The Journey (cont. from second journey)

ooc: only sometimes are they long (smiles) sometimes i just like writing since it took me a long time to be able to get to that point. mainly just like having fun : )

bic:

simba smiled at Kovujin. He felt bad that he had been left to wander on his own but was glad that the other cub had run into them. Maybe there was some small chance.

"Hehe, better be careful, he won't go easy on you, my neck can attest to that."

He grinned again then padded up to Kovujin.

"It'd be great to have someone else along!"

"Would you like to ride on his back?" Kovujin said looking at Simbaji's neck

Malaika looked at the two and realised it would slow the journey down even more even wear him out quicker. He looked up at the firey red sun sinking slowly to the west.

"Shall we press on? We'll walk untill the sun disapears behind the horizon."

The older lion thought about the first journey he ever made alone from the heartlands to the Mizaati Mara. He hadn't planned on going to the Mizaati. He just wanted away from his home. Away from the trouble it was in. Yet he had gone back once even though it had cost him in the end. All the prides of the east had joined forces for the final push against the humans. The war to let the humans know that the animal kingdom would not yeild to them. They had, after all, lost the ways of the ancients. But something did not seem right. They had been there for many seasons and only later did they decide to attack.

Malaika's mind reeled at the thought. Had some one controled them? Was there some one or some thig that could cause them to destroy many prides? The more he thought the more he needed the answers. and the only place he was going to get them where in his home lands....no! Not there. That is where part of the secret lay. He would have to travel northward from there and enter his granfathers former land. A forbidden land that was only accessable by going through a valley pass. A place where the true answers were. After all he had been told. After all he had been through the end wouldn't be close at all. There was more to things than he ever thought. The first leg f the journey though would help him find the first part of the question. The second part would be found out by entering the land of the Valley Pride.

Kovujin looked up at Malaika he seemed to be in deep thought, He wondered about this lions past, Maybe he was part of some Mysterious pride that Had moved on without him, What if he was like him, well he did'nt really know and didn't care all he knew was that he had met two more people that he can call friends. Simbaji and Malaika. Simbaji looked about the same age as him.. He also wondered if Simbaji and Malaika were related in anyway. They seemed really close, maybe they were brothers, or father and son. Or they were just close friends.

"That sounds good. Maybe we can even find some water real fast."

He looked to Kovujin. Perhaps the other cub knew of a place since he had wandered these parts at least a little. He looked back to Kovujin to wonder just as much. He wondered why the cub was out here on his own. But then, anyone would wonder the same of him. Maybe not this time since he was travelling with Malaika, but he'd been on more than his fair share of journeys and explorations on his own and come across curious others.

He had tried so hard and so many times too to make or keep friends close to his age but to no avail. But then his age was relavent, or rather irrelevant. For while he looked to be no more than perhaps 6 months or so in age, he'd seen more seasons and generations than most he'd come across. One day he'd find the reason for his apparent 'condition'. Until then he would do what he could - take the leasons he was able to learn and apply them. Lead where possible and hope for the chance to live even a shred of the childhood he'd lost from having been thrust in a world of adults.

"if thats where we are heading then we shall camp out by the banks."

Malaika just moved on at a medium pace. He looked back at simba asnd thought about the times they have had together. From the first time they met it was a great feeling. A great relationship had bloomed between the two. Evene though he had hurt and harmed him when he had lost his memory. The love they shared seemed estranged now but that didn't keep Malaika from trying to protect him. The older lion would do anything for the cub. Even if it ment losing his own life to protect him.

Malaika stopped a short distance from a waterhole and sighed thinking about many things. He hoped that maybe simba was shareing the same feeling that he was. only time would tell.

The older lion found a near-by acacia tree and plopped down in the shade feeling detached and alone. Saddness enveloped him wondering what was in store for either of them. He hadn't expressed his love for the cub latly and felt like there love was slipping away. quietly he whispered under his breath.

'I love you simba.'

The words left his muzzle and floated upon the wind.

