~Episode eight: Journey of Memories~
(before the realization of being lost in the desert)
"We've gotta find Beshte some shade!" Kion stated, after doubling back to the pinkening hippo.
"Kion's right." Ono agreed, looking to Beshte sadly. "Hippos don't do well in the sun."
Anga circled around to look again.
"There's no shade anywhere." She said. "Nothing but sand." And in saying this, she circled back down toward them and ended up over the hippo perfectly.
"Wooph! That's better," Beshte sighed thankfully.
"Hey, that's a great idea!" Kion smiled, shooting a glance at Fuli at the realization that came to mind by what he saw. "Anga, can you keep flying above Beshte so he's in your shadow?"
"I..guess?" The martial eagle answered unsurely.
"Thanks, Anga." Beshte smiled up at her.
"No problem." Anga nodded.
"Ok, then let's keep going." Kion said, as they now resumed walking.
"You know.. this kinda reminds me of when I last came through the desert.." Makini spoke up as they went.
"Does it now.." Fuli spoke up dryly, clearly in unbelief that the young mandrill didn't seem to catch on to.
"Yeah." Makini nodded. "In fact,.. it was a lot like what we're doing right now!
xxxx
Sand shifted under their dragging feet; their panting having become far more audible by now. Small hands caught their fall, when their knees hit the ground.
"Come on now, Makini." Kitendo said, doubling back heavily in the heat that beat down on them. "High noon will be coming soon, but we'll be stopping some time before that to wait it out till nightfall comes."
"*gasp* nightfall?" Little Makini echoed as her father stooped down and took her hand to pull her up. And help her keep going, by keeping her in his shadow as they walked on.
"Yes, Makini." Fikiri stated. "The sunlight of the desert makes everything extremely hot.. Which means we must seek shelter for the hottest time of the day, and only travel when it's not so hot,.. which is at night."
"Night?.. But.. when will we get to sleep?" Makini wondered, feeling tired just thinking about this concern.
"Don't worry, Makini.." Her father spoke up again. "As soon as we stop to take shelter for the rest of the day,.. we'll settle down to rest until the sun starts to go down and the moon rises to light our way."
"Ohh,.. uh.. Ok." The young mandrill realized, feeling a bit better now when smiling up at him.
xxxx
Sure enough when they finally stopped, Makini lay in the sand. Until her father came and picked her up. And brought her into the shade of their little shelter, which they all huddled into together to then settle down to sleep in the soft, cool sand..
xxxx
"Huh,.. that's.. definitely an interesting story, Makini." Fuli mentioned, torn between whether or not she believed it or not.
"Yep! It was very hot!" Makini repeated. "Good thing my mom and dad found that shelter for us,.. Otherwise, we would've been sooooo hot! I don't even know if we could even sleep in all this heat!" And Fuli turned and met Kion's concerned face with her own at this, as they kept on walking..
xxxx
Sand crunched, paws and feet shifted; the hot sun beat down on their hides, almost baking them alive. The animals trudged on lazily, a heaviness growing with every step. Kion squinted to see, the hazy beyond showing only more sand. Not even mirages could be seen; no matter how mad one was driven from the endless grains of golden dust. Fuli could hear Kion begin to softly pant as he went, and noticed the labor in his steps.
"Kion? You feeling ok?" She asked him lightly, hanging back where she was.
"I'm fine." Kion told her firmly, not even turning around to look at her. "Let's just keep going."
"You sure?" She asked, quickening her pace to be next to him. "You seem to be struggling an awful lot right now."
"I'm not.. struggling any more than anyone else." Kion snapped, pushing on ahead of her; stopping her in her tracks.
"Don't worry, Fuli." Beshte encouraged loosely, as he strode on past her; Ono still perched on his back. "Kion's probably just hot,.. like the rest of us."
"Yeah.. maybe." Fuli complied slowly. She started to walk again. Slowly catching back up to him, she then snuck her way around to Makini's left side.
"Anga, do you see anywhere we can find water?" She asked softly, gazing up at the Martial eagle directly above her.
"I'll see.." She responded circling up again.
Reaching a higher elevation, she peeled her eyes to search for anything resembling water. And far out from them, she finally spotted a small pool of sky blue; shimmering like a sapphire in the, otherwise, golden wasteland.
"I found some water." She called from above. "But it's pretty far out."
"Great." Fuli smiled up at her, but lost it as soon as she heard Kion again. He was now walking with his head hanging lower than his shoulders, his jaw heavily hanging open as he continued to pant; which was also getting heavier. Everyone exchanged worried glances at the awkwardness of his movements, and the struggle it, no doubt, was to achieve.
"Hey Fuli." Beshte whispered to her rather subtly. "Do you think Kion could use a rest?" The cheetah looked up to the young lion curiously.
"Kion? Maybe we should take a break." She said, summoning some extra energy to come up beside him again. "Everyone is getting tired and you need to take a break from all this walking,.. We all do."
"I'm fine, Fuli." Kion reinforced a little stronger. "We need to.. keep going.."
"But Kion, you're exhausted, you need to rest, even if it's for a short time. We won't get anywhere if you don't pace yourself. We-"
"I said I'm fine, Fuli!" Kion barked, stopping short to glare daggers at her. "I don't need a rest, I need to keep going." The team reacted to this with concern, as would be expected.
"Easy, Kion." Makini soothed gently, beginning an approach. "Here, have some tuliza; maybe it'll make you feel better." After a moment, Kion's glare softened; but only slightly.
