Chapter 3: A new friend,
4 years later...
I awoke in the morning to the rising of the sun. I quickly sat up in my hammock and jumped to the floor. I scampered across the floor to the window and reached for a vine. Using my all of my strength I climbed up to the roof of the tree house to watch the sunrise. The sun was very bright as it rose higher and higher in the sky, I could see the silhouette of birds flying over the trees as the day started, and I listened to the sounds of the crickets dying down, and the birds growing louder. As the sun began to warm my arms and face I listened for the sounds of monkeys screeching; I heard nothing of the sort. I could still surprise the monkeys if I dropped down uninvited.
I was about to swing from the roof when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I jumped in surprise and nearly fell off the roof; my dad grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "Good morning," he said smiling, "you're up early." I straightened myself, a little embarrassed. "I was going to go surprise the monkeys" I said shyly.
"Really?" he raised an eyebrow, "Should I come with you?" he asked me.
Normally I'd enjoy the idea of my dad coming with me, but I sensed worry behind what he was saying. "I don't think so…" I said shyly. My dad's expression shifted into a smile. "Come on," he said to me turning his back to me, "let's go see the monkeys." My anxiety lessened as I tentatively put my arms around his neck. As soon as I locked my arms together there was a rush as my dad took off running. The wind rushed past my ears as we swung from the trees, and I felt like a little kid again, riding on my dad's back.
Within minutes we dropped through some branches, and stopped within the nook of a tree. With my bare feet I gripped the bark of the tree before releasing my grip on his neck. I stumbled a little, before finding my balance. My dad put a hand on my back for reassurance. He smiled at me, before pointing down quietly. Sleeping down on the tree branch was a family of baboons. I looked around at the other branches around us, and saw other baboon families sleeping peacefully.
"We should probably get going," my dad said quietly, "the baboons are cranky when they are disturbed."
I nodded. I wished I could spend more time with the baboons, but my parents were protective of me. My mum apparently met my dad when he saved her from a pack of angry baboons. I could understand many animals in the jungle but I had yet to learn the baboon language, so I wouldn't know how to talk to them if I was given the chance. I wish I could've surprised them, but if they were sleeping there wasn't much I could do. I pouted in defeat. Dad noticed my disappointment. "Want to go to the waterfalls?" he asked, and I immediately felt better. I had been practicing swimming for four years and now I was confident that I could swim nearly as fast as my dad. "Race you!" I said.
I knew my way to the waterfalls by heart as I had often went there to practice my swimming. My mum was protective of me going out, but I could go if I managed to sneak away. My dad would often find me and watch me anyways. I climbed through the trees running along the branches. I looked over to my dad who was surfing down the branches. I growled like a leopard, I wish I knew how to do that. I was coming to the end of the branch; I would need to slow down unless I could grab a vine. When I was younger I was too small to swing properly, but I had gotten bigger. I was eight years old now, so I could swing without falling most of the time. I jumped and reached for the vine…and I grabbed it! I swung forward while holding onto the vine with one hand to reach for another vine, I grabbed it and let go of the first vine. I was doing pretty well. I swung forward to grab the next vine, looking towards my dad to see if he was watching me. I looked to see him below me, watching as he surfed and coming to a stop on a branch. Then I realized I wasn't paying attention. The vine I was reaching for was a little too far for my arms and I fell. I yelled out for my dad to catch me, and the next thing I knew I wasn't falling anymore.
I looked up to myself in my dad's arms, embarrassed that he had to catch me. "I lost…" I said sadly, my dad chuckled,
"You've improved a lot." He said,
"I'm still not as good as you. I wish I could surf on branches, or swing without falling; we didn't even make it to the waterfalls." I said sadly. My dad smiled softly. "I wouldn't be so sure," he said. I stood up onto the ground and sure enough, we were here!
They were beautiful with the mists and sprays coming off the water to form a rainbow. My dad got a head start on me and jumped into the pool. I smiled and followed after him. I tried following him in the water, but he swam deeper than I could and before I knew it I had to come up for air. I swam around the surface waiting for him to come up, but then all of a sudden he was below me and I was on his shoulders. I giggled as we swam together, splashing in the waves.
