Maurice
"NO!" Koba's voice sounded throughout Caesar's home as he got up in protest.
It was early morning in the Ape Colony, but the council members were all gathered in the impressive hut of their king, some alert, some agitated.
And then there was Koba, who was furious. He began signing frantically.
"Caesar cannot be serious! Human has no place here! Ape village is for APES!"
There were a few who nodded in agreement, though in a more subdued manner. Caesar fixed the scarred bonobo with a stern look that left no room for arguing and Koba immediately sat down again. He was fiercely loyal to Caesar. He had, after all, freed him from the pain and suffering of the lab he was being held at back when the apes rebelled. He would accept his leader's final decision in any case.
But that didn't mean he had to be happy with it, that much was clear to Maurice.
"She has proven herself. She cared for apes, rescued them when she did not have to. She could have left them to be killed, but she did not. Instead she risked her life to bring them here." Maurice signed calmly. It wouldn't do to further agitate Koba by making harsh gestures. "She is worthy of apes." The old orangutan concluded.
Maurice had been pleased to discover that Caesar had reconsidered bringing the human into the colony to live with them. He truly believed it had been a mistake for her to leave, especially considering how little Orion was dealing with her absence.
He would not leave his adoptive father's side for even a second, perhaps fearing that he, too, would disappear as soon as he let go of his fur. No one else could get near him without him screeching as if burned, not even the other ape children.
What was more, he had stopped eating altogether.
Maurice made sure to mention that this morning and the information seemed to further worry the other members of the council, noticeably Cornelia, whose face had scrunched up in obvious concern.
Not like Roy is doing much better, Maurice thought. Unlike his adoptive son, the big male was still eating, though he was obviously distressed at the way his family had been split up so suddenly. Maurice had noticed how he kept gazing towards the forest whenever he left the hut and his overall demeanour was one of depression. He talked with Maurice whenever the orangutan was home, thanking him for his hospitality and commenting on things he saw around the village, but his heart and mind was elsewhere, Maurice could tell.
"How do we know she has not gone to find humans? How do we know it was not just an act? A lie?" Koba persisted.
Caesar seemed to ponder this, as other members of the council backed Koba's statement. What kind of creature, be it human or ape, wouldn't want to seek out their own kind? It was a suspicious aspect of this whole affair.
"If we find her, we can follow her for a time, see what she does, where she goes," Caesar signed with finality, but quickly added, as an afterthought, "then, if she is not seeking out humans, we will talk with her, listen to her reason. I want to know this."
There was a low murmur among the council as their leader got up to prepare for the search. It was decided that he, Cornelia, Maurice, Koba, Rocket and Luca would go, while the elders of the council would stay and keep the peace as they searched.
At first, the council had objected to Cornelia joining the search. She was the Queen of the apes and a peacekeeper in the village. Furthermore, it would be the first time Blue Eyes would be without his mother for a longer stretch of time. Who knew how long it would take to find this human, if they could even find her at all?
Caesar hadn't even bothered to argue with her, though. Cornelia had already made the arrangements with Tinker, Rocket's wife, to take care of their son while his parents were absent.
Their queen could be just as stubborn as their king, Maurice mused. Especially when it was a matter that pulled at her heart, as this clearly did.
Koba was obviously disgruntled at the prospect of having to go out and try to find this woman to invite her back to the village. Maurice understood his reasons but couldn't help but feel that the bonobo's hatred was completely misplaced.
The love for the apes that Maurice had witnessed the day she left was real enough. It was almost tangible, even.
That day, it was not a human who had left her pets behind, as Maurice had often witnessed at San Bruno where he had met Caesar all those years ago. It was a mother who had reluctantly left her child in the care of strangers and, Maurice mused, maybe it was even a female who had left her beloved mate behind, if the looks Roy had been giving her was anything to go by.
It was clear they held an affection towards one another in any event. Maurice wouldn't pry, though, as strange and taboo as it was. He hoped none of the other apes would either. It wasn't really their business.
All that mattered was what she had done for apes. She had showed them kindness, and they had made her leave as a reward.
Maurice bristled slightly at the thought as the council dispersed.
They would have to show her they were better than that. That her trust in apes wasn't misplaced.
If the apes couldn't open their hearts to one human who had proven herself in such a way, how did they differ from what they'd rebelled against?
Maurice made his way to his hut as these thoughts flooded his mind, then hummed deep in his throat as another, more pleasant one presented itself: He'd be able to tell Roy that they were going to get her back.
Now Maurice just hoped that they would actually be able to find Lydia. He looked at the huge redwood trees with a slight frown.
It was a very big forest…
Lydia
It was three days since Lydia had left Orion and Roy behind with the colony and since then, her trek through the forest had been more or less aimless. She knew she was going in a somewhat northern to north-western direction, but that was about it. She doubted she would be able to retrace her steps and find the Ape Colony again, even if she tried.