"*groan* Ok,.. fine." He stated, annoyance firmly staining his tone. Makini poured it out and gave it to him.
As soon as he swallowed it, he sighed and dropped his head again; his demeanor noticeably changing.
"Better?" Fuli asked tenderly.
"I guess." Kion responded after a moment. He coughed dryly, stepped forward, and froze again; head still hung with a sigh. Fuli and Makini came to his side immediately when this happened, the mandrill putting her hands on him gently.
"Woah! Um guys,.. He feels really hot right now." She gasped sadly. Ono flew up to land on his back, instantly feeling the heat coming off their leader's body, who was barely standing there at all.
"Hapana!" Ono cried. "He's completely burning up! We need to get him cooled down as soon as possible."
"He needs water." Fuli stated, looking up from Kion to Anga.
"We do need to cool him off, but that water's still pretty far away." The eagle told them unfortunately.
"You think he can make it there?" Beshte asked, fearing what the answer was.
"Hoh.. I'm not sure." Makini whined, cringing at Kion's tired face. "He looks like he's barely standing at all." Fuli sighed as the sun's rays of extra heat beat down upon her hide suddenly increasing the baking effect of the already heat filled air.
"Ugh.. we all need a break. The heat's only getting worse out here." The Cheetah said, glancing to them from looking at Kion.
"Hey! Maybe Anga can fly Kion over to the water?" Bunga suggested. "That'd get him there fast, right?"
"Hm.. theoretically yes.." Ono thought. "But it would expend too much energy for Anga and make her get tired much faster.. So while it's a good thought.. It's.. really not a good idea."
"Ono's right,.. it was a nice idea, Bunga." Fuli agreed lightly. "But in order for us all to make it out here, we need to do this together in a way that is the least bit draining, since we don't have as much water and food to keep our energy up. We'll have to keep going as we are for now."
"Well we better get moving again soon." Ono decided, extending his wings out over Kion to try and block out some of the sun on his golden fur. "We may not have much time before Kion gets too hot to move."
"I'd say he's already almost there." Bunga commented openly, earning him a glare from Fuli.
"Indeed, which is why we need to hurry." Ono reiterated strongly. "Beshte, walk alongside Kion to try and keep as much sun off of him as you can."
"Oh yeah, great idea, Ono." Beshte agreed, the hippo racing up to Kion's left side, blocking only some of the sun's rays from his hot friend. Kion sighed, his body still slumping down miserably.
"Come on, Kion, you've got to hold on just a little bit longer." Makini pleaded with him, as she gently coaxed him into walking on.
xxxx
A short time seemed like a long time. Kion only panted more heavily, and looked to be limping on every leg. If ever he'd stop, Makini would try her best to get him to walk again; even while she herself found it hard to keep going. As did everyone else around them, all walking as drunkenly as they could manage, just to keep going.
"He's still really hot." Makini sighed helplessly, keeping her hand on him all the time, as they walked. Kion stumbled and hit the ground, his body slightly trembling as he forced himself back up again to continue walking.
"We.. need.. to keep going." Ono panted more urgently, flapping over to land on Beshte's back after nearly being thrown off of Kion's. "If Kion goes down like that again,.. we may not be able to get him back up again."
"We're still a ways off, but I think we're just barely gonna make it." Anga reported, hopefully; flying lower to them. Ono looked down below him to see a darkened shape flapping about on the ground next to him.
"Of course.." He breathed to himself. "Anga, fly over Kion. You can use your shadow to block the sun till we get to the water, just like with Beshte."
"Got it." Anga replied, swooping herself to Beshte's other side; casting her shadow upon both of them as they continued walking. And as a result, Kion's step only slightly improved, but he still panted harder.
"*sigh* good, it's working." Ono sighed, seeing Kion's blurred figure improve that slight bit.
"Great work, Ono." Beshte commented.
"Yeah! And thanks for the breeze, Anga." Bunga stated, hopping up onto Beshte's back to lay flat on his own back and tucking his arms under his head, next to Ono. "It feels great in all this heat."
"Bunga, were not focused on cooling you down." Fuli complained in irritation. "We're trying to keep Kion from getting too hot."
xxxx
Another amount of time passed... but none of them were sure how much.
"We're almost there, the watering hole is just over this next dune!" Anga called, catching a glint of something crystal blue, just barely beyond her sight's reach over the sand dune. Kion caught his foot and fell forward, clearly thinking about laying down.
"No, no, no, no, no, Kion, not now!" Fuli begged, doubling back to nudge him up again. Kion hopped a foot up under him and struggled to get the other one up as well and they pushed on.
"Phew! That was too close." Ono breathed. "Now,.. as soon as we get there we need to get him to drink. And then we need to dig a hole for him."
"Dig a hole? For what?" Bunga asked in complete confusion.
"Because, below the sand's surface the heat can't fully penetrate." The egret explained. "So if we dig deep enough, we can find some cool sand for Kion. That should cool him down, by laying him down to rest in it. Common knowledge really."
"Sounds good, Ono." Fuli smiled.
Stopping at the top of the hill, they looked down to, indeed, find a sparkling pool of fresh, cool-looking water; with just a single leaning tree next to it.
"Thank goodness!" The young cheetah gasped.
"I see darkness.." Ono noted, squinting to see. "Is there shade somewhere around here?"
"Sure is." Beshte confirmed. "Right under that tree."
