Lydia

"Dammit!" Came Malcolm's frustrated outburst for the umpteenth time that morning. "It's a lot harder than you make it look, Lydia…"

The dark-haired woman shrugged at this, pushing herself off the tree she had been leaning against while observing the human male. It was quite amusing to watch him struggle, but Lydia figured that she would have to provide some extra help if she wanted him to at least grasp the basics of what she was trying to teach him before the family would have to leave.

Archery took a long time to master – Lydia could attest to that herself.

"Your stance is way too tense. Also, you need to stand squarely, with your feet parallel to the target – that's easier in the beginning." She instructed as patiently as she could, walking over to stand behind the man and grabbing him by the arms in an attempt to show him what she meant.

"How can I stand squarely and not be tense?!" Malcolm moaned confusedly but did not resist when Lydia began to manhandle him into the correct stance.

"By positioning your feet parallel to each other and not tense up every muscle in your entire body, maybe?" Lydia sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose once she let go of her 'student'.

Orion, Blue Eyes, Lake and Alex could all be heard snickering together in the background, while most of the adults managed to keep quiet. It was quite a spectacle for many of the colony's apes to witness – Lydia teaching other humans about a human hunting method.

She noticed Maurice and Caesar exchanging smirks from time to time, while Rocket mostly succeeded in keeping a straight face when her eyes caught his own.

She adjusted Malcolm's left arm to be at the same level as his shoulder, ignoring the spectators to instead focus all her attention on the would-be-marksman in front of her. She was not going to let them loose on their journey to find a new home without at least teaching them how to fend for themselves!

She, of all people, knew what kind of a struggle that was.

"You're not supposed to use your arms when drawing the bowstring, that's why it hurts. Use your back muscles instead." She instructed, tapping the area through the thick pullover he wore. "Let the bow work for you, not against you. Pull your shoulder blades together behind you."

Malcolm did as he was told, much to Lydia's relief, and relaxed as he pulled the bowstring back.

"How far?" He spoke halfway through the movement, his hesitance making him struggle to keep up the stance.

"I usually pull it back until the string touches the tip of my nose – that way, I know I'm not overdrawing." She reached up to pull his elbow further backwards, her other hand spread across the middle of his back to make sure the muscles there, and not his arm, were doing the job.

"Now, the trick to aiming is not to try too hard, alright?"

"Say what now?" Malcolm asked, almost sounding startled at her words.

"Try not to try." She answered simply, though she couldn't quite hold back the smirk in her voice.

"What's the point in that? I'm supposed to actually hit the target, aren't I?" The man sighed dumbfoundedly, loosening the string and lowering the bow as he turned his confused eyes in her direction.

"Yes and no." Lydia answered cryptically. She could literally feel the confused stares from not only Malcolm, but Ellie, Alex, Caesar, Rocket… hell, all of the present onlookers seemed to be staring at her as if she was raving mad. Even Orion, which she would probably have found amusing if she hadn't been so focused on making Malcolm understand the meaning behind her words.

"Listen… Think of aiming a bow as… as… Trying to get a woman's attention, for example? The harder you try, the more difficult it becomes, right?" She came up with it quite out of nowhere, having nothing better to compare it to.

Lydia heard several quite audible snorts of barely-suppressed laughter coming from the group of onlookers her little lesson had attracted. Ellie giggled outright at the metaphor, and when Lydia turned around with a raised eyebrow, she noticed Caesar wearing a soft grin on his lips as Cornelia nudged him gently in the ribs with her elbow, eyeing the Ape King in mock-exasperation.

She turned back to the task at hand with a smile gracing her lips. The royal ape couple had been some of the first to come over to see how far Lydia had gotten with teaching the human trio about hunting and fighting. She had already instructed them in some basic jiu-jitsu moves, just in case they would run into trouble with other humans on their way and would need to get physical to escape. It was all rudimentary, of course, as Lydia hadn't practiced with anyone for years now – but it was still better than nothing. Besides, Alex had seemed very keen on learning it and had turned out to be a pleasure to teach – quick to understand instructions and eager to execute them properly.

Not that Malcolm was any different, in all honesty. Lydia just couldn't help the impulse to tease him and be less thorough with her instruction of him. It was just too amusing sometimes.