That's probably for the best, she thought sadly.
The image of Orion's watery eyes and the sound of his distressed cries would not leave her mind, no matter how hard she tried to rid herself of the memory.
The dogs seemed to be looking for the apes as they followed her between the giant trees. Blaze would stop every now and then and sniff the air, sometimes looking back the way they had come from and start whining. Storm stayed close to Lydia at all times, licking her fingers occasionally. She usually never did that and Lydia couldn't help but think the dog was aware of her distress and was trying to comfort her. They were smart creatures, dogs.
She was glad that she at least had them with her, so she wouldn't be traveling completely alone. She would probably not be able to sleep at night without the dogs anyway. They had proved good watchdogs more than once during their cross-country journey, waking the group with vicious growls whenever they had sensed danger. Sometimes it had been a bear, sometimes an approaching car or gunfire – Lydia had taught them that particular trick, since she really didn't want to encounter other humans. It was just safer that way.
Almost as if the mere stray thought of other humans had conjured it, a road came into view between the giant redwood trees ahead and Lydia was pulled out of her stupor. She slowed down her steps considerably as she approached, then came to a full stop just before her feet met the cracked asphalt. She crouched down and looked left and right down the road before stepping out onto it when she didn't spot any other beings nearby.
Lydia noticed a few cars along the stretch of road and tensed at first at the sight. All stood still and many had their doors and trunks opened. She relaxed as she deduced that they were all abandoned.
One of the vehicles closest to her was an old pick-up truck a bit further down the road, parked hazardously across one of the lanes. It was rusted and as Lydia got nearer, she noticed that the windows had been broken and all the tyres were flat. She decided that she better take the opportunity to investigate the vehicle and check for anything she could scavenge. It had become a habit now to look for useful stuff whenever the chance came along and Lydia could certainly use a few things. Something to patch up her pants, for example.
No such luck, however. She went through the truck meticulously, but only managed to find a really old-looking pack of cigarettes, some broken sunglasses and a whole lot of filth from the surrounding forest. It wasn't even worth cutting patches of the fabric that made up the interior of the truck – it had clearly been in a bad condition even before it had been abandoned.
With a heavy sigh of resignation, Lydia rounded the truck to sit gracelessly on the end of the flatbed, resting her legs after having walked for the better part of a day already. She realised that her pace had increased now that she wasn't adjusting her long-legged steps to Roy's slower gait and her legs were just starting to get used to the increased speed.
She leaned forward to rest her arms on her knees and sighed once again. She looked as hopeless as she felt.
What good is a faster pace when I don't even know where I'm going anymore? Lydia thought as she looked down at her hands.
Blaze, who had been sniffing around the truck while Lydia searched it, chose that moment to come up in front of her, putting his rather large front paws on either side of her and resting his head in her outstretched palms. He began to whine again as he averted his brown gaze from her eyes, looking anxiously towards the forest from which they had come.
"I know, boy, I know, but we can't go back." She soothed the large canine while scratching him absentmindedly behind his ear. "They are where they need to be... it's best this way…" It sounded hollow, even to her own ears. Blaze didn't seem to judge her, though. He just nuzzled further into the hand that was petting him. His fur was a striking light grey, slightly darker at the tips of the hairs on his back, and extremely soft to the touch, despite their life on the road. Storm, on the other hand, had dark fur the colour of stormy clouds right before thunder breaks loose, and so Lydia had given her a fitting name.
"But I miss them too, boy," she spoke sadly.
Suddenly, Storm, who had laid down by the back of the truck, tensed up and started to growl menacingly in the direction the truck was facing. Blaze soon followed suit as he put his paws back onto the road. That's when Lydia heard it, the distinct sound of a running engine getting closer.
A car was coming their way.
"Shit!" Lydia cursed as she quickly jumped down from the flatbed and hurried towards the forest, the dogs hot at her heels. She threw herself into the nearest dense undergrowth she could find and observed the road from behind the vegetation intensely.
The car, a dirty jeep, she noted, passed her hiding spot at high speed, swerving between the abandoned vehicles scattered along the road. So, she hadn't been seen, of that she was sure. Otherwise, they would have stopped or at the very least slowed down. A lone woman in the middle of nowhere was always worth investigating, no matter if your intentions were good or bad.
Lydia didn't want to take that chance either way.
She released a breath she hadn't known she was holding as she rose from the ground and dusted herself off. They had to move on, she concluded. Staying near the road was not ideal.
Turning her back on the road, she faced the forest once more, steeling herself, and started her aimless journey anew, seemingly unaware of the eyes following her every move, far up in the trees.
