Return to the Pride Lands: Part 4

Encounter
Kopa’s mane felt soft and warm on her face, his sent filled her nostrils and brought her back to her happier cubhood…before they had been banished. It had been so long since she had talked to her childhood friend. She had seen him every day and night in her dreams, and now her dreams would come true. She was safe at last from the world. All was well, except for one thing that had nagged at the back of her mind, eating away at her happiness. Bidi. Did Kopa love her? She could not tell, if she asked she was afraid that he might say that he did. He would be angry at her if he said no, but she could not stand not knowing…

Kopa felt all warm and fuzzy inside. Vitani’s sweet smell brought him back to his cubhood. How long ago it seemed. His mind traced his life back. He, Nuka, and Vitani played all day. One day he would be king, but he really didn’t care. That was a long way off. Nala was pregnant with his little sibling, and he was nervosa and excited whenever he felt the young cub move in his mother’s stomach. They had all been happy until Nuka had heard that Zira was going to kill Kopa he had run off to find him and told Kopa of Zira’s plot. Kopa had fled in blind fear, he had run until he could not run any farther, and then he has seen Bidi’s face through the fog. He felt a tear agents his neck and that snapped him back to the here and now. “Vitani?”

“What?” Vitani asked trying to control the emotion in her voice. She tried to wipe away the tear before Kopa noticed that she was crying.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She said trying to hide the sob in her voice.

“No, something is wrong, what is it? You can tell me anything,” he nuzzled her. Her soft fur felt soft, after so long they were together again. The moon reflected off of her tear soaked eyes, making them gleam like diamonds. “Nothing, it’s just that…Bidi, never mind.”

“You think I love Bidi, don’t you?”

“No…I…”

“Vitani, I love Bidi like you love Nuka, she is a sister to me, but you are more important than anyone else to me.” He put his leg around her and drew her close to him so that their bodies touched and their fur blended together. “I’m so happy your back.” She said as she laid her tired head down on his paws. He laid his head down on hers. She felt safe under him. nothing could go wrong, not for this moment. They slept together under the stars. When the sun broke the horizon, Vitani was the first to wake. She felt Kopa’s head her and smiled. Maybe, finally, she would find happiness like Kovu did.

“Awww…Aren’t they cute?” The sudden mocking voice came from behind her. She and Kopa sprang up to face the newcomers. She was surprised when she did not see one of the other lionesses from the pride. It was a lioness, but not one that she recognized. “Who are you? Leave these pride lands at once!” Kopa demanded as he and Vitani growled at her. “You are hardly the one to be making the demands” She said this as a several other lionesses came out of the brush and surrounded the two.

“What do we have here?” The deep voice came from a male lion that had just come up from behind the first lioness. He was followed by a jaguar with a cruel look on his face.

“I believe it is two of the members of the lion pride of this area,” said the leopard.

The male chuckled, “If the leader of this pride is so weak that he cannot even cast out his own males when they come of age, then we should have no trouble in taking this land for ourselves.”

“How dare you talk of king Simba like that!” Vitani’s voice had returned to its normal tone. The night was over, so now they had to fight.

“Deliver this message to you pride ‘king’,” the male said, “hand over half of his pride lands to me, or I will take all of them by force.”

“Fine, so let us go.” Kopa’s mind was racing trying to find a way out.

“Jini,” The male addressed the jaguar, “how many lions does it take to deliver a message?”

“One, Katili” Jini leaped at Vitani with blinding speed. A dark streak came out of the grass and slammed into Jini almost knocking him off balance. He and Uvuli gained their footing and stared at each other.

“Jini!” Uvuli’s voice was cold as ice and sent chills down the spine of all present.

“Uvuli.” Jini’s voice was calm and at the same time filled with a joyful malice.

They began to crouch, their eyes never moving from each other, one waiting for the other to make a move.

Simba, Kovu, Bidi, and the rest of the pride came out of the grass.

“Deliver your message to me yourself,” Simba’s voice was cool and calm.

“Give me half of your pride lands, and I will leave you and your pride to yourselves.”

“Never.”

The pride formed behind Simba. They were easily twice the number of the opposing pride.

“Very well then, come we leave,” he turned and started to leave, “Jini, come.”

Jini and Uvuli had not moved.

“Uvuli?” Bidi asked tentatively as she approached the two.

“I kill one, so you get another? Is it truly that simple, Uvuli?” Jini asked with a cold smile.

“You will die for what you have done Jini. You should have killed me when you had the chance. The next time you have one, you will die as well.”