Kovujin took a few laps of the water at the waterhole and cocked his head to the right looking at Malaika, He looked sad, Kovujin thought maybe he could go over and cheer him up. Kovujin padded over to the acacia tree and sat down next to Malaika and swished his tail back and forths, sometimes his tail would hit against Malaika's side.
"Hey how are you doing?, you look Really sad, is there anything I could do for you?" Kovujin asked.

Kovujin thought this lion needed a lot of cheering up, So he tried to cheer him up, but he probably wouldnt it seemed like he'd been sad for a very long time. Kovujin still had some questions also about the new lions he met.

"Mr Malaika, Where do you come from?, What Pride? I came from the Jeshi Pride of the Southern Border Lands. But no one knows about them because they are a wandering Pride, we had no place to call home. We would stay somewhere for a night then just leave and go to the next place." Kovujin explained to Malaika.

Malaika forced a smile, which looked convincing, and spoke softly to the young one.

"Mister? No one has ever called me mister before but I come from a pride that no longer exsists. I am from the Heartland lion pride which was all but wiped out a few seasons back. Though I now live with, my mate, with the Mizaati Mara pride."

With that he turned away slowly dropping his smile. He looked over at simba and sighed.

"Perhaps I could tell you the whole tale. A tale of how I ended up in the Mizaati Mara pridelands and how we ended up this far east."

Malaika looked back at the cub his smile no longer there but a half saddened look hanging from his time etched face. With all the wizdom he had gathered and everything he had been through seemed to show more now than ever. The etchings could not be seen very well but sure enough they would one day make a great apearance. He was, after all just past his prime.

simba had heard Kovujin's questions and Malaika's responses. To be sure he didn't know what to say. He was glad to have someone else around and hoped, for the hundredth time, that maybe one of the friends he made out on his journeys away from his homelands would stay around longer than a few days - sometimes even hours. As it was he was left to setting his sights on the horizon. He looked at the other cub and smiled - thought about what life used to be like so long ago when he and the few other cubs would play, even for a time his brother Tkovu. Those days were gone now and so were any significant hope of finding them again. All he could do was play the role he'd found himself in and secretly hope on those lone, summer nights that the life he'd lived for so brief a time was not lost to time altogether - like so many other things.

He looked and saw Malaika's face and sighed inwardly as well. So many things had changed for so many reasons. The best he could do at the moment now was try to offer some semblance of sympathy - to do more and with any noticable passion would rob him of his own thoughts and feelings on the events that had played out the last season or two. He got up and padded a little closer to Kovujin then sat, curling his tail around his own paws as he looked at the two. He was ready to continue on their way. Likewise he understood that questions and reminiscings might have their time as well. No matter the course, he was, for now, here and supportive.

Kovujin looked at Malaika again, It seemed he was sad again, Nothing could keep this Lion happy for more than 10 minutes it seemed. Kovujin answered

"Sure i'll hear your story, But if we have to be moving sooner or later you might want to tell it to me on the Road"

Kovujin saw Simbaji come up and sit beside him, He seemed to be in deep thought, Were these two lions searching for the same thing, did Simbaji come from the Heart land Pride too? so many questions went through Kovujin's mind. He didn't want to ask to many questions because asking to much is nosy and bad, He didn't want to put a bad reputation on him as a nothing but someone who talks all the time. Kovujin looked at Simbaji,

"So how old are you?".. "I'm about 5 months old" Kovujin smiled,

He smiled back at the other cub. He could tell by the way he was being looked at that Kovujin had some questions or, at the least, trepidations about approaching him. He didn't want to scare him off though.

"I'm not sure... I've been able to remember about 5 or so full seasons now, and even have flashbacks to times before that, but have always seemed to look the same as I do now.. maybe 6 months or so."

He had his own story to tell. Many, in fact. But he'd hold off for now. simba would happily answer as best he could any questions put to him, but found it hard to even know where to start - unless he did so from the beginning of his memories. And that many seasons worth meant so many were able to be talked about.[/i]

"Maybe along the way you can tell me about you and your family too?"

Kovujin smiled at Simbaji "Sure I would be glad to"

Kovujin had finally found somone he could travel with, it was getting very lonely out there by himself eating bugs and things, he was to young to hunt so he couldnt eat any meats. Kovujin thought back to try and remember his parents, he kept thinking but nothing appeared to his mind straight away.

