Hello everyone, hope you enjoy this chapter, that is all. Yeah I'm saving my chatterboxiness for last.
Two days passed before Baakir felt fit enough to fly long distances again. They began preparations for leaving early in the morning, much to the sadness of the meerkat clan who liked their company immensely.
"We are sorry to see you go, we all enjoyed your company, its not every day we get visitors of a different species you know," said Hasani.
"And I enjoyed my short time with you too, I guess fate brought me here for a reason, to save Kayla and meet Kapeni's brother," said Conga as Kayla began climbing on her and using her head as a vantage point to see the world around her.
"Look mommy I'm on top of the world," she said.
"Well get down from the world, she needs to get going," said Kayla's mother.
"Oh it's quite alright, I had too much fun with her these past two days to make her miss an experience like this," said Conga as she helped Kayla climb down her.
"And we thank you for saving her, though now that we have heard that this other hawk is more evil I say we should give Chisulo a peace offering for being nice enough to let us die quickly so my next first born will be the perfect candidate for that," said Hasani before getting hit in the head by Molly.
"How dare you think about disposing of a child just like that," said Molly with a very angry face. For someone extremely pregnant she sure was strong.
"But sugar lumpkins, we already have twenty offspring already, loosing one won't hurt," said Hasani trying hard to keep Molly from hitting him a second time.
"Oh you are so cruel," said Molly who hit him again.
"I think we better go," said Conga to Mahiri and Baakir.
"Oh yes definitely," said Baakir.
Conga then quickly separated the feuding mates and gave both meerkats a quick hug. Once the long goodbye was over, Conga, Mahiri and Baakir took flight and began their journey toward the hot and unforgiving Sahara desert. For about a week the three followed the Nile to the north until it began changing direction slightly toward the northeast, Conga felt it was best to leave the Nile behind and begin their trek to the west and through their first real view of the Sahara.
It was a day after they had left the Nile that the scenery really changed. They had not noticed it the day before since they traveled an extra few hours during the night but when they awoke they found the land to be totally different. There was no longer anything green or blue save for the sky, the land was now brown and desolate looking. The desert rolled on forever, some parts flat other parts with high dunes caused by the wind.
"This is your last chance to change your mind before we really end up in hot water and have to worry about our survival rate, are you sure you want to go through this?" asked Baakir in a nervous voice.
"You should know my answer to that by now," said Conga and without another word began to fly toward the unknown horizon. Mahiri and Baakir quickly followed.
For five days the trio traveled through the hot desert. The going was slow and travel time only lasted a few hours before they all succumbed to exhaustion from the heat and decided to rest under the shade of a bush before continuing on in the morning.
One day ended up being spent hiding among some rocks as a dangerous wind storm came out of nowhere, darkening everything in its path and causing the three to cough up dust before they finally found the rocks which luckily had a small pool of water for them to drink from.
It was two days afterward when the desert really had taken its toll. They had not had water since the storm and all were feeling quite dehydrated.
"Oh I was not expecting this at all," said Conga as she slowly beat her wings, she felt like she needed to land and rest but knew better especially after what Baakir had told her about the dangers of feeling tired in dry territory.
"This is why I warned you at the beginning, but of course you did not listen," said Baakir.
"Do I really need an opinion from you every time you open your damn mouth?" asked Conga whose eyes were red from the dust that had hit her giving her a angrier look than usual.
"Well you were stating something so I thought I should join in," said Baakir.
"Well you could have at least said something nicer than how stubborn I am, I get it I am stubborn, you don't have to shove it in my face every single time," said Conga.
"Well at least you finally agree with me on something," said Baakir who was now starting to raise his voice and because there was nothing around them, they could hear their voices echo for a few seconds afterward.
"Oh shut up, you're nothing but a bloody pessimist," said Conga.
"Hey is it getting hotter out here or it just me," said Mahiri.
"Don't you start anything," yelled Conga, Mahiri quickly backed off.
"Well its hard keeping optimism when you've had nothing but bad luck all your life," said Baakir.
"Oh I see so you want to bring your problems out on me," said Conga.
"And you haven't done that to me?" asked Baakir.
The two continued to argue while Mahiri kept to himself, humming "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." He scanned the horizon for anything out of the ordinary when suddenly he noticed a small bump to the west, it looked green and less smooth than the dunes that they had been traveling on. Was it an oasis? He had to tell the other two.