We did this together for about an hour before I started to get tired. I didn't want to get out of the pool; I was used to the temperature and didn't want to change location. My dad noticed my tiredness and suggested we get some fruits for lunch. I was eager at another chance to show off to my dad and hopped out of the pool, shook off the water and ran towards the fruit trees.
"I'm going to find lots of yummy fruit!" I exclaimed. "I've become so good at finding it that I'll be faster and better than you dad!"
My dad smiled. "You want to race?" I hesitated slightly after hearing the confidence in his voice, but then stood tall, "Yeah!"
My dad and I jaunted off into the trees, trying to gather as much fruit as possible before heading back to the clearing. I searched over head as I ran past the trees with determination. I spotted some mangos and climbed the tree to grab some. Once I stood firmly on one of the upper branches I lifted up the skirt of my loincloth to carry a bunch at once.
If my mum were here she would have been screaming at me about my 'indecency.' She had already changed my wardrobe from a loincloth around my waist to a full length loincloth to cover my torso as well. I don't know why she bothered, since the animals didn't seem to care. It was fine when I was four, but not now for some reason despite being only four years older. It wasn't like I looked much different from then, only the fact that I was slightly taller and my hair was slightly longer. I had also become skinnier since then, losing my baby fat, but otherwise I looked the same. Whatever, she wasn't here to yell at me now.
I managed to grab four mangos and switched them into my arms so I could slide down the tree trunk. I ran back to the clearing to find my father with a pile of fruit: four mangos, five bananas, six peaches, a couple melons and a handful of dates. He seemed to be waiting for me to return, but hadn't noticed me yet. I glanced at my small amount of fruit and realized I had lost, but if I hid my fruit and came back with more I might still be able to win. I buried my mangos in a thorn bush and rushed to find more fruit trees.
I managed to find a banana tree. I stared up the length of the tall tree to notice that there was no chance of me winning. I tried scaling the tree, only to slip and fall half way up. Banana trees were long and thin, thus hard to climb. The reason my father got bananas was through the use of his spear, which I was not allowed to touch. I looked around for a stick to help me reach the fruit. I managed to find one a few minutes later around trees that had longer branches. I went back to the banana tree and tried climbing it again. When I was half way up I felt myself starting to slip and tried desperately to swat at the bananas to knock some down. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't reach it, since my arms were too short even with the addition of the long stick. I slid back down and landed on my bum. Frustrated, I glared up at the bananas. To add insult to injury there was now a baby baboon in the branches eating one of the bananas. I stuck my tongue out at them, they responded by throwing a banana at me.
I glanced at the banana, I should've been mad, but was more happy at finally getting the fruit. I used this as an opportunity and left with what little fruit I had. I rushed back to the waterfall and the nearby thorn bush where I left my mangos. I reached into the thorn bush, my joy of winning numbing the pain of the branches scratching me. Sadly, I didn't find my mangos, only some mango pits and rinds. How did they get eaten?! I knew that if I left them out they would likely get eaten if I wasn't there to guard them, that's why I put them in a thorn bush. Whoever ate them must've been determined, that, or a thorn bush isn't as good of a hiding spot as I thought.
I sulked back to my dad to present my one banana. Surprisingly he was closer than I thought, only a few feet away from my thorn bush. He must've noticed me rummaging around.
"What do you have there?" he asked, and sadly I showed him my one banana. He noticed the cuts on my hands first, and looked back towards the bush. I quickly explained my situation to him,
"I went and found a mango tree and brought back four mangos, but I noticed you had more fruit than me so I hid my mangos in a thorn bush and went to go get some bananas so I could win, but when I got back my mangos were gone and I had only gotten one banana. I lost…" I pouted, on the way to tears.
My dad looked sad for a second. Normally he didn't care if I got hurt, "every cut is an experience to grow stronger" to him, plus he was always nearby watching me so my injuries were never terrible. However, if mum found out…that was another story. Then he noticed the banana in my hand, and my stick in the other.
"Kendra, you got a banana…on your own?" I nodded glumly,
"That's amazing! You got a banana, how did you do that?" I didn't understand why he was so impressed; he got several bananas with his spear.
"I couldn't climb the tree…" I said embarrassed, "So I thought…maybe I could smack them down with a stick." I tried not to meet his gaze as I said this, hoping he wouldn't judge me for my lame technique. He surprised me when he picked me up and tossed me in the air,
"My daughter is so smart just like me! She got a banana on her own!" I couldn't help but giggle with his pride. My dad was proud of me, it seemed unbelievable.