"I think it would be best if we started leaving now" Kovujin asked,
"I can tell you about my family and me on the road" Kovujin said looking at Malaika.

Malaika looked ready to leave. He wanted to get to his destination badly, even Kovujin could tell that and he was only 5 months old, he didn't want to hold him back telling Simbaji about his past. Kovujin asked one last question..

"Before I came to you guys I heard the sounds of other lions behind you and stuff, Is there people following us?" Kovujin asked. this time he would stop talking unless he was asked to.

simba looked back into the distance then back to Kovujin.

"We had actually come across a few others but they wanted to go hunting. We waited for them to return but everytime we tried to let them know we needed to continue something else always seemed to come up. We're hoping they'll catch up at some point."

They did need to get going and he nodded to the other cub's suggestion that they begin moving. Enough time had been lost sitting and mulling on this thought or that. And it felt good to have someone new to talk to. simba always loved exploring, always loved pushing his own limits. A life not worth risking something in wasn't much of a life.

Kovujin looked at Simbaji, This Cub is so cool, Kovujin wished he was just like him, but never knew his past, maybe he went through a lot of pain like he did... Theres never really a way to know. Kovujin just sat there waiting for Malaika to give the signal to head out.

((ooc: that post for some reason wasnt as long, Trying to keep em long like you guys : ) )

ooc: it's cool. i don't want to intimidate you or anything. i'm just happy to have someone to rp with (smiles). lol, i remember looking in some forums and my jaw literally dropping to the floor with how much some of these ppl would/could post. it's taken time to get myself to be able to do more than just a few lines, but it's all good. as long as we're all enjoying what we are - living out these lives in the wilds of africa (smiles more) what more could you ask for? (grins)

((ooc: True, Its fun RP'ing in here it doesnt move that fast so you can actually type something long and it be there for someone to see without it being ten pages back like "The Adolescent Years" hehe))

Slowly Malaika rose to his full height and titled his head in a quick manner to get them to follow.

ooc: this is going to seem like the cantebury tale's. A pilgramage with stories. lol.

"Perhaps your right I thought maybe simba wanted a bit of rest but if he is wanton to continue I would be obliged to tell you the tale along the way then we can both listen to simba's story and lastly, but not least of course, we'll listen to yours. by the4 time we are all finished telling our stories we should be in my home land."

Malaika walked on to the east and began telling the store. Regailing them both, though the first part of the story wasn't anything new to simba, how he lost his family, his pride, and of course the great poacher war.

"I was about less than your age when I lost my father. The humans took him from me while he was out on a hunt with my mother. She found me curled up in a bush having heard something telling me to run as I played out in the tall grass. We stayed the night in a safe place only to be brought to my uncles cave on the opposite side of Mt. Kilimanjaro where he took us in and tought me the ways of the warrior in the style of shadow fighting. My mother had disapeared the night we were brought in and I never knew what had happened to her. I was just coming out of my adolesent stage when I lost my uncle in the first attack from the humans. It was durring that war that I got this scar. This scar haunted me, and still haunts me, for a long time. This scar sealed the darkness within my heart. I had come to hate humans so that I would have killed every last one of them. I was afraid, however, I was afraid that they would kill any one I was with. I thought they would cme after me only but I was wrong. I left after that battle and made my way west ending up in the desert. I wondered for days and moved to the south only to collaps at the sight of a cheetah. I awoke a day or two later in the Mizaati pridelands in the company of prince simbaji Mizaati. It was he whom invited me to stay with the pride if I so wished. I thanked him and took him up on his offer. Though I nearly killed some one close to everyone in the pride. His name was fernando, a human. I knew of no friendly humans at that time and challanged him. I lost due to being blinded by hate and the darkness grew in my heart."

Malaika thought back to when him, fernando, keucat, and Ndugu all sat around in the moonlight a couple days later. The lion had called Fernando his 'brother'. Fernando helped Malaika see that not all humans were bad. Fernando had told him about how humans did the same to him and his litter brother Ndugu. Fernando had been raised by Cheetah's with Ndugu and had lost some of his family to the humans as well.

