Azubuike. Of all of her siblings, Kiongozi had found Azubuike. Nkiru liked him a whole lot, maybe even better than all her other siblings, but that was just the problem. She couldn’t bear to have him look down on her because she had done the Bad Thing, to think that she was a Bad Lioness. Lying wasn’t an option; she was too fond of the big black male to deny what had happened. He had a nice name too – Al-hattal. She’d tell her children about him, if they asked. Tell them their daddy was really big and really nice. A good lion.
Hopefully her brother would be nice too. She waited for him at the edge of the jungle, tail twitching every which way behind her. She sat with her forelegs held tight in front of her, shielding her belly from the eyes and judgment of others. If she only had daughters, she’d stay here, and that was that. But if she had sons, even just one son… then it would be her and Azubuike in the rogue lands. She didn’t let herself consider the possibility that he wouldn’t help her. It would be too cruel and too horrible to let her children die. She could die, that would be sad but all right, but she wanted her children to live. They hadn’t done a single thing wrong and she loved them so much that sometimes it frightened her.
Stupid bird with stupid directions. Azubuike ran along, eyes darting every which way. The damn thing hadn’t told him much beyond that his sister Nkiru was in trouble and needed him. Wanted to see him. The latter would have been enough to direct his wandering paws in her direction, the former was enough to send him in a near panic. And maybe he’d been too busy panicking to pay attention to the directions, but that wasn’t the point! His absolute favorite sister was in trouble and he had to help her. Even in his frazzled state, he noticed the scent of a pride nearby, but even his recent experience in the Mwezi’Johari wasn’t enough to deter him. If this was where his sister was, then this was where he was going. And he would fight any lion foolish enough to stand in his way.
Was that? At the sight of the familiar red coat, the same shade as her own, Nkiru forgot all about her pregnancy and all the rest of it. “Azubuike!” she shouted as she ran towards him, careful ruse forgotten. So what if he saw.
”Nkir-OOF!” So caught up in his worry, he didn’t even notice his sister until she had fair well tackled him. He unfurled his claws, prepared to fight, but immediately sheathed them when he realized who it was. His beloved sister, safe and sound! “You’re all right,” he said in relief, pushing her away slightly so that he could get a good look at her. No cuts, no scrapes. She wasn’t even skinny; he’d almost say she was fat. From the looks of things, she was doing better than he was – so why had the bird said it was an emergency? Was the pride holding her against her will? He’d kill them all if that was what it took to get his sister free. Or at least die trying.
”AzubuikeAzubuikeAzubuike!” Nkiru nuzzled her brother, filling her nostrils with his scent and buried her head in his great big mane so that he wouldn’t see her cry. She hadn’t realized how much she missed him until now. Just another normal sized, normal colored lion. And her brother, the best brother in the whole wide world. Dimly she wished that the Antaineira allowed males so that he could stay with her, so that she could introduce him to all of the super nice lionesses who lived there, especially Urudja who was the first lioness she had met in the whole place. A proper colored lioness and everything, mostly red like her. Really pretty.
”Hey now,” said Azubuike, not sure how to handle the situation. “I’m here now. Your little bird found me, told me how to find you. So just tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it. Did somebody threaten you? Is this pride holding you against your will?”
”Oh! No no no, everybody here is really nice, you’d like them a whole lot.” She bit her lip, not sure how to tell her brother what the problem was. That she’d done the Bad Thing and now she was pregnant. She just wanted to cry.
”Then what’s wrong?” asked Azubuike, simultaneously annoyed that there was no immediate thing for him to fix and alarmed because his sister looked like she was about to cry. He felt frantic, but there was nothing he could do.
”I’m… I’m pregnant,” Nkiru said slowly.
Azubuike felt like laughing. So she wasn’t fat after all! And this was the big emergency? They’d barely left home and here Nkiru had already found a mate. Hopefully a good, solid guy… the stupid bird must have gotten the message wrong, or maybe his sister was just all worried and panicky because of all the hormones. His father had warned him about that. Also told him to never, ever mention hormones in front of a pregnant lioness. So instead he asked, “Who’s the lucky guy? And when can I meet him? He’s treating you right, isn’t he?” He said the last with a small growl, perfectly prepared to attack any male that was less than perfect. Attack him and whisk his sister away someplace nice, somewhere he could keep an eye on her and make sure no bad males bothered her.
