Ch. 2 The Example
Loyal, kind, patient, humble and self-controlled.
This is what Cornelia believed a queen should be.
A queen held the hopes and dreams of her people. She put them first in all circumstances except if the situations threatened the stability of her family.
This was what Cornelia attempted to instill within her daughter-in-law.
Before the war and three weeks into her marriage, Caesar and the council regrettably stripped Marahan of her military status.
The woman was no longer a general or a soldier in the Ape Army, preventing her from participating in the upcoming war.
That day, no ape was spared from the princess's fury.
Her anger knew no bounds, and the queen didn't blame Marahan for it.
After all, the woman spent 7 hours a day training her fellow comrades and discovering she was not allowed to fight, or train anymore left a hole in her heart.
Blue Eyes attempted to comfort his mate, but Marahan would lash out at the prince considering he was the one who brought the decision before the Ape king.
For what is was worth, Cornelia suggested Caesar and Blue Eyes sleep outside the nest that night. The two male apes reluctantly agreed, crowding into Marahan and Blue Eyes's small storage filled alcove.
As time went on, Marahan's mood lessened, but it left her feeling out of place.
Cornelia helped her cope with the loss by preparing the princess to someday be the next queen.
The new instruction kept Marahan occupied and closely confined within the hideout. Her time split between the queen, the colony's females and young.
Cornelia was proud of Marahan for taking her teaching seriously, but there was one thing the woman lacked and that was a sense of duty.
As a royal, they were bound by moral obligation to the colony.
Everything they did, said and every move they made was based on the colony's best interest.
She, Caesar and Blue Eyes understood and lived by their duties, but Marahan was still in the process of transitioning into her new role.
As a secondary general and solider, her duties weren't as immense as the royal family.
Marahan held a veil of freedom and her actions didn't greatly affect her people (except the Koba crisis) but now everything was different.
Happily, the girl would have support not just from her new family and the council, but from her ladies in waiting.
An ape king gets an assembly of loyal apes, while the ape queen gets her own company of ladies in waiting.
Cornelia had four ladies in waiting, her first being her best friend, Tinker Rocket's wife.
Marahan recently chose Lake, her childhood friend, and Lily, Winter's mate as her ladies in waiting.
At the moment, the issue the queen dealt with was the absence of the princess and her ladies in waiting.
Cornelia looked around at the female apes who were surrounding the royal nest. They were preparing the queen for addressing the females of the colony.
This was when Cornelia would sit and listen to the needs of the colony.
This addressing usually required the presence of the Ape king, but since Caesar and the males were out fighting in a war the queen and princess would be their substitutes.
"Do you want me to go look for them?" Tinker asked as the females carefully arranged the leaves and beads adorning the queen's headdress.
Cornelia was about to answer until a familiar silhouette hastened to the nest and knelt before the Ape Queen.
"My Queen. I come on behalf of Princess Marahan." Lake said.
The female ape was out of breath. Sweat trickled from the fur of her arms rolling into the palms of her knuckles.
A sign of extreme tension or in this case a nervous temperament.
"You are like family Lake. You may speak." Cornelia stated.
The other females moved to give Lake room to talk, Tinker remained next to her friend wanting to know the message Marahan forced her apprentice to relay to the queen.
"We went out to the clearing and found some wild blackberries. Marahan wanted to pick some for lunch when the council and soldiers returned." Lake muttered.
Murmurs could be heard from the other females as Tinker and Cornelia looked to one another, then at Lake for the rest of the message.
As we began picking the berries, the princess ate a few and fell ill. She has since retired to her alcove to prevent you and young Cornelius from her sickness. Marahan asks for privacy and for you to continue with the addressing without her. She hopes to be better as the day goes on." Lake concluded watching the female apes with cautious eyes.
Cornelia pondered Lake words, they were skeptical, but at the same time honest.
Lake was loyal and wasn't known for deception, if Marahan was truly sick it was best that she be kept from infecting other members of the colony.
"Tell the princess we wish her well and there will be a debriefing on the addressing when she is fully recovered," Cornelia replied stepping out of the nest with the females falling in line behind her.
"You and Lily concentrate on keeping the young away from their princess. Cornelius will be with me, but the rest will be curious. Make sure she is comfortable. Tinker will be around to check on her this evening." The Ape Queen concluded as she was guided toward the exit of the cave.