Jini continued to smile, “I look forward to it, but I fear that the time is not now.” Uvuli and Jini went to where their respective alliances stood facing each other. Kopa and Vitani had joined the rest of the pride.

The other pride left, but the tense atmosphere remained. “How did you find us?” Kopa asked.

“I had noticed you two out here last night, so I came to check on you this morning, and I saw those lions coming here. Then I went to pride rock and got these slowpokes here as fast as I could. It looks like we arrived not a moment too soon.” “Yeah, thanks” said Vitani. The initial shock had not yet worn off.

“What did those brutes want, anyway?” Asked Kovu.

“They want the pride lands, and they are planning to take them by force!” Vitani said franticly. Bidi looked at Uvuli, “Who was that, Uvuli?”

Uvuli looked into Bidi’s eyes, he could not lie to her, not when she looked at him like that, it was so much like the look that she had given him when she wanted to know the truth. “It was Jini, he is an assassin, we’ve have had some…conflicts before. He will most likely try to kill you Simba, unless this leader wants to demonstrate his…” Uvuli snickered, “machoness. But you know more of your kind than I do, so decide for yourself what he will do.”

Simba looked at Uvuli, he could not believe that any lion would claim rights to a land that they had not even killed for and did not inherit by right of birth. Even Scar had gone through a lot to kill Mufasa, and in the end had done it himself. “He will try to kill me himself, so that he will be the undisputed ruler of these pride lands.”

“Very well, but keep an eye on those close to you Simba, Jini likes to target the ones closest to your heart to hurt you the most, to weaken you and make you easy prey.” Uvuli looked with eyes filled with the sureness of experience.

Rain
Uvuli and Bidi carefully stalked an odd couple, a meerkat and a warthog. They seemed to be perfectly at home here, not careful for predators at all. Uvuli and Bidi moved slowly and silently, they had hunted together that they did not even need to communicate. As they struck, Zazu came down to talk to Timon and Pumbaa. Bidi skidded to a halt inches from a shocked Pumbaa and Uvuli leaped through the air and pinned down both Timon and Zazu. “So you know these two, Zazu?” “Yes” Zazu managed to gargle out from under Uvuli’s paw.

Uvuli looked at Timon, “should I let him up?”

Timon looked back at Uvuli and nodded.

Uvuli let a disheveled Zazu up, who gave Uvuli a piercing look.

“Don’t get your feathers ruffled, Zazu. Who are these two?”

Timon had recovered from his initial shock, “we're right here.”

Uvuli looked at him, “so you can talk, eh?”

Bidi introduced herself to Pumbaa, “I’m Bidi, sorry about almost eating you, what’s your name?”

“Pumbaa, and I suppose I should be getting used to it, your not the first to try to eat me, and probably won’t be the last.” “He’s Uvuli,” said Bidi waving her tail in his direction, “How do you know Zazu?”

It was Timon who answered, “Pumbaa and I raised Simba when we found him in the wastelands.”

“So we have something in common.” Uvuli replied.

“You would have left Kopa to die if I hadn’t been there!”

“I wouldn’t have found him in the first place.” Bidi rolled her eyes and left. She was still hungry, and she was sure that Uvuli had come with her to get away from the pride. Well…so did I, she thought.

Bidi stalked the antelope herd and picked out the one she wanted. She was outside the pride lands, but it was the only was that she could get out on her own, she was gland to be among other lions, but there were so many of them. She was only used to the presence of Uvuli and Kopa. As she slowly crept on the antelope, a crash of thunder sent them running. She sighed, “Great, just great.” The thunder signaled the coming of a rain and sure enough as she said this, a drop of rain fell on her snout. Bidi made her way to a nearby outcropping of rock up a hill to wait out the storm. She reached the sheltered area as the rain began to fall harder, and she lay down in a comfortable position and closed her eyes. The sound of the rain comforted her. As she let her mind wander, it went back to the night when she had found Hodari. This happened whenever she let her mind wander. She could not forget him, the sound of his voice, and the soft touch of his fur on hers when they had begun to gaze up at the stars.

“Bidi? Is that you?” The voice startled her out of her meditative state and she turned to see Hodari walking under the rock out of the rain, which had begun to fall harder.

“Hi ‘Dari! What are you doing here?”

“I might ask you the same question.” He said as he lay down next to her. Even wet, his fur felt warm on her flank.

“I asked first.”

“I was…uh…”

“Looking for me?”

