This would be his true test, Jianyu thought as he waited for Nianzu and Suyin. His two, very dear friends had decided that they wanted him to cubsit. It was an honor that Jianyu would never forget. These cubs were the result of his matchmaking after all. If he hadn't instructed Nianzu in the way of the heart, the poor lion would still be wading through the ocean of love searching desperately for his other half.
But Jianyu would never hold that over Nianzu.
As he waited, he spotted the parents with two of their cubs. If his memory was correct, there should have been more then just two cubs? A lot more then two cubs. His mind raced with possibilities of what could have happened to the poor little critters. He thought that Suyin and Nianzu would have been protective of their cubs, but perhaps they were too young and too inexperience. After all they weren't really expecting these cubs!
When they got closer, Jianyu got a better look at his friends. They both looked like they hadn't seen the sun in days. Even their usual, graceful and strong strides were sluggish, like every limb had a heavy rock tied to it.
The two cubs that were with them were much more lively. The one with darker fur was taking swipes at Nianzu's tail. The other one was a little bit behind her parents, pouncing on the flowers she passed.
“Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that you are missing a few of your cubs?” Jianyu pointed out. The parents did not seem to find Jianyu's statement entertaining.
“The idea of traveling with more then two of them.” Suyin shook her head. “Plus with your first time watching them, it might be nice for you just to have two of them to deal with.”
“I will not let you down! When you come back for them, they will be tell you all about the adventures we had.” Jianyu said.
Nianzu looked at Suyin worriedly. “Are you sure this is a good idea? We can hardly handle Jianyu. Imagine if our daughters turn out like him.”
Suyin laughed at her mate. “Oh it would take more then one day for him to teach them his ways. Plus if at least one of the cubs pick up storytelling, perhaps that cub will be able to distract their siblings long enough for us to get some sleep.”
“You have a point...” Nianzu looked at the two cubs. “Alright you two, keep your uncle Jianyu company. We will be back for you in a while. Try to be on your best behavior.” The two cubs stood up tall and straight and nodded to their father.
“And have fun!” Suyin said, before turning around.
The two cubs waved at their parents as they walked off. As soon as they were done, the two cubs looked at him with grins.
“So what are your names?” Jianyu asked the two of them.
“I am Xiu.” The darker cub with the rainbow scales said.
“AND I am Lei!” The white cub with dark grey markings said a little louder then her sister and pushing herself toward Jianyu.
He laughed at the adorable and small cubs. “Well I am glad that we have finally gotten a chance to meet! I am your uncle Jianyu, but your parents probably told you that.”
“Dad says that you talk a lot and make up stories.” Lei said, circling around Jianyu.
“Yes, I am a storyteller. It is my duty to tell stories. Would you like to hear one?” He asked. Gently he laid down in the grass as Lei stopped and started playing with his tail.
“Tell me a story about a warrior like mom. Mom tells us lots of stories.” Xiu said before chasing after her sister.
“If you two hold still for a moment I will tell you a story.” Jianyu said, as he moved his tail away from the two cubs. They frowned.
“The warrior better be able to fly like a bird though.” Lei walked around Jianyu and flopped down in front of him. Xiu copied her sister. “Oh and has a snake.”
Jianyu laughed at the demands. “Well I will do my best. The story starts at the border between the north house and the west house, not far from where we are. Legend says that darkness surrounded the land day after day after day until one day a scaled lioness as pale as the moon stepped forward declaring that she would put an end to the night. She was blessed by the moon itself and there was no one more worthy to bring the day back.”
“Uncle Jianyuuuuu! I'm bored. I wanna play tag now.” Lei whined loudly.
Xiu looked impatiently at her sister. “I want to hear the story LEI.” She said, sticking her tongue out at her sister. Then she turned toward Jianyu and frowned. “I want to hear about her flying Uncle Jianyu. Skip to the part where she flies.”
“We can play tag after I tell the story Lei. Is that alright? And Xiu, storytelling is all about building up to the important parts. If I skip to the part where she flies how do we learn anything about the character? If we skip over her becoming who she is meant to be we are taking away from her story.”
