Chapter 50: Weakness
Kivu was glad to finally be able to speak to Ciara. He trotted off quickly toward where she stood next to her mom and a lion he assumed to be her father. He wondered why Jai wasn't with them. With a quick toss of his head, Kivu spied Jai standing some distance away with Tali, Mani and Tempest instead. He could hear them saying something about the waterhole.
Kivu cleared his throat as he neared Ciara and her parents.
"Hello." he said quietly, not sure where to begin.
The three looked at him, and Toni smiled. "Well, hello, Kivu, welcome back. You look well rested."
"Yes, thank you." he replied, trying to catch Ciara's eyes. She did finally meet eyes with him, but there was no emotion in them. Was she mad or not? Kivu couldn't tell.
"So you're the young man I've been hearing about." the lion said, smiling. "Looks like I came here just barely before you did. A big home coming for the two of us. A weird coincidence, that. I heard about all the things you went through, being captured by that awful excuse for a pride. You have my sympathies."
"Yes, thank you…uh…"
"Jai." He grinned. "Or Jai Senior, so it won't be so confusing."
Kivu tried a smile. This must be so weird for Jai. He thought.
"I'm glad you came when you did." Toni told Jai. "We need lions now."
"Yes, I'm more than happy to add my strength to the Pride. I'm ready to help with anything I can, including fighting the Black Pride."
"Yes, thank you." Kivu said again. He really just wanted to talk to Ciara. Why wouldn't she say anything?
"Well we should be going off now." Toni said, nudging Jai Sr. away. "They need time to catch up." she explained to her mate.
"Oh yes. It was nice to meet you, Kivu." Jai Sr. said as he followed Toni away.
"You as well." Kivu replied, and then turned to Ciara. She still looked at him with the same poker face look. There was no way he could tell what she was thinking.
"He seems nice." Kivu started lamely, shifting from paw to paw.
Ciara looked down, and spoke to him for the first time, "Yes, he is."
Her voice seemed different than he remembered. It was more…grown up. Or maybe she's just mad…
Kivu wanted to hug her or at least touch her arm, but he didn't. He tried to go on. "I uh… Hope it's okay that we talk. Earlier Jai said you didn't want to see me." Kivu looked down too.
"Oh." she said, then paused for a moment. "I was angry."
"I know. I can't imagine, I'm sorry." Kivu said, catching her eye to show he meant it. She didn't say anything, so he continued. "I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you the whole truth. I really wanted to. I regretted it every day I was there. It was like a sick prison but the guilt was an even more hellish jail."
"I understand." she said, surprising him. "I probably would have done the same thing."
"You would have?"
"Yes. It makes sense to protect your only brother. I'm glad you didn't risk him." She smiled a little for the first time. At least that smile is the same as I remember, he thought, and couldn't help but smile back. He resisted the urge to kiss her now, and forced himself to listen when she continued talking.
"I'm sorry for going off on you the last time we spoke… I was really upset because I thought you were… well… I thought you were running away to be with this black lioness."
Kivu almost choked on air. "Never." he spat, taking on a snarled look. "She's a snake. Worse. When the battle comes, I personally want to be the one to shorten her days."
"Well I took it the wrong way, and overreacted, so I'm sorry for being like that to you." the orange adolescent said.
"No, Ciara, it's not your fault. It's mine."
"Well, it's no worry now. We can go back to being friends like normal. Well, as normal as we can be about to face a war."
Kivu wanted to tell her she was more than a friend, but he didn't want to say it if she didn't think the same. Before he could continue considering to say it, she went on.
"Listen, Kiara asked me to lead a small hunting team before the training commences, so I need to go. I will catch you after." she smiled again, then quickly trotted to some waiting lionesses. It appeared they had been told about the hunt and were waiting on her.
Kivu watched the young lioness walk away. She had matured somehow while he was gone. It made him love her more.
After the meal, the pride spent the rest of the day exercising and training. Vitani brushed them up on their tripping and tricking techniques. The training stopped once it was too dark for the Pride to see properly. Vitani wanted everyone to get a lot of sleep to be well rested for their next and last day of training. Tomorrow would be their last day before the attack. They had to optimize their time.
Kovu instructed all lions to stay in and on Pride Rock that night, in case the Black Pride changed their mind, or were otherwise tricking them, and decided to attack early.
Most lions slept in the cave, but some were camped outside the den's mouth. Kivu got the chance to catch up with his friends while they lay on the top two of Pride Rock's steps. Jai shared his apprehensions about speaking with his father. Ciara tried to talk him into it, telling them how great he was. Jai said maybe he would after the war. He just needed time. Tali and Mani talked about their unknown father for a while.
