It had taken a little longer than he thought it would, but he had finally managed to find the pride lands. Or… at least what he was going to assume were the pride lands. Really, he had no idea if he was there or not, but he knew the things Kisi had described were the same things he was now seeing. It had to be because he was in the right place- it didn’t make sense that he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, yet all the landmarks were right. Of course, the trip was only supposed to take a day, and that hadn’t exactly ended up right, either. It had been three days since he’d left Kisi’s side, and the fault was entirely his. He had taken the wrong path, neglecting to remember some of the information Kisi had told him. Thus he had gotten lost. And in getting lost, had spent a lot of time trying to find his way back onto the right path.
Still, in the end, he had managed to get where he was supposed to go, hadn’t he? The real proof was in the lioness who seemed to be heading his way to meet him. She was blueish-purple, with yellow bits in her hair and dark stripes over her body. Pretty, though Kaimu thought Kisi was probably prettier.
He hadn’t spent much time with other females beyond her to have much more of a reference point in pretty and not-pretty.
Smiling at the lioness, he made sure he didn’t look remotely threatening, not wanting to look like he was some kind of invader coming into her lands looking for a fight. That wasn’t the case at all- he just wanted to see if his father was there in the pride lands, nothing more.
“Hello traveler,” the female greet brightly enough, “my name is Sikio! Just thought I would check to make sure you weren’t here to cause any trouble. Not really my job, but hey, I saw you coming so why not?” She chuckled and gave her head a slightly sideways tilt, watching the other very carefully. This was someone she had never seen before, but he was still very familiar. That marking under his eye… it almost looked like her father’s…
“Say, you’re not related to someone named Hadaya, are you?” She asked, not even waiting for him to answer her first comments. He looked a little shocked, but recovered quickly enough, offering a light life.
“Um, well, yes. My name’s Kaimu. I came looking for Hadaya… I heard he lives here now. I’m not, like, trying to stalk him or anything, I just wanted to say hi and that I still have all my toes.” She giggled, apparently aware of why that was funny, and gave a merry sort of nod that almost looked like it might give her whiplash.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t think you were some kind of bad guy- it’s cool you’re looking for him! But how are you related, if you don’t mind me asking? He’s my dad.”
Kaimu almost gasped. “Really? But he’s my dad!”
“What?!” Laughed Sikio, suddenly very excited, “so that means we’re, like, brother and sister! Different moms, obviously, but the same dad! Hahah! That’s so cool! I knew I had other family out there, but I didn’t think I would meet them coming here!” Kaimu smiled, feeling the same sort of excitement he had felt when getting to know Kisi as a friend.
“I didn’t even know he had other litters!” He exclaimed. She didn’t look much like their father, but he imagined he had much more in common with the clumsy male. No wonder she had wanted to know- the idea of having an extended family was really exciting to him. He hadn’t gotten to spend much time with his own family, mostly due to his own issues, and he was glad there were other hadaya-spawn out there he could bond with.
“Man, I heard he’s a breeding machine! He’s got a litter in these pride lands now, too. They’re super cute and you should meet them some time! More brothers and sisters for you!” She laughed merrily, her paws dancing over the dirt as she moved closer to investigate the new member of the family. They spent a few minutes sniffing and observing one another, memorizing every little detail.
They bonked heads.
Laughing, Sikio sat herself back, watching her brother with the dorkiest of grins. “Oh yeah,” she laughed brightly, “we’re definitely related.”
“So you noticed a certain amount of… clumsiness in the genes too, huh? Well, I guess that’s not a bad thing- at least I know I’m not the only one.” Kaimu smiled and sat himself down, not sure what he was going to do with himself now that he knew there were lots of Hadaya spawn running around out there. Maybe he was just being silly, but he kind of wanted to go on a hunt to meet as many as possible. After he met up with his father, he would have to give it a shot. A quest to find more brothers and sisters! But first, he would return to Kisi and tell her about the pride. About how calm and beautiful it was. Then, maybe, he could get her to come with him on his hunt. She hadn’t wanted to come when he looked for his father, but what about siblings? Totally different, right?
“If you’re here to see Hadaya, I could totally show you where he is,” hummed the female lioness, motioning for him to follow her. He gave a nod, slowly getting himself to his feet so he could follow her. He didn’t feel nervous- he didn’t have to. This was his father, and he knew he was a kind, good lion. There was nothing to be worried about.
If anything, he was extremely excited. He could only hope he didn’t explode all over him, blurting out whatever happened to come to mind. He had a habit of doing that. So, it seemed, did Sikio.
Maybe it ran in the family?
