Charging through the trees, Nquma emerged onto the edge of the forest with nothing short of a flourish. She burst out into the open, panting heavily as her wide eyes surveyed the surroundings. Someone purple. A lioness that was purple and lean- that was what she was looking for. That was the animal she was desperate to find.
The kind cheetah had told her that this lioness might have seen her friend. Honestly, if the whole thing ended up being some kind of cruel joke, Nquma was going to give Isidomu a massive thump on the head. It wasn’t funny. She was frantic looking for the ibex, and now it was starting to get dark! It must have been hours since she had first met with Seze and discovered the ibex missing in the first place. The hunt had been long and she had yet to find any clues concerning where he might have gotten to. How was she going to live with herself if something happened to him? If he was already dead?
No. Walker had told her not to lose hope, and she wasn’t going to disappoint him.
So she started to look around, seeing no trace of a purple lioness as she walked what could be considered the rim of the forest. It felt like an eternity had passed before that changed. Finally, one thousand million years later, she caught sight of her target- a purple lioness lying down not far from her, feasting on a body. The sight of it struck fear right to the female’s very core. Was she already too late to save her friend? Walker had said she would find him again, but he hadn’t said anything about him being in one piece.
Feeling a surge of panic flooding her system, Nquma shot forward, claws gripping the earth as she raced towards the hungry female. “Hey!” She roared, “HEY! Stop! Stop now! That’s my-“ she stopped short as the female turned to look at her, the very obvious ear of a hare flopped over one bloody paw.
“Oh no, you’re not taking this from me!” The female hissed, “I already lost one meal today, and it took a long talk with a crazy cheetah for me to work up the motivation to find something else! I don’t care how big you are!”
“I-I’m sorry!” stammered Nquma, bowing her head, “I thought… I thought it was my friend you were eating…”
“I wouldn’t eat another lion!”
“No! I know! He’s an ibex! Small… brown… little horns. I think we both spoke to the same cheetah… he said you might have seen him? His name is Isidomu.” The purple lioness was clearly confused, the idea of food and hunter spending time with one another not one she had entertained before.
“Oh… I guess we did! I did see a little critter like that… I was hunting him, I’m sorry to say. BUT! I didn’t get a chance to pounce on him. This jerk of a leopard got in my way and chased the little guy off. He raced him right out of the clearing and into the forest. I don’t know where he went after that, but it looked like he was coming this way. Honestly, I kind of wanted to find him to get back at him for scaring my food off! But I guess… it was good that I didn’t eat him.” She frowned, clearly becoming aware that she had gone off on a bit of a rant. “Uh, sorry, I babble sometimes.”
“That’s okay! It’s information I need to know. Tell, what did this leopard look like? It wasn’t green and black… was it?” Oh Gods, she hoped not. She would hate to think she had been fooled by that damn Arisia! And after she thought the girl was there to help her out! Sure, the lioness was saying ‘he’ but that might have only been because she hadn’t had a good look at the critter. Genders were hard to guess, especially when the males didn’t have large, poofy manes to distinguish themselves with.
“No,” the lioness responded with a thoughtful expression, “he was kind of blue, red and black, with this really weird marking on his chest. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another guy like him, you know? Certainly not someone I’ll forget! Looked really mean, all things considered.” She watched Nquma a moment, before finally adding: “I… think you should find him quickly. I don’t know how long that little ibex would be able to out run someone like him. The guy had a crazed look in his eyes.”
Nquma nodded, a determined look on her face. Certainly she had come too far to back down so close to the end of it- she needed to find that damn leopard and either get Isidomu back, or kill the guy for taking away her only true friend. Her child.
“Thank you, miss, for all this information. I will find some way to pay you back, I swear it.”
“Hey, I’m just glad I didn’t end up eating your friend! I hope you get that guy good.”
“Enjoy the rest of your meal… I’ll be on my way now, thank you again.” She didn’t race off as she had done coming up to the female, her feet suddenly heavier than she could have imagined. It felt like the dirt itself was clinging to her, desperately trying to keep her in one spot. IT felt like she was reaching the end of her journey, and it wasn’t going to be a happy reunion after all. But… Walker had believed things would be alright, hadn’t he? Even if he hadn’t said it in that vision-y, exact way, it had seemed like he knew things would turn out okay.
All would be well.
She moved back to where she had said she would meet up with Seze. Night was falling and she had promised she would reunite with the lady. If she turned up, the two would be able to hunt down the red and black leopard together. Hopefully, they would be enough to save Isidomu.
Hopefully, it wasn’t too late.
