It had been a long time since she had thought about family.. hers or anyone else's... as a rogue she didn't tend to come across to many 'happy families', as it seemed most rogues lived a fairly harsh lifestyle. Yet the thought of her family, of possible relatives doted somewhere across the vast plains did, on occasion, enter her mind. She wondered if that was what kept her wandering, on some obscure, rarely thought about level. Maybe, maybe not.. who knew? Certainly she did not. All she knew was that the wind called, the sun shone and rose her heart up with a love of life and experience. The sheer joy of living made her soul sing.
So, maybe it was family, or maybe it was something else, something unexplained and unexplainable. All she knew, was that she was happiest when she was moving. And that was how her life had always been, and likely always would be.
Dust rose about her, settling over her rich blue-black coat and helping her to blend into the dry brown-yellow of the savannah. She had been stalking a small herd of ibex for several hours and now the sun was high above her, making the dust stick to her fur in sweaty streaks as she slowly baked. The spindly-legged creatures didn't seem to be suffering quite as badly as she was, their lighter coloured coats offering some protection from the blinding heat. The cream, brown and honey tones swam in front of her, a moving sea of food that made her salivate. Suddenly something far darker caught her eye, a flash of black in all the dead brown grass. Craning her neck without moving the rest of her well-hidden body, she peered to the side where she had spotting the out-of-place hues. A miniature version of her own life and death struggle was taking place just yards away as a pitch black raven stabbed its beak into a shallow hole, clearly seeking the small rodent trying to hide inside. The sudden squeal of mousey pain spoke of the bird's success as she pulled the wiggling ball of fur out of its not-so-safe bolt-hole. Within moments the fight was over, and the raven started tearing hungrily at the carcass. Watching reminded Kyoko of her own objectives and she was about to step past when an almighty roar sounded from not so far away. The herd she had been carefully stalking panicked and fled away from the sound, and from Kyoko's hiding place. Sticking her head up above the grass with her own deep growl of rageful frustration, she shot a murderous glare towards where the two huge males were facing off, arguing over territory or some female no doubt.
Pulling her sweaty and stiff body upright back onto her paws and stretching out her stiff legs, she curled a lip in the males direction with a sigh. "A whole morning wasted....." She grumbled under her breath, catching the attention of the two birds to the side, as a white eagle had joined the raven. Feeling eyes on her she glanced over and frowned at them, for both were staring intently at her in that habit all birds possessed. Then they turned and looked at each other, confusing Kyoko even further. Eventually the raven ruffled her feathers and peered between Kyoko and the eagle. “Well…” The raven, who was evidently a female, frowned at the larger bird who was clearly her mate. “Are you going to ask her or shall I?” She quipped, turning to face Kyoko fully once more. Yet just as she opened her beak to say whatever it was she wanted to, the male sighed and beat her to it, regarding the lioness with pale blue eyes. “We are seeking the Kizingo-zaa pride… do you know of them?”
Tilting her head she frowned thoughtfully, trying to recall the name. While it was faintly familiar in that she knew it was a pride of lions, she had no actual clue about who they were or where they lived. Slowly she shook her head, regret spiking through her chest at their crestfallen expressions. “I’m sorry.” She added, somehow feeling guilty for not knowing. Shaking their heads the female raven smiled faintly, though her rose-coloured eyes remained haunted. “Thank you anyway. We must be on our way…” With another glance at each other the two birds took to the wing simultaneously, the powerful beats of their wings raising twin spirals of dust. They started to wheel away overhead but suddenly the eagle banked, followed by his darkly feathered mate to skim low over her head.
“Might want to run.” His gruff voice called from above as he tipped his wings and wheeled again, indicating a rather large dust cloud headed towards them. Spinning she stared at the cloud in confusion, then slowly trailed her eyes down to the base and squinted. The two male lions that had been duelling earlier were now in a full out battle, the looser retreating even as he kept up his attacks, and the pair of them plus some hanger-ons, were now headed directly towards her. Growling under her breath she nodded to her unexpected early-warning system in thanks before launching herself into a long-striding run. She was a long way from her own territory, having left her usual stomping grounds in order to follow the herd. Now she only had one destination in mind, a tall rocky outcrop she had spotted some time earlier where, she hoped, she would be able to find a small enough space to hide away in.. somewhere only she could fit and not an enraged lion looking for an outlet after losing a battle.
Distantly she was aware of her two new companions flying just a short way in front of her, evidently having seen the same thing she was thinking off from their vantage point in the sky. Only once did the raven call down a warning, spurring Kyoko to greater speed as the three of them raced towards the relative safety of the outcrop. They reached the rocks just in time, with Kyoko scrambling up over the smooth boulders and wedging herself deep in a narrow crack as the running battle caught up with them, the vanquished male in full flight, roaring his anger as he came. The victor had quit the chase and had returned to his pride, triumphant and over-excited. Kyoko almost envied those females at that moment, as they did not have a highly dangerous male roaring and snapping at the opening to their hidey-hole. Ordinarily she would have faced any male stupid enough to attack her, but this one was fresh from a bloody battle and half mad from the humiliation of losing. No way was she going to be the sacrifice he was demanding for his ego. Scowling she hunched her body back further into her crack, glaring at him as he started to claw at the rocks around the entrance.
Suddenly twin streaks of white and black started to dive-bomb the crazed male from above. Their sharp, angry screeches almost as painful in Kyoko’s ears as their beaks looked each time they stabbed at the male’s thick skull. Finally, with a maddened roar, the male reared back, batting at the air in a futile attempt to hurt his two tiny attackers. Then evidently deciding to preserve what little pride he had left, he turned tail and made a show of walking slowly off the rocks before moving into a lope and vanishing into the distance, trailing a small cloud of dust and blood.
Only after the dust, both proverbially and physically, had settled, did Kyoko squeeze herself out of her crack and shake her fur free of its layer of dust. The two birds had settled on a boulder near by and turned to look at her as she emerged. “Are you alright?” The raven asked, peering at Kyoko’s dust-coated body. At the lioness’s nod, the two birds said their goodbyes and finally took to the skies once more to resume their journey, winging away into the cloudless blue to be lost in the sun’s unrelenting glare. Smiling faintly she watched until her eyes watered, finding herself sending up a silent thought to the gods that the two avians found the pride they were looking for. Finally she herself turned and started to head back home. She would simply try to hunt again tomorrow…
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