"How would you feel if your father just came out of nowhere?" Jai asked them.
Tali and Mani looked at each other for a moment. Neither of them had thought about the mystery lion since they were cubs. Not that they were adults, it was almost a shock to remember they had one.
"I wouldn't care about him." Mani said.
"It's different with our father, Jai." Tali said. "Mom told us a long time ago she was with our father not because of love." She implied why Kanai was with their father without saying it.
"Yeah, your mother told you she loved him right?" Mani said. "And she expected him to come back someday."
"At first she believed he would…" Jai replied.
"I can see how the two situations are different." Ciara commented.
"Yes, and can you see why I feel the way I do?" Jai asked Ciara. "In the back of Mom's mind, and mine too…we wondered where he was and why he hadn't fulfilled his promise to coming back."
"And now that he's back, it's kinda like 'where have you been?' right?" Tempest added.
Jai nodded; glad he was getting across to them.
Kivu listened to his friends quietly, just glad to be back with them. He closed his eyes, trying to wonder how it would feel in Jai's position.
What would it be like for him to have grown up without a father? It was hard for him to imagine. He was lucky he was born into royalty; his parents would always be together. He drifted off to sleep listening to the sounds of quiet talking.
The next morning, after a quick meal, Vitani went right to work instructing everyone in their training again. After a quick practice, she paired everyone up and they sparred for a while. Vitani tried to pair everyone with someone of similar size so they could get easy practice at first. She warned they would also practice sparing against bigger opponents. Vitani would use the adult lions in the pride, such as her mate, Tome, Jai Sr., Simba and even Mani, who even though was the youngest adult in the pride, was the same size as Jai Sr. and Simba. The brown lion had always been large for his age. Mani just wished his mane was as full as theirs.
As the day grew on, every lion grew tense. The next morning, the war would begin.
Kivu was especially stressed when forced to remember the lions that held him captive for so long. Tomorrow he would have to face them again.
During one of their final breaks from training, Kovu called a meeting. He waited on Pride Rock while everyone gathered below. He spoke slowly as if it were difficult to speak. Every now and then his sentence would end in a growl.
"Thank you all for working so hard the past two days. This enemy is one we have faced before, but this time must be the last time. As the peace loving pride we are, we normally don't fight to kill unless absolute necessary, but to make our point this time, we may have to take… drastic measures."
Some lionesses below him growled in agreement. He went on.
"From what I've heard from Kivu's story, there are at least eight Black Pride lions including the leader, Blood. Kivu said there may have been a couple lionesses he didn't see. Is that right, son?"
All eyes turned to Kivu, who was standing below with the rest of the Pridelanders.
"Yes." He answered, "When I was there, I heard a lioness refer to another lion only as 'her.' I got the feeling this was someone they didn't like; someone with the lowest standing. I think they kept her prisoner in the cave before they forced me into it."
"So we don't know if she will fight on the Black Pride's side or not." Kovu added. Eyes traded from Kivu to the king. Then back again when Kivu said,
"Right. They may force her to fight. A few times, they mentioned making me fight for them." Kivu snarled.
There were murmurs and sounds of sympathy among the lionesses.
Kiara, at Kovu's side, spoke up then. "So if there's one lioness you never saw, there could be more."
"It's possible." Kivu agreed.
"But we still have twenty-five lions on our side ready to fight." Kovu said. "Thanks to our new arrival, Jai Senior, we now have five adult males in our pride."
Some lionesses cheered a little, others growled in approval.
"We're unbeatable!" A cheerful lioness exclaimed from the crowd. There were more cheers.
Kovu frowned, "Just because we out number them-"
"Severally!" Someone shouted. There was laughing.
"Let's calm down, everyone." Kovu said calmly. "We still need to be cautious. It would be foolish of us to go in thinking we can win on the spot. Carelessness leads to injuries. The Black Pride has weaknesses, yes, but also strengths. Let us remember that." he paused for a moment while the lionesses thought over his words. Then, "Kivu, would you come up here please, and describe the strengths and weaknesses of the Black Pride?"
Kivu was surprised his dad asked him to speak on Pride Rock. It had never happened before, but Kivu wasn't afraid. He walked up the stone pathway, passing a grinning Simba and Nala, standing near the top. Kivu hurriedly padded down the peak and stood next to his parents. They stood aside so he could address the Pride.
Kivu cleared his throat, at first unsure where to look, then began.