"Uh I hate to interject but perhaps you can finish your arguments over at that oasis over there," said Mahiri.
Conga looked up to where Mahiri was pointing, at first she wondered if Mahiri was seeing things but she could see it too and so did Baakir.
"There's probably water and food over there," said Baakir.
"Then why are we hovering here with our beaks wide open, lets go get some nourishment," said Conga who then began flying off as fast as she could toward the oasis.
Baakir and Mahiri were close behind wishing they could catch up to Conga's quickness for the oasis. They arrived a few minutes after Conga did and found her in the small pond that was in the middle of the island jungle. She was swimming around happily and cleaning off all the sand and dust that had collected in her feathers.
Mahiri quickly joined her and soon both her having a great time pinning each other underwater. Baakir only watched, he felt he was not admitted in all the fun especially after that long argument with the young fledgling. So he took a few quick drinks before ascending a tree and enjoying a few choice berries.
It was a few hours later when Conga actually noticed he was missing, at first she thought the old bird had collapsed in the desert but Mahiri assured her that he was right beside him before he dived in the water with her.
It wasn't a long search though; she found him a few branches away looking out into the desert that was now turning into a lovely light red from the setting sun.
"Hey Baakir?" said Conga worriedly.
Baakir looked back at her startled before turning around and grunting his unsatisfaction with her.
"Uh sorry about today, I think the heat got to me," she said sheepishly.
"I forgive you Conga, I just wonder now how are we going to handle each other through the rest of this journey, I know its at least at least a month before we get to those mountains," said Baakir.
"Well maybe if we have to keep a positive side to it, we can go through this without any problems," said Conga.
Baakir smiled at Conga, she was good at keeping the peace especially when it was needed.
"We should do that then, Mahiri could be our babysitter," said Baakir.
Conga laughed and Baakir quickly joined her before stopping and continuing to stare out into the horizon. Nothing could be heard for a long time, only the sound of crickets that hung out in the oasis could be heard, and Mahiri rustling through the trees looking for a meal. After a long time Conga broke the silence.
"I wonder what my dad is doing right now?" she said.
"Hmm probably sleeping, dreaming of you being there beside him and taking over his role as advisor," said Baakir.
"Yeah probably, I'll bet that the outlanders have been trying to attack the pridelands too, last time I saw Kovu he had a mane growing, I hope Simba defeated him," said Conga.
"But remember, youth can easily defeat the old, it would have to be a tough fight for Simba to win," said Baakir.
"Yeah, but my dad would be smart, he would leave the place if trouble occurred, I don't think he would stick around," said Conga.
"You said he stayed when Scar was around," said Baakir.
Conga gave Baakir a puzzled look, it made her wonder now, would Zazu leave if Kovu defeated Simba? Or would he stay and be the loyal advisor he always was, she would have to find out when her journey ended.
"Do you ever think about the family you had?" asked Conga.
"Of course, a family is something you don't leave behind, no matter what, I bet I have grandchildren out there somewhere, hopefully none are like I am," said Baakir.
"Oh you know genetics though," said Conga.
Baakir only smiled before making a big yawn that was contagious enough for Conga to do the same. It had been a long day for all of them and sleep was definitely needed.
"I hope you don't mind me asking but is it alright if we stay here for a few days, these old wings need their rest after that long flight," said Baakir.
"I'm fine with that, I know where Kapeni is and since it will be a while before the season changes we can take our time, but not too much," said Conga.
"I'm glad you agree on that," said Baakir who then gave Conga a quick hug before ruffling his feathers as he began to fall asleep for the night. Conga gave a quick yawn before looking around to see where Mahiri was, he was just a few branches away doing the same thing. He gave Conga a quick wave of his wing before falling asleep as well. For once that night, Conga felt peaceful in the uninhabited oasis.
The journey continued five days later, it was Baakir's idea of staying in the oasis to fatten up and to make sure everyone had enough nourishment for the next part of the journey, he knew there would probably be another oasis but how far away that one was compared to the one they were in now was unknown, they had to be prepared.
As an ingenious plan to keep food and water available, Conga constructed a special sling that was almost like a backpack to humans, it could hold a few berries and seeds and just enough water to last if it was desperately needed. It was slightly heavy but that did not stop Conga who just continued on as if there was nothing to slow her down.