"But I lost?" I insisted, my dad nuzzled my face before smiling,
"It's okay; you still had a major achievement, that's a win for me. Besides, I got enough fruit for both of us."
So the two of us sat by the falls and enjoyed a fruit filled lunch. I realized that it might've been dumb for me to challenge my dad. My dad had lived in and explored the jungle a lot longer than me. I had a good hunch of where the fruit was or where to find it, meanwhile he knew where every fruit was; most of the time when I was in the jungle I had the gorillas find fruit for me, since they also knew where it was and were better climbers. I questioned if I was really as smart as my dad thought, since I didn't even get the banana myself, but had it thrown at me.
After lunch dad and me decided to go home and see mum before he did his patrol of the jungle for the day and I went to see the Gorillas who were essentially my babysitters. Mum and dad allowed me to visit more places now, but they still preferred it that I be watched to avoid any incidents. So no matter where I went I had a chaperone. Normally it was dad, but it couldn't always be him because he was busy, so they preferred leaving me with the gorillas if I had to be in the jungle and not back at the house.
I loved mum, but she could be a bit suffocating sometimes. I could actually play with the gorillas, while mum would want me to sit inside and read or paint or something. Mum and Dad had insisted that I learn how to read, and I had learned how by the time I was four, it was simply that I didn't have much interest in it. The books were all talking about things I didn't know or wouldn't experience so I didn't need to know. The books I found a little interesting were the ones talking about the different animals. It was interesting to know more about them, but I doubted I could talk about any of these things with the animals themselves so it was useless as well.
I had tried painting but my pictures were more blobs of colour. I also tried sculpture, but mum was less than impressed. I had also tried experimenting with science and chemistry, but I wasn't really allowed near Grandpa's things, so that effort was dead upon entry. My interests were encouraged in the jungle, so that's where I liked to be.
As we walked back to the treehouse, my dad on four legs me on two, he suggested carrying me. It was a little embarrassing but I was getting tired. I still said no to his offer, giving the excuse that I wouldn't be able to hold on because of the cuts on my hands. Dad looked at my hands again,
"Your mother is not going to be happy to see that," he said. I couldn't argue with him on that one. How was mom going to react when she found out that I put mangos in a thorn bush and then reached into the thorn bush to retrieve my mangos…on purpose? I looked around me to notice the different colourful flowers around me. My mom liked colourful things like fruit; perhaps she would be okay with it if she learned the truth.
Then I got a better idea. I ran around and picked as many flowers as I could, being careful to avoid the dangerous ones. I had gone to pick flowers many times and have been told time and time again which flowers I was not allowed to touch, so unlike fruit my knowledge of flowers was good. Also I learned that my mum tended to forgive me whenever I gave her flowers, so it was worth a shot.
"How does this look?" I asked with a big grin. My dad looked confused for a second before he chuckled.
"It looks good," he said, "but you still have cuts on your hands."
"Flowers have thorns," I said matter-of-factly.
"That is true," he said, and the two of us continued walking. As we walked I picked any interesting flowers I came across. If I saw interesting fruit I picked that up too, so I wouldn't technically be lying when I told mom that I was picking fruit and I got thorn scratches on my hands. I placed the fruits in the crux of my elbow and tried to keep pace with my dad.
Once we arrived back at the tree house, I saw my mum was awake and walking around cleaning and watering the plants. I had a little chuckle to myself as my dad pulled the boat up to the door, and climbed up the tree as quietly as possible making sure not to drop my flowers or fruits. I tiptoed behind my mum as she hummed to herself, sweeping the balcony. As I tiptoed behind her I almost thought she heard me when she stopped to stare out at the jungle. She didn't turn around or see anything so I continued my ascent. When she sighed and returned to her sweeping I said, "Hey Mum!" causing her to jump back and surprise and drop her broom.
I laughed to myself. "Did I scare you?" I asked with a big grin, and mum couldn't help but smile as well.
"You sure did," she said shaking her head. I felt a hand on my shoulder and nearly jumped out of my skin.
"She's getting better at stealth every day," Dad said happily. I didn't say anything, but I noticed how my dad didn't even try to sneak up on me and he still surprised me.
"Kendra, it is impolite to startle people," My mum chastised me, and I hung my head slightly.