”He… he’s real nice, Azubuike. Really big, and… a good guy. But you can’t meet him.” She shook her head at her brothers frown and cut off his objection. “He… doesn’t live around here.”
Now he really felt like growling or sinking his claws into something. “And he just left you? Alone and pregnant?” He’d kill the b*****d.
”It’s not like that!” said Nkiru, suddenly glad she hadn’t told her brother Al-hattal’s name. Secretly she thought the big male could look after himself since he was so very big, but it simply wouldn’t do to bother him about anything. Nothing that happened was his fault. “He… doesn’t know I’m pregnant. I think he lives really far away. And… and they don’t let any males live here. It’s only lionesses, and I think maybe a few lady leopard-lions. But they’re all real nice like I said,” she hastened to reassure him, “it’s like having a hundred sisters.”
Azubuike was liking this less and less. “What’s his name?” he asked.
Nkiru let out a small growl. “I won’t tell you that! He did nothing wrong, it’s all my fault… and these are my cubs, I won’t let anyone else have them!”
Azubuike was beginning to feel disgusted. This wasn’t how it was done. “Cubs need two parents,” he said patiently. “You can’t raise them on your own.”
Nkiru looked away. “I… I know that, ‘Buike. I shouldn’t have done… done what I did. But I did and now I’m pregnant and I’m not… I’m not going to drag Al- the father into it. It’s not his fault I’m pregnant. And I already told you. Everyone here is really nice, like a hundred sisters. They’ll help me look after the cubs, make sure they don’t starve. Kind of like having a hundred aunts. And it’s got to happen to other lionesses, doesn’t it? Even the ones with mates. Accidents happen, sometimes the fathers die or get lost… that’s what happened. I met a guy and then he got lost. Somewhere out there. And he was so nice, Azubuike. You’d like him a whole lot if you got to meet him. But don’t… don’t worry about my daughters, they’ll take good care of them here. I’ll look after them the best I can.”
It was the use of Nkiru’s childhood nickname for him that did it. He studied her face. His sister, his little kid sister. Suddenly he felt so damn old. They were from the same litter, they were the same age, but she made him feel like he was a hundred years old. What she’d done was wrong, it simply wasn’t done, but… but it was his sister. His sister, alone and pregnant and she looked and smelled so frightened. “Hey,” he said gently, “I’ll stay. I’ll help you raise your kids.”
She smiled up at him, letting her relief shine plain and simple on her face. He’d stay, he’d help her. Only…
“They don’t allow any males in the pride, ‘Buike. You can’t stay here.”
”Then why the hell did you call for –“
Nkiru felt like crying all over again. “What if I have sons? I won’t have any trouble if it’s all girls, but if there are any boys… ‘Buike, there aren’t any boys here, not a one.”
Azubuike felt his throat tighten as Nkiru’s words started to sink in. No boys… Nkiru’s sons, his nephews.
“You should leave,” he said firmly.
Nkiru shook her head. “I can’t. What if it’s girls? I told you, they’d help me look after daughters. And you as good as said it yourself, I can’t look after the cubs on my own. I’m not… I’m not real good at hunting. I’m all right, I can look after just myself, but I can’t look after myself and cubs too. Azubuike, what am I going to do?”
Azubuike didn’t know what to tell her. Even with his help, it would be hard for the two of them to look after the cubs. They weren’t as experienced as their parents, they didn’t have a place all marked out.
But then he remembered. Runa. The Mwezi’Johari. She had said a lot of nonsense about castes and different jobs, but… would they let him join? Him and Nkiru and the cubs. Runa had appeared to be right enough, all strange and purple looking, but nice enough about warning him about the guard and stuff. It would be worth at least going back to check the place, see if it was a good place to raise cubs. If there were boys, if he could convince his sister to leave this place.
“I might have an idea,” he said slowly. “I know… I know a place, a place that’s just lions. Big place, lots of game. I’ll go there, I’ll see if they’ll let us join. Me and you and your cubs. And I’ll come back, I promise I’ll come back even if they say no, and I’ll help you. What you did was wrong, but I won’t… I won’t let your cubs die, Nkiru.”
Nkiru smiled in relief. Her brother would help her. It would be all right. “You have time,” she said, “the cubs won’t be due for a while. But come right back to me Azubuike, come right back to me and… and help save my sons.”
Azubuike nuzzled his sister. He was disappointed in her, but she was still his sister and he still loved her damn it. “I promise I’ll come back to you soon.”
Word count: 1869
