Lydia

Lydia was sitting in Caesar and Cornelia's hut, high up in the main tree of the village, looking out across the treetops. They had a great view from up here, their home overlooking all the village, as well as the sloping hills further down. In the far distance lay what was once the city of San Francisco, grey and gloomy-looking on this cloudy morning of late spring.

Cornelia was sleeping in the royal couple's nest, little Cornelius, as they had named him, cradled beside her. It would have been an adorable sight if the Ape Queen's breathing didn't seem so laboured.

Caesar had been worried, Lydia knew, and she could clearly see why. The birth had been tough, Tinker had told her as much, and Cornelia hadn't moved around much since. She had, however, insisted that she was just feeling a little off, and that it was nothing to worry about.

Honestly, she was as stubborn as Caesar, sometimes.

Lydia looked down at the village from her elevated vantage point. Only a handful of males had been left to guard the village, since Caesar had wanted to display a formidable force to show that the apes meant business. It left the village looking strangely empty, even with all the females and young children still wandering about.

She just hoped it would be alright. That Caesar's plan would succeed and that the humans would get the message.

Yet she did not dare getting her hopes up. She knew humans were persistent and had a strong sense of self-entitlement. If they felt they had business here, they were probably not going to listen to the apes just because they shook their spears angrily at them.

But the Ape King did possess something in his character that compelled others to listen to him. What it was, exactly, Lydia had yet to understand herself. What she did understand, however, was that that something made her feel things that she definitely should not.

It had been simmering in the back of her head for a while now. This strange feeling towards the Ape King, which Lydia had since recognised as attraction. Well, he was handsome, that couldn't be denied. He had the most intense gaze Lydia had ever been subjected to, his large, imposing stature and a rugged face which underlined his masculinity perfectly. It was not like Lydia hadn't been aware of all this from the moment she met him, honestly.

But it was on occasions like the one yesterday, when she had almost fallen on the path up to the waterhole and Caesar had pulled her against his chest, that Lydia felt these sudden spikes of attraction towards him. And yesterday hadn't been the first time. Over the course of the last three years, it had happened several times that she had found her mind straying towards Caesar.

And she felt awful for it when it happened.

Caesar was the husband of her best friend, for crying out loud! With whom he'd just had yet another son. With whom he was happily in love.

Not to mention that Lydia herself was in a happy relationship herself with Roy.

And that was what was most strange about it. She loved Roy with all her heart and she could not for the life of her imagine what she'd do if he was not with her. He was loving, attentive, wise.

And a great lover, Lydia thought with a blush, remembering a couple of nights prior, when he had come home and simply taken her right then and there, on the floor in the middle of their hut.

Really, she didn't understand why her mind and body was acting like this. She had the most wonderful partner all to herself, and yet she still felt attraction towards someone else.

Someone unattainable.

Someone forbidden.

I suppose the grass is always greener, Lydia thought with a roll of her eyes.

A quiet groan from across the room, coming from the padded nest, derailed Lydia's train of thought. It was Cornelia, waking from her sleep with a frown marring her delicate features.

Lydia was with her in an instant, a hand softly rubbing her friend's shoulder as she orientated herself after her sleep. Cornelius stirred as his mother moved about, whimpering at being woken. He was quite adorable, Lydia had to admit. She was able to see that he took after his father in terms of looks, whereas Blue Eyes had inherited his mother's finer features, though he still had his father's head-shape.

None of them could measure up to Orion's adorableness when he was younger, though.

Or maybe that's just because he's mine? Lydia thought amusedly.

Cornelia sat up with some difficulty, a whimpering Cornelius now clinging to her chest.

"How are you feeling?" Lydia asked out loud, voice low and soothing. The ape infant reached out for her with one arm when he spotted her, and Lydia reached up a hand to let him play with her fingers, keeping her eyes on Cornelia.

She huffed out a laugh and looked at the human woman as if she was asking silly questions.