"I'm sorry," I said sadly, "I just wanted to surprise you…" I held out the bouquet of flowers.
My mum gazed wide-eyed at the flowers, and blushed slightly. She took the flowers from my hand and sniffed them gently. "I suppose a little surprise every once and awhile isn't so bad…" she said sheepishly, before pulling me in for a hug. "Thank you," she said warmly. I hugged her waist enthusiastically, before stepping back and jumping up and down.
"I got you some fruits too!" I said and went to hold them out for her, only to find my arms empty. I couldn't have dropped them I was too careful! I stared at my arm in shock before dropping to the floor and searching frantically. I didn't see them anywhere, so I ran to the side of the balcony and looked down the tree, hoping to find them if they fell out earlier.
My mum saw me running around frantically and yelled, "Kendra, slow down! Be careful!" I still didn't see them…maybe they were in the boat! I ran over to the boat, but they weren't there either! Did I really lose them? But I wanted to share them with my mum, so she could be proud of me like my daddy was. I stood by the edge and started to sniffle, feeling dejected.
My parents came up behind me. "Don't worry Kendra, I still have some fruit," My dad said.
"But I had fruit too!" I said. "I wanted to share it! I had fruit, I really did!" I said in between sobs.
"I believe you." My mum said gently, kneeling down in front of me.
"You do?" I said.
"Yes, you have some fruit sap on your arms," she said wiping it off with a damp cloth. She clicked her tongue nervously. "How long is it going to take before you act like a proper lady?" she asked smiling. I didn't want to be a lady; I wanted to be like my dad. However, with my luck today, I didn't see that happening anymore.
We sat down at the table to enjoy the fruit for lunch, discussing what we had done so far in the day. However, when we started discussing our trip we were interrupted. As soon as we mentioned the baboons a little monkey jumped onto the table and snatched one of our mangos.
Everyone was startled, "My, this feels familiar, how did he get here?" My mum asked. "Kendra, I believe a friend followed you home," My dad added.
"That's impossible, when we went to go see the baboons they were all asleep…" I said, but then I had a realization.
"It was you! You were the one who kept stealing my fruit!" I yelled, and then my eyes went wide. "You're that baboon who threw that banana at me!" The little baboon stared, apparently not knowing a word I said. The baboon scampered away. I thought I had scared him off but he came back with a couple flowers and gave them to me. "I think he likes you," My dad chuckled. I fumed, he must've seen me give the flowers to my mum and then see her not be mad anymore. He thinks the same trick will work on me, well fat chance buddy. I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Kendra, that's rude!" my mum chastised, but I didn't care. I did not like this guy, even if he was a baby. Seeing my mum upset he turned and gave the flowers to my mum, who accepted them graciously.
My dad started speaking baboon to him for a minute, I only understood a few words, but basically he asked him to introduce himself.
After he finished speaking, my dad explained things to me. "Toto followed you because he was curious about you. He was just playing."
"Well, I don't want to play with him!" I yelled. I turned to the little baboon and said what little baboon I knew, "You…Me…not…friends!" Toto looked sad, but otherwise unfazed by what I said, and I hid behind my dad.
My mum stepped forward, "We should probably take Toto home, and we can pick up some more fruit along the way. How does that sound?" My mum leaned down to look me in the eye hiding from behind my dad's legs. I begrudgingly agreed, since I didn't mind spending more time with my parents, when my dad would normally go off to patrol the jungle leaving me with the gorillas.
So with Mum's suggestion we finished eating our lunch and then took a walk through the jungle towards the Baboon's nest. My mum was gentler when picking various fruits, taking time to examine them and admire them, making the act of fruit picking less of a sport and more of an excursion. She liked to point out to me which fruits were the prettiest, but it wasn't like I hadn't seen any of these fruits before. Instead, I tried to find all of the fruit my mum liked and brought it over to put it in my mum's basket.
My dad was not involved with the fruit picking this time, instead focusing his attention on talking to and watching Toto. As I saw the two of them conversing I couldn't help but feel annoyed. Meanwhile Toto kept copying what I was doing; picking every fruit I was picking and placing them in my mum's basket. I huffed with frustration at seeing his antics. Was he begging for attention? They were my parents! He had his own parents…probably.