Nodding with a slight grin on his face, Malcolm restrung the bow as he had been told to do and aimed at the target – a crudely made one, painted at the side of a huge redwood tree with some of the apes' white war paint marking the rings.

"Now… Keep steady… And release. Don't overthink it." Lydia spoke gently, noticing how Malcolm exhaled through his nose just before he let go of the string with his fingers.

The arrow flew swiftly through the air – much more so than any of Malcolm's previous attempts – and hit the target's outer ring.

"That's it, Malcolm!" Lydia praised, patting the man proudly on the back as he lowered the bow to his side, looking amazed by the fact that the arrow didn't miss the tree entirely this time.

"Great job, Dad!" Alex hollered excitedly, a bright smile on his face. It was clear he was proud of his father's progress.

As he should be, Lydia thought, it took me weeks to learn how to even draw the bowstring properly, not to mention actually hit anything.

Malcolm smiled broadly at Lydia, his eyes twinkling in the light of early afternoon as Ellie came over to peck him on his cheek. She seemed just as impressed with him as Alex was and looked up at him in open affection.

Lydia refused to think about how Roy used to look at her like that too.

"You know, you'd make a good teacher." He spoke sincerely, stepping away from Ellie to once again knock an arrow and, applying the methods Lydia had just taught him, hit the target once again, this time on the other side of the outer ring – but it was a hit all the same.

"Provided the subject has my interest, then I suppose that's true." Lydia replied, nodding approvingly at the shot, arms crossed under her breasts as she observed.

The repeated action made the apes present for the lesson hoot along with the cheering humans, acknowledging the show of increased skill. It seemed to encourage him to do it a third time and he hit the tree once again – this time outside the painted target rings.

"Practice makes perfect, Malcolm. And you did extremely well for your first day with a bow. This stuff took me ages to learn on my own." Lydia praised as she walked over to pull the arrows out of the tree's rough bark. They were quite deeply embedded for being first-try-shots, which pleased Lydia further – it was good to see her work pay off with such palpable results.

In a way, it was a whole new experience for her to have to put something she had been doing for years now into words so that others could understand it. Back when she had first begun practicing with the bow, it had been a long and lonely learning process mostly conducted in silence. Trial and error and only herself to consult when a mistake was made. It had been a painstaking process which had more often than not left her with an empty stomach at the end of the day in those first few months.

Thinking about it now, she remembered she had looked terribly malnourished by the time she had stumbled upon the military facility which had kept Roy and Orion captive. She had basically been living off whatever canned food she could find back then and only ever hit something with her bow about once or twice a week.

How many successful hunts have I had since then? She wondered quietly as she walked back to Malcolm with the arrows now in hand. It seemed like a lifetime had gone by when in reality it was just about seven years ago. This thought startled her slightly, and as she counted the years and months in the back of her mind, Lydia reached the conclusion that she must be about to reach her 25th birthday by now. Goodness, had it been that long?

Out of the corner of her eye, Lydia spotted something which immediately pulled her from her musings and she only managed to listen to about half of what Malcolm said in reply to her words as she discreetly turned her head to get a better look.

Orion, who was sitting beside Alex on an old log not far from the makeshift shooting range, was following a certain someone very intently with his keen, verdant gaze – and it wasn't his mother or one of his old playmates like usual.

It was Ivy.

A subtle smile appeared on Lydia's face at what she was seeing.

Ivy was a young female chimpanzee who sported a soft-looking, silvery fur that covered her rather dainty build. She was smaller than most females her age, which was about a year younger than Orion himself, and three years younger than Blue Eyes and Lake. That didn't make her any less fierce, though.

Due to the fact that most of her friends were older and larger than her, Ivy had had to toughen up mighty quick and had, as a result, developed a very independent and steadfast personality – she was practically immune to peer-pressure of any and all forms.

A trait Orion could have benefitted from on more than one occasion, Lydia thought, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

When they had first arrived at the Ape Colony, Orion had quickly found playmates in Blue Eyes, Ash and Lake, while Ivy had been an infant and too young to play with at the time. As they had gotten older, the boys had begun to separate from their female counterparts, leaving Lake to find her own fun with the other female ape children. By that time, Ivy had been old enough to play too, and the two had become inseparable from that point on.

