Enzi
Indlovukati | Provider
Indlovukati | Provider
Enzi raced to the meetup point. It was finally the day that Ayana had mentioned. He had spent a lot of time in the rogue lands, even in the Outlands where his brother stayed. Well, got lost in. He couldn’t thank the lioness enough that got him out before he was attacked. Even so, he couldn’t wait to see Ayana’s face when he gets to the meetup point. Even the rain couldn’t kill his mood.
Then he saw it. The meetup point. It felt like it was only yesterday that he was hunting in this very spot, but the brown lioness with her big, blue, beautiful eyes got his kill before he could even move. She surprised him at first. He didn’t sense another predator in the area. Maybe his brother was right. Maybe he needed to work on his awareness before it got him killed. That would be the first thing he would be working on when he returned home. If he returned home. Maybe he shouldn’t go back home. He was still thinking about leaving his pride and finding a new home.
“Ayana?” he called out when he was close enough. “Ayana, are you here? Where are you?” He sniffed the air, but she couldn’t smell anything around. Nothing. “I must be early then…”
He looked around, searching for a place he could perch up and wait for her. He noticed a hill nearby with a tree growing on it. That would be the perfect place to wait for her. He would have shade to keep him cool when the rain stops. He trotted over to the tree. When he got there, he shook his body to get some of the wetness off of him. It worked for a little while since the tree wasn’t adequate enough shelter to keep all the rain off of him.
So he waited. Minutes turned to hours. Hours turned to days, and days turn into just short of a week. He was starting to think that the female he had fallen for wasn’t going to meet him. No, she had to come. It was her idea in the first place. Or did she only tell him that so he would go away? No, that can’t be it. She liked him just as much as he liked her. If she wanted him to go, she could have said something before she let him walk her to the borders of her home. But why wasn’t she there? Why didn’t she show up? Enzi couldn’t help but feel like she was in trouble somehow.
“The lioness-sss you’re waiting on is-sssn’t coming.”
Enzi looked around for the owner of the voice. He frowned when he didn’t see anyone and tilted his head. He could have sworn he heard someone say something. Last he checked, he wasn’t crazy or anything. Hearing voices didn’t run in his family. No, someone was there, watching him and everything he was doing.
“Up here.”
Enzi looked up into the tree. There he saw the owner of the voice. It was a blue snake curled up in the tree. Were they there the whole time? No, it couldn’t be. Enzi would have sensed it, wouldn’t he?
“You’re waiting on the lioness from the Boneland pride, no?” the snake asked. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but she’s not coming. It’s migration time and she’s with her pride. Not that any of it matters now.”
“What do you mean?” Enzi asked as he got on his paws. “Who are you? Where’s Ayana? How do you know so much?”
The snake sighed as she slither down the tree. The snake was blue and he couldn’t only assume that it was female due to the pitch of it’s voice. “I am Okolo. The Boneland pride has left on their migration. You miss-sssed them by about a week or sss-so.”
“How do you know who I’m waiting for?” Enzi asked as he sat down. Surely Ayana would have told him about this so-called migration. Right? “I’m confused. She told me to come back to where we met! She wouldn’t just not show up!”
“I saw you talking to her when you were here lasssst,” the snake said as she looked up at the tree. “I wasss on that branch. SSShe won’t come. You can wait all you want, but it’ll be a futile wait. SSShe’sss gone. Go home before you sssstarve.” The snake slithered toward the tree, then looked back at Enzi. “How well do you know the lioness? From what I could tell, she had just met her that day and didn’t return until now, right? Can you really ssssay ssshe’sss not that type?”
Enzi couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He shook his head and walked away from the tree. He decided to run. Run right to the borders of the Ithambo’hlabathi lands. He paced along the borders, numerous thoughts running through his head. She would have told him. She wouldn’t just leave like the snake said. They only have known each other for a short time, but he thought that maybe something was there. Something that sparked between them.
“Ayana!!! AYANA, WHERE ARE YOU!!!” Enzi roared into the nothing. He finally came to realize that she wasn’t coming. She didn’t want him like so many other females he had come across. She had lied to him about meeting him when they first met. She just wanted to get rid of him so she could get ready to go on this migration that was spoken of. She had shattered any trust he had in lionesses. He hung his head. He felt like a complete idiot.
Enzi sighed as he turned and began to walk. He had no other reason to wait for her. Not anymore. He had spent five days for Ayana to show up, but she wasn’t going to come. He felt like a fool. The biggest fool in the world. He wandered into the rogue lands, broken and unaware. Even more so then he did before he met his brother. He just walked, leaving everything he felt that was real behind.
Total Words: 1,022
