"Why don't you come meet my clan? Then I'll catch you up on everything."
Tombie had proposed the plan several minutes ago. Several minutes later, and they're walking through the foreign land with the rain getting steadily heavier with each passing minute.
"We're almost there," Tombie assures, not breaking his stride to look back at his guests
Imba lets out an annoyed groan when another few droplets land on her feathers. Eagles already don't have a liking towards the water, but Imba especially despises rain. She understands its good for the environment and all, but the feeling of water droplets sliding between her feathers always makes her uneasy. Deciding she no longer wants to exert her energy and fly, Imba perches on Dalia's shoulders, balancing on the jerky movements of the lioness' shoulder blades.
Dalia doesn't break her stride, but looks up to the eagle and flashes her a questioning glance. "Sorry," Imba starts, positioning her feet so they don't pierce the lioness, "I'm not a big fan of rain."
"I'm not the biggest fan of water either," says Dalia.
Imba tilts her head. Aside from the occasional annoyed flick of the ear, Dalia seems relatively comfortable walking through the rain. "Really?" Imba questions, puzzled, "You seem okay now."
The lioness quickly shakes her head. "I mean large bodies of water." She hops over a mud puddle, making Imba bounce as well. "Lakes." Hops over another puddle. "Rivers." Imba shakes out her feathers, spraying Dalia even more with the rainwater. "Creeks." Floods, she adds silently with a shiver.
Tombie turns around and gives her a glance that almost seems like he's trying to remember something. Dalia supposes he doesn't remember the incident, and she's not too keen on reminding him.
"Ahhh, now I remember," Tombie says over his shoulder after a minute. He turns his head back to look back at the girls, "I don't know how I could've forgotten. You were kinda iffy about water after—"
Dalia freezes in her step, sending Imba lurching forward. She flashes Tombie a harsh glare, and he has the good sense to stop speaking. Thankfully, Imba was too preoccupied with shaking the rain out of her feathers to notice Tombie's misstep. Tombie mouths a 'sorry' to Dalia, to which she scowls, showing her disapproval before continuing to follow the hyena to his home. Finally, after a few more minutes of walking in the rain, the trio round another corner, and Tombie ushers them into a cavern.
He takes a step back and allows the girls to observe. "This is my home." Dalia looks around the cavern, ominously lit with hotspots around the cavern. The hotspots cast a strange green-blue hue to the cavern. Upon closer inspection, she realizes there are also several connected tunnels within the caverns. Between the secret tunnels and hotspots, this cavern seems like any kid's wonderland.
Tombie notices Dalia looking at the tunnels. "Don't worry, they're kid-safe. All the tunnels lead back to the start, so they can't get lost."
"I'm sure they wouldn't get lost on your watch anyways," she replies teasingly. Tombie always looked out for her growing up, like a big brother. He has gotten her out of the messes she inevitably gets herself into and has helped her get through some of the adversaries in life.
"Cool place you've got here," Imba remarks, shaking out the remaining water from her feathers. Stretching out of her feathers, she flies in a small circle around the cavern before perching against a rock. "It's a lot bigger than it looks from the outside."
Tombie gives Imba an appreciative smile. "This is where we stay during the rain," Tombie continues, gesturing around the cavern, "My clan should be in here." He takes a step forward, glancing around the cavern. "Madoa?" His echo bounces around the rocks but nobody replies. "Jasiri?" Again, no response. "Kids?"
Dalia furrows her brow and Imba exchanges an uneasy glance with the lioness.
Tombie bites the inside of his cheek lightly. "They should be here..."
Before any of them could worry too much, Dalia's ears pick up the sound of a few sets of pattering paw steps behind them. Tombie must've heard it too because he spins around on his heel at the same time Dalia does. The first hyena to enter the cavern is a grey-purple female with a beige underbelly. Dull purple spots are splashed onto her back, along with three small spots between her eyes. Deep brown eyes scan the room, the eyebrows which rest above them quickly furrowing at the sight of the two guests.
"Madoa!" Tombie greets, walking up to the female hyena for a quick nuzzle.