In fact, she had arrived with Lake not long after Orion and Blue Eyes had sat down with Alex, twining a rope together as she observed Lydia's lesson with her peers – ever the practical one.

"- I mean, how long do you think it would take before… Lydia? Hey! Are you even listening?"

Oops, caught in the act. Real smart, Lydia, she thought, turning her full attention back to Malcolm and Ellie in front of her.

"Nope, I drifted off there. Did I miss something important?" She answered honestly, a teasing smile on her face – better make it seem like she did that on purpose. Orion probably wouldn't want her to draw attention to him ogling at a female and Lydia refused to be one of those embarrassing mothers.

At least in public, anyway.

She could sense how Maurice shook his giant head at her supposed tardiness and resisted the urge to send him a mock-indignant look. Knowing him, he had probably spotted Orion's behavior too – that ape seemed to know everything going on with everyone.

Malcolm's sigh was one of pure exasperation as he regarded her.

"I was just asking if you really think we can learn all of this in such a short span of time? Don't get me wrong or anything, it's much appreciated, honestly – I just… how long do you think it would take for us to find a new place? A place with people?"

Now, that was a good question.

"I really don't know, you guys. I haven't left the forest since I joined the apes here five years ago and even before that, I took every precaution to avoid contact with other humans." Lydia answered with an apologetic shrug. She didn't need to tell them why she had avoided other humans – they knew by now.

The couple in front of her nodded in understanding.

"But to answer your other question: Yes, I do think you can learn it. At least well enough for it to be of use, should you run into trouble or the journey take longer than anticipated. Better safe than sorry, remember?" She tapped her own temple with her index finger, smiling playfully at the two humans in front of her to ease the tension.

She knew all too well that it was a scary concept – leaving everything you know behind and jump into an unknown future with only the stuff you could carry on your back to get you through.

She also knew, however, that it was doable – especially when you had someone else to rely on.

Ellie smiled and nodded.

"You're right about that. It's just a big step and we're a bit on edge about the whole thing, that's all." She assured Lydia, confirming the woman's suspicions. She placed her hands on her hips and smiled reassuringly.

"Well, we'll just have to do our best to prepare you, huh? I'll teach you to survive in the wild like pros, I can promise you that much."

At that, a couple of loud, distinctly female huffs of laugher was heard from the onlookers sitting a couple of yards away, and the humans turned their heads to see many of the older females, Tinker and Cornelia in particular, share amused looks among themselves.

"You ladies have anything to add?" Lydia raised an eyebrow at them, the beginning of a smirk finding its way to her face. It was good to see Tinker smile again.

The female ape in question quickly composed herself before smugly signing something to Lydia, making the woman groan exasperatedly.

"Oh, come on! I can't be an expert on everything, Tinker!" She whined, rolling her eyes as several more apes snickered – even Orion, though he had the decency to try and hide it behind his hand.

Malcolm, Ellie and Alex over at the log all looked beyond confused.

"Something we should know about, Lydia?" Ellie inquired, the beginning of a smile on her lips.

Lydia crossed her arms beneath her bosom, huffing.

"Yeah. Tinker says I should probably not be the one to teach you about picking roots and mushrooms… Since it might kill you if I do…" Lydia translated eyeing the female ape with a mock-sneer before shaking her head at her with a soft smile.

It was a well-established fact that Lydia could not for the life of her tell roots and herbs apart, not to mention separating harmless mushrooms from lethal ones. On those rare occasions where she did go out with the female apes to pick these, her basket always had to be checked by one of the others before the contents would be mixed with the rest of the harvest.

"Oh my, so there is actually something you're bad at?" Malcolm teased good-naturedly.

She put up her index finger at him, wiggling it in a reprimanding manner as she replied.

"There are plenty of things I'm bad at, Mister. I just choose to focus on the things I'm good at instead. I don't need that kind of negativity in my life. Now," She grabbed her own bow and quickly pulled out an arrow from the quiver on her back to knock it, "do try and keep up, Rookie."

She winked at him smugly before returning to her task, letting go of the arrow and sending it through the air with a soft 'swoosh', hitting the target in the white center circle.


Orion

Orion patted down the animal skins covering the nest he shared with his mother, making sure to put the extra soft ones at her side for added comfort – with Father not around anymore, she needed the extra warmth they provided now.