“What! No! I was…hunting! Yes I was hunting…for…”

Bidi laughed and looked at him he had not changed one bit, he could not tell a good lie. He was so comforting, his presence was calming, like the eye of the storm. “Who is your father, ‘Dari? I never really met any of the lions in the pride when Uvuli and I were there.”

Hodari looked around nervously.

“You can tell me.”

He looked at her. He could not lie to her, and he could not just leave her. He was filled with fear of what he was feeling; he was helpless in front of her. He could outrun her, kill her if he wanted to, but he couldn’t. He did not know this feeling that was welling up inside of him. Her eyes calmed him. He could trust her, as she trusted him so many times. “I am the son of Katili, the leader of the pride that has invaded your pride’s territory.” Your pride…the phrase still sounded strange. She hardly considered herself part of the pride, more like a guest there for an extended visit. If it wasn’t for the fact that she had no idea what she would do without Uvuli or Kopa, she would have left by now.

“Bidi? Are you alright?” Hodari’s voice broke through her musings.

“What? Oh…yeah, I’m fine”

Hodari started to leave with a sad look on his face.

“Where are you going, ‘Dari?” Bidi said as she sprang to her feet and cut him off.

Hodari looked at her, “My father is the enemy of your pride, so you cannot be found with me or we will both be in danger.” “Why has this suddenly made you leave? You didn’t seem concerned about it before.”

“You weren’t in danger before, so I wasn’t worried, but now that you know you are in danger too.”

Bidi looked at him for a moment, and then she licked him gently on the face. The rain had mixed with his sweat to make a salty layer on his skin. The smell of his mane filled her nostrils and relaxed her muscles.

Hodari didn’t really know what to do. His mind was a haze, he couldn’t focus, it was as if the felling of her tongue had completely removed all sense of order from his mind. He surrendered himself to instinct and feeling. She jumped on him like when they were cubs and they rolled down the hill together in the rain.

The rain stopped and the clouds moved on to reveal that the sun had set and the moon had come out to illuminate the night with her soft glow. Hodari and Bidi lay in each other’s embrace, sleeping in total peace. They knew what they would do when they could leave, but each had a tie to their pride and family that they could not simply ignore. They would do all they could to resolve the conflict, and after they would leave together. They did not care where they would go, so long that they were together.

When the sun rose, Hodari was the first to wake. He looked at the sleeping Bidi. She was so beautiful, more beautiful than anything he had seen or experienced before. Was fate was cruel or kind; he could not decide which was worse, having an angel, only to have her ripped away, or to never know her. Both possibilities were too terrible to contemplate and at the thoughts his eyes filled with tears. It had been so long since he had cried. His father said that it was a sign of weakness, to cry. How could it be a sign of weakness to feel? Did his father know happiness? Had his father found an angel? No, he hadn’t. Hodari knew this all too well. His father did not know how to love, he didn’t even know feeling.

“‘Dari?” Bidi’s sweet voice came to him in his thoughts.

Hodari’s face was streaked with tears. “What’s wrong?” her voice was filled with concern for him. She could not bear to see him like this.

“Nothing.” Hodari turned his eyes away from her. He could not tell a lie to her face, not when he could see her eyes.

“Something is wrong, don’t worry, you can tell me.” She moved closer so that her face was touching his mane.

“Bidi…We can’t…I mean-”

“You are worried that we cannot be together because of who we owe allegiance to.” She could see the feeling in his eyes, “don’t worry so much, we will find a way to be together.” She nuzzled him gently in the neck. His mane felt so soft on her skin, she wished that it would last forever, but she knew that it wouldn’t, just like last time.

They stayed like this for some time, their eyes closed, losing themselves in each other’s sent and touch. Hodari was the first to break away. Bidi did not resist, she knew that they would have to separate eventually. They nuzzled each other one last time before they separated. Neither looked back as they left. They knew that they could not leave each other if they looked back, and they knew that they had to leave each other one last time.

Dawn
Kovu walked out to the end of pride rock. He looked out over the land that had been promised to him by all he had known. Scar, Zira, and Simba had only agreed on one thing: that he would one day become king of the pride lands. His thoughts turned to Kopa. He couldn’t believe that he had a brother again, even if it was only through his relationship with Kiara, but what did this mean for the throne? Would Kopa take the position that he had been promised from birth, or would he and Kiara, who was pregnant, become King and Queen as they had been promised for so long? So many questions and no one to answer them.

“Kovu?”

He knew that voice as well as he knew Kiara’s. It was Vitani.

