Yay its chapter three but first I want to thank all the reviewers who reviewed my last chapter.
Nekoinnuhanyou: Thanks for that review; I'm glad you thought that.
Nala5: Thanks for the review and thanks for wishing me luck on my move and finals. We are finished with moving but sadly I have finals until next Tuesday, I wish it was this week. I will also try to read that story you recommended to me.
Pichooi: Thanks for the review, I hope you get your schoolwork done, I bet you can't wait for summer either.
Katibu: Thanks for the review and no the grandfather is not an advisor at all, I think he just wanted to go see some lady friends wink wink. I'll try to read your "Innocent Prisoner" story soon too.
Sunrise19: Thanks for the review and I will try to explain why he and Simba were not the best of friends
The Dishwasher: Thanks for the review; I'm glad you like it so far.
Morpheus Dreamer: Thanks for the input, I will try to make him sound more English, I just have trouble with accents sometimes, it's the hardest thing for me when writing a story. And I also see you wrote center as centre, that's so cool. I'll try to read your story soon as well.
Maran Zelde: Thanks for the review, and like I told Morpheus Dreamer, I apologize for his accent and will try to make him sound more English. Also about the regurgitation thing, I actually was not thinking about that I must be used to seeing robins in pictures giving their chicks insects. It would have made an interesting story line; I just wish I would have thought of that earlier.
Well on with the story.
A week had passed, we had not grown much but our knowledge of the world grew as our grandfather told us many facts of life and stories he had heard when he was younger. Many of his stories were so fascinating that we all could not wait to learn to fly just to see if legends were true or just to see if it was true that bats were not birds.
When our grandfather was not around, we would just sit in the nest and tell our mother about the things we learned that day. My mother would often sound as if she had never heard about those things before but now that I am older I realized she was only doing that to humor us. It was not a bad thing because at least she listened.
The bond between me and my siblings though were not very strong. But of course we were only chicks and any young creature would agree that siblings always have to get into fights and usually for no particular reason. The bond between Kalifa and I was strong though. She took care of me when I was feeling upset after a loosing argument with Azizi or just to have someone her own age to talk to. Because of our bond, we would remain contacted with each other even after we left the nest, but I will give you more on that later.
I may be getting ahead of myself but I must say that Azizi was an interesting character to deal with, and the more I look back on our sibling rivalry, I began to notice that he was a lot like Scar the lion who took over after his brother and nephew were killed in a stampede. He seemed to be jealous of mine and Kalifa's bond and would often mock us and say that we acted like a married couple. He would even strut around and act as if life was not perfect for him. But of course he was first hatched so maybe that had something to do with. But because of his ways, I lost contact with him a few months after I flew off on my own. I still have no idea if he is alive or not.
Sule was a different matter altogether. He had to be in his own little world. I would often find him just sitting on the edge of the nest and watching all the animals walk by. Sometimes he would call me over and ask what I thought a cloud looked like. His imagination was so vivid too, sometimes to me a cloud would just look like another cloud, but he would claim to see fluffy animals, a lion leg, or even one of us. I would also often find him just sitting by himself in the nest looking like he was somewhere else entirely. I would often wave my wing at him to get his attention and then he would come back to the world acting as if nothing had happened. And he always dreamed of adventure, he could not wait to leave the nest just so he could travel the Serengeti. It was quite fascinating really, but of course as I told you before, it would cost him his life, but I will tell you about that later.
An interesting memory I had was a week after I had hatched. It was sort of humorous yet embarrassing at the same time. I remember our grandfather was telling us about the great Mt. Kilimanjaro when our mother returned home looking angry and upset.
"What's wrong Malaika, insects hard to find today?" my grandfather had asked.
"No even worse, I ran into Dacia today, you know that cousin of mine always wanting to get involved with things. I made the mistake of telling her that I have a new batch of chicks, so now she wants a party and she's bringing some of the family, including her two sons Kato and Ban'ai. You know Kato and how he likes to get into things and steal them. And I hope you know how Ban'ai is, I hope his parents are rotting in their grave for doing that to Dacia," said my mother.
"Oh yes I know all about Ban'ai, the cuckoo who thinks he's a hornbill, that boy needs to get it through his thick head that he is not one of us, and he only thinks he is small because of a birth defect. Ha! It's only because he is a cuckoo a bird much smaller than us," said our grandfather.