"Oh good!" The egret sighed. "Beshte, dig the hole over there, it'll be the perfect spot for him to rest."
"You got it, Ono." Beshte responded willingly.
"Meanwhile, you get a drink." Fuli told Kion, as she and Makini stopped him by the pool to drink; who numbly lapped his tongue at the clear blue surface. Bunga ran up to the water as well, plopping down on his knees and scooping it up to drink from his hands.
"Oh-ho-ho-yeah, that's the spot!" He sang blissfully.
"There you go, Kion." Makini murmured to the young lion, still holding her hands on his shoulder and side. "Drink up."
Kion finished and turned away blindly; his eyes mostly closed; when Beshte finally shoveled the last scoop of sandy ground away.
"That should do it." The hippo announced, nodding his satisfaction.
"Great, thanks Beshte." Fuli beamed, as they led Kion to it. Positioning him in front of it, they carefully backed him into it; and he laid down without any aid from them. Makini felt a hand between Kion's side and the sandy wall of the hole.
"Hey, you're right, Ono!" She gasped excitedly. "The sand is much cooler down there."
"So what should we do now?" Beshte asked the group openly.
"We wait.. give Kion some time to rest." Fuli decided.
"I'm actually surprised he made it here." Ono commented. "This heat seems to be bothering him a lot more than the rest of us."
"It's probably just the venom inside him." Fuli guessed thoughtfully. "It's gotta be making him feel a lot of things worse than he normally would."
"But isn't that what the Tuliza is for?" Bunga put in.
"No, the Tuliza is a calming remedy, that can help Kion not feel so bad from the snake venom." Makini explained.
"And to keep his emotions in check." Fuli added.
"Yes, but even with the Tuliza, Kion still seems to be a little.. unstable." Ono pointed out. "We need to be careful about that and keep his stress level down; so he won't become quite so hostile toward us.. Or anyone else we encounter on our journey to the Tree of Life."
"Ono's right." Fuli agreed, turning from him to the rest of the team. "We all know Kion's been getting upset a lot easier lately. So we need to try not to irritate him, any more than his scar already does." And everyone nodded at this, and looked down at a sleeping Kion.
xxxx
Kion sighed and shifted his head's position, the other animals of the Guard panting in the heat of the sun.
"Houh! Man.. it's soo hot!" Bunga gasped, then a realization came to mind.
"Zuka Zama!" He shouted, when running for a cannonball into the tiny lake. Kion grunted at the disturbance of splashing water, but was strangely more relaxed by it after the initial reaction. Makini strode over and placed her hands over his back, then up to his head.
"I can't tell if it's working.. Or not." The young mandrill sighed, glancing back at the team sadly. Ono glided on the gentle wind over to them and, landing right on Kion's shoulders, stretched his wings straight down their leader's body.
"It is working.." The egret reported. "But very slowly." He finished folding his wings back up. "We may be here awhile." At this.. the whole team sighed deeply.
"We can't stick around here for too long.." Fuli mentioned. "The heat of the sun.. is too harsh."
"Yeah.. and it is me? Or is there less water in here?" Bunga wondered, looking around himself sitting in the small pool of water.
"Probably also because of the heat." Ono reasoned. "High temperatures can make water evaporate into the air, which creates humidity.. that makes things feel a lot hotter than it actually is."
"And Kion's venomous scar.. is making him feel that heat, even more." Fuli supposed.
"Exactly." The egret confirmed. "And unfortunately, the only things we have to treat that.. are what little water we have here.. And the cool of the sand underneath us."
"Hopefully that'll be enough." Fuli sighed.
"Indeed." Ono agreed, looking to Kion, who now had his head bent away from them. Makini drew closer to him, when suddenly they felt a shadow slowly developing over them, which brought their eyes to the sky.
"Hoh, what now?" The egret of the team moaned, lowering his head between his raised shoulders, where his wings bent out in front of him. A brief and subtle rumble and rain began to pour.
"Oh, finally! Rain!" Fuli gasped, never feeling so glad to feel the cooling effects of the sprinkling water.
Suddenly the even sprinkle slowly turned to a deep pouring, and the cheetah slumped down as her coat was easily soaked.
"At least I thought it was nice." She groaned distastefully. A cough soon drew their attention again, as Kion was still asleep, but caught off guard by a hindrance of his breaths; which turned out to be something alarming.
"Uhh,.. guys?" Fuli realized, staring at the ground around them with wide eyes and lowered ears. "We may have a problem."
"You mean your fur? Or the rain that made it soaking wet?" Bunga asked, mostly joking in saying this.
But Fuli's ignorance of this statement was mainly due to the fact that her eyes watched Kion cough some more from the cool churnings that splashed up onto his face, as rain still came from the heavens to fall down upon them.
"Guys?!" Fuli said, raising her voice just a little louder, as Kion fidgeted some more.
"Hm, looks like we're in one of the very rare rain showers of the desert." Ono mentioned loosely, paying the cheetah no mind like the rest of them. "It's not uncommon for it to rain in the desert.. but they are usually few and far between. It's kinda common knowledge really."
"Guys!" Fuli finally shouted. Turning to them abruptly.
"What?!" The team answered together.
As if on cue, Kion stood on his paws and a rumble of his throat brought with it the roaring lions that gave him his power, piercing through the clouds to bust the rain storm apart. Then lowering it to the ground, which made it travel down across the sandy dunes; even flattening some from its power.