She returns it but keeps her eyes trained on the lioness and eagle in her home. "Tombie? Who—"
Before Madoa could finish her question, another female hyena, followed by two small pups, enters the cavern. At first glance, the new hyena looks almost identical to Madoa. Upon closer inspection, Dalia notices that the new hyena doesn't have the three distinctive spots in between her eyes like Madoa, instead bearing darker spots on either side of her eyes. Speaking of her eyes, unlike Madoa's deep brown eyes, the new hyena's eyes are a dark blue.
The hyena tilts her head in confusion at the sight of their guests. She knows they aren't a threat — Tombie wouldn't allow threats into their territory — but she's not too keen on strangers being in her home without her knowing.
The pups are less polite about their inquiries. One pup, the male one, points a paw towards Imba. The other points a paw to Dalia. Almost as if rehearsed, both pups blurt, "Who's that?"
Tombie grins before pointing to Dalia with his paw. "This is Dalia, one of my friends from my home." He then points to Imba, who good-naturedly waves at the pups. "And this is her friend, Imba. I wanted you guys to meet them!"
Madoa's eyes immediately light with recognition at the mention of Dalia's name. "Yes, I remember that name! Tombie's mentioned you briefly." Dalia simply politely smiles and nods, unsure of what to says. She wonders what Tombie has said about her.
"I doubt Tombie's mentioned me," Imba remarks wryly, "But I'm one of Dalia's friends."
Jasiri gives a warm smile to both girls. "Well, any friend of Tombie's is a friend of ours," she says before backtracking. "Well... I guess you're the friend of a friend of Tombie's."
Madoa gives a small chuckle. "Regardless, both of you are welcome to wait out the storm with us." She looks to the pups, raising an expecting eyebrow. When the twins don't respond, her expression quickly morphs to stern once. "Wema." Madoa glances at the female pup before glancing at the male pup. "Tunu."
"Say 'hello' to our guests," Jasiri adds.
The pups make eye-contact very briefly. "Hi, Dalia and Imba," they greet at the same time shyly, quickly averting their gaze and looking up to Jasiri. "Can we go to the tunnels now?"
Jasiri gives the twins a nod of approval and they quickly scamper off. "Don't worry," she explains to Imba and Dalia, "All tunnels lead—"
"—lead back to the beginning?" Dalia finishes, quirking an eyebrow.
Laughter bounces off the cavern, echoing through the Outlands.
"Oh, yeah," Tombie continues with a laugh, responding to Imba's question concerning Dalia's many nicknames, "I had a lot of nicknames for Dalia back home. There was Lia, Dalia the Destroyer, and Dally. Then there was Dal and Deedee and—"
"Oh, I hated 'Deedee'," Dalia groans, rolling her eyes. Of course, this only made Tombie laugh more.
Tombie had made so many nicknames for her, she couldn't remember it all if she had tried. She remembers being annoyed with the nicknames when she was younger. Now, she can only laugh at the memories the pair made. Oh, it felt good to laugh with the hyena with the red-tinted fur again.
"How did that name end up coming about anyway?" Imba questions, "Dalia the Destroyer, I mean. I imagine there must be a compelling reason for that kind of name."
Tombie shrugs. "There really wasn't a reason," he answers truthfully, "I think that day we had an argument which escalated into a name-calling battle."
"And thus the name was born," the lioness finishes with a shake of the head. A brief silence ensues, and Dalia looks to Tombie then to Madoa. Since meeting the clan, she's wondered how Tombie met them in the first place. "So, Tombie, how did you meet Madoa and Jasiri?"
Tombie laughs, the warm sound ringing through the cavern. He tilts his head back as he tries to remember. "It's a long story," he admits.
"We've got time," Imba points out, pointing to the rain still pattering outside.
This time, Madoa laughs. "That we do," she agrees with a nod. She looks to the ceiling of the cavern. "Where to begin?" she asks herself in a soft tone, furrowing her brows in concentration as she tries to remember the series of events.
Jasiri snickers. "How about we start at the beginning?"
Author's Note:
Hey, ya'll! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
If you have any suggestions/feedback/criticism, feel free to leave it in the reviews.
~Maddie
