Maurice

The supplies had been packed in Lydia's backpack, together with her personal belongings after Maurice had finished going through them. She carried many strange things with her, the old orangutan noted. A book or two, filled with maps that seemed vaguely familiar to Maurice, a pencil and a notebook, a swiss army knife, a hairbrush, an extra set of clothes and other human necessities.

Two things had caught Maurice's eye as he had searched through her things. One had been a rather crudely made cloak from what appeared to be a pelt from a bear. He had never seen a human wear such a thing before, and reasoned that she must have made it herself, though he had no idea how she'd gotten her hands on the pelt of such a dangerous animal. Even experienced hunters among the apes were wary of these ferocious beasts.

The other item had been a framed picture showing six humans standing close to each other and smiling at the viewer. He recognised one of them to be a younger Lydia, and assumed that the rest of the people must be her family, which consisted of her father, mother, Lydia herself and what Maurice thought must be three siblings. A sister, who looked older than Lydia, and two brothers, one looking to be a year or two younger than Lydia, if Maurice was to guess, and one looking to be even younger still.

He guessed they must all be dead, since she had said she didn't have anyone left besides the apes that she had arrived with.

Her weapons had been simple. A bow and a quiver full of arrows. Some were clearly professionally made, while others looked to have been made while the group had been on the road. A lot of care had been put into these arrows, though. Maurice guessed the weapon had been their main tool for getting meat while traveling. She also had a rather large dagger, which had been strapped to her thigh for easy access when she had met the apes in the forest.

All in all, Maurice hadn't learned much from going through her stuff, other than the fact that she at least used to have a human family, and that she was probably a skilled hunter, if her weapons and the cloak was anything to go by.

He watched as Caesar handed the human her backpack and her weapons, which she slung onto her person before giving the Ape King a nod of thanks. She was getting ready to leave.

Lydia then walked down from the Law-Stone where Caesar stood, and approached Roy with a sad expression on her face. Orion was standing on the ground next to the large male chimp, having previously been pried from Lydia's chest with much effort. He seemed anxious and continued to sign to Lydia.

"Why sad?" He kept asking.

Maurice had a hard time sitting idly by and watch as this unlikely, but clearly tightly-knit group was torn apart.

He could tell it didn't sit well with Cornelia either. The Ape Queen was holding on to Blue Eyes' hand and anxiously rubbing her thumb over his small fingers. She looked at the scene before her with saddened eyes.

The human and the big chimp embraced each other tightly and she buried her face in the hairs on his shoulder. She almost disappeared in his long arms, but she fell right into them like she belonged there. When she let go, Roy grabbed the back of her neck and pressed her forehead to his own while exhaling harshly through his nostrils. When he let go, she reached forward and grabbed the necklace he was wearing.

"Remember what I told you, Roy. We are a family. Nothing else matters." She smiled lightly at him. Then her mouth twisted in a sad frown as tears started to gather in her blue eyes.

She willed them away before they could fall, though.

"I'm going to miss you…"

He merely nodded and reached out to give a single, gentle tug on a loose strand of her hair before he let his arm drop back to his side. He looked so defeated that Maurice felt an urge to roar some sense into Caesar, yet he knew that the Ape King found this to be just as difficult, even if it didn't show on his face, which was still set into its customary hard frown.

Lydia stepped back from Roy and bent down to Orion's level. The little chimp looked up at his surrogate mother with big, watery eyes. He was picking up on what was about to happen, Maurice could see that.

The human's voice cracked slightly as she spoke to the ape child she had spent so long protecting and nurturing.

"Be good now, Orion, and do what Roy tells you…"

She gently brushed her fingers against the little ape's cheek. His eyes, green as the rest of the evolved apes', were widened at the realisation of what was about to happen.

"Don't forget me, okay? You're my son, no matter where I go from here and don't ever let anyone tell you any different." Her voice quivered when she called him her son, and from that point on, she had barely managed to finish the rest of her sentence.

He began whimpering and shake his head slightly, grabbing her hand for comfort.

It was all quiet in the Ape Colony as the human and the little ape touched foreheads. She closed her eyes and took a shaky breath before moving back to stand up.

Orion attempted to follow and reach for her, before Roy took his hand to stop him. The eyes of the ape child were still fixed on his mother, even as he was being held back.

