"What a pensive stare this one has," the striped lion observed, regarding the lion who had eventually become his friend. Ukunqoba had remained in the Mwezi throughout the entire Shangyue episode, and it had been him who had been one of the first to encounter Cruithne when the lion had tentatively returned. Suffice it to say that Cruithne hadn't been one of those who had been chased out and banished, but he had taken the active decision to leave while it was unsafe. He'd been welcomed back with open arms when he did return, but he'd never quite settled, not really, there had always been something bothering him and this afternoon that was very clear.
"Mmm?" It was a non-committal murmur if there ever was one. He'd heard Qoba at least, but it seemed he had little inclination to acknowledge him further. His attention remained fixed on the border and his mind was definitely elsewhere. Then again it had been in a world of its own since he had returned and this had gotten progressively worse as he had uncovered the truth of Shangyue's rule in his absence. Once upon a time the brown lion had been concerned that Shangyue would lead them all to ruin, yet the more he heard...the more he realised that perhaps this wasn't true.
"In a world of his own, is this one..." Kumbha had joined them. Another of those that Qoba had inadvertendly acquired as his friend. While his sibling had been propelled into nobility, Qoba had been left behind through the sheer misfortune of the time of his birth and the fact the 'Moon' hadn't favoured him. Fortunately for him, it seemed that there had been a few others who were subject to the same fate, or they had simply found that they didn't fit in where society seemed to think they should exist.
...Cruithne had been one of those.
"As usual," Qoba smiled pleasantly as the paler of the three males drew nearer. The only Guard within the group, he had a seemingly greater comprehension of what lay on their borders, or at least that was how it was supposed to work. In practice it had been Cruithne that knew far more through circumstance alone.
"Quite frankly, he seems to be getting worse," Khumba shook his head as he took a seat and regarded Cruithne for several moments. "There's nothing out there by the way, we've been checking and beyond the sudden influx of Firekin, there's little of note," he said. He concluded that on this occasion Cruithne may be looking further afield and musing over any and all encounters that he might have had previously. While it was a closely guarded secret between all three of them, both Qoba and Khumba knew that Cruithne was fiercely unhappy.
He'd returned to a place that had been temporarily free of slavery, or rather slaves had been granted the opportunity to progress in some form. Yet upon his return the slaves had been thrust back into their position and reminded that they weren't worthy of anything else. Khumba had noted that it came as very little comfort to Cruithne that the slaves could leave with the 'blessing' of the Queen. Whatever he had seen out there had clearly altered how he regarded certain subjects and up until now, he'd never really spoken much about what he'd gotten out to outside.
"He is, yes..." Qoba agreed, stretching out a paw to press it to Cruithne's shoulder. It was enough to gain the brown lion's attention, it might not last for long, but it would afford them the opportunity to press him for some detail. They might not be able to help but if they could at least provide him with an outlet for his frustrations then he might feel better. "What has you this troubled?" he queried with a purse of his lips.
"He set them free you know, not entirely, but he gave them a chance to progress," he murmured and shook his head. "Then she took it all away again, she literally stripped them of that right and advised them that if they didn't like it, then they needed to leave."
"In as short a summary as one can give, yes..." Khumba accepted this as truth, he remembered Kimodo's mighty 'gathering' whereby she had thrown out anyone who refused to bend the knee and demanded obedience from everyone else. Most had accepted it and at the time he had too but the longer he had spent around Cruithne, the more he was beginning to question what had happened. Admittedly he held his peace for the most part, he knew better than to stir quite so much trouble, but that didn't mean Cruithne's demeabour hadn't rubbed off on him.
"She stripped them of any possible link to their family, any chance to see them again... All because they wouldn't conform."
"It is our culture, Cruithne. The moon didn't -"
"The moon is a farce," Cruithne snapped and narrowed his eyes. "Believe what you want, but I have seen a hell of a lot more than you and I assure you the definition of 'god' is fluid. Quite frankly if someone is to be punished for something they can't control, the very day they were born, then the whimsy of that deity can be damned."
Qoba raised an eyebrow at the outburst, though Khumba's expression was more neutral.
"He didn't do anything wrong, if anything he tried to make things progressive and he was spurned by those who seem to desperately clamber for greater influence,"he wrinkeld his nose. "There are other prides out there with slaves and even those slaves possess the capacity to gain their freedom and stay."
"Do you know what this means...?" Cruithne shook his head. "We are less honourable than prides that forcibly enslave others! We're crueller, you either submit or you lose everything, how is that ok?"
"Cruithne..."
"No," The brown lion interrupted the guard and closed his eyes. "She might be pretty, she might be the perfect colour, but she brought us back into the dark ages. I lived out there for long enough to see other lions rise and fall, but there were always choices and very few of them declared their worth based on a goddamn lunar calendar," he muttered. "No other I met blamed the unborn for the day of their birth, if they were to fail it was for other things."
"So everything beyond our walls is perfect?" Qoba queried.
"I'm beginning to suspect it might be. Our little Queen is hardly worth her salt when all she has done is exiled the innocent in a manner she feels is benevolent."
"The Great Lion is..."
"A farce," Cruithne repeated and returned his gaze to what lay beyond. "And if you don't believe me, then perhaps it's time I introduced you to the truth."
"I don't need an education in religious doctrine," Qoba pointed out cooly. He might not have been the greatest fan, or avid follower of the Great Lion... But he had no interest in joining any other religious cults either. More importantly, when he set aside what Cruithne clearly regarded as a major moral dilemma, the Mwezi had always been kind to him. That being said, he conceded that he hadn't been born so low in the pecking order that he had no freedom of choice or the right to self determination.
"It isn't a doctrine," Cruithne growled. "But if you want to meet something divine, then I can make that happen."
"Pardon?"
"You've never met a god," he shrugged. "I have... and it sure as hell wasn't our sadistic and whimsical Great Lion who seems to be tempermental at the same time his eye in the sky isn't just right."
"Intriguing as that is, I'm not entirely sure what that would achieve," Khumba confessed. While he acknowledged Kimodo had done absolutely nothing of significance or value in the grand scheme of things, he also couldn't see the point of meeting something divine outside his home either.
"An alternate view point," Cruithne murmured gently and released a sigh. "An opportunity to take the rose tinted glasses off and realise that Shangyue maybe had some things right. His methodology wasn't flawed, but the longer I stay here, the more I realise that in part his ideas weren't bad. They were poorly implemented but they provided a choice and hope where there wasn't any, our new and fearless leader has done nothing more than thrust has back to where we were... At the expense of those who simply have the wrong birthday."
He paused.
"That could have been any of us, literally any of us," he pointed out softly. "It could have been us who were born with no rights, it could have been use who was told to jump and we would have no choice other than to ask how high because only those born above us in rank knew what was good for us."
Another pause.
"You do have the right to self determination, so perhaps it's time you used that and saw something that wasn't shrouded in romanticism and falsehoods. The pride can't see beyond it and nor do they want to and that bothers me. There was a rebellion for a reason and it worked and now that it's over and things are back to normal no one seems to have asked why it worked..."
"Cruithne you're asking us to leave our home."
"Humour me."
"I'm fairly certain we have to ask for permission."
"We won't go far, it doesn't take long to find the free and the independent if you know where to look."
Both Qoba and Khumba exchanged glances, they seemed skeptical, but as Cruithne stared them down they hadn't technically refused his request either. The problem was that if others got wind of it, or had overheard Cruithne's remarks, it may not be very well received...
Word Count: 1672