A lump formed in his throat at the thought.

Mother had not lied when she said she cried the most in the nights and mornings, though Orion knew she tried to hide it even then. He had developed a habit of holding her hand as they fell asleep, which seemed to calm her somewhat, knowing that at least he was still there – that she wasn't alone again.

He would still wake up sometimes in the middle of the night to find her gone. Normally, he didn't pay that particular occurrence too much attention. Even when he was a child, Mother had had a habit of disappearing at odd hours of the night, having been woken up by a nightmare, or simply finding herself unable to sleep at all. She would always return after an hour or two – three at most – and lie down to have a restful sleep for the remainder of the night. That had never struck Orion as a problem before – only yet another quirk his mother possessed by the fact that she was human.

Ever since Father died, though, it had seemed… different, somehow.

In the past, Mother would wake up maybe once or twice a week during her 'bad times', as Father had called it, and usually it only amounted to twice a month.

Since the night after Caesar had fought Koba, it had been almost every night – three times in a row now, and the young ape expected this night to be much the same. It was getting to the point where he was considering telling Maurice or Cornelia and Caesar about it, to be honest – but they had enough to deal with in creating the apes' new home and after all, Orion argued with himself, it had still only been less than a week since Father passed away. Maybe Mother would be back to her old self soon, as well as her old habits.

Time will tell, Orion decided as he readied the deerskin Mother used as a blanket. If it continues for more than a month, I will go talk to someone about it.

Mother would never go to someone with the problem herself, Orion knew that much. She had never had to either, since Father had always been able to read her and address the issue – whatever it happened to be. But he was no longer here, and Orion intended to keep his promise to him about looking after Mother from now on, even if he couldn't do it like Father had. Mother would never burden Orion with her personal problems – so he concluded that it had to be one of the older apes, like Cornelia or Maurice.

He sat down in the nest as Blaze came over to lay his head on the ape's lap and Orion petted the canine absent-mindedly as he continued with his train of thought.

Really, Mother could be so stubborn sometimes. Tough, yes, but stubborn.

It kind of reminded Orion of Ivy…

The adolescent ape felt his ears grow hot and his heartbeat quicken at the thought of the younger female. It was only recently, a few weeks before he had encountered Malcolm's group for the first time, that he had begun to really take notice of her and his interest had been growing ever since.

True, recently, Orion had been busy with… other things. Meeting new humans, Koba's betrayal, imprisonment and the death of his father. He had worried for everybody then, including Ivy, though his main focus had been on his mother – she was a human and as such, most at risk during Koba's takeover of the colony.

Now, though, things were beginning to settle down a tad again, and Orion had to admit – the feelings blossoming in his chest were more intense than ever.

She was beautiful, in his humble opinion. Her face was all soft features and smooth skin, the silvery hair that covered her form looked so soft he found his fingers itching to run through it, and her eyes, goodness her eyes – the most beautiful, green eyes he had ever seen!

Some may say that they weren't special, since most of the apes' eyes were green anyway.

Orion begged to differ on that account. Ivy's eyes, unlike so many others', had no trace of hazel or golden specks in them, but consisted of the purest, solid emerald green, and what was more, they always seemed to have an underlying mirth to them.

He had never played much with her when they were younger but nowadays, as the males and females had begun mixing together again as they entered adolescence, he often found himself sitting in the same group as her in the breaks between the apes' different chores. He had soon found out that she was not only beautiful, but also funny and a very independent spirit – and he quite liked that in her.

"Lost in thought, Sweetie?" Mother's voice sounded as she entered their secluded part of the cave, pulling away one of the animal skins which covered the entrance.

Tinker had selected this cave for them while they had been in the city to scavenge the other day and Orion had to admit she had picked well. The little hovel was just big enough to fit Mother, Orion and the dogs comfortably, plus a guest or two, should someone come by for a private talk. Apes like Maurice had sometimes done that at their old hut, so it wasn't all that implausible.

Orion nodded in reply, having the sense to be sheepish at being caught daydreaming like this. Mother smiled all the same as she stepped into their new home, fitting an extra torch to one of the fixtures on the cave wall.