"I am fine. Still a bit tired from the birth, but it will go away soon, I am sure. Don't worry, Lydia." The Ape Queen replied with elegant hand-movements.

It did nothing to calm Lydia, though she decided not to aggravate Cornelia at the moment. If she took it easy and didn't overexert herself, Lydia would play along. Though she'd still give Caesar an update on his wife's condition. It was not improving, no matter how hard Cornelia tried to convince everyone otherwise.

But if something is wrong, then what can we do? We have no means to fight it if she has an infection. Lydia thought, fighting not to betray her thoughts through her expression. She knew she was easy to read if she did not school her features carefully.

Roy had told her as much.

"If you say so. Do you want anything to eat or drink? I filled the gourd before I came up here." Lydia said kindly, holding out said gourd for Cornelia to take. She grabbed it without further ado and gulped down its contents. She looked slightly relieved when she finished, handing back the half-empty gourd to the human woman with a soft nod of thanks.

The Ape Queen looked feverish and winched every time Cornelius grabbed at her fur, indicating soreness at the barest of touches.

"Could you take him for a while?" Cornelia asked, jerking her head once towards the back of the hut, indicating she had to pee. Lydia took the infant without question, cooing at him as his mother went to relieve herself.

Cornelius seemed a lively child, even at this young age. He had a strong grip and bright green, intelligent eyes that made Lydia's heart melt. She rocked the little ape comfortingly and smiled softly when he hooted happily in response, grabbing at the braid that hung over her shoulder with eager fingers. She didn't really mind the pulling that ensued. There was something calming and cosy about holding the ape child like this. It made Lydia think back wistfully on the days when Orion himself was still just a child, soothed only by her warm embrace and calm voice.

Cornelia returned shortly after, sitting down in the nest with slight difficulty. Lydia restrained herself from commenting on it, knowing it would be useless. The Ape Queen smiled at the human woman with tired eyes as she held the precious infant, not reaching out to take him back just yet. He seemed perfectly happy being in Lydia's arms, clutching the end of her braid to his chest with his tiny hands.

"He likes you very much already." Cornelia commented.

"He has good taste in people. Like his parents." Came Lydia's playful reply and she winked at Cornelia as she continued to rock the child back and forth softly. The Ape Queen laughed light-heartedly and nodded.

An easy silence fell between the two and all that could be heard was Cornelius' happy little hoots as he brushed the tips of Lydia's braid against his face, fascinated by the tickling effect.

"How do you think it will go? In the city." Cornelia signed suddenly, her movements graceful as ever, but with a streak of worry shining though her brilliant, green eyes. "Will the humans attack? Is there any chance they will listen to my husband?"

"I hope so," Lydia replied, "but I honestly don't know. Humans can be very set in their ways and have a hard time accepting things and people who are different from themselves. They don't like being told what to do either…" She finished with a slight shake of her head.

"Like apes." Cornelia replied with a pointed look, to which Lydia could only smile.

"You speak of them… as if you are not of them yourself. As if you are… removed from them." The Ape Queen pointed out with a slight crinkle of her nose and a tilt of her head. It was a habit she had picked up from being around Lydia so much. Caesar had said it reminded him of a dog, which Lydia hadn't tried to interpret too closely.

"Well… I haven't been in the company of humans for years now. I don't live like most humans do… It just feels more natural to see them as something different nowadays, I guess." Lydia answered thoughtfully. She didn't know quite how to explain it, but she did feel removed from other humans on some strange level. While others tried desperately to cling on to life as it was before the Simian Flu broke out, creating colonies governed like miniature states, still with electricity, cars and other modern necessities, Lydia had embraced the apes' simpler lifestyle. She didn't see the point in hanging on to how life used to be, trying to act as if everything was working as normal, when in reality the things that made such a life possible, like gasoline, was running out at an alarming rate.

Humans prided themselves on adapting to their environment, and yet it seemed to Lydia that they had forgotten how to do just that.

