“Your father is here. He would like to talk to you if you are willing. If you do not want to talk to him I will tell Devaraja and he will tell your father.” One of the guards said as she started in on the food that they brought. Tihamtu looked up at him with annoyance. Interrupting her eating was one thing, but interrupting her to tell her that her father was here? What a waste of time. She didn't bother giving an answer, instead went back to her food, leaving the guard looking confused.
“Uh so- did you want me to tell Devaraja that you will not go see your father?” the guard asked.
“No. I will go see him. He bothered to come all the way here. It would be rude if anyone other than me told him to get the hell out.” She responded in a fake, cheerful voice, followed by an eye roll. “Go ahead and tell whoever that I talked to my dad and everything will be good.”
A few of the other blessings were looking at them, but Tihamtu ignored them. She did not belong here anyways. Unlike most of the other blessings, she did not have visions in any form. There were only two times she had them and in the end she could not even remember what she saw. She had asked to be made a seeker instead, but the Rahasya insisted she remain a blessing 'just in case her visions do comeback'.
“I was asked to accompany you to him. Devaraja felt like that would be the safest option,” the guard said.
“Ugh okay. But when we get to him, I need my space. I do not need anyone listening in on my conversation.” Tihamtu responded before getting up. She suddenly felt less hungry.
The guard gave an apologetic look to the other blessings in the den and then followed Tihamtu.
It was a cloudless day in the pride. She noted that outside the den, it didn't seem too busy. The small pond only had a handful of pride members at it. Also sitting next to the pond was her father Utako. He was watching the other pride members quietly. She hoped that she could scare them away from him. The last thing she needed was for her father to have a fling in the pride, giving her siblings to deal with.
She walked down the mountain path with the guard not too far from her. When they reached the bottom she turned toward him. “I can handle it from here if you want to wait.” She said. The guard simply bowed his head and sat down, leaving her to walk the rest of the way to Utako.
It had been years since she had seen him. The last time was when she was an adolescent. Growing up, all the adults told her how fortunate she was to be a child of a god, that potentially it meant that she would be reborn as something better since she already had a gods favor. When she actually did meet him, it was a disaster. It was one of the rare times she had a vision. She became seriously ill. All she remembered from the trip was Utako flying away.
He more or less looked the same as she remembered, though not quite as huge. Tihamtu decided that she just remembered him being a giant compared to her. “Surprise that you actually decided to come here.” She said casually. He did not look at her. “Hey! Utako, I am talking to you.”
“Tihamtu, come sit down.” He said calmly.
She decided to sit away from him in the grass. If he was going to be rude to her, she was going to be rude right back. “What did you want?” She asked.
“I was curious about how you were doing. When I talked to Devaraja, it sounded like from what he told me, you had not had another vision incident.” Utako said, still not looking at her. “I have a theory that I might be the cause of your visions. Since the only times you have had them was when I was around.”
“Everything has been great without you. Except for the part that I am not allowed to leave the pride because they are afraid that I will have visions and get sick.” She replied. “And I don't know if you caused them or not. But if you did then wouldn't I get one now?”
Utako let out a laugh. “This was a test. I remember being able to be around you without you being effected. I wanted to see if there was anything that caused it.” He explained. “I started to wonder if it happened whenever I looked you in the eyes. When I saw you last, I remember looking at you and then you collapsing.”
Tihamtu frowned. “So you came back here just to see what would happen? What if you being near me caused it? Would you just disappear as quickly as you showed up without any explanation.”
“Of course not. You are only a fraction of why I am here. The other is because I would like one of my new friends to join your pride. I needed the head seeker to meet her to see if she was a decent candidate.” Utako explained. “And I was worried that if you do get sick when I am around, that there might be a problem if she joined the pride because I plan on visiting her as often as I can. She is very dear to me.”
“I should have never come to see you. All you care about is if I would be a thorn in your paw. Well guess you just got to close your eyes around me and you can come here whenever you want.” Tihamtu said, as she got up. “Do us both a favor and next time you come here, don't bother asking to speak to me. I do not want to see you again.”
“Tihamtu, before you go, I brought you a gift as an apology for my absence.”
She looked over and I small water buck stood on the other side of Utako, peeking over at her. The little guy looked just like Utako. As much as she was angry at Utako, she couldn't help but give the water buck a smile. “I am not forgiving you. But I will take care of him.”
With that the water buck ran over to her and nuzzled her arm.
“I accept that.” Utako said, as he got up. She looked at him for a moment and caught his gaze. She saw images flash before her. It was so fast though that she couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. Her vision blacked out.
When she opened her eyes. She was lying on the ground with some pride members around her. Utako was no where in sight. Devaraja was sitting next to her with a frown on his face. “It seems like Utako might have been right about something.”
Tihamtu felt sick to her stomach, but was able to be helped to a den where she could rest. Her water buck laid next to her, doing his best to comfort her.
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