“Kovu, what’s wrong? Are you thinking about Nuka again?”

Kovu looked down, “No, I was just thinking about Kopa.”

It dawned on Vitani what he was talking about; Kopa was a challenge to Kovu’s and Kiara’s claim to the throne. Kopa didn’t seem to be worried about leadership over the pride lands, that couldn’t be the reason he came back…could it? Her heart filled with doubt. Vitani looked at Kovu, if that was the only reason that Kopa had come back, then that would make him no better than Scar.

“Hi!” Vitani looked behind her to see Bidi coming up to them from the bottom of pride rock. Where had she been all night? “What are you talking about?” Her voice was softer as she saw Kovu.

“Nothing.” Replied Kovu.

Vitani came up to Bidi and whispered, “He’s worried that Kopa came back only to enforce his claim as king of the pride lands.”

Bidi was amazed. The Kopa she knew would never even want to be a king. “Kopa wouldn’t do that.” She whispered back, picking up the message that Kovu was having a hard time, and direct denial of his worries would not solve the problem. “I know, but Kovu barely knows him.”

Bidi nodded. Kovu was about the same age as Kopa, but it was possible that Simba had kept them apart because of Kovu’s connection to Scar. “How do you know Kopa?” she whispered.

Vitani blushed, how did she tell Bidi about Kopa’s cubhood? “Well…”

Bidi looked her in the eye, “You love Kopa, don’t you?”

“What? No!” Vitani whispered back.

Bidi just smiled back. Vitani knew that her lie had done nothing to convince Bidi, and she saw through it like a clear lake. Bidi went up to Kovu. “What’s bothering you?”

Kovu looked up at Bidi. She was the one who had come back with Kopa. “Is Kopa just here to enforce his claim?” he was asking himself as much as Bidi.

Bidi looked back, “The Kopa I know wouldn’t do anything like that.”

Kovu knew that even if kingship was not Kopa’s reason for returning, that it was still an issue. Vitani loved Kopa, and Bidi was like a sister to him, they couldn’t understand how he felt. Kovu left them and left pride rock to go somewhere where he could think, alone.

He soon found himself by the water hole. As he came nearer, he saw Uvuli sitting next to a bush with bunches of white flowers on it. Even from here, the flowers smell was sweet and filled the air, drowning out all other smells. He approached Uvuli, who sat with his eyes closed, as Kovu looked he could almost swear that he saw another caracal, her fur was pure white, standing with her head under his chin, then the vision disappeared and Uvuli was left alone with Kovu. Uvuli’s eyes opened, his mind returning to the world that he belonged. He looked at Kovu, who could see the quickly fading traces of sadness in his eyes. “Yes?”

Kovu was taken aback by Uvuli’s harsh tone, and then he remembered that Uvuli was always like this. He wondered what had made him this way, he acted a little too much like Zera for Kovu to be fully comfortable around him, but the difference was that Uvuli cared, unlike Zera.

“What, can’t you speak anymore?” Uvuli was fully back to his old self, criticizing tone and all. “I…I just needed to get away.” Kovu said for lack of anything else to say.

“I know the feeling.” Uvuli muttered, he looked at Kovu, “is it that Kopa is a challenge to your and Kiara’s claim to the throne?”

Kovu blinked, he knew that he should be happy that Kiara’s brother was back, but he just couldn’t make himself happy about it with the endless nagging at the back of his mind.

“Kopa has no interest at all to be king of anything, let alone the entire pride lands. He and Bidi stayed with me for as long as they did because they knew where they would go, and they didn’t wat to go there. Bidi went with Kopa because she didn’t want to be alone with her memories.”

“Weren’t you with them?”

“Yes, but I hardly count as company. I have lived in the past for too long as it is, and I am her biggest reminder of her past. Besides, I’m asleep half of the time.”

Kovu smiled, “Yeah, what would she do, anyway?” he said nudging the caracal with his paw.

“Don’t know, when she was a cub, she and Kopa constantly tried to ambush me, and they failed constantly.”

Kovu blinked, “Bidi, heard? I don’t know if that’s possible.” Bidi had proven herself to be a master of stealth numerous times.

Uvuli chuckled, “Oh, it’s possible, not as easy as it used to be, but it’s possible.” As he said this he ducked and Bidi went sailing over his head and straight into the water hole. Kovu stared in total shock at the very wet Bidi.

“I thought I had you that time!” She exclaimed.