Mother sat down beside him, crossing her legs as she leaned her back against the wall behind her. She looked tired, Orion noted worriedly, eyes slightly droopy and rimmed by dark rings which had been made more prominent by the low light.

"Anyone special on your mind?" She asked casually, a dark eyebrow raised and a knowing smirk directed at him.

Shit.

It immediately startled Orion out of his worry for her and made him stutter out a raspy reply.

"N-no…! Not r-really…" He tried to look as oblivious as possible about it – he knew that, besides being stubborn like a mule, Mother was nothing if not perceptive – especially when it came to him.

He might as well not have bothered feigning innocence, anyway. The look on her face told him she didn't buy it for a second.

"Come on now, Orion, it's me." She softly reprimanded with no real bite behind it. Instead, her smirk was exchanged for a soft, earnest quirk of her lips.

He was not having this conversation, he just wasn't

"It is nothing, Mother. Nothing important." He attempted to brush her off, twiddling Blaze's soft, furry ear gently between his fingers as he spoke. The large canine paid it no mind, seemingly just happy to receive attention.

"I would say it's quite important. To me, anyway. It's not every day I'm faced with the possible prospect of getting a daughter-in-law." Mother spoke teasingly, making Orion splutter and startle Blaze, who looked up at the male ape and the human woman in a manner that seemed almost offended.

The dog settled down again rather quickly – Orion did not.

"Mother! It is not… It is not like that… Ivy is not-" His mouth clamped shut as soon as he said her name.

Shit!

"So, I was right! It is Ivy!" Mother interrupted with a hint of pride in her voice.

Orion sighed in defeat. There was no way to hide anything from his mother.

"How did. You guess?" He asked in a defeated manner, scratching his arm uncomfortably. He was sure his whole demeanor screamed insecurity by now – he was just happy it was Mother in front of him and not Ivy. That would have been humiliating.

Mother winked at him, which only served to make his ears go even redder than they already were.

"Let's just say you should be more careful about ogling at ladies in public, Son. You need to get subtler if you don't want people to notice."

Orion groaned and covered his face with a large palm, finally giving in completely to the humiliation he was feeling. What if somebody else had noticed? What if Ivy had noticed!?

Shit, shit, shit!

"Don't worry too much, Sweetie. I don't think anyone else noticed… Well, Maurice might, but you know how he is." Mother spoke in an attempt to ease his mind, patting his shoulder gently. Was she able to read his mind or something?

Orion removed his hand from his face, dragging it down across his features slowly until it fell into his lap.

"I just… I do not. Know if I can… I mean. How do I…?" He struggled to find the words to describe his current predicament.

At this point, he wasn't sure if Ivy would even think of him that way. They were both still young and Orion was well aware that he came from a… less-than-normal family. He had no idea how to make an impression on ape females. His mother was a human, for crying out loud!

Mother was quick to interpret what he meant. She always had been, thankfully.

"How do you catch her eye?" She spoke softly, a gentle look on her face now.

Orion nodded in a subdued manner, his ears feeling like they were on fire by now.

Mother tilted her head to the side, looking thoughtful.

"That's a tough one, Sweetie. I would tell you to just talk to her about it and tell her how you feel, but I know that's easier said than done… Hmmm." A line appeared between her eyebrows as she thought, tapping her finger against her clothed thigh.

"You know, you could just talk to her more in general – figure out her interests and show her that you care about what she has to say." Mother offered.

Orion huffed dejectedly.

"Ivy likes. Yellow and blue flowers. And looking at birds." He spoke matter-of-factly, his voice beginning to strain – he had been talking with Alex for much of the day and it was beginning to hurt. "She also wants to. Start a new garden. Like yours… Weaves baskets for fun… And does not like mushrooms."

Mother stared at him like he had grown a second head as he finished reciting what Ivy had already told him. Was it really so strange that he had actually listened to the things someone had told him? Wasn't that common courtesy?

At least that's what Mother had already told him, so what was the big deal now?

"Sounds like you already know a lot about her, Sweetie." She spoke softly. She almost seemed impressed.

Orion just nodded cautiously.

"How about a gift, then? Something you know she would like? Or perhaps have her show you how to weave one of those baskets of hers?" Mother suggested, making him groan softly.

