WC: 1127
Apini touched the flowers with his paws. Some were starting to wilt with the dry season, but for the most part, the garden was intact and functioning well. He wondered if he could get some of the gatherers to bring water to the area for the less hardy flowers.
He hummed softly, tending to the gardens and checking on the bees.
It was a nice day, a bit warm. Fog had lifted quite early in the day, and Apini had enjoyed the nice weather as it came in. There hadn’t been many patients in through the pride in a while, so Apini could spend his time relaxing and tending to the bees.
The cheeton hummed softly, the bees buzzing softly around him. Occasionally, they would land on his face and body, a meer tickle. He was sure if it was anyone else, they would have been stung.
Or perhaps, not anyone else, he noted as Nanaa approached him.
Nanaa approached slowly, mindful of the bees. She had been gone for several weeks, out in the fields around their home. She had wandered pretty far this time, far past the borders of a nearby pride.
She was quite fortunate that she had, and was able to aid a female lioness back to her homeland. The wounds on the other lioness were concerning, but she was home now and that is what was important.
“Welcome back, Nanaa,” Apini said softly. He bees hovered around his face as he spoke, and even more settled into the short, fluffy partial main around his neck.
The pink leotah smiled back. “Thank you, Apini,” she said back, settling close to him. The bees began to make their way towards her, investigative and curious. She could feel them tickle her ears and nose, but tried to pay them no mind.
She didn’t want to get stung after all, the bees could be fiercely territorial.
“How was it out there?” Apini asked curiously, leaning forwards towards Nanaa. She always had interesting stories to tell, after all. Something always happened when she was out and about.
Nanaa gave a small nod.
“There was a lioness,” She said, softly. “Her name was Ahna, and she was a merchant.” While none of her family were merchants - it wasn’t really a rank in their pride - they did have caravans. Her birth father had been speaking of going out on one.
“She’d been attacked, by a group from another pride. She couldn’t give me many details, and I didn’t want to press.”
Apini tilted his head, ignoring the bees that scrambled around for purchase or flew away entirely. “Another pride?” He murmured. “Was she sure it was another pride, and not just a group of thieves or bandits?”
Nanaa hummed. “I didn’t see them personally, so I can’t say for sure. Maybe there was something about them that marked them as a member of a pride she knew,” Nanaa shrugged with one shouders.
Apini frowned anyway. That was… concerning…
“Are you going to tell Miss Kilua about it?” He wondered aloud, and Nanaa nodded to that as well.
“Better safe than sorry, and all that. It wasn’t that far away from here, and I don’t want anything to happen, but maybe I’ll tell Asha first?”
Asha worked closely with her father, and she was practically Kilua’s right hand and her biological father’s best friend. She was more comfortable with Asha, even though she herself worked closely with Kilua for her training.
Apini tilted his head curiously but nodded anyway.
She didn’t want to do it now, though. It could wait, and she was tired from her travels. She didn’t expect Apini to comment on it though.
“Did you come straight here when you got back?” He asked, looking at her closely. She gave a sheepish smile in return. Apini just looked distressed though. “You’ve got to be so exhausted!”
Nanaa gave a small chuckle, and smiled. “I missed you, I had to see you first.”
Apini flushed, raising his paw to stop the pink from showing through the pale fur of his cheeks. Nanaa chuckled softly, shifting a bit closer to the cheeton, nuzzling him a bit. It was quite a bold move, but she was so tired she didn’t really care much for formalities.
She’d back off if Apini showed any sign of discomfort or asked her to back away.
“You should really rest,” he mumbled softly, voice still tinged with embarrassment. Nanaa pulled back at that and sighed.
“How about you take a nap with me,” She offered.
Apini sputtered, off guard with the declaration. Nanaa just smiled at him though, at ease in her confidence. She had been raised with essentially three parents, all bolstering her confidence and encouraging her.
Apini had come to the pride alone, as an adult, with no one to really give him the confidence he needed to take the world by storm like Nanaa was. She couldn’t help but like the quiet charm and the ease in which he became flustered.
After a few beats of Apini not answering her, she stood, nudging him a little at the shoulder.
He would follow her if he wanted to. She wanted to sleep at the river, away from the majority of the bees. As much as they tended to stay calm around Apini, she slept better without the constant hum of them.
Thoguh a few would always flutter around Apini. She didn’t mind that so much.
She settled at the river, looking over at the slowly moving water that trickled away from them and towards the ocean. She had walked the length of it once to the end, and was happily surprised by it.
She settled into the soft loamy sand at the shore of the stream, looking out into the water. She smiled when she heard the tell tale sign of Apini approaching her.
She patted the sand near her belly, inviting him over.
Traditionally, her species tended to be smaller than his, but Apini was small and delicate in his own right. He flushed at he tucked right up against her belly. He was smaller than her by a bit, not so much that it was awkward, but Nanaa had been fortunate with her genes.
She could feel Apini tremble a little with nerves, nearly buzzing like one of the bees he coveted. She hummed softly, pressing her face close to his.
“Calm down,” she soothed. “Only a nap, for now, we’ll see where it goes from here,” she promised. She laid her head down across his shoulders, and he laid his head down across her paws to keep his nose out of the sand.
They weren’t sure who drifted off first, but eventually the pair dozed off into a sweet slumber.