"Hapana!" Ono cried, bracing against the whipping winds around them. "Kion! We've gotta stop him."
"Kion!" Fuli called, hopping over to him. "Kion, stop! Wake up!" Stomping closer, Beshte peered through the harsh winds.
"Kion!.. It's ok now." The hippo called.
"KION!" Bunga screamed right up next to the young lion's ear, finally rendering success as his head completely lowered and the thundering cry died from the winds that carried it to their ears.
Abruptly leaning back on his haunches, the lion lifted a paw to his face as if to wipe away the sleep from his eyes, then shook his head out.
"Ugh,.. guys?.." He spoke up a bit shakily. "What happened?"
"That's what we'd like to know." Fuli told him. "Are you ok?"
"I think so." Kion answered slowly, his eyes wandering down again. "At least the heat's gone down again." He finished looking up again.
"Well it won't be for long." Anga said, squinting up. "The sun's coming back out again." She said, as the remaining darkness of the clouds decimated.
"Ugh.. great." Fuli groaned, head lowered.
"Wait.. what's that?" The martial eagle wondered to herself.
Zooming in, a stream of blue seemed to crawl their way, but then she realized it was hardly crawling at all. "What?!"
xxxx
"Everyone!" Anga called, swooping down to them. "Lookout!"
"Uhh, for what?" Fuli wondered blankly, staring at her in confusion. A splashing sound occurred and what water remained around them swelled.
"Uh.. what is it?" Ono asked, peering around at the sounds he was hearing.
"A flash flood is coming! Right at us!" Anga called again.
"Hapana! Guys! We need to get out of here." Ono cried.
"Ok." Bunga shrugged. "But to where?!"
"To higher ground!" The egret answered.
More water swelled, rising around their legs.
"Good idea, Ono." Beshte nodded.
"Right, let's go!" Fuli agreed, racing off.
"The wave's almost here!" Anga called, soaring above them.
Then something stopped Fuli in her tracks, as if a presence was missing from their group. Craning her neck around gave her the confirmation she needed.
"Kion!"
The young lion seemed not to hear her, as he stared at the ground in a frozen daze.
"He's right in the flood wave's path!" Anga reported overhead.
"Kion!" Bunga called, as Beshte and Fuli doubled back after him; the egret, honey badger and mandrill riding on the hippo's back.
"Kion, let's go." Fuli told him, when screeching up beside him, earning his glance as he was about to follow when a brick wall hit them and they were soon tossed about on a current's strong pull. Beshte dug into the ground as best his feet could stand, Bunga and Ono were washed clean off of the hippo's back, but Makini managed to hold on. Anga's vision watched the clear blue finally spread thin and die down to a point where it was barely inches on the ground.
Kion lay flat on the ground, his front paws down on either side of his head, which rested on the ground. And his back paws laid together on his left hip, his mane weighed down by a soaking wetness that beaded down off him from the heavily soaked mane.
Fuli awoke to her head resting on her left foreleg as she lay on her left side, all of her legs stretched out from her body at different angles from it.
Beshte straightened up and Makini slid down.
"Wooph.. everybody ok?" The strongest Guard member asked.
Ono sat up with his head feathers messed up and soaked with sandy water and Bunga somehow appeared from underneath him. And he ended up rolling down off the honey badger and into the thin sheet of water once again; shaking it off when flapping to his feet, so he could steal a dry look at Bunga.
"*sigh* we're fine." The egret sighed, finally meeting glances with the hippo.
"Ugh! Yeah." The cheetah groaned, now standing up to shake the water and the sand from her soaked coat. "Kion, are you ok?"
And all eyes turned to Kion, as their leader dragged himself off the ground to shake; ears laying back as he stared at the ground.
"I.. I'm not sure." He said, feeling a deep level of remorse immediately. "I'm sorry guys..I-.. I'm not sure what just happened, I-.. I guess I just.. choked,.. I've.. I've never done that before, I-.."
"Schwari, Kion." Makini said. "It's ok."
"It was all just unexpected.. that's all." Fuli added, lowering her head to him.
"But I guess the water from all that rain did some amount of good." Ono reasoned, coming down next to Kion to feel along his foreleg.
"How can you say it was a good thing?!" Kion snapped, pulling away from him hurtfully.
"Relax, Kion." Fuli told him. "Maybe Ono's got a point."
"What are you talking about?" Kion sneered, still unbelieving.
"Well that breeze is nice and dry.. and the rain that just came through was kinda refreshing." Ono reasoned again, grabbing Kion's thoughts slowly, which began to calm him down again to think on this. "And your skin doesn't feel quite so hot anymore." Ono went on, running his wings down his leg again, and flapping up to land on his back he stretched his wings down his shoulder once again.
"I think that rain was just what we needed to cool you down again." The egret finished standing up to fold his wings back up again.
"What?" Kion wondered, confused.
"You were getting way too hot in the sun out here." Ono told him. "Luckily we made it to some water in time to give you a drink and a rest."
"And then it rained on us, which is what woke you up again." Makini added. "I guess you feel much better now that you're cooled off again, huh."
"Uhh.. I guess so." The young leader shrugged, after having to think about this a moment while saying so.
"But I guess now we should get going." Fuli said finally, heading on straight back the way they'd come. Kion briefly, scratched his eye and shook it out.
