Chapter 11: Family Matters

When Miko returned his father gave him a weary look. Snarled and asked whether he had a pleasant day, reminding him of course he was not a full male as of yet. Gavvo looked at both of them and added about the ceremony.
"In about 3-5 moons time. He must learn his place, however much of an adolescent he is" Prince added scowling but hiding a smile as he saw this vexed Miko. Jeem interrupted asking of Pravo and his ceremony. "Unfortunately I will have to hold it back, might teach Miko to not be so selfish. His mother was so very worried, she did not know where you had gone at least you ate your own kill and not the Pride's. Not feeding you if you are not going to take part in discussion and your place in the Pride's embassy!" he hissed. Miko growled and started to retort back.
"I didn't eat actually Father" he began as Prince muttered something to which a few females beside giggled slightly but did not keep it long. They liked Miko what ever problems he had with his father they liked him. He carried on unaware of this disruption "Is that what you would call: Discipline? Starved myself to see if I would be stronger, although I am hungry now and wish to eat; do I need to ask you for her permission to feed or will you let your son starve?"
Prince was about to respond, a lioness laughed behind him, he glared at her. It was Kitalya. He glared at her intensly and was about to retort when Aztra burst into laughter also. This confused Prince as he looked at her quizzically, his devoted lover was never like this and the surprise devastated him. She opened her mouth and he seemed to be in awe of what was happening.
"Prince, are you not going to answer. Will you let our son starve or let him feed. You objected before" she asked smiling. What amused her seemed to sparkle in her eye but Prince was slightly angered by this. He was being over ruled by his annoying Son and his own lover.
"Why should he eat? He ran off for a day, but none the less ran off!"
"Prince. He went for solitary discipline. You once suggested it to him; he must have got it from you, acted on your word. A bad day for you has it been? Let him eat and we will go out towards the watering hole and cheer you up" he looked at her and softened.
"Discipline needs to be noted, son. Next time tell me" he looked at her and they went out towards the watering hole.
"Actually, father, what if I did it every new moon. That was a few days ago for sure but once a day after or before the new moon and you would know" His father nodded glancing sideways to him. The party of high lions walked on. Miko and Jeem watched from the rocks. The group seemed to stop, but Prince and Aztra carried on walking. Gavvo followed after being summoned and then after a short snippet of conversation ran off towards the plain lands and grassy parts of the pride lands to do his job. This was not out of the ordinary; this was the order of what happened in 'Princes' Pride.
Jeem stood by Miko and thought of Terra, he wondered if Miko knew her name or what Miko was actually intending. Miko turned to Jeem which took him a few minutes to realise he was talking to him. His thought lay in the way.
"Jeem… I want to talk to Zenobia" he demanded quite innocently "Alone" Jeem queried this. He wondered what he could say without Jeem being there but Miko answered his question as he was half way through it "I found out the female is her sister. I don't know her name and I do not ask that of Zenobia. I want to something about her sister, but you there she may not answer not wanting the secrets of her family spread over two males. She may not even tell me"
"Can I not ask her for you?" Jeem asked.
"I'd rather ask myself. Second hand information never works for me." He added simply. Jeem nodded and they walked over the opposite direction from the watering hole. Zenobia lay lazily around under the little shade, alone apart from the flies her tail flicked off her.
"Zenobia" Jeem greeted as her rubbed heads with hers even as she was lay down. Miko stood behind and shuffled his paws impatiently. Zenobia smiled a pleasant greeting and looked towards Jeem. "He wishes to talk to you privately. I told you of the meeting last night?" he asked.
"Yes" she answered "What does he wish to ask me?" she looked questioning at him. He looked at her, no wonder she looked familiar when she walked past him that time. She looked like her sister from some angles and he smiled.
"Well…" He said watching Jeem walk away "Your sister wanted you to come the next time we met. I'm not so sure you would be able to. I'm supposed to be going Solitary every new moon"
"You will have to ask Jeem. I never ask for myself, I do not feel at all trusted. They have not yet been able to trust me, Jeem asks for anything and he is accepted half the time, rejected the other half" she paused he looked okay about that so she asked "What else do you ask? Surely Jeem could be here for that?"
"Yes. They miss you at the other pride. I gather, from the Baboon, you left your pride for another reason. Not for Jeem?" he asked her, and she shyed away.
"I'm sure my sister will ask the same question. I do not wish to answer" she saw he was about to interrupt "no Miko, I cannot tell you. Of all people I would tell my sister. I do not think I should come until you have that ceremony. When will it be?"
"3-5 Moons now. Delayed because of my… well because of me" he added. He looked at her in thought "Do you think- Do you think?- Do you think… Nah forget it" he said as he began to turn.
"No. Do I think what?" She looked at him with caring eyes her reply stopped him turning away. Her face was concerned slightly, what affected her sister, affected her and she seemed to know it was about Terra.
"Do you think-" he thought again "Do you think, that your sister will come to it?"
"In daylight!" she said shocked "I do not think so, too risky if you ask me" She said before he explained it was at night. On a full moon. "Maybe then, but how will she excuse herself to not to go"
"You mean she may not want to go"
"Miko, I do not know her; I knew her as a cub, not now. I'm sorry. But if I were her, it would be great risk coming into these pride lands to watch a ceremony even at night. She may not want to get caught, as a female she probably will be spared but her father sent for. She would not be able to explain it, not fully and not wanting to get you into trouble. She may think it too risky, but how would she excuse herself from not coming out this one moon. It can hardly be anything different"
Miko had listened intently, but not understood fully. She may come, she may not come. She had confused him further. He would have to ask her, he got up and walked away but before he did she said something that amazed him.
"Continue seeing her Miko. You're a nice guy; you're not like either of your parents. They seem obsessed with their status whilst you do not care for it but of other lions" she smiled "I don't blame people for liking you" she lay lazily as if to doze off. Miko was still standing and it seemed Jeem had been watching and realised that they had obviously finished, so came down. He smiled at Miko as he walked past and lay beside Zenobia snoozing beside her in the shade.

