I'm sorry for my late update, but i'm getting back on track with my writing schedule with the past week of events. lost of hours at work and free time taken up with some gifts i received.
This chapter was fun for me to write though it might seem a bit... slow. I really wanted to try giving my side characters a chance to develop a bit or at the very least,... be more prevalent in the forefront for dialogue. I hope all of you like it, as I enjoyed writing it.
Please enjoy, fav, follow, review, and boost my ego. I'm open to PMs as well. some people ask me if it's ok and i wanted to clear that up. It's fine. I enjoy the social exchange. lol.
Now then... here you go. and enjoy that wondrously odd snack. mine today is meatloaf stuffed donuts with gravy flavored frosting... (All credit to JudithWildeHopps for that snack idea.)
"Are we there yet?" a certain voice asked, quite possibly for the hundredth time, now making those mammals within hearing range internally and externally groan with exasperation.
"Nathan?" Bogo called. The grey wolf perked up happily, clearly not hearing the irritation in the bull's tone, being one of the few mammals who didn't pick up on tones and social cues of the deep voiced mammal. It rather disarmed the buffalo, seeing such a spritely young wolf unfazed by his chastising voice.
"Yes!" he chirped, tail wagging indiscriminately. The bull was about to give him a stern warning, much like he would others under his command, but he had to remember that this wasn't a soldier. The wolf was young and inexperienced in social etiquette. Making a few mumbling noises, Bogo tried his best to adjust his normal tone to a more considerate one, hoping to make Nathan understand that he should try… very hard… to calm down a bit and take the journey as it comes.
"You should be mindful of those around you," came a much softer voice. "They might not appreciate you asking that question so often, dear." Gazelle stepped closer to her mate, grasping his hoof in hers and giving him a knowing look, to which he sighed and smiled gratefully.
"Oh," the young wolf breathed out, looking around to see the now averted stares of quite a few mammals, having been too polite to say anything. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause…"
"It's quite alright," Judith spoke up from nearby, holding paws with Nicholas. "You just need to be a little patient… a little more patient."
"I'm glad somebody finally said something," Honey barked from further ahead. "He was making Meeko here look damn near saint-like in comparison."
"Hey!" the aforementioned raccoon yelled in offense to the statement, pausing as he added, "wait… was that a complement or an insult?"
Nicholas was now barking with laughter, trying to get a word out until he cleared his throat to say, "I'm pretty sure she just did both… at the same time!" the fox devolved back into laughter, to which the rabbit holding his paw thumped her free paw against his chest, doing nothing to stop the tod's fit.
"Well at least this one's mouth is corked with food when he is annoying," the badger continued, jerking her thumb back at Meeko, who turned his head and tried not to let any of them see his pouting expression.
"Is there something wrong with liking food?" he murmured to himself mostly.
"Of course not," was Honey's honeyed reply, thick and bittersweet with sarcasm, "but most mammals who like food tend to try enjoying it slowly. Honestly… I'm surprised you're not as pudgy as the other fox… Gideon, was it?"
"I have an active lifestyle," Meeko defended. His eyes turned back to the grouping as they walked, seeing the badger eyeing him from ears to toes.
"I can see that," she spoke, a light tinge of sass lining the flirtatious tone in her voice.
The red fox turned his head, not wanting to let his mind play into the game his mother was obviously setting up. No kit truly grows out of being somewhat uncomfortable at seeing their parent or parents being flirtatious or mushy with others or each other.
Judith, on the other paw, was coaxed by Honey's comment to look at Meeko a little closer now. Instead of the normal armor he wore, which usually gave him the look that his chest and belly were more pronounced, she could see now in his less armored attire that he was slimmer than initially believed. He still had some meat on the bones, so to say, but his overall form was less prodigious than previously indicated.
"You guys are extremely entertaining," Nathan piped up, holding back a few sporadic chuckles at the elongated exchange. The grey wolf seemed to find a rather large assortment of mammals he enjoyed conversing with over the last several days of freedom. Despite the way he was kept away from the social order, Nathan was quite the curious optimist. Naïve to the workings of the world, he found every experience outside the confines of his previous residence of labor and imprisonment a refreshing one.
Most mornings, he woke up to spend several minutes sniffing the air for all the new smells. The way the forest smelled with dew on the ground, the food most likely being prepared, or the scent of several mammals he hadn't had extended contact with wafting past his tent. Akela became somewhat of a parental figure for him in the past days, seeing as his rambunctious and unfiltered nature could be seen as impolite or overbearing. In all honesty, the older wolf had usually acted in a parental role for him, but being under guard as they all had been, it was difficult to act as one would normally, limiting what Akela could instill in Nathan.
Aside from the disarming quirks, the younger grey wolf was well liked and viewed by others as a welcome well of energy that was sorely needed when some mammals lacked the will to trudge onwards with aching feet and battered souls.
