Their decision to leave the bonelands had not been an easy one, but it had been inevitable. Damu and Asali, as they were once again reclaiming their former rogue names, were leaving the lives of 'Uju' and 'Igazi' behind. It had been a good life, and Damu had raised her first little of cubs within the safety of that pride, though the dark female had still somewhat felt like an outsider. Most of the members of that pride had been welcoming, but again most of them had been born there. In short, life in the bonelands had been pleasant, though it hadn't quite felt like home, at least not for her. Damu shook her head at these thoughts, she needed to sleep. They had made their decision to leave, and though it was not an easy one, it was done.
Beside the restless dark female lay Asali, formerly 'Uju' of the bonelands. The lighter colored of the two sisters was also the largest of the two, and quite larger than most rogue lionesses for that matter. She could feel Damu fidgeting against her back and Asali took a deep breath, exhaled, and then took a large yawn to wake herself. Indeed the decision to leave had not been easy, but the two lionesses had grown into their own after years of recovery from trauma, and a large part of that was due to the stability the bonelands pride had given them. For that Asali would always be grateful, but it had been time to move on. There was so much of the world that they had not seen yet. So much that they hadn't experienced yet. In short, it had been time to move on and see what else the world had to offer them.
The day had been a long one for Bamba, as he had traveled a fair distance from the pride's borders in search of a bounty. He had found the poor sod late that afternoon, and completing the contract had taken up most of the evening. Now it was late at night, much later than he preferred, and travel back to the Tani'Ajiri was slow going. He enjoyed the work he did for them, and though the mercenary band had organized itself into a larger pride, he didn't feel quite as constricted as he had while growing up in the bonelands. Well, perhaps that was because he had been a male in the bonelands? There had been so many rules he had to follow when it came to the females of the pride, but at least his mum and his auntie had been fairly relaxed with him.
Damu's ears flicked back idly as she listened to the sounds of her sister stirring next to her, and she sighed in response. "I'm sorry Asali, I did not mean to wake you," she whispered as she shifted to rest her chin on her paws. They had traveled for several weeks since leaving the bonelands pride behind, and both sisters were weary, but Damu was beginning to feel more like herself. Better even. Her time in the bonelands had gotten her use to being around males without feeling threatened, and though it was different here in the rogue lands, she wasn't quite as on edge as she use to be. It had taken years, but finally she was no longer constantly looking over her shoulder for signs of danger.
Asali blinked her eyes at the bright light of the moon and yawned again. "No worries sister," the larger lioness replied with a note of tiredness. "What has you troubled?" She knew her sister well enough to recognize that Damu had something on her mind. Perhaps they were both dwelling on the same thing, after all the bonelands had been their home for quite a few years, and Asali did miss aspects of it. Though she also had recognized the need to leave, to be able to grow from the experience and move on.
The male's paw steps were slow and plodding as he idly took in his surroundings. He had wandered the roguelands for many years after being kicked from the bonelands pride upon adulthood, and had learned many things about the land in general and how to navigate it. In fact, it had become quite the hobby of his to explore as much of the rogue lands as possible, to see as much as he could see, and now he practically knew every nook and cranny the territory had to offer. The Mercs had seen this knowledge as useful, and had even trained Bamba how to fight in return for his services. Joining up with the Tani'Ajiri had to have been the most natural decision Bamba had ever made in his young life. It just felt right to him. And now the small mercenary band was growing in size, with more and more members joining every day it seemed. Bamba had joined the Mercs fairly
Damu did not answer immediately. Instead she took a moment to breath in the cool night air and relax her fidgeting. "I wasn't expecting it to be this difficult..." she explained hesitantly. After all, Damu still had daughters back in the bonelands pride, but they were grown now and able to make their own decisions. Still, she would miss them. Much like she had missed her boys when they had left as adults per pride tradition. She understood why, but she often wondered and worried if they were alright. "I know we've been rogues before, but its different now. I miss the feeling of community," Damu admitted. She was surprised to have said that aloud, much less actually feel those feelings. They had been alone for so long out in the roguelands before joining the bonelands, but now it just felt lonely.
Asali listened patiently to Damu's explanation and she found herself realizing how much harder it must have been for Damu to leave. Asali had loved her little nieces and nephews, but the pale lioness had yet to have any children of her own. "I miss that as well," she agreed. Asali had often gone hunting with her pride sisters, and had found the experience enjoyable. "Perhaps-" she had been about to say something about finding another pride as time went on, but her attention was caught by a silhouette in the moonlight. A male lion by its size, and she could make out the shape of a mane. Hmm, he was headed this way it seemed. "Greetings!" Asali called to make their presence known, as the impressively sized lioness rose to her paws. She could feel Damu doing the same next to her, without having to take her eyes off the approaching stranger.
He was about completely tied up in his own musings that he hadn't noticed he was approaching the pair of lionesses. He was almost back to the Tani'Ajiri''s territory after all. The voice calling out to him startled him out of his thoughts as he paused in his step to regard the two some distance away. The voice was faintly familiar, though he didn't think it belonged to any of the Tani'Ajiri. "To you, as well," the male replied hesitantly. He couldn't quite put his claw on it, but he knew he recognized that voice somehow. It was warm and sweet like honey, like... like... he couldn't quite grasp it. He scrunched his face in uncertainty as he took a few more paces forward, just enough to make out the the pale pelt of a particularly large looking lioness, and behind her a darker, smaller lioness. he couldn't quite get a good look at them from this distance, and though he wanted to be cautious, he couldn't stop himself from taking just a few more strides forward. "I'm-" he barely got the words out of his maw before realization dawned on him.