"Oh why did this have to happen?" asked my mother who looked as if she was about to have a mental breakdown.
Of course Sule had to interrupt them. "Uh Grandpa, what's a cuckoo?" he asked.
"Why a cuckoo is a bird that is too lazy to care for the young themselves and leave the eggs in the nests of other birds. Once the young one hatches it kicks the rest of the young out where they perish on the ground. It is quite annoying because I experienced it in my younger years, luckily the chick did not last a day and that's exactly what Dacia should have done," said Grandpa.
My mother began to pace back and forth wondering what to do while we sat there watching her. We had never been through this type of problem so we were not sure what to make of the problem but just go along with it.
"When are they coming?" asked Grandpa.
"Any minute, she said she would come as soon as she was done with lunch," said our mother.
"So I guess hiding is out of the question," said Grandpa.
"But I don't understand what the problem is," I had said.
"You dummy, mom just said that they were horrible, they are probably coming to steal our nest and replace us with cuckoos," said Azizi.
"Azizi be nice, its not that, they just don't obey my rules and leave the place a mess by the time the sun sets," said our mother.
"And it looks like that mess is flying over here right now with three of them. I can see Ban'ai and Kato but I don't know who the other one is," said Grandpa.
My mother flew over beside him and looked before she calmed down slightly. "That's Talib. I am surprised you did not recognize Talib, that's her mate, he does not talk much and is sometimes stern so maybe he can control his two sons" said my mother.
"Oh now that I see better I do recognize him," said Grandpa.
A few seconds later, we saw four birds arrive and perch on the edge of the nest. I recognized Dacia immediately because like the meaning of her name (Purple Flower) she was purple and almost looked like a flower because she was quite pretty especially from someone her age. I then recognized Ban'ai; he was green and about a foot shorter than everyone else. He had a white stomach and a little bit of white above his eye that looked like eyebrows. We all then hid behind our mother as Dacia began to speak.
"So these are your new chicks I see," said Dacia.
"Yes they are," said my mother as she pushed us over for Dacia to see. "This is Kalifa, Sule, Azizi, and Zazu."
Dacia and the rest looked at us quizzically before speaking again. "What lovely children they are, they look well fed, and I see they will produce beautiful offspring for you," she said.
"That one right there looks like he just got into a fight with a lion," said Ban'ai who was pointing at Sule who I forgot to mention had feathers on his head that gave him a wild look.
"Ban'ai be nice," said Talib who then slapped him in the back of the head.
Ban'ai rubbed his head and looked at his step father angrily before turning back at us.
I saw my mother give an angry look at Ban'ai before speaking. "Well I welcome you to my nest feel free to sit down and have some berries," she said as she pointed to a corner with some berries on it.
Suddenly like lightening, Kato and Ban'ai flapped over and devoured the berries in less than a minute. They did it so fast that juice went flying everywhere and when they were done, they both leaned against the tree trunk looking very full.
"Great now I have to go back out and get more," said my mother.
"Oh don't worry about it, I'm not hungry any way," said Dacia.
"Well I bet my chicks are," said my mother in an annoyed voice.
"Well then someone should go get more and it won't be you since this is your place and you don't have to work to appease us, I say Badu should go," said Dacia who then looked over at my grandfather who just sneered.
"Fine I'm going, I see no point in hanging out here any way," he said before flying off into the savanna.
We all watched them leave before Dacia turned to my mother. "Did you see the face he made and what he said to me, some father figure he is to the chicks," said Dacia.
My mother ignored the comment and began to talk about other things while we had the pleasure of talking to Kato and Ban'ai and both seemed to be more interested in the things around us.
"Oh look at this nice rock, I bet it would go great in that hangout near the river eh Ban'ai," said Kato.
"Oh yeah especially if you put it halfway in the river and sticking halfway out," said Ban'ai.
Kato just smiled and hid it under his wing. I had to object. "Hey that was our fathers, he gave that to us to make the nest look nicer than it is," I said.
"Oh la de da, I bet you won't do anything about it," said Kato.
"Yeah you're nothing but a flightless chick," said Ban'ai.
I grumbled under my breath before I cried for my mother who came flying over instantly.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Kato stole the rock Dad gave us," I said.