Kovu turned to see where sounds of stifled laughter were coming from the bushes, he dropped down low and carefully approached the bushes as Bidi and Uvuli argued over whether or not he had eyes in the back of his head. He leaped and plowed straight into Kiara and Vitani, who were barely preventing themselves from bursting into laughter at the sight of Bidi and Uvuli. “What the…” he said as he came crashing into the two lionesses.

It was too much for the pair, they were totally overcome with laughter as Kovu got to his feet with a smile playing over his face. Bidi and Uvuli came to see what the racket was about.

“You should have seen the look on you face!” Kiara said to Kovu through her laughter.

Bidi shook herself off, splattering everyone with water. “Sorry…” she muttered as Uvuli gave her a scornful look, the others were having too much fun to care.

“Lighten up, would you!” Vitani said to Uvuli with a broad smile.

The group made their way back to pride rock. Vitani bounded over to Kopa and they touched noses in greeting, Kiara and Kovu walked off together, their tails intertwined leaving Uvuli and Bidi alone. Bidi looked around, feeling lost “I’m going to go hunt…” she murmured as she trotted toward the savanna. Uvuli could tell that her good mood had left and she wanted to be sad alone. She was the only one who didn’t have someone to come back to. Bidi felt as if she always had to be happy around others. Uvuli sighed and started to head around the base of pride rock. He came upon a cave, he was about to head on when he thought he heard something was coming form the cave. As he walked over it seemed that the cave was calling to him, the voice was unearthly, almost as if he could only hear it in his mind. As he entered the voice came to a stop and he found himself in what was probably the living space of someone long ago, the cave walls seemed to have stories written in them, as if they had remembered everything that had passed into them since the beginning of time, and here was someone who could and would listen to their story. Uvuli closed his eyes and let his mind wander around the cave. He was no stranger to communicating with the dead.

“So you can hear us.” In life, the voice was deep and rumbling. Uvuli opened his mind’s eye to see an endless sea of eyes of all colors staring at him. A huge lion came out of the shadows, followed by his mate.

“We are Ahadi and Uru.” The voice was gentile and soothed the ears.

“I am Uvuli. I assume that you are the parents of Mufasa and Taka?”

“Yes, I am the father of Mufasa and Scar.” Ahadi answered.

Uvuli could think of a few choice words that he would like to throw at Ahadi, he refused to call his own son by his birth name. He cast out his mind to see if he could find a presence that he knew, Taka and Lisha were not there, but Mufasa was. “How could you guess?” Uru asked.

“You and he have the same eyes.” Mufasa would not come; he was too preoccupied with his son to concern himself with a caracal that he had met once. Just as well, Uvuli was sure that the meeting would not be too friendly.

“How did you know him?” Uvuli’s mind’s eye lost sight of Ahadi, but not Uru.

“He and I had an arrangement.”

Uru’s eyes filled with sadness, as Uvuli was about to speak, a voice from the world of the living broke through his meditative state; the images of the dead were wiped from his mind.

“Uvuli?” It was Nala.

“Yes?” Uvuli’s tone was steady and did not reveal any emotion.

Nala gave him a look that would have sent most lions running for cover, but Uvuli stared her straight back in the eyes. “I thought I heard something down here, but I suppose it was nothing.”

“You should get your hearing checked.” Was I talking out loud? He thought. His mind’s activity lowered his mask of nothingness slightly for only a moment.

Nala looked at him. He was so arrogant, he made her blood boil. Not even Scar had been able to make her this angry. She wanted nothing more that to wipe that look from his face, how could Bidi possibly deal with him? She noticed that his expression changed slightly from a look of dull interest into true interest, was he actually concerned about her well being, or was he trying to remember something? She couldn’t tell what was going through his mind at any moment, but she knew more about what he was thinking now than any other time she had talked to him. The fur on the back of her neck, which had risen without her knowing, slowly lowered back into place.

“Nala, was it? Aren’t you Sarafina’s daughter?”

“Yes,” Nala looked at him in surprise; she hadn’t told him her name, so how did he know it? More importantly, how did he know her mother? “How do you know who I am?”

Uvuli blinked, and then he realized that he hadn’t spoken to her before, as was the case with most of the pride. He wasn’t used to so many others around him. His mind raced, looking for a convincing lie, “Kiara told me.” Nala looked at him, she could tell that he was lying through his teeth, “Really, When did she do that?” Her voice was filled with amusement.

Uvuli knew that she knew it was a lie as soon as it left his mouth. He sighed, he would have to tell her the truth, the only question was where to start…

Nala looked at him with new eyes, his shield of unconcern was gone, and she saw him thinking of what to say. His eyes seemed to be looking elsewhere as he began to speak, “I knew your father.”

