Chapter 27:
Yasmin hummed to herself as she walked through the tunnel with Kito right behind her. "This is a pretty cool place, Ms. Yasmin. I'm really starting to like caves now," Kito said as he looked around.
"Ms. Yasmin," Yasmin mumbled to herself with amusement as she walked over towards a nest. She reached into the nest and pulled out a flower and put it in her hair. "No need to be formal. You can just call me Yasmin, sweetheart."
Kito shrugged, "OK, Yasmin Sweetheart." Yasmin laughed as Kito walked over to the nest and looked in. "Wow, you've got a lot of flowers. I didn't think they grew out here."
"They don't. Just because we live out here doesn't mean we can't go over to the Pride Lands and gather other things. Even we get tired of termites three times a day. Before your parents came I went over there and picked these this morning." She patted the flower in her hair with a smile.
"Girl stuff... yuck."
Yasmin picked a few more flowers from the nest and inhaled them deeply. "You know, Kito, one day you'll like girls and girl stuff."
"But not today."
Yasmin chuckled as she sat down in the nest with the flowers and started twisting the ends together. "You're young, so you don't understand a lot of things yet. In life, you'll have to make a lot of decisions of what you want in life and what you have to do with it. You know like fitness, health,manners, diet..." She exhaled. "And other pointless forms of sacrifice."
"Yeah, but that's only when you're older, right?" Kito asked as he sat down next to her, watching her twist the flowers together.
"Whenever you think you're old enough to make those decisions. You're only three months old right now, so you have time to decide what you want to do. I never really had a choice."
"Why not?"
"My father is head of this colony, and he expects me and Sly to take over when he dies. But I don't know anything about running a whole colony. I care more about my appearance than anything else." Yasmin looked at the ring of flowers she was creating, and added a few more to it. "I guess if needed I could ask Sengbe for advice. He'll be our adviser when Father dies and Sly and I will be married."
"So you're going to let someone else run things while you just stand there looking pretty and wearing pretty flowers?" Kito blinked.
Yasmin softly smiled. "It's about the only thing keeping me smiling these days." She looked at the ring of flowers she strung together and pulled it onto her wrist, admiring her work.
"But does it really work?" Kito and Yasmin turned to see Zuri walk over to the two. "I'm sorry to intrude."
Yasmin cleared her throat as Kito hopped to his feet and over to his mother. "No, that's all right. I was just finding someone to consol in," Yasmin said with a cough.
"Apparently age isn't an issue?" Yasmin grimaced. Zuri cleared her throat and looked down at Kito. "Go find your Uncle Sudi and stay him for a while, OK, sweetie?"
"Yeah, sure, Mom. You just want me to leave so you two can have a privategirl talk. I would've lefteven if I wasn't asked.Bye, Yasmin," Kito said, waving as he walked away.
Yasmin gathered some more flowers into her lap and started to twist the ends together. "So to what do I owe the honor of your company?" she asked with a slight growl.
Zuri twitched her nose, a little offended by Yasmin's attitude. "I hope you're only like this to Sly's old girlfriends and not all of your cave guests."
"He's had more than one?"
Zuri rolled her eyes and stepped in front of Yasmin. "Look, Yasmin, I'm not here to make Sly my boyfriend again, so would you stop giving me the cold shoulder?"
Yasmin snorted softly as she held her latest flower ring up to survey her work. "Maybe you're not, but Sly seems to be. He keeps having old dreams about the day he left your colony."
Zuri's expression softened slightly for a moment, and then returned to the previous one. "Well, now he knows I've moved on and he should as well." She folded her arms in front of her chest. "The soon-to-be leader of this whole colony... how did a rogue come this far in three years?"
A moment of silence, and then Yasmin finally looked away from her project and up at Zuri. "You want the truth, Zuri?"
"I think I deserve it. I never thought I'd see Sly again and I always wondered what had become of him. I want to know how he and his father came to this."