We made it to the Baboon nest; they were now awake and more rambunctious. My mom instinctively stopped outside of their territory, holding my arm to keep me from entering. I looked up at her, confusion plain on my face.
"Mom?" I asked her. She looked down at me, and then at my dad, before continuing forward. "I'm fine, Kendra." She assured me.
My dad entered with confidence, but also a measure of respect. He didn't meet eye contact with them, but conversed with them casually. I wished I understood better. They relaxed once they noticed Toto. Toto screeched at them a few times seemingly clearing up the situation. I shyly walked forward, and tried saying hello. I seemed to get it right. An adult came forward and bounded towards my mom. She looked scared, until the baboon gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Manu!" she smiled ecstatically, "You've gotten so big!" The baboon grunted happily. "Yes, I suppose it's been a few years…" she started grunting in baboon and I felt thoroughly left out. I walked over and plopped beside my dad with frustration. He was grinning. "So mom knows this one?" I asked him.
He nodded, "I thought she was scared of baboons."
"Well, there was that incident when we met, but that was years ago. She's still careful around them, but she's friendly with them now. Especially Manu," he gestured towards the one she was chatting with, "He's actually Toto' father."
He shook his head. "They grow up so fast, last time we saw him he was a baby." Ah yes, that's right, baboon's age faster. Hopefully that means Toto will gain some maturity soon.
"Can I go now?" I asked him, he looked a little disappointed at my remark, but nodded. Normally, when my dad patrolled the jungle, leading the gorillas I would play with them so there was someone watching me. It made my mom at ease, since my dad was busy and couldn't watch me all the time. I didn't mind, the gorillas were like my second family.
So when we were done with the Baboons we went towards the gorilla nests. My dad left me with my friends and left to deal with other matters. My friends, Coco, Fifi, Shala, and Hugo were eating mites by the waterfall. Their parents, my parent's friends, had told them about this spot from their childhood. However, they made us promise not to jump off the waterfall and antagonize the elephants for some reason. That was a weird thing to request, who would ever do that?
"Hey Kendra!" Coco said as she spotted me. What could I say about my friends? Coco was the youngest; she looked up to me a lot and was a little shy. Fifi was the oldest out of all of us, and she was constantly getting us to try new things and get us into trouble. Shala and Hugo were kind of my cousins, and they were very fascinated by humans, therefore me. They found it so cool that they were related one, and wanted me to teach them English. I've tried, but they never seem able to grasp it.
"How are you today?" Shala asked. I sat down with them; Coco, who was being groomed, tried to search me for mites.
"I went to see the baboons today," I told them.
"All of them?" Hugo asked. "That's intense," I shook my head.
"I wanted to surprise them when they were asleep, but my dad joined me and we ended up doing something else. I managed to almost beat him in a race, and a fruit collecting contest." My friends laughed.
"I'm sorry Kendra, there's no way you're going to get to your dad's level. He's at the level of an ape, and apes are better than a kid, that's facts," Fifi said.
I slumped. "I almost beat him! It's just that a baby baboon got in the way!"
"You mean that one?" Fifi asked. I turned to where she was pointing.
"Oh no, not you again!" I groaned. Toto had followed me again. "Can you guys tell him to go?" I asked. Fifi laughed.
"Why can you not speak baboon?" I turned red at her comment. "I can…" I got up from being groomed and walked over to Toto, trying what words I knew.
"You…Go…" I said. He didn't get it. I groaned. Fine, get trampled.
"Looks like he's staying," I said shrugging, before tackling Shala. Hopefully, they would be too distracted wrestling to comment on my lack of knowledge in Baboon. I tried going after Shala since there was no way I'd beat Hugo or Fifi. I should have gone with Coco, with her being younger it might've been a fair fight. Shala pinned me in under a minute. I had certainly gotten stronger since I was four, but I couldn't beat a gorilla in a wrestling match. That was embarrassing. Could I never win? I tapped her arm to let me go, out of breath.
Before I could straighten myself, I was tackled by a baby baboon. He managed to catch me off guard and actually push me over. I tried to grab him but he was very slippery and kept dodging my grip.
"Get off!" I grunted. My friends noticed my discomfort and offered to help me out. "We could teach you some baboon if you want?" Coco offered.
