The diplomatic visit had turned into a permanent one, once news of the Kwa'Kikombe reached them. Since then more ex-Sikukuu and ex-Kwa'Kikombe members had joined the Nil'Nocere, following their old queen and master of ceremonies. Vappu wasn't particularly interested in learning the art of healing, but she had learned the value of having skilled healers around. There were a few instances where she might have died unless she'd had help patch her up. A small thing like a sprained paw could be the death of a lonely cheetah, after all.
After staying for a while she'd started appreciating the way the pride members always worked to better themselves and were very eager to learn new things. Not just healing either. She'd tagged along with a group of seekers a few times to see what they did for the pride, and it reminded her of what she used to do. The running around, talking to people part was easy enough. It was the first aid training that was tripping her up. But perhaps it was worth learning, because she missed traveling sometimes. Meeting new people was one of her favourite things.
Today she had promised to watch one of Paeans cubs, in a moment of weakness. Apparently the mother was around, but not all the time so he sometimes pawned one or two off on others. Six cubs could be a real awful even for two adults. The little girl had looked very cute when the lion came to her asking for a favour so she'd accepted the task. It was hard to say no to one of the ones she had known back in Sikukuu, and he was the queens brother. Ex-queen now.
Gekkota appreciated the special time without her siblings and was especially excited to spend time with the cheerful cheetah. Vappu was pretty and grown up and always found flowers or trinkets to decorate herself with. The brown cub wanted to be all lavender and pretty and cheetah like her when she grew up, and she said as much after getting over her initial shyness.
Vappu wasn't sure what to do with the little girl, but she started out with a thorough grooming. It couldn't hurt, cubs got into all kinds of trouble and they were not very good at cleaning up the resulting mess. After finally wiggling out of the cheetahs vice like grip Gekkota thought it would be a fun game to pounce on her tail. Vappu let her chase her sweeping tail for a short while, but when pouncing turned into chomping she yelped and put an end to the fun game by wrapping the tail around her body and placing her front paws in the way.
"Let's play something else now, honey," she suggested, "What do you like to play?"
Gekkota furrowed her brow and gave this some thought. They often played pounce, but Gekkota tended to be the one in the bottom of the pile. Not super fun, so perhaps that was why Auntie Vappu didn't want to play anymore. Sometimes they played chase, but it would be a bit tricky to keep up with a long legged adult. Ummm... As one of the more timid cubs in her litter she wasn't used to be able to pick the game.
Vappu gave the girl time to think. She had a fair number of games up her sleeve, but she wanted to see if the cub had any ideas first. She was rewarded with a blissful look on the cubs face as she came up with an answer.
"Let's play healer!" she squeaked.
"Sure honey," Vappu said, relaxing her tail as the immediate risk of biting seemed to be over.
"I'll be the healer," Gekkota decided, "You're very, very sick."
Vappu rolled onto her side and wrapped a paw over her eyes in a very dramatic fashion. She was rewarded by a giggle, and then the cub started to examine her. Luckily she wasn't as brutal as the last medic that had laid her paws on Vappu. It tickled a bit, if anything. The cheetah gritted her teeth and didn't laugh. This was serious business.
"Am I going to make it, healer?" she asked, voice quivering with worry.
Gekkota tilted her head and thought for a while before answering.
"Myeah, I'll fix you."
Vappu was a little worried when the girl took off, but luckily she didn't run far. She returned with a bunch of dried grass, dropped it near Vappu and then ran off for more things. When she was satisfied she'd fetched a pile of dried grass, a stick and had somehow got mud all over her paws. Before she could stop the cub she started to rub the mud all over the already abused tail. Vappu's eyes widened but she resisted the urge to yell at the cub.
They were playing. It would wash off. It would probably taste gross but it would wash off. After having her tail fur ruined by mud the cub proceeded to pile on the grass. Vappu eyed the stick, but Gekkota seemed to have forgotten what she'd planned to use it for. It was a mess. The cub had mud all over her paws, with dried grass stuck to it. Her own tail looked just as bad, but with more grass sticking out. She'd probably end up trying to find some water to soak it before trying to groom it out, because the mud was already drying.
"You're fixed!" Gekkota announced. "But you need to keep that on until tomorrow."
"Thank you healer, I'll make sure I do that," Vappu said. She'd get rid of it as soon as she could and then avoid meeting the cub. Good plan. She just had to deal with it until Paean came to get his offspring and then figure out how to get rid of the rapidly drying mud mixture.
"Have you ever played the rock game," Vappu asked before Gekkota could invent something new she had to cure, "It's fun!"
Gekkota hadn't so Vappu quickly gathered three small rocks each for them, and taught the girl to hide them under her paw. One player hid one, two or all three rocks and the other had to guess the number. With a bit of luck it'd keep them occupied until Paean got her.
He owed her, big time!
-fin-
Word count: 1060