It was wrong to say that she felt better than other humans for having left such a life behind. For having already seen that it was futile. Because she knew that she still clung to certain aspects of her old life.

She still wore clothes. She still kept pets. She still scavenged whatever useful materials she could find from what was no doubt seen as the long-gone primetime of human civilisation.

She counted herself among the apes. Had done so for years now, even if she had, on occasion, doubted her place in the colony.

This was her life. The apes were her people.

A soft grunt from Cornelia brought her out of her reverie and her blue gaze lifted to meet the sympathetic expression on the Ape Queen's face. Lydia decided to lighten the mood a bit at that.

"Anyway, it might just be that they'll listen to Caesar. After all, a talking ape on horseback holding a spear should make even the most stubborn human think twice about what he's doing."

Lydia offered a playful smirk and Cornelia's expression immediately shifted into amused exasperation, rolling her eyes at the human woman's poor attempt at humour.

Then, a commotion could be heard outside, interrupting their conversation. It was a mixture of hooting, whinnying and trampling of hooves which told Lydia and Cornelia that Caesar had returned with his troops.

Lydia noted how her friend's posture seemed to change, as if she was steeling herself, ready to put up a healthy, perky façade to show her husband that she was okay, and Lydia barely refrained from telling her to just let up already and tell Caesar the truth.

The Ape King soon entered his home, taking up the entire entrance with his imposing figure. His war paint made his stern gaze look even more intimidating and it felt like his eyes could bore right through a person, if he chose to do so.

Instead, his gaze softened as he spotted the two females, a soft smile gracing his lips when he noticed Cornelius, still in Lydia's arms, cooing happily when he spotted his father.

The spell was immediately broken, though, when Blue Eyes entered not long after his father. Upon seeing his infant brother being held by Lydia, he visibly stiffened upon his entry, only to aim an accusing look at his mother before turning his back to the scene and storming out of the hut.

Lydia felt a now familiar pang in her chest at the Prince's obvious rejection of her presence there. She had, for a long time now, noticed how Blue Eyes had distanced himself from her as he hit puberty and was very much aware of the fact that the sole reason for this behaviour was because she was human. She couldn't help but blame Koba and his posse for this development, but knew that it probably also had something to do with Blue Eyes' need to rebel against his father and the principles he stood for.

This new development concerning the humans in the city probably didn't help matters, either.

Still, she had known him since the Ape Prince was three and he had been a good friend to her adoptive son from the very beginning. So yes, this recent development hurt. More than Lydia was ready to admit.

Cornelia huffed unhappily at her son's behaviour and turned to Lydia with an apologetic gaze.

"Sorry about that. I don't know what has gotten into him lately." She signed softly.

Caesar, who had been staring with a disappointed look at the entrance to the hut where Blue Eyes had once stood, now came over to sit with the two females, caressing his wife's arm gently with his long fingers.

"How are you feeling?" He asked his queen with a gentle look in his green eyes.

She leaned forward to press her forehead against her husband's and Lydia was beginning to feel like she was intruding on a private moment. Cornelius cooed impatiently at his parents, reaching out for them with both hands.

"I am well." Cornelia replied before Lydia handed the restless infant back to his mother. "You worry too much."

Caesar clearly didn't believe her, discreetly looking to Lydia when his wife busied herself with feeding Cornelius.

All Lydia could do was shake her head in reply.


Blue Eyes

The rain was pouring down from the sky like the heavens had decided to just get an entire year's supply of water over and done with. It had started just before they had returned from their "visit" in the city, and Blue Eyes doubted it would let up anytime soon.

He didn't mind it, really. It fit his current mood perfectly.

He was sitting beside Ash in the hut his friend shared with his parents, listening to the way raindrops pounded on the roof as they signed.

