Chapter 25:
For Shani, who had begun to learn the names and characteristics of meerkats she had never even met, the day just seemed to drag on forever. Her day in the Pride Lands thus far has hardly been boring. With the rising sun she and Barika found their way to the Pride Lands, were chased by a group of 'walking trees' which were really elephants, swept down a river and went over a waterfall where Barika had also seemed lost, and then she lost consciousness for a few hours, but was saved by a sweet meerkat named Naysun and her friend Hafiz. When Shani came to she found herself inside the tree of a very chatty galago named Komba who told her about a meerkat named Nuru, Naysun's brother. In her search for his colony Shani had her first and almost fatal encounter with a python, who had every intention to have the young meerkat for lunch. Luckily Nuru and Naysun were already searching for her and saved her just as a herd of zebras came close to trampling her, which scared off the python. And now she's preparing herself to meet Nuru's colony, hoping to pass herself off to these 'new bosses' as a lost scout, so that she can remain alive and safe inside the tunnels.
Barika, on the other hand, did not have to do anything of that sort for her safety, and her day was not as eventful. She had survived the fall from the waterfall, landing on niche near the bottom and out of reach of some hungry crocodiles. One croc had given her the idea that Shani may have been eaten by one of them, so now Barika blames herself for letting her fear of heights lose her best friend. After escaping the crocodiles Barika wandered the Pride Lands, trying to find her way back home to the oasis. Instead she found a warthog sounder... the one that her own mother Jina came from. Her maternal grandmother Chiku, her two aunts Sabir and Eidi and several little cousins welcomed her and allowed her to sleep in their burrow. Now fed and rested, Barika pondered her next step.
Outside, Chiku and her daughter Sabir were doing the same. Chiku was pacing and shaking her head. "We can't let her go off by herself," Chiku said to Sabir with a weary, but determined voice. "This is her first time in the Pride Lands; she doesn't know the first thing about the laws of nature."
"You're right, Mother, but if we all go we would be putting the piglets in danger. Someone has to stay here to take care of them, and Eidi can't possibly handle them all by herself," Sabir nodded her head to her younger sister, who was tending to the seven piglets and making sure they stayed in one spot... which was difficult to say the least for piglets their age.
"This is true," Chiku nodded as she stopped pacing, and then she turned to Sabir. "Then I'm leaving you in charge while we're gone. I'm not sure how long Barika and I will take, so be sure you tell the young ones a story so that they may sleep better." Softly panting Chiku decided to sit down, since the pacing and a touch of worrying had worn her out.
"I'm sorry to say this, Mother," Sabir began awkwardly, "but you're not as young as you used to be. If a simple thing like pacing can wear you out, then how will it be when you're trying to lead a young warthog through the Pride Lands for hours on end? And besides that, your eyesight is starting to fade as well. You won't be able to get by simply by smelling and hearing... not without a guide, and we already agreed one warthog can't care for the young ones and Barika hardly knows anything about the Pride Lands."
After a moment of hard staring at Sabir, Chiku lowered her aging eyes and sighed in defeat. "I suppose you're right... and if anything happens to that girl Jina would never forgive me." She sighed again and her face turned serious. "All right, Sabir, I'm going to trust you to take care of Barika during her time in the Pride Lands. If anything happens to her--"
"I'll take care of her, Mother, as well as I take care of my own children." She turned to watch the piglets again and grimaced as she watched a young male tug on the tail of a female with his teeth. Chiku gave Sabir a dry expression, to which Sabir gave a nervous smile. "He's, uh... not mine..."
"Ahhh... that was a good sleep..." Barika gave out a small yawn as she stepped out of the burrow and stretched herself out, and softly winced. Even though she wasn't as tired or hungry she was still quite sore from the fall. But she wanted to get home right away, and no aching muscles were going to stop her. She noticed Chiku and Sabir were nearby and decided to trot over to them. Upon hearing Barika approaching both warthogs turned to face her.
"Well, you look rested," Chiku smiled as Barika nudged her head under Chiku's chin. "How do you feel now, dear?"
"Lots better. I just wanted to say thanks for letting me stay here, Grandma, and I'd better get going, so if you can tell me how to find my way back to the--"
Sabir interrupted, "I'll do better than that, Rika... I'll take you there. There's certainly no way I'm going to let you wander around the Pride Lands by yourself." Barika sighed in relief... she really didn't want to get lost again, in case she ran into some other weird creature that wanted to eat her. With Aunt Sabir around she would be safer. "With two sets of eyes searching we should find Shani in almost no time at all."
Barika gulped as she felt a knot in her stomach. "S-S-Shani?"
"Of course! Where else were you going to go, home? We knew the first thing you were going to do once you recover is leave so you can go look for Shani, and we certainly aren't going to let you go by yourself. There's safety in numbers... so we're going back to the place where you two were separated and start searching from there." Sabir looked upwards at the sun, which was in the mid-afternoon position. "She couldn't have gone terribly far, if she stopped to find a place to sleep..."
"R-Really, Aunt Sabir, there's no reason to--" Barika tried her best to come up with an excuse not to go out and find Shani... but she couldn't think of one. If Shani was alive and they were separated then Barika would try to find her before she tried going home. If she said no it would seem too suspicious, and she couldn't bring herself to tell her grandmother and aunts the truth.
"It's already been decided, Barika," Chiku lightly snorted. "Sabir will be your guide in your search for Shani. End of discussion. Now if you'll excuse me..." Chiku gave Sabir a light brush along her side with her cheek as she walked away from the two, and carefully slid down into the burrow.
Barika moaned softly as she watched her grandmother leave, and then she sighed as Sabir brushed her cheek against Barika's. "I know you want to find her quickly, and I promise I won't slow you down." With the Sabir turned away from Barika and over towards Eidi and the piglets. Barika whimpered and sat down as she watched them. Sabir lightly nudged the piglets, giving extra attention to three or four of them, her own children. With another whimper Barika lowered her eyes and the tip of her tail wagged.
"You can't slow me down... because we're not gonna find her..." She choked back the tears and laid down, crossing her front legs over her eyes, her shoulders shaking. "Because she's dead. And I'll never see her again..."
To be continued...