Lydia stood up straight again, sighing deeply, and nodded meaningfully to Roy. She then turned her gaze towards Caesar and gave a curt nod, which the Ape King returned, before she turned around and began walking resolutely toward the gates leading out of the Ape Colony, her steps heavy but determined.

"Blaze, come on. Storm, to me." Came her strained voice as she clapped her thigh with her hand to signal for the shaggy beasts to follow.

The dogs got up from lying on the ground near Roy, and began to trudge after the human woman.

Orion went from whimpering to crying loudly out for her.

She didn't stop. Didn't look over her shoulder. Just continued walking stiffly towards the gate.

Then, she was gone and the only sound that could be heard throughout the colony were the miserable cries of a young ape.


Caesar

To say that Caesar felt like the most horrible being to ever walk on two legs right now would be a grave understatement. The heartfelt farewell between the human woman and her ape companions had been difficult to watch. Even more so knowing that he was mostly responsible for the tragic situation.

Yes, the woman had elected to leave by her own choice, but Caesar had ultimately done nothing to at least try and convince his colony that it didn't have to be that way.

Who was he, really, if he couldn't accept someone into his colony who had been so outstandingly kind towards his species? Who was he if he, as a king and leader, couldn't make his people realise that this human was an obvious exception to the cruelty they had come to associate with her kind?

It was grinding at his conscience to the point that he had growled out loud while sitting in his home far up in his tree, looking out over the colony in deep thought. It was late in the evening the day after Lydia had left and Orion hadn't stopped crying since then. Also, he would let none of the apes come near him except Roy, who the child had clung to ever since his surrogate mother disappeared out the gate of the village.

It was heart-breaking.

The sound of Caesar's growl startled Cornelia, who had been readying their nest for the night behind him. She went to her husband's side and sat down gracefully beside him, laying her head on his shoulder.

She knew perfectly well why he was upset.

"Should. Have. Let her. Stay." His voice was deep, though hoarse from disuse. "Should. Have tried. Harder…"

His wife laid a reassuring hand on his arm and he looked down at her with a soft gaze he reserved for her and her alone. She began to sign.

"You did what you thought was best for the village. For apes," she hesitated for a second before continuing, "but this human… she was not cruel, Caesar. She took care of an ape child in need. He would be dead without her." Cornelia reasoned.

She turned her head to look back into their hut, where Blue Eyes had plopped gracelessly down into their nest while his parents talked and was resting peacefully. Caesar followed her gaze.

Then his wife did something he had never witnessed her do before. She spoke.

"Could. Have. Been. Blue Eyes…"

Her voice was low and strained, but still had a light, feminine quality to it.

Caesar nodded while still looking at his sleeping son. Yes, he thought, it could just as well have been Blue Eyes. The mere thought cut deep into the Ape King's heart.

What would he have wanted if, hypothetically, the whole colony had been captured by humans and put back into their cages, only to be killed when they ceased to be of use to their captors or simply became too difficult to handle, Cornelia and himself included? If his son had somehow survived such a thing by the grace of one kind-hearted human, and if he had grown to love this human as Orion clearly loved Lydia, would Caesar not want his son to remain with such a person, then?

What right did he have to separate a child from its mother, even if said mother was a human?

He was a terrible hypocrite, he realised. He had been brought up by humans himself, after all. He had felt the love and kindness they were capable of and here he was, purposefully robbing another ape of this experience.

It just wouldn't do.

He turned to look at his wife again, this time with a resolute expression on his face.

"Tomorrow we gather the council again." He signed to her. Her eyes lit up slightly at the statement and she nodded before going into the hut to join their son in the nest.

Caesar stayed where he was for some time still. His gaze travelled down to Maurice's home, where Roy and Orion were staying until they could get a hut of their own. The Ape King knew Maurice probably wouldn't mind having the human stay with him as well, seeing as he was one of the members in the council who had argued in her favour.

His brow furrowed in thought. It would still take quite some convincing to let her stay, even with the support and good points his wife provided him.

Then Caesar's eyes travelled to the gates to the Ape Colony, the dark forest looming all around them. He wondered if they would be able to find her again. She'd probably travel faster alone and the forest was dense, even as autumn was approaching.

He scratched the birthmark on his chest absentmindedly before he got up and went to the nest to join his wife and son. He would need all the rest he could get.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day.