"Yeah.. guess so." He said, adopting a stiffer persona than a moment ago. And with that, they resumed their trek across the sandy dunes toward wherever they thought was the right direction, all in hopes of finding the next landmark to the Tree of Life.
XXXX
(Digging the burrow)
Kion growled, much to Makini's disgrace at his refusal of the sandy Tuliza, which she poured out into her hand.
"We don't know where we are or which way to go,.." Kion stated, stopping halfway up the dune. "But we can't stay out here, in the sun. Especially Beshte."
"You're right, Kion!" Ono gasped finally, throwing his wings up.
"What?" The young lion replied, at a sudden loss of surprise.
"Most desert creatures don't stay out in the sun." The egret explained. "They shelter during the day and only come out at night."
"Oh! Then maybe we can make shelter." Fuli guessed.
"Indeed." Ono confirmed, nodding happily. "We can dig a burrow, under the sand. That's what Gerboa's do."
"Burrow? Stand aside, Ono." Bunga perked up, coming forward to easily slide the egret aside. "Nobody digs like a honey badger digs."
"Here, lemme help." Kion decided, coming up next to him to dig alongside his friend.
"Kion-.." The cheetah was slowly cut short by the waving of wings.
"We should.. probably just let him have this one." Ono reasoned softly to the cheetah, so Kion wouldn't hear if he'd happen to notice. "I mean,.. we all know he's been a bit hard to reason with when he's gone without Tuliza for too long."
"Yeah,.. I guess." The cheetah sighed. "But.. I think it's really bothering him right now. Hopefully soon we'll get out of here so we can get some Tuliza that doesn't have sand in it."
"Yeah,.. me too." The egret agreed, as both their gazes fell upon Kion once again.
xxxx
"Ok, guys, that should do it." Kion announced finally.
"So.. what exactly are we gonna do while we wait for the sun to go down?" Fuli asked, as they all drew closer to the newly dug hole in the sand.
"Well we'll probably wanna get some rest now, while we wait." Kion suggested. "Especially since we'll be awake during the night, so we can keep going without worrying about Beshte in all this heat."
"And you too." Fuli added directly. "We just barely got you to a water source in time. We're lucky it rained on us to help cool you down again, otherwise I don't know what we would've done."
"Or if what we were doing would've been enough." Ono added softly, almost hoping Kion wouldn't hear.
"Yyyeah,.." Their young leader answered lightly, his eyes wandering away from them distraughtly. Perking back up again with a rapid blink, as though waking from a daze, he straightened up again.
"We should all try to get as much rest as we can." He said. "We don't know what the night is gonna bring when we get going again." The Guard nodded, and began to file into the decently-sized burrow finding immense relief from the sun inside it.
Kion took a step toward the opening as his gaze met with Makini's, a blank look across both their faces. Kion's eye stung him again, and he had to lift a paw to it; shifting his demeanor to shoot her a glare, as he then turned into the burrow opening leaving Makini to sadly watch after him for a moment.
"You ok, Kion?" Fuli asked, as Kion stepped in over Bunga and Ono to ease himself in next to the cheetah at the back of the burrow, who lay next to Beshte on the other side; opposite Kion.
"I'll be fine." The young lion answered in a borderline tone, meeting her gaze calmly. "I think once we get some rest, we'll all feel better." In saying this, his paw gently came up to rub his scarred eye. And in looking upon his paw with this act, a realization brightened his gaze then turned to Makini standing outside the burrow a moment longer; a troubled look falling upon his face.
"Something wrong?" Fuli asked softly, catching on to his sudden behavior.
"With me there is." Kion returned sadly, turning to her again with a level of hauntedness that wasn't at all a shock. "But,.. we all knew that already." He finished laying his head down, as Fuli lifted her gaze up, on past him to the mandrill a short distance away.
xxxx
After a short time, the young Mjuzi-in-training made her way over to the large burrow, the animals waiting there turning to her upon her arrival..
"It's ok Makini." Fuli told her softly. "Kion's sound asleep by now."
Their eyes turned to him to find that he was indeed snoozing away, not quite peaceful, but sound enough to likely be resting to some degree.
"We should all be asleep right now." The mandrill reasoned flatly. "Kion's probably right about us needing the rest."
"Don't take anything Kion's been doing or saying right now too seriously, Makini." The cheetah reassured her. "We all know it's because of his scar. The Tuliza wearing off is what's made him lash out at you, and the heat of the desert isn't doing him any favors."
"It's ok, Fuli." Makini sighed, coming to sit and lay down amongst them. "I know Kion's struggling again,.. I just wish we could get somewhere, where we can change that again."
"Don't worry, Makini." Beshte spoke up easily. "I'm sure Kion'll be better once he's gotten some rest himself. We all know he's been kinda low since we made it to the desert."
"Traveling through the desert has been a challenge for all of us.." Ono agreed, looking amongst his friends. "But with all that Kion must be experiencing with his scar, has him feeling even worse, it seems."
"I bet once he's calmed down a bit, he'll be easier to talk to again." Fuli said. "More like the Kion we all know him as."
"And I'll try to find another source of water once I'm in the air." Anga said. "Maybe some more water will do us all some good." They looked to Kion again, who slept on his left side with his cheek leaned against his outstretched paw. And after this, their gazes dropped, and one by one, sleep consumed them. And their dreams began.. And even while Makini's did too,.. Some of them weren't all that positive,.. And when they finally awoke her she felt it necessary to leave the group as the sun was finally reaching the horizon to make the sky darken and the cool air to suppress the fire of the fleeing daylight..
