Kaleo broke cover, throwing himself after the surging herd of wildebeest that was streaming across the savanna. His young muscles bunched and stretched as he pushed himself up to their speed. He and his friend had been watching the herd all night, and now at the break of dawn their plans had gone down the tube. Something had spooked the animals far up the plain and set the whole herd running. The few they'd carefully picked out had been lost in the sea of bodies, and so the plan had simply become 'catch something' so that they wouldn't go hungry yet another day. Two lions wasn't a very big hunting party, they'd failed several attempts before, but surely one of them would get something this time.
He closed on one of the terrified animals and lunged at it with a bellowing roar. His teeth sank into the rump and he tried to drag his hind legs to slow the creature. It thrashed, bucked, and he felt a flash of pain as one of the animal's hooves connected with him squarely in the chest. He felt the air all rush out of him, and he clenched his teeth in pain (luckily making his grip that much stronger on the animal). Hopefully Alba would catch up quickly...or maybe she'd already taken one down and was waiting on him? He was to hungry and stubborn to let go, instead being dragged after the still frantic beest.
Luckily for Kaleo, Alba had been watching and as he broke she broke with him. She cringed as she heard the beasts hooves connect with her friends chest, but when he didn't let go she knew she couldn't let him down. Diving around the slowed animal she lunged for its front end latching her teeth on to its throat.
She was so glad that she wasn't alone out here. She thanked her lucky stars on a daily basis that Kaleo had waited for her, just like he had promised and that together they were travelling the world outside of the safe and soggy swamps. She certainly missed the swamps and it's delicious amphibian population. The red meat was hard to capture out here and it hadn't agreed with her for several days after they had left the swamps. She was getting used to it now though her heart longed to find the name it so desperately needed so that she and Kaleo could return back to the safe haven.
Back to the moment at hand she felt the beast buckle under her weight, her jaws clenched on the throat of the creature they had so painstakingly stalked for the whole night. It wasn't a deliciously juicy frog but it was a meal and she was going to enjoy it. Keeping a tight hold on the beasts throat she waited for it to stop kicking.
Wincing in pain (he'd surely be bruised for days to come, and tender to boot) Kaleo was all too glad to see Alba come dashing up out of the corner of his eye. He felt the beast react to something--she must have gotten a hold on it! He felt a surge of pride. Alba was so strong, when she was brave enough to be. He knew she could do anything she put her mind to. Of course, now wasn't the time to sing praises. They had a beest to down!
Unlike Alba, he found the red meat of these creatures utterly to die for. It was rich and heady; and true, it had made him feel ill the first time they'd caught something, but it just tasted so GOOD. And it was WARM. Frogs and fish were good too, but they were cool, and sometimes mushy. He wished they had this kind of food back home, but he doubted these animals would thrive in the swamps.
He felt the beast finally go down, and he moved to put more of his body over its thrashing form. They were so close, he didn't want to lose the meal now. Eventually it lay still, and panting he let go of its rump. There was blood on his muzzle and his chest. The rock hard hoof had sliced the skin as well as bruising him, but he didn't feel too bad. Thank goodness his mane was coming in, it had sheltered him somewhat. He looked around to Alba, pride in his eyes. "We...we did it!"
Slowly unhooking her jaw from the creatures throat the young golden lioness smiled weakly. She felt tired, it had been a hard kill but it was a huge one and they could feat for days on it as long as they could protect it from hyenas. She smiled proudly spotting his chest though her face dropped. "Oh Kaleo! It got you!" She rushes up to him and without a moment's hesitation she started to groom his chest cleaning the blood from the wound. She paused as soon as the blood was gone from his chest and blushed deeply.
Looking up shyly the young lioness smiled a little embarrassed smile, she hadn't realised just how close she was to her companion until just then. "It doesn't look too bad." She squeaks, "I think it needs to be covered, it might get an infection." she whispers pulling away from him and pondering what she could use to cover the wound on his chest.
If she was in the swamps she would have used the clean mud and slathered it over the wound to seal it from flies and infection, but out here she had no idea what to do. It made her miss home all the more, even though these days, she knew home just wouldn't be the same without Kaleo in it.
Kaleo bit back a reassuring word when Alba saw his wound. It really wasn't bad, but her eagerness to help him out, and her clear worry over his condition somehow made him really happy. He let her clean it, grinned at her blush, and then licked her nose. "Thank you Alba. You take such good care of me. It'll be fine, I think, but if you want to do something to it I'll let you. Mom used to use mud and those big wide leaves back home for scrapes, but I can't think where we'd get them out here. I bet we can find mud though, if we can find a watering hole. Would that be good?"