"I just don't see why she should be there, Ash. Mother is unwell and Cornelius should be looked after by apes while she gets better. Not a human." The Ape Prince explained to his honorary cousin, an exasperated look on his face. "Father is sending the wrong signal by letting a human look after mother. Especially now that we met those other ones with their weapons." He added with choppy and angry movements.

Ash shook his head at his childhood friend, which only served to further the prince's annoyance. What was it that Ash just didn't understand? Had he not listened when Koba and the others had told them about the humans they had met before escaping to the forest? Did he not understand what they were capable of? How they could turn on you without warning?

"Caesar trusts Lydia. Your mother does too." Ash signed imploringly. "Lydia is not like the humans in Koba's stories, Blue Eyes. She has never done anything against apes." He said, almost as if he had read Blue Eyes' thoughts.

While he was right about Lydia never having harmed any of the apes, it still didn't sit well with Blue Eyes – the way he'd found her in the hut when he had gotten home, Cornelius cradled happily in the human woman's arms, almost like he belonged there, while his mother only sat, slouched in their nest, her beautiful features marred by poorly-hidden discomfort.

His father hadn't even mentioned it. Didn't seem surprised in the slightest at the scene.

And while Blue Eyes had recognized the look of concern Lydia had regarded Cornelia with, he still couldn't stand to look at how… at home the woman seemed to be in their hut. How she seemed to shine with life while his own mother only looked to get worse. Like she was withering.

It was like Cornelia's image was fading away slowly while Lydia's only became brighter.

But he wasn't going to tell that to Ash, fearing it would make him seem ridiculous. Deep down, he knew it wasn't Lydia's fault his mother was ill – she had been like that even before the birth of Cornelius. The woman was probably only trying to help her feel more comfortable by sharing the burden of childcare until the Ape Queen got better. At least that's what Maurice had told him when he'd voiced his concern earlier that day.

The Ape Prince fixed Ash with a hard stare, another aspect of his concern coming to light.

"Even if she isn't, we now know she's not the only human out there. And she knows it too. What if she wants to go back now? What if she betrays the apes to convince them to let her in?" He challenged. It was a conversation he'd had with Koba on the way home, as they crossed the bridge. The bonobo had argued that if Lydia wanted to re-join the humans, she'd be a liability to the colony – a spy among the apes.

Ash rolled his eyes at his friend.

"You know she doesn't want that. She has been with apes for five seasons. She is happy here, with a mate and son." Ash signed slowly, almost as if signing to one of the elders with bad eyes. "You listen too much to Koba. He never liked Lydia, you know that."

Yes… He did know that.

But much like his father, Blue Eyes was a stubborn ape.

Then, Ash added something the prince hadn't expected to hear.

"She misses you, you know. It hurts Lydia that you don't trust her anymore. That you believe what Koba says about her." His friend said solemnly. "She always helped us, Blue Eyes. She fished with us, skinned animals with us. Told us stories. But now you always walk away when she comes and it hurts her. Orion too."

The words stung inside his chest, no matter how much he tried to hide it from Ash. The truth was he had pretended not to notice and Lydia had had the curtesy not to confront the prince about this development. Both Lake and Orion had reprimanded him about it and now Ash had too. Was he being unreasonable?

Could Koba be wrong about just this one human?

But he idolized the bonobo and couldn't imagine that he'd be mistaken about something like that. He had extensive, painful experience with human cruelty and how it could catch you by surprise. Especially when it came from the ones you trusted.

And also, he gave Blue Eyes the validation that Caesar never seemed to anymore.

Suddenly, a jumble of hoots and screeches could be heard from outside the hut and both adolescents turned sharply towards the door. Were the humans attacking? No, the sounds from outside sounded agitated rather than afraid and angry, Blue Eyes concluded. They briefly looked at each other before getting up and heading out of the hut, wanting to see what the ruckus was about.

Everyone was outside, gathered at the centre of the village.