"BAMBA!" was the excited gasp that cut off whatever her son was about to say. Yes, her son! All thoughts of ill-intention left Damu's mind immediately as she recognized her son's voice, and her claws slid silently back into their sheathes. Had he been any other male, a stranger, his continued advance would have been met with ferocity. Damu was a fairly serious individual, with little need for outward excitement, but she was simply overjoyed by the appearance of one of her sons. It had been years since she'd seen him! Without further hesitation Damu leapt forward to charge at her full grown son, much larger than her by far, but that did not stop the lioness from leaping at him to hug and snuggle into his dark mane. There was simply no words that could describe the sheer joy that Damu experienced in this moment, so she simply opted to tighten her grip around him.
Asali recognized the lone male a split second before Damu shouted his name and the large lioness was honestly caught off guard by the whole exchange. What were the odds? She suspected her nephews still roamed the roguelands, but she hadn't expected to run into any of them. At least, not this quickly. The pale lioness allowed the scene to play out in front of her for a few moments, before she too had to charge up to dark maned male. Unfortunately for Bamba, Asali was much larger than her sister, and she hit him with the full force of her weight to knock the both of them off of their paws and into a massive hug. Honestly, it probably could have been considered more of a grapple than a hug with how fiercely Asali held onto the both of them. "Its been too long!"
"Mum!" Bamba exclaimed as she charged up to throw her arms around his mane. Her flying assault staggered him and it was all he could do to keep on his paws, mouth open in disbelief. He was too shocked to react very quickly, which was bad news for Bamba as Asali was next to hit him with the full force of her weight, which was considerable for a lioness. That in of itself was enough to knock the young male from his paws and sent all three of them sprawling to the ground below, a tangle of joy and confusion. "Auntie!" Bamba half laughed, half wheezed as he attempted to recover from the wind being knocked out of him. To a casual by-stander, it probably looked like he had just been mauled by a couple of attackers, but nothing could be further from the truth. When he caught his breath, Bamba attempted to free himself from the onslaught of his mum and auntie's grasp. "What are you two doing out here? Where's the pride?" He had never known them to be away from the Ithambo'hlabathi, and only vaguely remembered stories of them coming from a rogue background.
Damu was bowled over just as easily as Bamba was, but she was quick to try and squirm her way out from under Asali, who outweighed her quite a bit. The dark lioness took a playful swing at her sister, claws safely tucked away as the three of them managed to find their paws again. "We've decided to move on," Damu explained, not wanting to touch on the subject too heavily. "How have you been, Bamba? Are the roguelands treating you well?" He looked healthy enough, so that was one worry lifted from the back of her mind.
Asali allowed the two of them to get out from under her, but she wore a toothy grin as she examined her nephew. He had grown considerably since she last saw him, maybe a bit skinny for a male, but not terribly so. "Are you eating enough? It can be difficult hunting for yourself, Asali added.
Had something happened? Bamba's yellow eyes went from Damu to Asali, trying to decide if he should question them further on the matter. Though it seemed like they didn't want to do anything more than ask about him instead. He sighed, maybe he could get them to talk about it later. "Well enough," he replied to the both of them, a little uneasy about talking about himself and still caught off guard by their presence. He saw the intensity in both of their eyes and he sighed again, he would not be able to escape their curiosity it seemed. "I've joined a pride. They help with that sort of thing," he told them with an easy smile. He hadn't seen his mum in so long, he didn't quite know how or what to say. Eventually he settled on, "I've missed you, mum. And you too, auntie."
"A pride?" Damu questioned, keenly interested in this little tidbit. What sort of pride had her son joined? She took a step forward till she was nearly nose to nose with Bamba, though she had to crane her neck up considerably to be about equal in height. The dark lioness' olive eyes stared into his as she tried to decide on how to feel about that. It was natural that he'd want to join a pride, but was it a good one? "What's it like?" she asked him when he neither looked away or stepped back. At least he hadn't lost his backbone, she decided.
Asali snorted in amusement as Damu tested her son's mettle. Damu was a very strong willed female, and Asali had seen many a male back down from the dark, little lioness. But it seemed that they had raised Bamba better than that, and Asali smiled at that. "We are very curious," Asali added more casually. "What can you tell us?"
Ah, this. His mum had always been big on standing one's ground, and Bamba easily realized she was testing his resolve. He smiled at her instead, unbothered by her intensity. "Its late, and it'll be easier to tell y'all about it along the way." he offered as he turned to continue on his way. "Its not far," he added as they began to fall in step next to him. "In fact, you were at the border of the Tani'Ajiri." What were the odds, he told himself. To think he'd run into family this far from the bonelands! It had definitely been a pleasant surprise to see both his mum and his auntie, and Bamba took most of the night to talk to them about his new pride, answering many questions and welcoming sleep once they were all safely behind the prides borders.
(Word Count: 2,417)
