|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 8:07 am
As the sun slowly sank lower, still far from the horizon's edge but on it's downward journey, it's light shone all the more golden on the plains of the pridelands. Animals finished their grazings, moving into large safe herds for the night while nocturnal hunters caught a couple more hours sleep before beginning their evening hunts.
One creature though was not grazing or hunting. Though he lay, relaxed in the grass, he could not sleep. With a sigh, Mchele tossed his mane and wondered idly where Kilua might have gotten to. His pink and white daughter seemed to go off on her own alot more. But that was hardly surprising, she was grown now. Not a cub like she seemed only a few days ago.
So much had happened. The king had died, everyone knew that. But fewer knew Mchele's own mother had been murdered. That his long-lost sister had been found only to leave again. And two of his cubs had felt the urge to leave the lands too. It was taxing on one who liked nothing more than for things to stay content and comfortable around him. Especially for others to be around him. Sure the pride was flourishing once again.... but without his sister and mother, he felt more on the outside. He didn't have any friends in the pride....
Thinking of friends, the golden lion found himself gazing toward the graveyard. Ausha. He was the closest to anyone Mchele had felt outside his family. But he had left to find Kib and then his mother without even telling him. Did he still think of him? Or had that cheetah, Maji, gone back and taken Mchele's place?
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:05 am
Ausha was tired. He was tired of striving towards an ambition that eternally slid out of his grasp, tired of trying to make the world perfect all on his own. Things in the graveyard never changed, no matter how much he wanted them to and even his family had mostly gone away. His son remained, making him more proud than he would ever know, a true king in the place of Ausha's failures. He had a family now even, with cubs who would grow up safe, protected by their able father.
He, meanwhile didn't look a day past adolecence, even now. Though he felt old his body did not reflect that fact, trapped as it was. Where once the gentle mists of the graveyard had filled him with satisfaction and contentment, now there was only a deep longing, a longing to find the only ray of sunshine he'd ever known. Mchele had been a reminder of a world outwith the death and bones. He had been thinking about it a long time.
And for once, just once, he had decided to go out to the pridelands, not on a hunting or scavenging trip, but something much more important, he sought out the only thing in his life right now with any real colour and emotion. The sun dazzled icy blue eyes used to the murk and gloom, gleaming off of his fur like liquid silver. It even highlighted the ghosts of scars long healed across his body. He seemed like a different lion out here in the daylight, even his limp seeming less pronounced in the long grass that tickled his belly as he walked.
He didn't even know if he could find Mchele, if the lion had settled down with a family, moved on or worse. But he couldn't turn back. Not now.
"Mchele?!" he called to anyone who would listen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 11:08 pm
A distant sound made Mchele's ear instinctly twitch. His mind was too preoccupied to take notice though, not at first. Then part of his brain twigged. It wasn't the sound of grazing herds, or even one of the birds flying overhead. It sounded almost as if someone were calling a name.
That made him look up towards the way the sound seemed to have come from. Should he go check it out? You couldn't be too careful these days. And since he seemed to be the only lion around at the moment, it felt like his duty.
Picking himself up, he walked quietly, watching for signs of life. Just as he wandered over the top of a low and gentle hill, he spotted something moving through the grass ahead. It wasn't hard to miss, the white and black showing up brilliantly in the glowing light. And the recognition appeared just as sharply in his mind.
Surprised to see him out here, but excited all the same, Mchele stood up to reveal himself. "Ausha?" He called back. "What are you doing here?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