"Weaving baskets. Is females' task…" He explained exasperatedly. Mother should know this, even if she wasn't exactly a normal female herself – at least not by ape standards, anyway.

She crossed her arms and regarded him with a raised eyebrow, challenge clear in her blue orbs.

"And that should prevent you from learning something new? Come on, Orion, I raised you better than that!" She reprimanded somewhat sternly, shaking her head at him. Mother had never liked how the tasks in the colony were separated by gender, though she didn't make a show of mentioning it most days. It was the apes' culture, after all, and she respected that. "No matter – what about the gift-idea, then? Surely you can come up with something she would like?"

Orion bit his bottom lip in thought at this suggestion, staring intently down at the animal pelts beneath him in the nest. What would Ivy like? A necklace, maybe? It seemed to be quite normal for the females to wear jewelry – Ash had once told him that the necklace Tinker wore was a gift from Rocket… Perhaps…

"I do not know… It is difficult to tell. What a female likes." He shrugged finally, looking up at Mother in a hopeless manner.

Then, a thought struck him.

"Mother… What did… What did Father do? How did you know. That he liked you?"

It seemed like such an innocent question – and one he was ashamed to admit he had never had the sense to ask. Nonetheless, it seemed to catch Mother off-guard, and her eyes widened a fraction at the inquiry before she tilted her head to the side once again.

Really, where did that quirk even come from?

"Hmm… That's a good question, Son, though I'm not sure if it would help you with Ivy, to be honest…" She pursed her lips but didn't seem to reject the question itself.

Orion shrugged at that.

"I would like. To hear it still." He smiled then, for the first time since Mother had begun her embarrassing interrogation. He always loved to listen to her stories about her and Father, especially since they were so few and far between.

Mother nodded, a reminiscent smile on her face.

"Well, if you must know… Your father didn't think much of me in the beginning, to be honest. In fact I'm quite sure he didn't like me at all, at first."

Wait, what?

"Why?" Orion asked instead, confused beyond belief. He had never known that.

"Well, he didn't exactly have the best experience with humans before he met me. I think he kept his feelings to himself for a long time because of that, even after he realized what exactly those feelings were." Mother explained patiently, gesturing calmly with her hands.

Well, that made sense, he guessed.

"However, after a month or two, he began softening up. Sitting closer and even holding me while we slept to keep me warm – I suppose you were too young to remember that."

He nodded in reply. Orion had no recollection of this development. He only knew that they had slept like that ever since he was a child.

"Well, that's how it started. Once we settled down for the night, we would talk about our lives, our wishes, hopes and goals and after some time… I don't know, we just sort of began getting more… physical, I guess." Mother absent-mindedly rubbed the crook of her shoulder as she explained, and Orion just knew then that she was thinking of the marks Father had sometimes left there. Mother had usually hidden them with her clothes, so the other apes wouldn't notice, but living with his parents, Orion had often seen them and recognized them for what they were – a claim. A signal to others that Mother was spoken for.

His ears heated in embarrassment at the thought, knowing exactly how they had gotten there in the first place.

"Well," Mother pondered, a devious smile on her face as she seemed to pick up on Orion's discomfort, "the whole 'keeping me warm' was still the excuse he gave… To begin with, anyway."

She winked at Orion then, making his whole face heat up at her implication.

"Mother!" He exclaimed embarrassedly – this was not what he had in mind when he had inquired about his parents' developing relationship!

He knew that other apes had a much more relaxed attitude towards mating in general, though they didn't exactly do it in front of everyone either. It was a private thing, but one no one fussed about or raised a brow at.

Then again, most of them hadn't had the upbringing Orion did, largely shielded from the fact that his parents had sexual urges to satisfy. It just wasn't something they had discussed.

Mother chuckled good-naturedly at his embarrassment. Goodness, was she on to him tonight…

"Sorry, Sweetie, but that's how it went! Your father and I just… got closer over time. We shared everything because we had to in order to survive and take care of you. After some time, feelings just started getting into the mix. That's what usually happens when you are so close every day. You talk, you get to know each other and then, if the chemistry is there, love just… happens."

Orion, though still slightly exasperated at his mother's suggestive recount, smiled and nodded at her words. Maybe one day, if he managed to become closer with Ivy, he could have what his adoptive parents had had together – he certainly hoped so.