XXXX
(After the events of the episode, leading into the Race To Tuliza)
"Hey Makini?" Kion spoke up, as they continued their approach toward the foot of the cliffs ahead of them. "I'm sorry I've been a little hard on you today. I realize I haven't been giving you as much credit as you deserve. You really did know what you were talking about back there."
"It's ok, Kion." The mandrill smiled slightly. "Today was a rough day for all of us. Especially you and Beshte. Heat really doesn't work for you guys."
"It doesn't work great for anyone." Kion reasoned.
"Right, but not all of us have a venomous scar bugging us all the time like you do." Fuli countered, slowly walking alongside them. "Although we'd love to take that away from you, your scar does still have an effect on you with most things, and more than what you can usually handle on regular days."
"Yeah but-" Kion and the Guard stopped short as they caught sight of the wall that now lay in front of them, and they collectively scanned their vision up it, to where it's cliffy edge ended high above them.
"Woah, that's not gonna be easy." Beshte commented.
"More than that,.." Kion said, lowering an unfortunate look to Fuli. "It'll be near impossible for all of us to climb up there from here."
"Puf! I bet it's not that hard." Bunga scoffed. "Zuka Zama!"
"Bunga, wait!" Kion called quickly, but even his speedy response wasn't fast enough to stop the bravest animal in the Pridelands from leaping out of a running start to grab a hold of the rock wall and begin a rocky climb up. Pebbles fell and the team had to scatter away from it.
"Bunga! Be careful!" Kion called up to him. "We don't know how well that wall will hold you."
"-ihn..- Relax, Kion." The honey badger scoffed, peering down on him for only a second, before resuming the climb. Kion wandered closer, to gaze straight up at him. Pebbles bounced off his head, bringing with them a dash of dust. And catching it with his eyes, he stumbled back while trying to fight the sting.
"Kion!" Fuli cried, as Makini immediately drew near; while their leader sat rubbing his eyes roughly.
"Huh?" Bunga swung around to hold on with only one hand, so he could look down once again. But then the stone he'd had a hold of loosened and he began to fall. Lucky for him, a leathery pillow easily caught him.
"Woah, thanks, Big B." the honey badger sighed.
"Any time, Little B." Beshte smiled back at his friend, now sitting on his back next to Ono. All eyes turned back to Kion, as he slowly began to recover from rubbing his eyes.
"Did I do that?" The honey badger asked openly, anticipating a harsh response.
"Yeah.. kinda." Beshte admitted lightly. "But it's ok,.. I'm sure it was just an accident."
"Oops,..uh sorry, Kion." Bunga apologized slowly, sliding down off of Beshte to come over to his friend. "You ok?"
The young lion lifted his eyes to see, but to his dismay a certain haziness still stung with blurriness phasing his vision in and out of focus.
"I'll be fine." He said, but walking forward he hit a wall, bringing Makini and Fuli to his side once more.
"I'm not so sure about that." The cheetah told him.
"Uh..am I missing something here?" Ono asked, squinting to see better himself.
"Kion just got splashed with a bit of dirt in the face." Beshte told him. "But he'll be ok,.. right, Makini?" The young mandrill lifted Kion's chin up more to hopefully see it in a better dim light of the full moon.
"It's too dark to tell." She sighed finally. "There's no way to know how much of the unclear vision is from the darkness or the dirt. I'm not even sure how bad it is."
"So what'do we do? We can't just hang out here and wait for something to happen." Ono reasoned.
"We'll do what we've done with, Ono." Kion decided, after lowering a paw from rubbing his eyes once again. "Help him get where we're going as best we can."
"But Kion, helping Ono to see is one thing." Fuli spoke up again. "But seeing for you? It's not gonna be as easy as you think."
"Well what else are we supposed to do?" Kion countered innocently. "I mean we have to keep going. No telling how long it's gonna take us to get around these cliffs."
"We won't have to go around them.." Anga realized, when soaring back up and zooming in. "I think there's a trail, looks like it leads up over the cliffs." She finished, turning her head back toward the group. "Thankfully, it's not that far away this time."
"Well then,.. I.. guess, we can try making it there easy enough,.. Right?" Fuli asked.
"Sure." Beshte decided.
"I'm sure we can handle that." Ono agreed, waving a wing up.
"Right, then.. let's go." Fuli decided, turning to her friends once again.
"Come on, Kion." Makini said, taking a hand to his shoulder and pressing him over to his left. "We've gotta go this way." Then coming around in front of him, she gently pulled his chin around to the direction they needed to go and walked alongside him with her hand on his other shoulder.
"Don't worry, Kion." The mandrill told him surely. "I'm sure the path to the next Moja Kwa Moja stone isn't that far away."
"I'm not worried." Kion told her calmly, but then he stumbled and caught himself rather easily.
"Ok,.. maybe a little worried." He followed up, turning to her.
"At least you're able to see enough to know where things are." Fuli noted, having studied him briefly.
"Except for what's in front of me." Kion answered back. "The darkness is hard enough to see in,.. but this hazy burning's making it a lot harder."
"Well, we should probably stop soon anyway.." Fuli guessed in lowering tones. "Since we're finally heading out of the desert we can probably start traveling by day again. And.. we didn't exactly get that much sleep earlier while waiting for the sun to go down."
"Oh, that's a good point, Fuli." Ono realized, yawning soon after. "Guess I thought it was just me."