"To say 'Get off' you say, 'Ee ee ah ah AH AH'." Shala informed me, and I tried to mimic what she said. Coco winced and said, "Your pronunciation is a bit off." I grunted with frustration and threw Toto off of me. He landed a few feet away and I picked up some of the mud we were rolling in and threw a ball at him.
"Get lost!" I yelled, throwing mud. He started mimicking me and threw more mud balls at me. I shielded myself with my arms as they came flying.
"Take it easy," Fifi said, stepping in between us.
"He started it!" I yelled, glaring at him.
"You're lucky he threw mud at you." Hugo informed me. I looked down at my outfit; my fur wrap was now covered in mud. Mom would kill me, and even worse, I'd have to wear a dress! "I've got to clean this up," I told them.
"We can help," Coco said, offering to groom me some more.
"Nah, I've got this," I said, and I jumped into the pool. All I needed was a quick swim and all the mud would be gone, easy peasy. I came up for air and my friends stared at me with amazement. Right, swimming was a human thing, apes couldn't swim. I decided to show off a bit and did a jump while in the pool. My friends cheered.
Then the unspeakable happened. There was a splash, and Coco screamed, and then Shala and Hugo yelled, and finally Fifi told me what was going on.
Toto had joined me…but he couldn't swim. I turned and saw him thrashing in the water, sinking rapidly. Instinctively, I dove after him. I don't know why, I hated the little guy, but I couldn't let him die. I grabbed the thrashing monkey, slowly becoming stiller in the water and quickly swam back to the surface. I placed him on the shore shook him in a panic,
"Wake up Toto!" I said, half screeching. Toto coughed, and I sighed in relief. Thankfully he wasn't under there too long. Once he was awake, I started chewing him out,
"What were you thinking!? You can't keep copying me, my life is dangerous!"
"…cool…" Toto said quietly,
I was surprised I could understand him. I couldn't believe this kid, he nearly gotten himself—and me, by both our parents—killed, because he thought I was cool and wanted to be like me.
I kneeled down next to him, "You…me…friends…maybe" I said slowly.
He gave me a big toothy grin.
Later that night, after I took Toto home and went home for dinner, I met my dad outside of the tree house.
I sat beside him quietly, and he spoke first, "So I heard what happened today."
I tried to think about what he meant, but it was a busy day today,
"I'm sorry." I said, just in case he referred to me beating up a baby, losing a wrestling match, or getting all muddy with my friends.
He looked at me wide eyed, "Why are you sorry?" So maybe he wasn't referring to those things. I changed the subject,
"I keep trying to be your daughter, and live up to how great you are all the time, but I keep falling short. I'm sorry I'm so lame."
My dad didn't respond. "Kendra, you're a child. Do you think I started off this great? When I was your age I was just like you, getting tackled by other apes and chased by bigger animals, my mother was often worried about me and looking out for me. So I found my own way to survive, just like you did."
He looked me in the eyes. "To me, you are living up to me and surpassing me, even now. I'm so proud of you. Even today, you jumped to save Toto despite not getting along with him."
I felt myself blush at his words. He knew about that?
"You managed to get fruit from a tall tree without climbing it…speaking of which, I was thinking I should give you something to make it easier in the future for you." Then he handed me a smaller version of the spear he carried.
I felt myself break out into a large grin.
"My own spear! Can I really keep this?" I asked filled with joy,
"Of course," my father said proudly. "You'll need it to pick fruit and protect yourself." I gave my dad a big hug,
"Thank you Dad!" As I hugged him the spear scratched my face and his shoulder, he pushed it away. "I think I should start teaching you how to use it properly tomorrow," he said chuckling. I ran inside the house to show mom. Her eyes went wide and she shot a concerning look at my dad who just shrugged, but after seeing my happy face she couldn't help but smile too.
Maybe I wasn't like my dad yet, but I would be, one day.
A/N: So thus concludes the adventure from when she was eight. Next adventure, she will be twelve. After the time skip she will know how to use her spear, sorry that the training montage will be off screen.
For those who didn't figure it out Manu was the baby baboon from the movie. In the movie Tarzan and Jane were about eighteen years old and Manu was one year old maybe, now they have an eight year old daughter so it's probably nine/ten years later. Therefore, he's an adult baboon.
Furthermore it was hard coming up with names for the gorillas, but Shala and Hugo I believe would be Terk's kids; considering how much she interacts with humans she might have given them more human sounding names.