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 Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:06 pm
It was early evening, and Mvumo was wandering along the borders of the Pridelands. There were too many rumors of danger lately for him to sleep easily, and the only way to avoid worrying Aadil was to take his son out for a "hunting lesson". Truth be told, he was a bit anxious about teaching Kipanya anything, since he had never needed to be a teacher before. But the youngster who had once been named the "mouse" for being so tiny was now tall enough to reach his shoulders, and a mane was growing in where once there was simply cub-fur. Kipanya and his brother were growing old, and that meant Mvumo was too.
The dark brown lion turned back to note his son, like a shadow, following him. But that was not a good thing, for wasn't he this same age long ago when the Firekin, the cruel creatures of the desert, took him to be a slave? Mvumo didn't want Kip following that same path. It was time to force himself to speak to his son.
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Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:15 pm
The adolescent followed his father like a shadow, trying his best to step in the footprints that Mvumo made in the grass. It was a rare thing indeed that he got to spend this much quality time with his dad, and it excited him.
Kipanya was not a shadow in one crucial way; he had plenty of things to say, and he was going to take this time to play the game he had played since cubhood with his dad. It was a game called get Dad to say more than three words, and Kip usually won by asking his Dad how much he loved his mother, brother, and him.
It didn't bother Kipanya that his father spoke so little, since his mother spoke as much as he did, and it wasn't as if there was a lack of pride members to speak with. What did bother Kip was wondering what his father was thinking all the time. Why was Dad always happiest when storm clouds were visible? What had happened to him to make him so silent most of the time? What was Dad really like before he was Dad?
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:23 am
Mvumo paused when he reached an area that was quite familiar to him. If he ventured much further on, they'd reach a thorn patch, a desert, and danger for the two lions. But here...here was safety. Here...was a very familiar water hole. The lion grinned as he thought of what had taken place here, and of the lioness who had given him everything he had.
"Kipanya," Mvumo began. "You...and your brother...are growing older before my eyes. It is time for you to hear the story of the home I left and the home that is ours now."
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:28 am
Kipanya nearly stumbled into his dad at first, thinking that he was simply going to continue on until they found a herd. What was this place? The waterhole would probably attract something eventually, but they didn't need to come all of this way just to hunt for their fill. There were prey beasts all over the Pridelands, and here there were...well...none. At the moment, anyway. But maybe he had a lot to learn about hunting from his dad.
Even more stunning than the place they stopped, though, was that Dad was talking. Talking! Voluntarily! And it was to him, not Mom!
"The home you left?" Kipanya asked. "I thought you didn't have a home until the Storm God lead you and Mom here. That's what she told me, anyway."
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:34 am
Mvumo grinned at his son as he sat down, preparing himself for the story, and how to form the words without wasting any. He was glad that Kipanya had escaped the...well, problem...that he had with words, for though preserving words carefully and using them well was important, Mvumo knew that the creatures around him thought of him as a bit odd. He was content as long as he had Aadil who understood him, but Kip...well, Kip had better not have an Aadil yet!
"It is true," Mvumo said. "The Storm King did lead us to the Pridelands, gave us you and your brother, and gave us a home and pride. I do not want you to ever forget that. But before I was blessed, I was your age, and living in a land of mists and waterfalls far away from here."
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:41 am
Kipanya slowly sat down, since his father had clearly given him the cue to do so. Granted, the young lion expected that this would be a short story, given his father's normal silence, but it was rude to stay standing when someone was telling a story.
This particular story sounded most interesting. A land of mists? Like the stuff after a storm, or early in the morning as the sun was rising and taking away some of the water from the waterholes. And waterfalls? The only water falling that he knew of was the rain, and it usually didn't last very long. "Waterfalls? Is that where water falls all of the time instead of just when it rains?" This place sounded intriguing. "Where is this place, Dad? Why did you leave?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:49 am
Mvumo frowned. Now this was the part he was dreading. How to tell his son the truth without telling him...well...everything? There were some things he had not even told Aadil, such as what had truly happened the day the Firekin came to his lands. That was something he prefered to keep buried in the past, something he did not want them to know. But they had to know about the Storm King, so he would tell the edited story.
"You are right; the water falls there constantly, even when there are no clouds in the sky. But it is only in certain places, or else there would not have been lions living there."
"I left, Kipanya, because I was taken from those lands. I had a mother, and a brother, just like you, but terrible red lions from the desert came and took me away to be a slave and do what they wanted me to do." Mvumo shuddered and closed his eyes for a moment before he continued. "Times were strange then, and dangerous. I was eventually able to escape, but when I returned, there were no lions left in the land of mist and waterfalls."
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:57 am
Kipanya frowned. "I don't like this story, Dad...it's sad, and it scares me." Sure, Dad had mentioned to never go near the desert, but Kipanya had never thought the desert meant scary red lions that Dad couldn't fight off. Doing what they wanted him to do? Well, that didn't seem fun at all. Sure, Kip listened to what Dad wanted him to do, but from the way Dad talked, this was far different. Having an entire pride of lions disappear, including his mother and brother, would scare him more than anything else in the world.
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:13 pm
Mvumo nodded at his son's words, and gently nuzzled him before he continued with anything. "It was sad at first, but it does not end there," the white-maned lion said. "Look around you; this is where I first met your mother, and my life changed instantly."
"I knew, when a storm came soon after we met, that our relationship was meant to last for the rest of our lives. I had not seen a storm in a long time, and for one to come, then, as soon as I met her...I just knew. I hope that a similar revelation will come to you someday, when your mane is full and thick like mine."
"The Storm God blessed us and brought us to the Pridelands, where we had you and your brother. I want you to know this, Kipanya, because you must never dismiss his blessing and guidance. You are my son, and we are, as far as I know, the last of my pride. The last of the Storm God's lions. A part of the land of the mists and waterfalls is still with you, even though you have never seen it. But the Pridelands are our home now, and your home is what these lands will always remain."
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:32 pm
Kipanya listened intently to the story of how his parents met, though he couldn't help be a little bit embarassed by the subject. After all, they were his parents. Even if they had created him, he didn't want to know too many of the details. Some things were best kept unknown. Really.
Luckily, there wasn't too much detail in Dad's story about Mom, and he learned something new about Dad's past. His past too, really. "Can I see the land of the mists and waterfalls someday, Dad? Even if it's just for a visit?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:34 pm
Mvumo grinned at the thought of it for a moment, until he remembered just what there was to see. "I have hope that someday you and your brother will see it, just to see what it is like. But there is no one else there, and you would find it quite...lonely. I tried to stay there, hoping that I would one day find my brother returning to me, but after I nearly starved to death, I realized it was impossible to stay there forever. The Storm God wanted me to do other things."
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:43 pm
"You mean raise Kubwa and me and take care of Mom in the Pridelands," Kipanya said, grinning at the part of the story he did understand. This was his homelands, not this land of the mist and waterfalls that Dad kept mentioning. Still, he couldn't help but wonder what that place was like. Surely the other lions couldn't be gone forever, could they?
Kipanya imagined a misty land filled with lions that looked exactly like him and Dad, and vowed that he would investigate someday. He'd return, of course...but he wanted to see where his Dad was born.
"I'll follow the Storm God, Dad."
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:46 pm
"I know you will, my son," Mvumo said as he stood up and motioned for Kipanya to follow. "The herds have moved on from here; if we want to teach you to hunt, we'll have to start walking back toward your Mom and brother."
Then a dark brown lion moved against the setting son, his son following him like a shadow.
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