"*yawn* No.. it's not just you, Ono." Kion sighed finally.
"And I imagine after all that excitement from earlier wasn't much help either." Fuli reasoned looking to Bunga, as she strode on ahead of Beshte where the honey badger sat, on the hippo's back. The cheetah shooting him a glance, as she came up next to Kion.
Kion stopped to rub both eyes, his paw soaking up the wetness from his watering eyes.
"Hm, I wish there was some way to help you feel better sooner." Ono said, observing the young lion's form, from where he stood on Beshte's back; next to Bunga.
Kion grunted and closed his eyes tight hoping to appease the sting, now walking with without looking at all.
Ono watched him through his hazy vision, when he suddenly found himself falling flat on his face next to Bunga; and he lifted his head to shake the dust and dizziness from it.
"Oof! What was that?" Ono wondered a bit hazily.
Makini stopped short, when Kion suddenly doubled back at the thump that sounded behind them.
"Beshte, are you ok?" The Lion Guard leader asked, knowing strangely enough what the sound had been made by.
"-ih,.. Yeah,..uh I'm ok." The strongest member answered, getting back on his feet again.
"Wooph,.. what happened there, Big B?" Bunga wondered, after hauling himself to all fours, then turning his body to sit down in such a way as to be facing the hippo now in front of him.
"Ah nothing, Little B." The hippo answered loosely. "I think I just tripped over something."
Ono opened his eyes now, but quite literally came face to face with something that he recognized as the happy accident they were looking for.
"Not just that, Beshte!" The egret said, flapping himself up to his feet. "I think this could be our answer!"
"Uhh, come again?" Bunga said, clearly confused with a sideways shrug.
"I think we just found the solution for Kion." The egret repeated. "The thing that Beshte just stumbled over.. is called an Unafuu lily. They're a common desert flower that grows on sick-looking vines, but are actually very resilient in the desert's hot, dry conditions."
"So.. how with that help Kion?" Fuli asked, as Makini came up to place a hand on the young lion's shoulder, while looking to the egret quizzically.
"Well the flowers gather moisture from the air and stores it in a special pocket inside the petals, and when this happens the flower's herbal effects turn that moisture into a nectar that can be used to treat all sorts of things.." Ono explained.
"Oh, then that's what we can use to cure Kion?" Makini asked.
"Indeed." The egret confirmed, nodding. "The nectar's a clear, calming cleanser that should clear up Kion's eyesight, just like how Rafiki's elixirs cured mine when I got dirt in my eye."
"Well, that's great!" Beshte smiled.
"But it'll need time to work." Ono followed up, flapping closer to the group. "I suggest we treat it before we go to sleep for the night, that way Kion can rest his eyes so they can heal while we sleep. Hopefully by then, in the morning, it'll be all cleared up again."
"Good idea." Fuli agreed. "Think you can make it a little while longer like this, Kion?"
"I'll be fine,.. I think." Her leader responded, his tone somewhere between unsure and on the edge of nervousness.
"It's ok, Kion." Makini assured him, touching both hands to him now. "We'll be right here with you the whole time."
"And in the meantime.." Ono trailed, hopping forward to lift up a vine of the Unafuu Lilies onto Beshte's neck. "We'll hold on to them until we're ready to settle down for the night." He finished landing beside the hippo, between him and Kion along with Makini and Fuli on either side of their leader.
"Right.. then let's keep going." Kion said, stepping onto the incline of the escalating path jerked his shoulder back and he paused as though in pain, yet moved on still as they began the climb.
"You ok, Kion?" Fuli asked.
"Yeah.." The young lion answered easily. "Just getting used to walking without seeing clearly is all."
"Don't worry, Kion." Ono assured him, as Beshte walked alongside their leader. "Unlike my eyesight, yours'll be easy to treat, once we get it treated."
Finally coming up over the ridge the animals with clear eyesight were happy to find..
"The Moja Kwa Moja stone!" Makini gasped. "We found it!" Tapping her staff to it confirmed this for them and everyone smiled at seeing the Tree of Life flash on in place of the starry sky painting for a few moments, before returning to normal again.
"Looks like we're still going the right way." Kion smiled.
"Hey wait? I thought you can't see?" Bunga noted in confusion.
"Bunga!" Fuli scolded harshly.
"I can see well enough to know that we just found the next Moja Kwa Moja stone." Kion answered brightly, seeming unaware of the cheetah's distaste for the honey badger's statement. "What's next, Ono?"
"Nuwaza.." The egret thought, recalling what he'd seen in his mind's eye. "The next painting I see is one of sandy dunes.. it must mean that there are more dry lands ahead." He finished looking towards Kion.
"It's ok.. at least the desert is behind us now.." Kion reasoned loosely. "And these cliffs seemed to extend a long ways.. maybe that means there's enough shade to keep Beshte and the rest of us cool, while we travel on in the daytime again. Right, Anga?"
"Could be.." the Martial eagle shrugged. "But I'll.. probably be able to get a better look once the sun comes back up again."
"Ok, then we'll stay here for the rest of the night. Get some rest before starting up again tomorrow." Kion decided, then lowered his head to reach up and rub both eyes.
"Hang on, Kion." Ono spoke up again. "We should get down from here, find a place where we'll be sheltered from the sun.. it'll probably come up before we'd wanna be awake. And we don't want Beshte or you to get too hot or burn."