He was still as chatty as ever, though lately he'd been worrying it was putting off Alba, and tried to reign himself in more. There was something special about her, and he had determined to take care of her. He couldn't do that if his talking drove her away! Not to mention he'd really miss her company if she left. He bent to check the beast (and flinched as the muscles in his chest moved under the wound) and smiled. Definitely dead! And smelling delicious. "We should probably drag this out of the sun, maybe under some trees or something. I think I'm too heavy to climb now, but maybe you could still get it up one if I helped? Remember we saw that one leopard doing that? It seemed like a good way to keep the food safe. You think?"
"You look after me too." She whispers poking at the creature they had caught keeping her gaze on their food and willing the blush to leave her cheeks. Kaleo was so sweet, she loved how much he spoke and how he cared about her so much, and how just that little lick to her nose made her feel on top of the world.
She smiled softly and let a little giggle roll out between her lips. "Yes, it's a good idea. I think we can get it in to a tree together." She was certainly ready to take some of the gamey meat and her stomach let the world know with a loud grumble at which she yet again flushed. Her stomach was so embarrassing! "There's some good ones over there." She whispers pointing with her nose "It'll weigh less after we have eaten too." She smiles and flickers her ears "I could eat a hundred frogs right now." "Do you wanna get the front or the back?" She asks, trying to change the subject to anything but herself and hoping that some manual labour would make her blush just go away, it was making her feel very silly in front of Kaleo.
Bah, she was just too cute. Kaleo loved that little blush of hers. They'd been living together for weeks, months now! And she still acted like they'd just met. He thought of her as a best friend though. Someone to go to when ever he needed a kind word or some help. And of course he'd do the same for her. She was so shy, he hoped that she would warm up eventually. He felt right now that if he told her his real feelings she would be unable, or unwilling, to accept them. But he could be patient. He was learning that she was worth it.
"Yes, that sounds good. We'll take it to the tree, then eat, then take what's left up it. I grabbed the back end before, so I can take it now too, unless you'd rather take it? It might be hard to take the front, I guess, so actually I'll do that. It might be dead, but those horns are sharp. And it's my job to look after you after all!"
She nods and grabs one of the hind legs in her mouth. She was still worried about his chest wound but she had no idea how to fix it out here. This just wasn't the swamps. She had no idea how to survive properly out here, she just didn't know what she would have done without Kaleo.
When they got to the shade she dropped the creature and padded up to Kaleo again checking his chest she groomed his chest quickly, he would be so sore for days and she had no way to make it better, it made her feel weak and feeble. She wondered why Kaleo looked after her she was so useless sometimes. Looking up at the dark maned male she smiles softly. "I think I could probably get it up in these trees once we've eaten. you should rest, or at least sit still so that your cut heals up."
"What would I do without you, if you got sick?" She whispers a worried look in her lilac eyes, she really was very worried about Kaleo, she didn't want him to get sick, she just knew she couldn't survive without him, out here or at home. "We have to find our names together remember and go home? So you have to rest and not get sick okay?"
He managed to get a grip on the neck of the beast and with Alba hauled it away. His chest did hurt, but it was bearable. And this was something they had to do, after all, if they wanted to eat a few days off it and not worry about hyenas or buzzards. He dropped it eagerly and was about to dig in once they reached their spot, but his way was blocked by Alba. It felt good to have her tend the wound--her licking stung, but in that good healing way. "Aww now, don't talk like that. I'll be fine. Something like this isn't gonna keep me down. And what kind of protector would I be if I let you haul this thing by yourself? Or what if you strained yourself moving it? Then we'd both be stuck. No, I'll help. But first, I'm gonna eat!"
He licked her nose again and then dug into the still-warm food. Oooohhhhh it was so good. Frogs had nothing, NOTHING on this. Alba disagreed, but that was okay. It just meant he wouldn't mind giving her all his frogs once they were home. "Of course we'll go home. Soon, I bet. Have you had any thoughts? I wish it wasn't so hard to figure this out. I know you miss the swamp. This place isn't bad though."
The young lioness smiled, she had to concede to him and she turned her attention to the food, she was hungry so the warm bloody meat tasted good, it just wasn't nearly as good as a good haul of frogs or little newts or even the lizards and snakes. Ah she missed the swamps. "It's only a nice place because you're here too." She whispers her cheeks burning as she said it, she hadn't meant to say it but it was how she felt.
The subject change was welcome and she gave a soft nod un-burying her nose from the red meat "Something to do with the sun and the ground. I just, It's there on the tip of my tongue. I'll have it soon." She whispers, she knew the name was just around the next corner, she knew she would have it and Kaleo would find his name too and they would go home together and she would be..She wasn't sure what she would be, she wouldn't be happy unless Kaleo was coming with her. She needed him now and she knew even when they went home she would need him. He was a part of her life.
