Lindani coughed loudly, walking alongside Damu at a slowed pace. Ever since the duo had snatched up what they had named the "sun stone" his wheezing had increased and his ability to eat food lowered. Damu was concerned for his health but Lindani was simply stressed, nervous. He felt butterflies in his stomach with each passing moment.
They had traveled a long ways to reach this place. This... Kwa. Kikombe. place. His daughter lived here, they had learned this from another vision Lindani had in where the leader was involved. He mentioned the pride's name and since then rogues and travelers had been kind enough to point them in the right direction.
Damu had him had grown close in this time to. They had shared many adventures, crossing rivers, dodging gators, and of course Damu sharing her thrilling battles and adventures of the past. Lindani was amazed with her really. Damu had gone so much for being so young. He... He had spent his youth in misery. He was still in misery. Damu had really aided him in moving on, keeping going, and reminding him of what awaited him at the end of their travels.
His throat felt parched, he gulped his saliva to prevent it from drying out. He knew she'd be here. He knew. His daughter. His living blood, his only family left. She was here, she was alive, she was waiting for him. It filled him with a nervousness and excitement rolled into one. Damu sensed this. She bumped him lightly and earned the cheetah’s undivided attention. ****
"Hey." She told him. "It's going to be alright."
Damu in a way loved Lindani like a sibling, a relative. A great uncle three times removed. She had spent all this time travelling with him, getting to know him, his secrets and share some of hers in return. They were friends, a title she would not say applied to every creature she was friendly with.
As his friend, Damu owed it to Lindani to be supportive. He risked everything in meeting his daughter. Rejection, failure, denial, confusion. For all they knew Leilani did not recall who Lindani was at all. At best he was going to receive a heart felt reunion. At worst she was disgusted by him, she wanted nothing to do with him at all.
Damu herself was even nervous. Lindani had gone through so much, and all this time his daughter had grown without him even knowing. He had thought she was dead, and the leopardess hoped dearly she would understand this. The poor guy had suffered enough, but if he was to suffer more then Damu would do her best to comfort him. She trusted him and he trusted her, they were friends.
Friends don't abandon one another. That was what Damu thought at the very least.
She smiled at Lindani, a true smile. An actual smile that her face allowed her to express. "I'm right here, don't worry about if anything goes wrong." She doubted that Leilani would try and attack him, but she had been attacked for less before. Anything was possible, and maybe it was that alone that was the scary part.
It was then that Leilani, as predicted, arrived. Damu was no seer, but she was observant and had guessed that if she was "training" like she had been in Lindani's vision, here was the perfect area to do so. She was glad that she had been correct.
---
Leilani wasn't nervous or scared or anything like that at all. If the female cheetah had a reason to be scared it was because she sucked at being a goalie. But she was improving. Aka and Kala were good, they were helpful and they were nice about her failures.
She was glad she knew those two boys were so supportive. Barawai obn the other hand, she didn't know how to react to him. He was nice...ish. Okay, so he maybe wasn't all that sweet. But she was his friend! So when he had started complaining about her being on Aka's team she could understand why he was angry.
Still, Leilani wasn't upset! She was okay! She was fine! She was... Staring at two strangers!
The cheetah with red on her face stalled in her tracks. Silly her! She hadn't even noticed she was about to run straight into two new guests at all. They must have thought she was ditsy because of that, but Leilani payed what they thought no mind. She needed to be polite and nice and kind, like she had been taught.
"Hello!" She called to the duo. A very beaten up cheetah and a leopard lady they looked to be. When Leilani got closer she confirmed what she saw. "Welcome! These lands belong to the Kwa Kikombe, are you here to watch some games?" She asked. "Oh, I'm sorry, in case you didn't know Kikombe is the main game played here. You are welcome to stay as long as you like here." She beamed happily.
This... This was no doubt Leilani. He recognized everything about her. The red streak on her face was from her mothers side of the family, and all those spots were most certainly his...
"It..." 'It's really you!' He thought as tears jerked at his eyes. All this time he thought, no, he doubted that his vision was of the true time as it was now. He never allowed himself to truly think she was alive. She thought maybe it was a cousin, a distant relative that her mother never shared with him. But no. He knew now, in this moment, that it was her.
"Lei... Leilani." He spoke her name for what felt like the first time in weeks. He wanted to just nuzzle her face with his own, confirm for himself that she was here. That this was no vision, this was reality. This was...
The now.
"Yes!" Leilani laughed. She thought nothing of it that the stranger knew her name. She figured he was friends with Aka, since Aka had been around longer then her. Or maybe friends with Kala or maybe they had heard of her because their little team was getting famous.
She knew nothing, and looked at Lindani like she looked at everyone. It never clued in that they looked similar in a way that wasn't coincidence.
"Yes, that's me!" She giggled some more. "What's your names?" She asked innocently cocking her head to the side.
Lindani's heart sunk. It was one of the worst possible outcomes he imagined that could occur.
She didn't remember him. Not at all. She looked at him as a stranger, not kin. But then, why would she remember? The fire was devastating, and it happened when she was so young. Lindani could remember seeing one of his cubs, one he thought dead at the time, under a tree branch at the boundaries of the forest as he ran. Was that Leilani, or was it one of her siblings?
She survived, that was all that mattered. Lindani gulped down the idea that she had forgotten him and smiled at her. But words did not surface, only the tears at his eyes as he blinked them away stuttering. "I... That is-... My... Name."
"Lindani." Damu took a step forward. "I mean... That's his name. He's kind of shy." She lied to Leilani, her face of stone aiding her in this fib. Well, it wasn't untrue to an extent. Lindani from what Damu had seen was shy and embarrassed of himself. But here? His daughter was right there and didn't understand who she was facing.
But Damu would let Lindani gauge the conversation. If he wanted to tell her who he was he would. If not, then Damu would help him cover up the secret.
Looking at Leilani for the first time, as a person, Damu was charmed. She was nice, Lindani might not have raised her but she was happy here. She was joyful. She was... Everything he wasn't, yet more connected to him then she'd ever know.
It was almost disappointing. At least that's how Damu saw it. Just sad and sad it was. "My name is Damu. We are wanderers. Would you mind telling us about this place?" She asked, partly out of her own curiosity and partly to let Lindani be near his daughter for a little longer. Because he was running out of time to come out with the big reason they had come to begin with.
Leilani smiled at the two. That... Lindani, he seemed out of it. He seemed ready to cry, though she imagined if she had been beaten as badly as him then she'd feel miserable too.
"Of course!" She looked between the two merrily.
Then, she explained the pride. The way it worked. The way it ran. All the while oblivious to Lindani's sulking right in front of her. He hurt more the further she went on and Leilani saw none of it. She as a matter of fact did not even notice the light frown of Damu's expression. She saw two strangers curious of the place she lived. She just didn't get it.
She didn't understand. Many reasons stood for this, her trusting nature, her pride of good people. Perhaps the most influential was her upbringing however. Because as far as she knew, she had no parents at all.
The name Lindani meant nothing to her.
Wordcount: 1,513 words
Lindani: 539
Damu: 524
Leilani: 549