Yasmin picked up a few more flowers from her nest and twisted them into the ring of flowers. "I was the correct age to decide a mate, but none of the original mob members caught my fancy. My father, in slightly better health and tired of waiting, was almost ready to pick one for me. Then the sentries announced two rogue meerkats approaching and we had to meet with them. They introduced themselves and told their story about why they left the previous colony." She laid the flowers in her lap as she smiled, recalling. "Sly was so handsome, so... different. That's what first attracted me to him... he was a rogue and that seemed really... dangerous. My father took notice of this."
"So he allowed you to pick a rogue to marry?"
"Like I said, he was tired of waiting. Besides, I was a little spoiled at the time, and if I got stuck with someone I wasn't interested in, I'd hound him for the rest of his life."
"That bad, huh?" Zuri grinned."Whatever Yasmin wants, Yasmin gets?"
"No comment. Anyway, he was only willing to take Sly in, so Sengbe was about to pullhim away and find another colony. But my father was willing to make a deal, and Sengbe demanded this: Sengbe would allow Sly to marry me if my father would take Sengbe into the colony and make him his right-hand meerkat. Father agreed."
"So how did Sly feel about this?"
Yasmin had finished her second flower ring and laid it on her lap. "He felt like a bargaining chip; that the only reason they had a piece of ground over their heads is because I had a love-a-first-sight crush on him, that they hadn't earned the place in the colony. For the first week he didn't speak to anyone, not even to Sengbe. I guess he was still hung up on you." Yasmin growled softly. "Even now he still is."
Zuri blew some air out of her mouth. "Look, Yasmin, he told me himself he's not going to leave this colony, so would you stop acting like you're acting now and treat me a little nicer?"
Yasmin arched a brow. "Are you telling the truth?"
"You want me to grab Sly so he can tell you in his own words? Yes, I'm telling the truth! I just want to make peace with you, for crying out loud." Yasmin looked down at the flowers in her lap and sighed. Zuri blinked when she noticed the flowers were suddenly getting wet. She knelt down to Yasmin to see tears rolling down and falling from her cheeks. "I, uh... I didn't mean crying literally."
Yasmin sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I know you didn't, Zuri. I'm just concerned about my father, you know? He's in such poor health now."
Zuri nodded solemnly. "Sly's mentioned that. I'm sorry."
"I don't know how to take care of a colony... I only know how to look pretty," Yasmin said as she held the newest flower ring in her paws.
Zuri eyed the flowers. "You're using flower fashion to mask your insecurities. Flowers, after they're picked, only stay pretty for a few days before they start to wilt. How long before everyone else notices?" Yasmin looked away from her. Zuri noticed a closed flower on Yasmin's lap and picked it up. "You kind of remind me of a flower bud: closed to society, unwilling to open up and change. But one day it'll blossom, and I think the same will happen to you when you take charge with Sly. After all, you are named after a flower."
Yasmin turned her eyes back to Zuri. "You think so?"
Zuri smiled as she stood. "I really do." She cleared her throat again. "So, uh... would you take offense if I asked Sly to come back with us for a few days to set things right with my father and a few other members of my colony? I-I'd feel more at ease if they made peace."
"Well... would your father be willing to make peace with him?"
"I've got a gut feeling he would."
"Well... just a few days?" Zuri nodded. "I guess I could handle a few days without him... as long as you leave after you find this Titus."
"Shouldn't take us long to find him, I promise." Zuri exhaled and turned to leave. "I guess I'll make sure Kito found my brother."
Yasmin looked at the flower ring in her paws for a moment. "Hold on a moment." Zuri turned back to her. Yasmin grabbed her paw and put the flower ring in it. "I don't really need this, so if you can find something to do with it..."
Zuri sniffed the flowers and smiled. "I'll find something to do with it. See you around, I guess." She walked away.
Yasmin watched Zuri turn the corner, and then she laid back into her nest, deep in thought. "I guess it's better to leave an impression if I didn't make it about fashion." She eyed the flower bracelet she made for herself and smiled for a moment, and then sighed as she rested her paws behind her head. "I guess one day I will blossom, and one day I'll find the courage to grow up." She exhaled through her nose as she closed her eyes and settled down for an afternoon nap.
To be continued...