He yawned then, his jaw aching with the action.

It caught him off-guard, seeing as he hadn't realized how tired he actually was until now.

"Perhaps we should get some rest, huh?" Mother suggested, shifting to lay down in the nest and pulling the animal skin over herself – she had already changed into the ratty t-shirt she now wore to bed, an item she had scavenged from the city a couple of days ago. It already had her smell on it.

"I think so too. Long day." Orion agreed as he went to put out the torches fixed to the cave walls.

Blaze, realizing he wouldn't receive any more attention tonight, moved over to sleep near Storm, who had been out cold ever since Mother entered the cave. They seemed to settle into their old routine better than anyone else.

Orion laid down beside Mother, reaching out to grab hold of her hand as he did every night now. It seemed so small and dainty compared to his own calloused hand, rough and hairy as it wrapped around her smooth one.

She kissed him on the forehead affectionately before settling down completely, closing her tired eyes in preparation for some much-needed sleep.

Orion squeezed her hand.

"Goodnight Mother." He spoke softly, feeling fatigue from a day full of activity overtake him.

"Goodnight, Sweetie." He heard her answer.

He hoped she would, indeed, have a good night, for once.


Caesar

That night, Caesar was woken by the agitated stirring at his side, the warm body of his wife tossing and turning every few minutes now impossible for his drowsy mind to ignore. Opening his vibrant, golden-flecked eyes, he was met with Cornelia's soft features only inches away from his own face, the low light from the nearby torches giving her skin a warm glow. She didn't seem to be in pain, Caesar quickly assessed, though she did have a gentle, barely-there frown marring her beautiful features.

Is she having a nightmare? The Ape King wondered.

Cornelius had, despite the inherent instinct ape children had to cling to their mothers, distanced himself from Cornelia, choosing instead the safety of his older brother's embrace as he slept. This puzzled the Ape King even further – right until he lifted his hand to his mate's face in an attempt to soothe her restless sleep with a gentle caress.

Her skin was slightly damp and, in Caesar's opinion, emanated far more heat than it rightly should.

His brow creased as a frown found its way to his lips. This wasn't normal.

Just as that thought struck him, his wife's beautiful, vibrantly green eyes opened up to fix him with a tired, confused look. He didn't remove his hand from her face, choosing instead to cup her cheek in his large palm.

"What is wrong?" She signed gently, careful not to wake their children with her movements.

"You are warm. Uneasy. Woke me up." The Ape King answered in sign, his face marred with concern for his mate. He spoke more and more often these days, but in situations like these, he was glad he could still employ sign language to get his point across.

Cornelia sighed and nuzzled her face into his hand, a soft smile on her lips – it seemed a bit forced to Caesar.

"You worry too much. It has been a long day. Many changes happening."

Caesar's frown deepened at that, telling his wife he didn't believe that for a second. Instead, he reached a different conclusion – he had seen this behavior in her before.

"You are still sick…" He signed, a pained look in his eyes. This was bad.

And he was sure he was right when his wife's face fell, and she averted her gaze from his own.

A heavy silence followed as Caesar brushed his thumb against her cheek. It seemed to stretch into eternity before he finally decided to grunt softly, gaining her attention once again.

He put his forehead against hers once their eyes connected, sighing deeply before whispering, as best as he could with his deep, gruff voice.

"Tomorrow. We ask Ellie. And Lydia for help… For medicine."

He could tell she wanted to argue, seeing the doubt in her eyes – she didn't voice her protests, however, and Caesar wondered if it was due to lack of strength to do so, or if she really did see the logic in his words and just didn't like it.

Nonetheless, she nodded against his hand, her eyes droopy with fatigue.

"Sleep now." Caesar urged gently, never removing his hand from his mate's warm cheek.

She fixed him with an adoring look before giving in to his words, letting her eyes close slowly as he continued to stroke her cheek with his thumb, soothing her back to sleep.

Caesar himself didn't get much rest that night, lying awake and worrying about the future for his apes.

An impending war, a barely-finished new home, Koba's surviving followers still bearing a grudge against him and now, his wife, the mother of his children, was sick as well. There was no shortage of things to worry about for the Ape King.

He just hoped Ellie would be able to help his mate… if not, then…

He dared not finish that thought.