When the apes were gone, Lake sprinted down the rocky slopes entrance her breath coming out in pants as she located the hidden escape passage.
The ape groaned when she climbed over large boulders and overhangs until she saw a small waterfall.
Sucking in her courage, Lake dove through the water to the expanse of the forest.
Walking in a crouched position, she concealed herself in a group of bushes that hid a medium-sized creamy brown female gorilla and a snarky human being.
Marahan was dressed in dark brown beaver pelt covering her bodice her thighs were held by a matching skintight pelt made from beaver tails.
Red paint covered her eyes, forehead, and lips.
A sewn holder was wrapped around her waist housing knives and arrows for the bow that slung sideways down her back.
Lake looked over at Lily who held five spears and at least twelve crafted knives.
Lily was excited giving Lake a look that did not regret following the princess outside the hideout.
"How did it go?" Marahan asked. The princess's keen eyes observing the surrounding area.
They were a few meters from the Ape army's fort and the last thing Marahan wanted was to be caught.
Instead of verbally speaking, she settled back into the old routine of signing.
"How do you think it went!" Lake fumed biting back the urge to show her teeth at the females.
"At least they believed you," Lily replied.
The young gorilla smiled sweetly as she sharped some of the weapons with an arrowhead.
Her body tensing and looking around in alert similar to their princess.
"Of course, they did! They wouldn't if it was Marahan, they would be able to smell the lie on her." Lake said mentally wallowing in her misdeed.
"I could have confronted Cornelia myself if you didn't want to," Marahan stated joining Lily in sharping the spears.
Lake groaned forcing her body on the ground, she sat between the gorilla and human wondering why they were so confident in what they were about to do.
"No. Because then she would figure out that you sneak out here every day to help fight in the war, which is what you should be not doing." Lake stated as if she uncovered a hidden mystery.
"It is better this way," Marahan muttered carefully taking a stick and drawing a map.
Lily and Lake watched as she doodled the area outlining the Apes's fort and showing lines where the enemy could attack.
"If I help this war will end sooner. I want to prevent as many deaths as possible."
Marahan shifted the stick pointing it at Lily.
"I know you have nightmares of Winter dying the middle of a bloody battlefield."
The princess then moved the stick to Lake.
"And you wait anxiously every day to see if your father is still strong enough to fight when we both know his extensive injuries should keep him out of this war."
The woman stood in front of their hiding place.
"You didn't have to come and help me, but you did. I ask you both to fight with me now, so this war can end without any more body counts."
Lily and Lake looked at each other. Lake was very uncertain, but she attended Marahan made some good points (she always did.).
Lily took a moment to think it over and they knew why.
Many months ago, Lily gave birth to a son named Peak. He was albino like his father with Lily's soft eyes. Her son was the light of her life and she wanted him to grow up without war looming over his head.
It was bad enough, the war turned Winter in a nervous wreck.
Her mate suffered from severe anxiety attacks from what he had seen in this war.
Adding insult to injure since Winter was also insecure about his albinism.
"I will fight with you. This war needs to end for our young. I want my Peak to live in a world without war and my mate to find peace." Lily said taking Marahan's arm in her own a gesture commonly used among the gorilla guard.
"You two are crazy!" Lake shouted.
The female ape didn't know what to do.
She looked at Marahan her heart aching at the expression of longing in the woman's eyes.
The same expression Lake saw when she was a baby, the look Lake had wanted her own sister to have.
Relenting, Lake took Marahan's other arm pinching it lightly earning a squeal from the princess.
"Don't get us killed or else you are answering to me," Lake muttered grabbing some spears and moving them from the bushes.
Lily grabbed the other weapons a smile still plastered on her face at the prospect of helping in the war and getting a chance to fight.
"I knew you were going to say that," Marahan replied assisting in their endeavors.
She drew in a silent yawn as the soles of her feet sensed heavy movement approaching, within a few minutes.
Lily and Lake felt it too, prepared for the worst.
Marahan took to the trees, Lily went behind some rock formations and Lake immersed in a tangle of forest vines.
Their weapons were handy and they felt their enemies stomping into their territory.