The moment he saw what was going on, Blue Eyes felt his whole posture tense as the human male, the one who had seemed to lead the others in the woods, stood before Caesar, who had appeared on a boulder in front of him. The man was drenched from the rain and had splotches of mud on his face as he was shoved to the ground by the gorilla guards, looking quite pathetic and frightened.

But he also had an air of determination about him, which only heightened Blue Eyes' suspicion of the human male.

"Please, please, please…." The man straightened from his bow, looking pleadingly up at the Ape King, out of breath and eyes wide. "Please don't kill me… Just hear what I have to say."

Caesar's stern eyes drilled into the man from his elevated position, a sour look on his face.

The man continued to speak, getting up slowly from the kneeling position he had been placed in.

"I know… don't come back, I know… Just hear what I have to say. I wouldn't be here if it- Argh!"

One of the gorillas punched the man from behind, pushing him back down into the submissive crouch, and the human cowered. He continued to speak, looking pleadingly up at Caesar.

"Okay, okay… I-I need to show you something… It's not far-"

"HUMAN LIES!" Koba yelled behind the man, riling up the apes around him, including Blue Eyes himself, who had moved up beside him, close to the intruder.

"No! No! No…!" He turned around to look at the apes surrounding him, each and every one of them hooting angrily. "I swear… If I could just show you… You'd understand."

The angry hoots were spreading all around the village and Koba held his spear threateningly above the human male. He looked up to Caesar for an order and Blue Eyes almost thought that his father would give it – hoped he would.

Then Caesar lifted his hand and all fell silent, the only sound throughout the colony being the continuous dripping of rain hitting the mud.

"Show. Me" Was all his father said, and Blue Eyes immediately felt a sense of dread course through him. He was going to listen? After the humans had clearly disobeyed his order to stay away?! How could he?!

Before he, Koba or anyone else had a chance to protest, the squelching sound of someone landing on mud could be heard, and everyone's heads jerked towards the sound. Out of the corner of his eye, the Ape Prince saw the human male's eyes had widened as confusion overtook his features.

There, standing stiffly in the back of the gathering, stood Lydia with a gaze even sterner than Caesar's glued to the kneeling man. She had jumped down from the wooden ramp in front of her home, where Roy still stood with a spear in his hand. Behind him stood Orion, eyes wide with worry, shifting back and forth between his mother and the intruding human.

All was silent throughout the colony as Lydia stepped forward through the apes slowly, the look in her eyes reminding Blue Eyes of an angry predator.

"Who… Who are you…?" The kneeling man spoke with a mixture between fright and disbelief across his face. Lydia ignored his question completely.

"What do you want to show him?" She asked instead with a sneer. Blue Eyes had never seen her face anyone in the colony with that kind of expression. It was kind of scary and he caught himself thinking that he'd rather not be unfortunate enough to receive such a look from her.

"I… There's a dam not far from here. We need it for the city. Please, please just let me show it to you! We don't mean any harm, I swear!"

Lydia seemed to ponder at this, turning over his explanation in her head. Blue Eyes wondered if she knew what the man was talking about. He sure as hell didn't.

She was still regarding him with an untrusting sneer when she replied. "How many of you are here?"

"W-We're six in total. My wife and son are down the hill in the car with three other guys. The same ones as the other day… in the forest…" Koba hissed angrily beside Blue Eyes at the mention of the incident, the shooting of Ash still fresh in the apes' collective memory. Ash himself just kept his eyes fixed on Lydia, paying close attention to everything she did and said.

At the mention of a wife and child, Lydia's eyes softened a fraction, though her shoulders were still stiff. Blue Eyes saw how both his father, Maurice and Roy were all looking at her in concern and it struck him that this was the first time Lydia was properly speaking to another human in five years. She didn't seem to like it at all and what was more, the man seemed positively terrified of her.

Terrified, but also curious.

"You… live here? With the apes?" He asked softly. She gave a curt nod.

