glance of the little cub every few days. It almost became a weekly thing, which the son of the Lord came to pester the Head Guard once again, with questions, remarks and findings that he had come up with since the last time he had come pester Nyota. It was kind of like trial and error - Kivuli got used to the world around him, with the help of Nyota's wise advise', and Nyota got used to cub dancing around his paws like the wind, asking a tirade of questions during his patrols. It was strange, watching someone grow up in front of him – every time he was blessed with another meeting with Kivuli; the cub had become more of a lion.
"Ny~oottaa" came out of nowhere, breaking the old guard's concentration, his dark eyes refocusing from where ever he had been for the last little while. Chiding himself mentally, he glanced at the origin of the voice. Kivuli. Watching him grow, meant that he was subjected to seeing him grow into his body.
"Speak of the devil, and he will appear." he murmured back, "What brings you to my side tonight?" he asked, smiling softly to the now adolescent Kivuli, his dark mane starting to fill out awkwardly around his head, always making Nyota tilt his head just a little. Mwezi'mtoto had a full head of white hair, but Kivuli had come to the world with this smoky blue excuse of a mane - then again, neither the Lord nor his Lady had the smoky blue eyes that Kivuli had either. Ah, genetics.
Returning the smile, Kivuli sat roughly in front of his old friend, smiling from blue tipped ear to blue tipped ear, his eyes looking over his friend once again. He had spent many a moon waiting for this day, he and his siblings had been challenging the idea of their futures since they had started to fill into their 'adult bodies', rank and lifestyles played in with their decisions, and after a few days of bulking himself up for this moment, he felt that he was ready to finally ask the Head Guard to follow his footsteps. It just happened to be luck on his side that his friend happened to be said guard.
"You know how we've been talking about the whole importance of one's future?" He started, eyebrows rising up as he talked, as if asking a one sided question, starting to walk the familiar trail that Nyota used every week during his rounds. "Well, I think I finally have a pretty good idea what I want to do." He ventured again, before peeking over to his friend to gauge a reaction as he waited for the reply.
A pair of dark and nearly completely shielded eyes returned the glance, devoid of any kind of emotion. If it was one thing, Nyota did a great job at not showing his emotions on his face when he was doing his job - something that Kivuli had learnt young that he was terrible at doing. When he got the soft grunt in interest, he knew that the Walking Stars that he befriended had been listening to him, at least. Lowering his eyes, he decided to go with it.
"I believe I would suit well if I were to follow in your footsteps, Nyota." he chirped up, before going to cover his statement, "Not as Head Guard, of course. I have no interest in usurping you in any way." When he finished his statement, he looked up to gauge interest again, only to be returned a glance of, what he could only assume was, shock. Well, maybe it was more annoyance, or uncertainty, but there was definitively a bit of shock in there, he figured. Lowering his gaze again, he waited for some form of verbal lashing, expecting Nyota to tell him some kind of firm no. When it did not come, and when it didn’t, he worried that he had broken his friend.
“Are you certain this is the route you’d wish to follow, Kivuli?” suddenly erupted from the direction that Nyota had been travelling, which impelled the young lion to lift his gaze once more, the shock now apparent on his face. “You do realize that this is not the life that many wish to choose – you sacrifice a safe and calm future for the possibility of anything – be it war, rogue attacks or even anything as miniscule as the possibility of trampling. This is not for the faint of heart.” Nyota chided, watching for any reaction that would deter him from agreeing to allow the youth to follow in the ways of the Guardian.
“I know of this well,” came the response, with such fervor that Nyota’s shell cracked a little more with a smooth raise of his eyebrows, his eyes lidding in uncertainty as the youth continued, “I had a while to think about it – I’ve been talking with my brother Badiri for a while now, and all though there are many options out there, I wouldn’t feel like I was contributing as well as I could here.” Kivuli bartered his arguments as bold as Nyota knew him to be. “And besides,” the adolescent started again, not willing to give the elder an edge in the conversation quite yet, “I’d bet a week worth of meals that I know these routes just as well as you do.” Kivuli boldly stated, giving his old friend a sly grin that was only reflected on the muzzle of the star-pelt.
“Fine, fine,” Nyota finally broke in with, laughing a little bit at the tenacity that Kivuli had shown in this conversation, before looking over the adolescent once more, his eyes steeling before looking away to his route once again. “You give me no choice but to think your plea over, Kivuli.” He finally stated, smirking just a little.
“Is that a yes then?” Kivuli ventured, smiling like a child on the days that the hunt had returned, his teeth gleaming off the great moon’s light, which only made the old man chortle even more, before looking to him with smiling eyes.
“That is a maybe, Kivuli. Now run along and go bother your siblings while I do the rest of my rounds tonight, for I wish for a bit of peace and quiet for once.” Nyota retorted, only be to rewarded with the same silly grin on Kivuli’s face, before a short “Yes, Nyota, you will not regret your decision!” erupting from the adolescent before he banked off in delight, leaving the old star-pelt to his devices once more.
Kivuli’s energy was infectious, and over the top at times, but it made Nyota chortle contently, happy to see that there was still a spark that burned brightly in the youth of this pride. Turning down a different bank, Nyota decided to continue his patrol, holding his story in his mind to tell in the near future.