Both Miko and Terra carried on seeing each other. However after their 2nd meeting from the time Nugu appeared they now met every half moon as well. The bond between them was growing stronger, every new moon and half moon she would go to see her sister but see Miko instead. Miko would go into solitary but really go to wait for his Star. However, not much was known of her sister and her fathers started to ask questions.
"Does she wish to come back Terra?" Rio once asked her before he went out.
"She does not say she doesn't we mainly talk about…" she thought for a second what was wise they could talk about "… progress." The two males did not seem bothered by her pause, she had covered it quickly. "The cubs for instance," she added clumsily, both males looked worried at what she may have said to the betrayer "good hunters and growing stronger each day" Rucco looked at her widely and Rio was shocked.
"What else? If you say anything out of turn she could pass it on!" He declared.
"No, No" she reassured "We talk of progress, not personality- not personals. Talk of strengths, always strengths never weaknesses… Always positive, but w-we-we talk of ourselves freely but not of whom is in the pride. In either- either or- either of them" this she made up quickly it was hard but she had thought they may ask questions soon enough. She had to pretend she didn't want to talk of it and get shirty whenever anyone asked. Uncomfortable like it was only her business and she did it to keep the family bond. Which would be why she would do it, if she did, but she didn't as she knew but no one else.

Miko was waiting for her; the border was thick with tall grass, growing slightly thicker than normal. It was more cushiony that the rest of the year. He had to ask her tonight about the ceremony, if she would come to watch and if she would see him after. It was a big thing, becoming a fully grown lion. He saw her dot on the horizon running towards him with speed, it was slower than a cheetah's (no lion had the ability to run that fast) but she was the fastest lion knew. He liked that about her, she didn't seem to notice but it probably increased her hunting skill. She gathered up pretty fast. He was already impatiently waiting on the border line, this she didn't like but he was anxious. She didn't like the fact he was always in plain sight, easily spotted and so if her fathers perchance decided to come along and watch her they would see the male and stop the meetings. Her worst fear was getting caught, it did not occur to her that they probably would not exile her without her explanation first, or at least give her a chance to make an excuse.

Miko greeted her in the same way as he did the times they meant to meet up, his face brushing against hers. She accepted the greeting in the same way, rubbing her face along his thick growing mane. It was growing darker every time she saw him, growing nearly as dark as the mud circles around his eyes, which she liked indeed. They started talking, firstly lying in the tall grass away from sight, and then walking along the border lines.