"Ono's right, Kion." Fuli agreed, stepping over to face her leader. "We should get down from here, at least then we can find a place where we'll be protected."
Kion's eyes wandered down in hesitant thought for a moment, then came back up determinedly.
"Ok,.. you're right." He complied with a nod. "Anga, lead the way."
"Yep.. this way." The eagle called, soaring down the incline that lay just a short distance away from where they stood; at the edge behind them.
"Ok Kion, it gets kinda steep here." Makini warned, holding him at the shoulder. "Just watch your step."
"-ihn.. would if I could Makini.." the young lion said, cautiously stepping forward to feel his way down with each step.
"Woah!.." A sudden slip of his paws and he regained himself, continuing on just to slip a couple more times; but still finding his footing nearly immediately after each one. At the last few feet, he practically slid down rather than walked, jumping forward to catch himself from falling.
"Easy, Kion. That's it." Beshte soothed, meeting him where he stood.
"Phew.. thanks, Beshte." Kion said, smiling up at the hippo thankfully.
"There's a curvature along the side of the rocks." Anga said. "Right around where this path slopes down from the cliffs."
"That's perfect." Ono beamed. "And since it seems darker down here, there must be more rocky cliffs around. So that can keep us hidden from the sun for as long as possible."
"Great! Let's go." Fuli said. Then Anga led the way again.
xxxx
Kion's tail gently tapped the ground at his side, as he waited patiently for whatever was needing to happen next.
"Ok Makini, carefully try to pick the flower off of the vine." Ono instructed, blindly coaching her by Beshte's side. "We need to pick it right at the base of the petals for us to be able get the nectar from it." Leaning in over the flowery vine, the mandrill took one of the violet pink blooms and gently pulled with all her fingers clasping it, and it came off with ease.
"Hey, I got it!" She squeaked, impressed with herself.
"Good, now.. make sure all the petals are held together tightly." Ono went on. "So that no nectar escapes. We need to drop a couple drops into both of Kion's eyes for the cure to work."
"Ohh.. got it." Carefully twisting the petals they closed up together and a drop escaped from the picked end of the flower.
"You ready, Bunga?" Ono asked, stepping himself over to face the honey badger on his other side. "We'll need you to help too. We should try to do both eyes at the same time. No sense in torturing Kion with trying to do them one at a time."
"Alright." Bunga replied coolly, crossing his arms for a dramatic effect. Fuli sighed and rolled her eyes at his theatrics, then watched as he picked up the other flower Makini picked and twisted it up just like hers.
"Ok, Kion." Ono said finally, turning to his leader's golden form. "We'll need you to stay as still as you can, and keep your eyes open so that the drops will get in them to heal your sight."
"Ok, let's give this a try." Kion answered slowly and unsurely. Hopping up onto Beshte's nose, Ono straightened Kion's head and angled it up as Makini and Bunga took places on either side of him.
Cloudy amber eyes almost blinked at the first drops, but the second ones couldn't be swayed from clenching them closed from being forcefully warped by a clear, soaking consistency. Ono caught his head on his wing quickly, as he lowered it to the ground, pressing a long leaf from Makini's staff over the young lion's eyes as he lay there.
"Alright Kion, let's give that time to settle. Try to rest while you can." Ono told him, holding pressure on the leaf. When he was certain it would stay he slowly released his grip, and Kion sighed and ever so slightly shifted as though already asleep. Though no one could really tell with the light green covering over his eyes.
"That should help him feel better soon." Ono said, landing amongst the group and turning toward Kion again. "We'll probably know more when he wakes up tomorrow."
"Well, then I guess there's nothing left to do, but try to get some rest ourselves." Fuli decided, yet her tone of ease couldn't sway her from intentionally finding a place to lay down somewhere near Kion. Where she could at least see him, and maybe even close enough to vaguely hear his breaths and feel his calm presence; giving her the incentive to finally rest easy herself. Falling to the depths of that void beyond the waking world, wildly turned into the never ending maze of thoughts and feelings, which she felt only slightly better in wandering through; with that closeness still in mind. And in the farthest parts of her mind, making this journey just a little less grueling for a better night sleep..
~To be continued…~
~Journey of Memories~
Hey everyone! This entry was a fun, but hard one to develop as well. It was hard because of how the writers set this episode up, which gave little room for anything to add, but.. some small technicalities, that may not be true, were what helped me come up with this stuff.
Also the Unafuu Lily is a flower made up by me, and therefore does not exist. Unafuu, for those who like the translations, is supposed to be Swahili for 'relief'. Also that next part, as mentioned, will be continued in the next episode,.. Since this last section is meant to bridge the gap between the ending of Journey Of Memories and the beginning of The Race To Tuliza. Therefore I tried my best to tie this part up all nice and pretty for ya guys,.. So it doesn't feel too open-ended in preparation for the next "chapter".
Also I know there were many of you that were anticipating this chapter for the reason of Makini's parents. And unfortunately I could find more to add with them in this episode.. I do hope to do more with them,.. but I'm afraid it might not be in this series! I am, however, willing to hear ideas that I can try to do with them.. And would be happy to see what I can do to create a story regarding these wonderful mandrill parents. And again, sincerest apologies for not adding more of them here!
Either way I hope you enjoy! And again hope to hear your thoughts on all this stuff, and here's to hoping Disney rethinks the idea of doing another series with Kion, Rani and the Night Pride at the Tree of Life.. Enjoy! Thx!