She would never say it aloud, but sometimes Dikeledi wondered about her sister. Bahari was just so … well. Perhaps not domestic, seeing as she usually foisted her brood off on males to watch after, but it was far more domestic than Dikeledi had ever felt. And she had no idea why Bahari still let that scrungy male hang around. He was really pretty appalling. Dikeledi shook her head. She had no idea why Bahari wanted so many pups, but she supposed it was a good thing to bulk up the pack’s numbers. And speaking of bulking up the pack’s numbers … her red eyes narrowed as she spotted a male approaching her. She recognized him vaguely, but had never spoken to him. “You!” Dikeledi shouted abruptly.
Sakelo blinked at the shout. The brown hyena hadn’t really been paying attention to where he was going, and hadn’t even glanced at the other hyena where she lay relaxing. It was still early in the morning. He hadn’t expected to meet anyone, yet alone anyone so loud. He sighed when he saw the hyena rise to her paws, recognizing one of the queens of the clan. Oh, great. Zalika’s mom was pretty chill, but this lady had a tone in her voice he associated with a certain kind of woman. Well, there was no way to avoid her now. Sakelo continued trudging towards her. “Yes?” He replied, his voice polite.
Dikeledi’s red eyes were still narrowed with suspicion. She didn’t trust this stranger, for all that no one had complained about him. She disliked him on sight. But then, this was how she felt about almost everyone, so that in itself wasn’t damning. She stood waiting for the male to reach her, giving him her most imperious glare. “You’re slow,” Dikeledi snapped.
Sakelo bobbed his head respectfully, just letting her bitchiness wash over him. Okay, so he had just met her and she was giving him some kind of death stare, but it was a lot better than Zalika’s reaction to meeting him. Whatever. Sakelo could deal with sassy ladies, especially when they were lookers. He had a girl and all, but he still thought this lady was pretty fine to look at. She was all muscly and snaggletoothed, but she obviously knew how to work it. “It’s early,” Sakelo said mildly, shrugging. Also, Zalika had been keeping him up with her grueling attempts at making babies, but he figured that probably wasn’t something to share on first meeting her aunt. “How can I help you, your prettiness?”
Dikeledi just snorted at the compliment. It seemed like forever since she had met a male that wasn’t full of awkward flattery. “When a female calls you, you need to move quickly,” she said darkly, favoring him with another one of her regal glares. And now … well, now she was somewhat at a loss. She didn’t actually have anything she wanted this male to do. She had just seen him swanning yon and hither like he owned the place, and it was instinctive to shout at him. “What were you doing?”
As a matter of fact, Sakelo hadn’t really been doing anything. He’d had some vague idea of finding a gift for Zalika (so far they hadn’t successfully made babies and he had to keep her in a good mood), but that didn’t sound very productive. Sakelo shrugged. “I was going to look for something to hunt, to bring back to the females.” Sakelo said brightly. That was a proper response, wasn’t it? Nothing in there to make the queen cranky.
Dikeledi gave a scornful laugh. “You were going to look for something to hunt?” She favored the unlucky male with a withering look. No one could lower self esteem quite as well as the haughty queen. “You’re just a male. And alone,” she pointed out. “You don’t have the power to take down anything bigger than a hare.” She sniffed, showing what she thought of hyenas wasting their energy trying to chase down hares.
Actually, a hare wasn’t such a bad idea, but obviously Dikeledi wasn’t into it. A hare would have made a perfect gift for grouchy Zalika. Sakelo shrugged again. Man, this queen was tough to deal with. She was like a bigger, nastier Zalika. Obviously she needed a good guy to keep her in a good mood. It was a crying shame, really … but he wasn’t about to flirt with this lady when he was dating a perfectly awesome chick. Let alone an awesome chick that would probably skin him alive if he made eyes at another hyena. “I’m good at catching hares,” Sakelo said humbly.
Dikeledi eyeballed the male, not really sure how to respond. He wasn’t as stupid and blustering as most of her idiot nephews, or as pathetic as her sister’s consort. He was … acceptable. Hmph. A bit annoyed that she hadn’t found anything outright offensive about the male, she tossed her head and abruptly started stomping off towards the borders. “Come along,” she said imperiously. “You can’t catch anything worthwhile on your own.”
Hey, hold the phone. He kinda liked this grumpy hyena, but that didn’t mean he wanted her to come along with him. Her personality, while charming in its terrible way, was also a bit trying. He would be worn out trying to keep up with her, and Zalika would be cranky if she woke up and he wasn’t around … but Sakelo couldn’t see a way to get out of it without pissing the queen off. “Should I get the other females?” Sakelo asked hopefully. He didn’t much want to be alone with Dikeledi for possibly hours on end.
“If I wanted them, I would have called for them myself,” Dikeledi said, shaking her head. She glanced over her shoulder at the male hyena, frowning slightly. “They are busy doing important things.” She sniffed. “I could ask someone else to teach you to hunt, but you obviously need my personal attention. Now be quiet,” She harrumphed.
Resigned, Sakelo trudged after her. He supposed Zalika would mind him going off to hunt with her aunt less than she would mind him being in trouble with her aunt for disobedience.