Baakir was right though; it did take longer to find the next oasis, more than a week to be exact. And by this time, Conga was desperate to keep whatever was left in her little bag with her until the very end; of course poor Baakir was feeling the strain on his old wings and was getting weaker by the minute.
"Conga we need to rest for a moment, my mouth is so dry and my wings can barely take it any more," said Baakir.
Conga could tell that Baakir was feeling terrible and without a word she flew down to a small dune with some shade and began to dig in her little case. Only one berry remained and it had lost so much juice that it looked almost like a raisin and there was only a few small drops of water left.
"I guess the sun can get into this makeshift carrying case too," said Conga who showed Baakir the shriveled up berry. Baakir took it from her and tired to bite into it but it was too tough.
"You did your best Conga, now we just need to hope for an oasis to show up," said Baakir.
"Would you like for me to go find one while you two rest?" asked Mahiri.
"That would be most kind of you Mahiri thank you," said Conga.
Without another word the little bee eater flew off and was not gone long for he had found an oasis only a few miles away.
Poor Baakir could barely fly to this one and by the time they reached the oasis, he dived into the small lake it had and had a few berries near the lake before finally falling asleep for two days.
That's when Conga began to feel really terrible about dragging the two with her on this trip but the good thing was that at least they had each other.
For a week they rested again before finally heading out once again. This time Conga brought seeds instead of berries with her; they were lighter and didn't shrivel up as easily.
But this time things got worse. They had no idea how many days it had been since they had last seen the second oasis but they knew that it had been a while when the last of the rations were gone. This time both Conga and Mahiri could feel the strain of the heat getting to them and poor Baakir was starting to get delirious.
It was one morning when they woke up that they all felt terrible. They could only hover for a few minutes before finally falling back into the sand where they would crawl around for a few minutes unsure of what would happen to them.
"Oh why did I do this?" asked Conga as she lay there gasping for air but only felt like she had a mouthful of sand.
"Because you wanted to, there is no better way to put it," said Baakir.
"If we live through this remind me to never do anything like this again," said Conga.
"I promise, now could you please calm down the chicks Kianga I am trying to sleep," said Baakir.
"Who's Kianga?" asked Conga.
"Why honey, you can't even remember your own name, we must have had too many chicks," said Baakir.
Conga looked at the old bird with wide, scared eyes. She knew his health was failing but her strength was so low that the only thing she could do was come close to him and shelter him from the hot sand, they needed a miracle now and that would be hard in the vast desert like that.
Suddenly she heard Mahiri yell and saw his colorful body fly by in a blur.
"Bee! Bee! Bee!" Mahiri exclaimed excitedly and disappeared behind a dune. His final strength was to catch a bee that was probably long gone by now.
"Mahiri, where are you going?" she cried but could barely even talk now.
But there was no answer, Conga tried again but was so weak she couldn't yell loud enough. Finally with her last ounce of strength she tried to drag her and Baakir over to a shaded dune.
"Come on Baakir, we can do this I know we can," said Conga.
"Again but isn't five children enough," Baakir said in a whisper.
"No we need to get to that dune," said Conga.
Baakir did not answer that time. Conga looked down at him, his eyes were closed and she could see that his breath was getting slower.
"Don't leave me Baakir we can do this, I'm not gonna let you die on me," said Conga as she continued to try and drag him with her to the dune. Finally Conga could no longer take the heat and just when she was a few inches away, she collapsed in exhaustion. The last thing she saw was a dark shadow coming toward her.
A/N: Yeah I know this chapter was fast but I don't care, this chapter made me grumpy because the real action doesn't really start until the next chapter and this chapter is just the same thing over and over, plus I had writers block. But please review any way, it makes me feel happy. Plus Lion King Fan Art Archive keeps failing on me and its making me even more grumpy so don't cross me you meanies.
Well I plan on rewriting Memoirs of a Blue Bird I feel that I can make it a little better with more things happening by writing three separate stories, Mufasa's Pride, Scar's pride, and Simba's Pride. I feel I need more time with him as a child, more time with him as advisor to Mufasa, more time with Scar, and more time with Binti. So be on the lookout for that, I'll probably put up chapters when I have nothing better to do and once I am totally done with all three, the original one will be deleted since it will just be clogging up my story collection.
Well please review; I have less than seven chapters to go before this is all finished. In the next chapter we will find that help will come from the most unlikely creature.