My mother turned to Kato who retaliated. "I only wanted to hold it, I was not going to take it," said Kato who then tossed it back into the nest.
My mother sighed and said nothing before flying back Dacia while Kato and Ban'ai looked at me angrily.
"You're such a tattletale," said Ban'ai.
"Well it's not nice to steal," I said.
"Well it's not nice to tell on someone either you little brat," said Kato.
"Hey you be nice to him or our mom will never let you two come back here again," said Kalifa who stood in front of me trying to protect me from the two bullies.
"Oh we're really scared," said Kato.
"Yeah let a little girl scare us I bet she is more powerful than us," said Ban'ai.
Ban'ai and Kato then began to circle Kalifa and I calling us 'tattlers' and 'whiney babies' I was about to retaliate when Azizi stepped in a pecked Kato as hard as he could in the leg. Kato let out a loud squawk that was heard through the whole nest causing Dacia and my mother to come over and investigate.
"What happened here?" asked my mother.
"Your son just pecked at me for no reason," said Kato.
"He was making fun of Kalifa and Zazu," said Azizi.
"No I was not," said Kato.
"Were too," said Azizi.
"Enough, Azizi, do that again and I am putting you in time out, the rest of you be nice. This is supposed to be a nice family day, not enemy day," said my mother who then flew back with Dacia to talk some more.
Kato then gave us all a sly look before grabbing a colorful feather from a friend of my mothers and hiding it under his wing like he did with the rock.
"Tell on any one and I will wring your neck," he said.
We all stayed silent while we watched them take some things that belonged to us while they both gave us angry looks.
"I have more food," said our grandfather who came back with a whole bunch of food for us.
He set it down next to us before leaving and hopped over to talk to Dacia's husband. We were all about to get some of the food when Ban'ai and Kato suddenly attacked all the food again, making an even bigger mess. When they were finally done, only four berries were left, one for each of us and this made Azizi mad.
"Wow you two are so kind and you know I don't care if I am punished because you both deserve it," said Azizi who then pecked both Kato and Ban'ai as hard as he could on the leg. Both birds squawked in pain and again caused my mother and everyone else to investigate.
"What happened now?" asked my mother.
"They ate all our food and only left enough for each of us," said Azizi.
"And he pecked us in the leg, now I'll probably get gangrene and die," said Kato.
"Yeah that little brat needs to be taught some manners," said Ban'ai.
"And so do you two too," said our grandfather.
Dacia gasped at my grandfather and gave him an angry look. "Are you saying that my sons are undisciplined?" she asked.
"Yes," was all my grandfather said.
Talib stared at my grandfather angrily. "How dare you say that, you owe us an apology," he said.
"No I don't, and you know I've been wanting to say this for years and I think its time I said it. You two are lousy parents, you act like Kato is an angel but I see him take things and make fun of others for no reason and you act like this cuckoo is your son even though he pushed your original eggs out of the nest when he hatched that makes him a murderer," said our grandfather.
Both Dacia and Talib stood there in shock before turning to my mother. "You should kick him out of the nest for saying that and find these chicks a better father figure than that….that…..that old thing," said Dacia.
"No you should be the one kicked out of the nest, Badu is smart and the chicks love him and I see that you guys are a bad influence, now get out and don't come back until you teach those brats some manners," said my mother angrily.
Dacia and Talib stared at her in amazement before finally giving her the cold shoulder and without another word, they flew off.
"Very good Malaika, I know you have wanted to do that for years," said our grandfather.
"I have and I am glad Azizi did that," said Malaika.
"So I'm not in trouble?" asked Azizi.
"No, now go play with your siblings while I talk to your grandfather," said my mother.
Azizi turned back to us and smiled. "Even though we still have our tussles, I still need to protect you guys but that still won't stop me from making fun of you two," he said before grabbing his berry and went to a place to be alone and ate it.
I then looked at Kalifa who just smiled at me and then at Sule who had been quiet the whole time, he said nothing but smiled as well. We knew that we were all a good team, but it would take a few months before our bonds would become stronger.
A/N: Yay chapter 3 is done! I hoped you liked that and for those of you who have read Surviving the Stampede I bet you were surprised to see Ban'ai, I thought it would be fun to have him come back for a chapter, and you will not see him again so don't worry. Well chapter 4 will be up next week since this semester is over so please review and I will see you next week.