Nala stared at him in disbelief, her father? Thousands of questions came to her mind as an old curiosity was revived, what was her father’s name? What was he like? Where was he from? So many questions filled her mind that she couldn’t speak, and stared at him in dumfounded disbelief.

“Close your mouth, would you?” Uvuli’s sharp tone tore through her confused mind like a claw through a leaf. He sighed and began to weave a tale in a fascinating way that kept you gripped from beginning to end. He began with the tale of how he and her father had met, he had fallen into ill favor with a hyena clan, and her father had saved him from their revenge. Revenge of what he did not say. Her father had told him little, and he did not know his name, but he did know his life. He had fallen in love with a lioness from a nearby pride, and she had become pregnant. Unable to care for a pregnant lioness, he had taken her to the pride and they had taken her in. Now he and his love were going to meet one last time, so that he could see his child at least once before he died. He could not take her back to her pride, so he had asked Uvuli to escort her back, unseen and unheard. Uvuli had agreed and had taken them back. It was there that he heard Nala’s name. When he had brought her back to pride rock safely, he had spent the night in a tree. The next morning he was found by a lion who called Scar. Uvuli had managed to pry the birth name of Scar from one of the lionesses in the pride named Sarabi, who also told him of Scar’s troubled childhood and his relationship with his father, Ahadi. Scar’s birth name was Taka, and he had never told Scar that he knew his birth name, but agreed to help Scar with a little favor; in return, Scar would settle his disagreement with hyena clan. The favor was to spy on Scar’s brother Mufasa, Uvuli guessed that Scar planned to take the throne, but had not expected him to kill Mufasa, especially after he saw Mufasa. The last time that Uvuli had seen Taka and Mufasa together, He could tell that Taka was not looking at his brother, but his father. Later, he had seen Zazu, and decided to have a snack. As he caught Zazu, he was attacked by Mufasa, who had raked his across his thigh with one claw, leaving a deep wound that had damaged the muscle. Even in an injured state, Uvuli had managed to escape Mufasa to the border of the pride lands, where Mufasa had left him alone.

Nala stared at the caracal as he finished telling his story. He gently swatted her nose with his paw and she jerked up, her mind absorbing what she had just heard. “I…I’ve never heard Scar’s story told that way before…” “There are always at least two sides to every story, but mine is probably incomplete, I had to drag much of Taka’s life from Sarabi, how is she?”

Nala’s face fell, “she’s dead…”

“Oh,” Uvuli looked calm at the news and attempted to comfort Nala by placing a paw on her leg. They left the cave together. Nala introduced Uvuli to Sarafina, and left them to discuss her father. She went over to Simba who sat on Pride rock overlooking his pride. He was looking in particular at Kopa and Vitani.

“Are you still worried about him?” she asked teasingly.

“Yes…”Simba looked at Nala her cheerful face seemed to bring the world to life again, “Nala, I don’t know how I could go on without you…Don’t leave me…”

Nala came close to Simba and intertwined her tail with his. “I won’t ever leave you Simba, not even death could come between us.”

Uvuli looked out at them with Sarafina, “Let’s hope that she does not have to put her promise into action anytime soon…” Sarafina looked at Uvuli and poked him with her paw, “I suppose it’s not too late to give you a formal thanks for getting us back that night.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You were there, that’s enough for me.”

The River
Bidi looked at the antelope herd with a bored expression on her face, she wasn’t that hungry. She turned and saw a bird sitting next to some bushes, and she decided to catch it for a snack. She carefully crept toward her chosen prey. The bird was mid-sized and was preoccupied with eating berries. She ran at the bird, when it took off she launched herself at it, and missed. Snarling in annoyance, she realized that she hadn’t hit the ground and looked to see that a cliff was just beyond the bushes. She stared in horror at the river blow her; it seemed an eternity before slammed into the water. She might as well of slammed into a rock. She couldn’t breathe. She struggled to get to the surface. The strong current pulled her downstream; her head surfaced just long enough to get a teasing taste of air, but was dragged back down by the current. As she struggled to get to the surface once more, she was slammed into a huge rock in the river. The wind was knocked from her lungs and she instinctively tried to breathe, but found no air. Her mind became foggy as her lunges filled with water. Her life did not flash before her eyes, she was vaguely aware as she slipped downstream, before her mind went dark.

Someone, anyone, say something, anything!!! :(