Both of the cubs frowned at him. “IF Dad were here he would have us duel. The winner would decide what we do.” Lei said. As if on cue, Xiu locked eyes with her sister, getting in a pouncing position.
Jianyu put his front paw in between the two cubs. “I am sure that they way your father handles things works for him, but when I am watching you, there will be no fighting.” He said. The two cubs looked at him with pleading eyes. “Why don't the two of you continue the story then? That way you can do what you want with the story and you won't be bored.”
“It sounds like you want us to do your job.” Lei muttered, twirling her toe in the dirt. “I just want to tackle something.”
“After the story we will play a game I promise.” Jianyu was starting to understand why Nianzu and Suyin did not want to have him watch all the cubs. He could not imagine one more let alone 8. He wondered what god those two pissed off to make them have so many.
“Jianyu can I start?” Xiu asked eagerly. He nodded his head. Xiu cleared her throat. “The warrior looked at the darkness and yelled at it. She told it that she was not ready to sleep and wanted to play fight. The darkness did not get it.”
“I don't get it.” grumbled Lei.
“It is not your turn Lei. Let Xiu continue.” Jianyu interjected.
“The darkness came onto the land in the shape of a lioness. The darkness said 'I will go away only if you beat me in combat'” Xiu acted out the scene as she spoke. “And the warrior lioness agreed. But the darkness went up in the air and told the warrior that she would have to learn to fly if she wanted to battle.”
“AND THEN the warrior used the power from the moon to fly and defeated the darkness!” Lei said loud and quickly. She tackled her sister. “Now the true fight begins!”
Jianyu sighed. It wasn't exactly how he would have had the story end, but it was probably for the best that they ended story time. “What game did you want to play?” He asked the cubs. The two were locked in a tumble, but when he spoke, they stopped and looked at him. They stopped fighting and sat up.
“I wanna play tag!” Lei said.
“No hide and seek! I am the best at that.” Xiu wiggled excitedly.
Could they not decide on one thing, Jianyu thought as he put on a smile. “We will start with tag and if we still have time we will move to hide and seek. Is that alright with you?” He asked.
“Ooookay.” Xiu said. She dashed toward Jianyu and tapped him on the nose. “Tag! You are it!” And with that she darted away. Lei was also quick to get away from Jianyu.
“Hey be nice to an old lion!” He yelled before chasing after them.
The game continued on. Jianyu was usually the tagger unless one of the cubs was feeling generous and let him tag them. Afterwards the three of them laid down and they let him tell the story of the warrior lioness and the darkness. By the time he had gotten near the end of the story, the two cubs were curled up next to him completely asleep. He smiled at them before he drifted off to sleep as well.
“So this is what you call cubsitting?”
Jianyu, Xiu and Lei opened their eyes up. Standing next to them were Nianzu and Suyin, both looking at them with grins.
“We had been uh training. Yea and we trained so hard that we got tired!” Xiu lied sticking her tongue out at her parents. Nianzu glanced at Suyin who just shrugged at her mate.
“Did you two have a good time with uncle Jianyu?” Suyin asked as Lei went over and brushed up against her mother's legs.
“Yea! He told us a story and we played tag! I want to play with him again. He is really bad at tag.” Lei said excitedly.
“Well if Jianyu would like, he can watch you any time he would like. But now, we need to start heading back. We caught dinner a little bit ago and it is waiting in a den near by. I am sure you two monsters are ready to eat.” Suyin looked at Jianyu. “You are more then welcome to join us if you would like.”
Jianyu laughed. “I think I am fine for now. I will let your family eat in peace.” He looked down at Xiu and Lei. “Thank you for spending time with me. I will work on my tagging skills so I am a more worthy adversary.”
“I hope we see you soon uncle Jianyu!” Xiu said and Lei nodded her head in agreement. Nianzu and Suyin took the cubs and they headed home. Jianyu turned around and started his walk back to his den. He looked forward to seeing the cubs again. Next time he would be more prepared to handle the cubs.
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