"My fathers do not ask much of where I go. You know my sister, they think I come to talk to her, they think I do not speak much because she tells me things that I must not pass on. I assure them I do nothing of the sort on my behalf" she held a slightly guilty face on the matter. He looked at her and licked her cheek, across the rim of her nose.

"Your fathers have trust in you. My father held back the ceremony because that day I spent waiting for you, when we first decided to meet. There have been quite a few in between that time and now that I feel it was a long time ago. And yet, I never want to leave you when I have to go, or when you have to" he said looking deeply into her eyes. "In fact I blame that star. It's always there, every time we meet each other"

"You are right, its there again" She smiled and then talked again about the subject "A Warning? Perhaps." She said silently before speaking again "My fathers should not trust me… I have lied to them and given false hope to my mother that my sister is still well and happy. Have you asked her about coming"

Miko ignored her last question but talked about her sister's happiness and health "She is healthy and happy with Jeem, she even has found a friend in a female who is 3 or 4 years older than herself, I think. The lioness is also is not trusted as is your sister, but that is Aztra's doing"

"Aztra?" she asked, although wondered whether Miko should be telling her of lions in his pride.

"She is my- well, the only mother I have had. My real mother left me as a cub. My father was not the man she loved, and she hated me because of it. She left me to die, almost, Aztra found me. She looked after me; my father loved her more for that. Although sometimes…" He began then shook it off "…it doesn't matter" His face had sunk and he looked down towards the grass and flumped down onto the soft cushion of grass and turned onto his back, looking out towards the sky.

Terra lay next to him; she moved closer and placed her head on the bottom of his mane. "Tell me. It matters to me…" She looked towards his face; he smiled softly but slightly saddened and got up sitting but still looking up towards the sky. She moved next to him curling her body around the side of him that she sat.

"Sometimes… Sometimes it doesn't feel real. It feels less real with that star. That stupid star"

"I thought I was star" she smiled at him

"Until you tell me your name… You are Star, but not the Star," he answered and smiled at her simple joke "If you know what I mean"

"I get what you mean about the name but not of what you feel" she added "How can a family feel… unreal?" her question was answered quickly; she thought he would need time to think about it but he didn't. He had already done that, many times.

"It is like I do not belong. From what you say about your fathers you feel family belonging. Although I feel like I am part of the family it's like I am just one of the lions on top of the pride. Not a family unit, Jeem feels the closest thing to family that I have. Pravo's not too happy at the moment as his ceremony will be with mine and I held him up" he sighed, but felt comforted as Terra rubbed against his mane. "The next time we are to meet, that's the ceremony. Will you come to watch?" He asked.

"I would love to" she said looking at him, but he knew something was up. She looked at him pleading for him to reason with her as he looked at her she knew he saw there was something wrong and they both didn't like it.

"But you can't" He said moving away slightly annoyed at this. He walked away from her and stopped, his back was turned.

"But-" she began, trying to figure out the right words. She looked to the star but it shone dimmer on her than it did towards Miko, she didn't know if that was possible but she thought it did. "But- I don't know if I can" she sighed. She didn't know whether it would work out.

"Ofcourse you can!" he protested "You can't really ask permission, and it would be at this time. When the moon is high!" he gave so many good points but her bad points over ruled. The look on her face made Miko grimace, he knew that a 'No' was coming. It would be a comforting, let down but a 'No' nonetheless.

"I'll be seen… I don't know where to go… and what If it takes longer than you think… What if… What if it's light before I leave?"

"It won't be I promise. I can even show you where to go now; I know exactly were you can watch it from without being caught. I'll make sure that Zenobia sees you then, but you probably won't be able to talk to her. I'll make sure that Jeem and her will see to it you don't get caught. It will work, please?" He looked to her with pleading eyes, exciting by the planning and ideas he had created in his mind. He smiled weakly at her and hoped she would strengthen the smiled. She looked at him with much concern for her safety.

"What if I am caught now?" she asked, it strengthened his smiled because at least she was thinking of it but she still had not said yes.

"You won't get caught. No one goes to the place at night except for the ceremonies" He looked at her, she still made a face of uncertainty "Trust me, you'll be okay" he smiled at her with a reassuring face. She looked back smiled but still had concern scratched through her fur she uttered the word "okay" which made his heart leap with joy. He really wanted her to watch as he became a full lion. It was a step in the best direction, she didn't know it, but she was the only lioness he wanted.