"If you're lying to us… if this is some trap-" Lydia began to say threateningly, only to be interrupted by the man. "It's not! I swear to you! You can tell it to all of them, please, just let me show you that you can trust me!" He was growing more desperate the longer Lydia stared. Her mouth set into a thin line at the word "trust".

"I don't have to tell them anything – they are all quite capable of understanding English." She retorted sarcastically, raising a single eyebrow at the man in mock-amusement and finally letting her stern mask falter. Had the situation not been so intense and on-edge, Blue Eyes might just have snickered at the man's dumbfounded expression.

She turned to Caesar, then, nodding her head to indicate that she, too, thought the man was speaking the truth. Blue Eyes knew that his father respected the human woman's opinion, and perhaps doubly so in this instance, given that it was her own species they were dealing with.

"I can go with you. Look out for any signs of trouble from them." She signed seriously. Blue Eyes could see that she didn't seem to enjoy the prospect, her face looking almost like she had offered to go out to hunt during a thunderstorm.

The man looked utterly confused as the Ape King began to sign back, his customary frown deepening.

"You don't have to expose yourself further, if you think we can trust his word." Caesar told her. Expose herself? The Ape Prince thought, baffled. Well, she hadn't been with them in the city, but Blue Eyes had only thought it was because she was considered to be one of the females. Had the reason really been because she wanted to stay hidden? Caesar hadn't mentioned anything about it at all to him.

Lydia shook her head as she replied.

"It's too late for that. He has seen me and he's going to tell the others about it, no doubt. Besides, he said that the same people from the forest are going to be there. That includes the man who shot Ash." Her brows furrowed at the last part as she sent a quick look towards her son's older friend. "If that's the case, I want to be there and keep an eye on him. Just because this man is being sincere doesn't mean the others will be too."

There was a murmur of grunts and subdued hoots as she spoke, many of the apes around the scene agreeing with her assessment. Blue Eyes thought, reluctantly, that she made a very good point. Lydia would probably be better than any other in the colony to spot any odd behaviour from the intruding humans and be able to alert the apes, should something be amiss.

That is, if she chose to do so.

"And you?" Caesar inquired with a raised brow. "Will you be okay with this arrangement?"

She smiled slightly, looking tired as she answered.

"No. But I'll be happy once things are back to normal." Came her cryptic reply. Caesar seemed satisfied with her answer and turned back to the human male, still kneeling in the mud.

"We. Go. Now" Came his deep, gravelly voice, commanding and full of authority as always.

Lydia turned on her heel and started walking back towards her hut, probably to gather her weapons, if Blue Eyes knew her well. Her steps were long and decisive, the damp braid swaying across her back as she walked.

"Wait!" The human intruder said loudly, his voice almost bordering on a shout towards Lydia's retreating form. She stopped dead in her tracks but only turned her head a fraction to indicate that she was listening.

"Wha- what's your name?" The man asked her curiously, his eyes studying her openly, scrutinizing her every detail.

She turned halfway back around to look at him, tilting her head to the side like one of her dogs. In the past, that move would have never failed to make Blue Eyes smile, but right now, he was too focused on the exchange to do so.

"Lydia." She answered simply. "Just Lydia."

"Lydia… right…" The intruder nodded. "Nice to meet you. I'm Malcolm." She only nodded before she continued to walk towards her hut. When she had climbed back on top of the ramp and into Roy's arms, Malcolm's eyes widened slightly. A grunt from on top of the boulder he was kneeling in front of pulled his gaze back to the Ape King, who jumped down to stand in front of the baffled human.

Blue Eyes' father put a hand on his own chest while looking intently into the man's eyes

"Caesar." He said, presenting himself.

There was a brief pause in which Blue Eyes became aware that the rain had finally stopped, the sound of drops hitting the ground no longer filling the silence around the gathering. Beside him Koba bristled and stared menacingly into the back of the human's head.

"Caesar." The Malcolm repeated, stunned.