Kuimba sat humming to herself, it wasn’t unusual for the pale bellied lioness to be singing. In fact she prided herself on her singing voice and she usually spent every waking moment singing one song or another, or creating new ones. Since she had joined the Mwezi’Johari she had found a lot of time to practice her composing. The tune she was humming was coming along nicely, the words were a little lost yet, she was finding it difficult to make the song meaningful.“Hato, what rhymes with heart, I can’t think of anything.”
The waterbuck that had spent most of her life with Kuimba turned and raised a brow. She continued to chew and raised a brow at the lioness. She had plenty of ideas of what rhymed with heart but she wasn’t going to reply. Dipping her head she took another mouth full of the new green grass.
“You’re so mean Hato.” She sighs and flops to her belly “Heart, heart, what rhymes with heart?”
The similar looking waterbuck snorted. “I’m here to eat not to help you with your tune.”
As the waterbuck spoke, a young male padded around the corner. His recently grown in mane was a bit itchy. No one had ever told him that having a mane could be a bit scratchy. He was learning that the hard way. Though he had queried this with his father, he had simply said the itching would subside, eventually. Zlatan had no idea when eventually would be so he was stuck in this turmoil of persistent itching.
The only thing that seemed to make it subside was bu submerging his head in water. This was an entirely embarrassing thing to do and he tried to do it before anyone else was up. He looked, as expected, like a drowned rat when his mane was wet, he looked smaller and even weaker than he usually did and this did not please him. After all he was supposed to be a male yet here he was terrified of females and smaller than the average male of the lands. He had been dealt a most sad set of cards.
Hopping before the pale yellow male lion came a white hare, he was as pale as his companion, but where his partner was smaller than average, the hare was larger than average. This of course came down from his godly heritage. He knew who his father was, he was related to a god, he was the son of a god and because of this he had certain powers. He could see things, but not always interpret them. His powers however were pretty much always a good warning system. There was no warning here today, though he had a feeling that Zlatan would not be able to get his private meeting with the water done.
Kuimba lifted her head as the two males approached, a hare and a lion, well she supposed it wasn’t as odd as herself and her waterbuck companion. “Hello.” She purred musically, her gaze falling on the young pale maned male.
Hato raised her head and also a curious brow at the odd couple coming towards them. A hare and a lion. Well she supposed that, that meant that he was an enlightened sort of creature, even if he looked very young. Kuimba spoke before she could speak so she simply let a grunt roll over her lips. She nodded at the two and waited to see what would unfold.
Zlatan looked at the lioness, a moment of fear crossed his eyes but it quickly vanished when he saw the waterbuck. He had an appreciation for prey beasts, they only really lived around lions who didn’t hunt them. This one seemed to match her companion and looked very relaxed. “Uhm.. yes.. Hello.” He managed. She was sat in front of the watering hole he had been headed for. Well that was the end of his morning quest. It seemed he would have to spend the day feeling itchy.
Pinyin hopped forward and straight up to the lioness. “Was that you singing? It was very nice.” He wriggled his nose and hopped past the lioness dipping his nose down to take a drink from the watering hole. He knew that Zlatan would not be very happy about sitting around with a couple of females. He sensed no danger from either of them though so they could spend a few minutes conversing with the lioness and the waterbuck.
Kuimba smiled at the hare as he hopped past. “What a lovely little bunny.” She purred, admiring his long ears. “Is he your companion?” She tilted her head at the young lion and smiled softly.
Zlatan nodded lightly “Y..Yes he’s my friend.” He smiled watching his friend go to the water. He had no excuse to stop. He nodded at the female and trotted past her to the water. Though he had come here to dunk his head, he was going to have to just have a drink. Well, he was sort of thirsty. He dipped his head and took a deep drink from the water.
Pinyin hopped over to the dark lioness and winked. “Thanks, I’m a happy bunny.” He grinned and hopped over to the waterbuck. “Your friend here is very quiet isn’t she.”
Hato tilted her head at the hare “I like to choose my words carefully little hare.” She smiled watching the nervous male lion lift his head.
The yellow male looked around at the two females and gave a gentle nod “Come on Pinyin, we should get going.” The young lion smiled at the two females and gave a curt nod before trotting off. He really didn’t like to spend too much time around girls. They were terrifying to him.
Pinyin sighed. “Sorry, he’s not much of a conversationalist.” He smiled and followed after his companion. “Oh, before I go, Art, Cart, Smart, Dart, they all rhyme with heart.” He grins and bolts after the pale lion, his tail flickering in the air.
Kuimba blinked owlishly and laughed at the fleeing hare “Thank you!” She chuckled, watching as the odd couple raced away.
((W/C 1040))