Jirachi stretched still half asleep and dopey. He opened his eyes blinking to make the transition from sleep to awake slowly. He groaned rolling from his side to his stomach scrunching his legs up underneath him. He shivered slightly looking around he was still trying to remember where he was. Slowly it all started coming back to him, travelling far, looking for the land of ice and snow…. He had found it…. Then a lioness came. He closed his eyes remembering how his knees had given out. The lioness had been there and had covered him. Jirachi’s mind got really fuzzy when it came to how he went from there to inside this den. Frowning he tried his best to remember but could only get flashes of other lions and walking… or well being carried. Groaning he rose to his feet, he was unsure if he should stay or go. He took a seat not willing to leave the den as he didn’t know where he was or who was around. Laci had hated leaving the cheetah when she stepped out of the den this morning. Jirachi had only barely woken up when they had carried him into the pride. She stayed with him in the den, which was actually her den, sleeping on and off only waking up to check his vitals periodically to ensure he was still doing okay. When dawn broke she had no choice to leave him sleeping she had other patience in the pride who needed her attention. She slipped out as quietly as she could.
Now it was a few hours later and she had managed to get around and see all her patience pretty quickly. She didn’t have many patience right now and none of them were major cases. As she approached her den she tried to slow her pace, if Jirachi was still asleep she didn’t want him to wake up because of her footsteps, and if he was awake she didn’t want him to be startled by the sound of approaching footsteps specially if they sounded like they were coming to attack. Just outside the den she stopped and took a deep breath. Before ducking in. “Good Morning how are you doing?” she asked sweetly coming in before she was even sure he was awake or there. She just wanted to approach him with a kind voice before he even saw her.
Jirachi hadn’t heard the footsteps outside the den before he heard the gentle voice of a female coming in. He tensed a reflex, he was in a den with no way out in a strange place. He felt his muscles relax when he saw the face of the lioness who had greeted him out in the rogue lands. He sat back down, “I, I am okay. I guess I owe you many thanks.” Jirachi bowed his head and closed his eyes in a moment of thanks. “Could you tell me where I have ended up?” he asked. He felt pretty sure he had to have come to the pride he was searching for, he could remember seeing a number of others when he was carried through to the den the night before.
Laci smiled warmly happy that the male cheetah appeared to be in better spirits and health today. She moved further into the den and took a seath in front of Jirachi. The den wasn’t that big but it was big enough for the two of them to sit comfortably without touching each other, but it was still close quarters. “You are in Zizimisha’Mwili” she told him. Her voice was low and soft soothing to those who were around her. “You have been travelling along time I think. When I found you, your body finally gave in to the rest it needed.” she told him. “Once you had rested a little I had members of the guard help you into the den.” she watched his face to see if any of this was registering in his memory.
“I think I sort of remember that.” Jirachi mumbled trying hard to get all the memories of yesterday to line up in a chronological order. He shook his head and looked shyly at the female. It wasn’t easy but he was going to have to accept the fact that it likely would never all be there for him. “I can’t thank you enough.” he said his voice quiet and shy. Jirachi usually wasn’t this reserved but the travels had taken all extra energy that he had.
“I am glad that i am in the Zizimisha, this is where I was heading. Other travelers told me of your pride and I wanted to see it for myself. It sounded so beautiful with all the ice and snow.” his eyes began to gain more life in his eyes. He could tell the rest had done him a great deal of good. He began to feel the urge to get out into the open and run. “I think I might have underestimated how cold it would be though.” he told the lioness with a chuckle in his voice. Just as he finished speaking his stomach let out a loud growl. “OH” he said a little startled, before he started laughing. “I guess I haven’t eaten in awhile.” he admitted to the female lion. He felt a little strange basically asking for food, he had just come to the pride and had already been so much trouble it just didn’t feel right to be asking for food to.
The cheetah’s discomfort was evident and Laci felt for him. “You don’t need to worry we have a good work force here and our fishers have been very successful this year. Why don’t we head out, we can get you something good to eat and then I can give you a tour of the pride. You have travelled so far to get to us after all, if would only be right that I give a personal tour." She winked at at him as she turned and headed back out of the den.
Jirachi watched the lioness go and for just a moment he smiled, he hadn’t seen any of the actual pride but he could honestly say he really liked what he had seen so far.