"At that time I had not heard of a human who could actually speak to us. It didn't occur to me at that time that he was the only one. It was a little while after that and after gaining a daughter, an adoptive daughter, that I truely spoke with simba. I had had a premonition that I was needed back in my home lands and had told this to simba. He had heard that I was a warrior and made me his banner knight, though I had earned the title story teller from everyone else, since I always told every one the same story and some others. I bade my farewells and game simba a small token which had been in my family since the time of the ancients. It was only given to those whom they would hope be there... anyway"

Malaika tried to hold off on that subject thinking little about it. He didn't know about the cub or his feelings on what he felt for simba and didn't want it to show. Yet he wondered if simba thinking about itand feeling the same way he was feeling inside for the cub.

"I raced back out to my homelad to find that a lot of the eastern pride had gathered for the final battles against the humans. in the end it was down to me and one other human. I don't remeber much still of what happened." Malaika said sadly. "All I remeber is that I was about to be killed one min the next I woke up with no memory of anything what-so-ever. Except on word came to mind 'Mizaati Mara'."

Malaika held there as they walked on the evning sky now a blanket of stars.

Kovujin thought that No other lion would have felt what he felt when he was abandoned, Hatred, Sadness, and yet this Lion, Had been through so much more than him... He wondered What the Lion was going to do when he got to his Homeland. Kovujin would notice that Malaika would stop in between a few words and think, Was he trying to hold something inside of him, Or was he just gathering his breath. He didn't really know. But Kovujin loved hearing Malaika talk, He sounded so.....Cool. Kovujin looked at Simbaji who was listening closely to what Malaika had said... He looked at Simbaji. Was Malaika talking about Simbaji? Was Simbaji a Prince? ... Kovujin wanted to ask this question, But he didn't he didn't want to interupt him from talking. And..These Humans, Kovujin thought hard about a Human, He swore he heard the word before but he couldnt remember anything from the top of his head. Kovujin remembered saying Simbaji Mizaati, But that couldnt be the Simbaji he was looking at right now, This happened a long time ago, and Simbaji was just a Cub! When Malaika said "He'd never heard of a Human who could speak to us" he wondered about that too. If a Human could speak to Lions, That must mean that they are Animals, Maybe they are fuzzy like lions. No one knew. Kovujin kept thinking about the words Malaika said, he wondered.. This lion had been through so much, He had also faced death more than once. He must have been lucky, He wondered what could have happened to him during the war when it was only him and the Human, If Malaika didn't know then Kovujin wouldn't ask, But it was such a curious situtation! maybe this was why Malaika was trying to get back to his homelands so he could find out answers to his problems and his past..
Kovujin looked back at Simbaji, If he was the prince Malaika was talking about he better had start treating him better then just a friend, Kovujin decided he'd call these two mr, and sir, with every response he made to them.

Earth that had been left undisturbed for anywhere between one and many lifetimes now sorted itself out and molded around the cub's paw pads as simba and the others made their way ever further towards Malaika's homelands. And as the older lion spoke to him and Kovujin about the events that had unfolded and lead to the point they found themselves now, it was true that simba had heard these tales before, but he listened anyway. Everyone had something in their lives that wanted to be free, to live and be remembered, told. Malaika was no different. He glanced at the other cub from time to time as Malaika talked on and smiled, happy to have someone his own age... correction... appeared his own age. It wasn't that he thought that Malaika was boring to be around or anything, it was just that when you spend the majority of you life in the presence of adults, it's nice to have a chance to break free from that. Inwardly he sighed though. There were changes that were inevitable when so many things, so many responsibilities were taken on. He hoped Kovujin wouldn't notice too much. That any of his child-like qualities had survived this long submersed in a world of adults and all the complexities and sometimes, yes, boringness, was a miracle. Maybe there would still be something left afterall. Too much thinking, he thought; too much time letting himself get weighed down with so heavy of subjects and thoughts. But then, he couldn't help that either. The thoughts and experiences he kept were his, and he would see them through.

While Malaika wasnt talking Kovujin decided to ask Simba a question.

"Simba, When Malaika said he saw Prince Simbaji Mizaati... Was he refering to you?" Kovujin asked curiously.