"The Black Pride is a lot different than ours. Here, we are like a family. We work together, support each other, and help one another. We're friends. But in the Black Pride, they're competitive, and bicker with each other all the time. The black lioness, Naferti, challenged their leader several times in the presence of other lions. All the lions in the pride are abrasive and don't hesitate to attack. Whether this is a strength or weakness in the end, I'm not sure, but one obvious weakness is their dependence on rank. While I was there, I noticed the lions with darker colored pelts had a higher rank. They were the ones who challenged others more. Ones of lower rank were expected to submit quietly. The lionesses in charge of guarding my cave mentioned to each other that they were the lowest ranked lionesses in the Pride. They weren't allowed to eat until all others had finished, and had little time to rest. I think although the lions are very strong, they work the lower ranks too hard. Half their pride may be weakened by the time they come attack us."
There were a few cheers in the crowd again. Clous, who was supposed to be inside the cave with the other cubs, had come out and shouted, "WOO!"
Kiara gave him a quick glare, and the orange cub ducked back inside.
"But…" Kivu said, and the lionesses quieted. He looked over them all. Their eyes eager to hear their next words. "All the lions are huge. Our pride may have bulked up since our training sessions started, but their pride is something else. Their muscles are define, and over all their bodies. They are all lean, so that makes them fast. All of them look like that. They must have been training all their lives to make such an achievement…"
The lionesses were silent for a moment. They seemed to understand from the seriousness in Kivu's voice how strong they were.
Kovu stepped up again. "They may be strong, but we have strength in numbers. And we have a few tricks wrapped in our tails too! The plan is as follows: We will have two waves of attacking lions. Wave one will be the majority of the pride, and wave two is more like back-up if we ended up needing it. Wave two will include our seniors, Sarafina, Larne and Mairu; our newly pregnant lionesses, Tikana and Tamani; then Tali, Ciara, and Tempest. Everyone else who's name was not called is on wave one. Tali, I would like for you and Mairu to be gathering herbs tonight, and in the morning, have them ready to go while wave one is gone."
Tali nodded, and Kovu went on.
"Ciara, I'd like for you to baby-sit the cubs. Tempest, you can help her. All cubs under Koru's age are to stay in the den with Ciara and Tempest until the battle is over."
"What!" a voice cried from the mouth of the den. It was Dayya this time. Once everyone started to look toward her, she dashed back in.
"And Koru," Kovu continued. "I'd like for you to stay as a part of wave two as well."
The young adolescent's jaw dropped, but he didn't say anything. He had been working really hard to be a part of this battle, and it was hard to hide his disappointment.
"I have something important for you to do. I need you to stand here on the peak tomorrow while we're at battle and if it looks like we're in big trouble and I signal you, you are to lead wave two to help us."
Koru's look changed completely. His eyes brightened and his tail waved. Tempest, who was sitting beside him, nudged his shoulder and whispered, "That's cool!"
He smiled, then asked Kovu, "What is the signal?"
"Watch for any of us looking your direction with a furiously waving tail. Then you can lead wave two into battle. Can you do that?" Kovu said, and the pale yellow adolescent nodded with excitement. Vitani, who was standing with Tome some yards away, smiled at her son with pride.
"Very good. Well that is the plan, everyone. Are there any concerns or questions?" Kovu said.
After a moment of silence, Ciara spoke up.
"Excuse me, sir." she said. "Who is to watch the cubs if wave two is called to battle?"
"Good question. Do I have any volunteers from wave two who will stay behind?"
"I will." Sarafina said, standing. "I'm not much of a fighter these days."
Some friends of the old lioness chuckled. It was true. Sarafina was largely celebrated as the eldest lion of the pride.
"That sounds reasonable." Kovu said. Behind him, Nala looked a little relieved. "If there are no more questions, then all are dismissed. Kiara will now gather lionesses for our last hunt before the battle. We will catch extra prey tonight so that we can optimize recovery time after the battle. See you all tomorrow at dawn."
Kovu began descending Pride Rock to signify the end of the meeting. Kiara called out several lionesses' names to join her for the hunt.
The lionesses whose names weren't called dispersed. Some continued practicing, and some rested. Still others just paced the floor nervously.
Dinner arrived shortly after the sky was becoming dark. All ate silently. There was no chatter or laughing at this meal, since all were too tense. Even the cubs munched in silence. Kivu himself was beginning to feel nervous. Thoughts of war brought a deep indescribable depression to him. Would there be losses? The thoughts clouded his mind. He was unsure how to deal with it. This felt too solemn an occasion to sit around with his friends. He needed to get away.
"Prince, where are you going?" Jika asked as he walked away from Pride Rock. "Your parents wouldn't like you straying at this time…"
"I'll be close." Kivu said, without looking at her. Jika stared after him, not knowing if she should stop him or not.
Ciara was also watching him walk away. She could see how distracted he was during dinner. She began to pad after him, but stopped. She hadn't understood Kivu much throughout her life, but she did right now. He needed to be alone.