It was that energy that drove Bogo and a few others to give Nathan random roles to fill. Taking food to those who were having a tougher time moving around than others, helping said mammals to other destinations when needed, and etc. The energetic wolf was more than happy to oblige.
"I'm glad you are enjoying yourself," Gazelle spoke softly to the young wolf. "My dear mate was worried you would feel out of place or unsure what to do with yourself." The bull stiffened as most of the other mammals turned their heads to look at Bogo. No one stopped walking, but all eyes were on him, even Nathan's.
"Really?" the wolf asked tentatively, unused to the concern and affection he was recently being afforded. The buffalo didn't dare to address the stares aimed his way, choosing to ignore them until they went away, giving his mate a pleading look to stop revealing certain details about his demeanor.
Turning back to the endearingly expectant wolf, Bogo huffed in resignation.
"Yes," he near quietly and bluntly replied. There were plenty of smug grins spreading all around. The bull chose to focus forward and wait.
"If ya'll are done with the cuddle party of emotions," snarked Honey, "we're here."
Everyone stopped on a dime and looked around, confused, with a few heads tilting.
"All I see is more forest, vines, some rock faces, and that bluff over there," Nicholas pointed out. The badger didn't even turn as she back paw thumped him in the chest.
"You don't 'see'," she corrected her son. "Even if you do look." The fox rubbed his chest, grumbling something about two females giving him abuse now, to which Judith gave him a slightly apologetic glance.
"What should I be seeing, then?" Nicholas replied. "A secret door?"
"You're kitting me…" Honey said, rolling her eyes at the red fox. The badger ambled over to the wall of vines in front of her, sweeping a clump to the side, revealing a dark cavernous passage.
"How'd you know that was there?" Bogo asked. "Have you been here before?"
"Always with the blunt questions, huh, Buffalo Butt?" Honey sassed at him. "I was given a location and a riddle. In Upendi, where the passion fruit grows sweet… yatta yatta. Anyways, these vines here have a type of passionfruit that only grows in deep caverns. The vines come out like so…" She pointed at vines attached to the wall in the cave, with orange and purple colored bulbs hanging from them.
Looking around, everyone saw that a few stray vines with the same bulbs seemed to converge on the cavern entrance, having apparently grown from the cavern itself.
Nathan and Meeko both licked their muzzles as they walked up to the bulbs and plucked the oddly colored fruit. Both looked to each other smiling hungrily and opening their maws to take a bite…
At some point, Honey wordlessly snuck up right between the two and reached up to clamp their muzzles shut, subsequently slapping the fruit from their paws.
"Are you trying to act this stupid?" came her annoyed question. The young wolf threw her a look of chastised despondence, while Meeko… looked rather frustrated himself at having food tossed from his own paw. "Maybe I should have explained the whole riddle… Where the passionfruit grows sweet, and it's so divine that you'll lose your mind."
"So… it's poisonous?" Judith piped up. "Like the Midnight Flower?"
"You mean Nighthowlers?" her fox clarified, mostly to himself than correcting the rabbit. The doe nodded in the affirmative.
The badger teetered a paw ambiguously.
"More like a persistent hallucinogenic," she mumbled. "Many a mammal has eaten this fruit and gone very… insane. It's part of why this place is hard to get into, not counting the supposed labyrinth that awaits us. Many mammals get too curious about the abundant food source and eat it."
"So, we avoid eating it, problem solved," Bogo spoke, using a clipped tone, as if to try cutting the conversation short. "Now, about this labyrinth…"
"It's supposedly not very expansive…" started the badger, "but it is very difficult to traverse, if tales are correct."
Gazelle stepped forward slowly, saying, "Should we take a small scouting party in to make sure it's worth the trip?" Honey snapped her fingers.
"That's my plan," she confirmed. "From what I hear of this place, we would have to take this alternate route in to gain access, but if we can convince the locals to let us in, there's supposed to be a larger entrance that can only be opened from the inside."
"How do they get mammals in and out if it can only be opened from the inside?" Meeko inquired. "Don't they have lookouts to signal a bridge drop or something?"
"Not a clue," Honey instantly replied. "I assume they have assigned times they open whatever gate is there. As for lookouts…" the badger shrugged. "I don't have all the answers."
"I thought you said you have been here before," the buffalo bull said in a mildly accusing manner.
"I never said anything to that effect," the badger stated defensively, tilting her head in acknowledgement a moment later, "though I may have implied it unintentionally."
"The point… please?" the bull nearly begged, with Gazelle lovingly touching a hoof to her mate's chest, cooing something soft in his ear and making him grumble in forced patience.
Honey sighed in partial compliance as she spoke, "I talked to a few of the traders who frequent the city. Heard it straight from their maws… Satisfied?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Now let's move."
Roughly an hour later, a scouting group was assembled. Bogo and Gazelle stayed behind to tend to the group, keeping them orderly and fed. Honey led with Nathan, Meeko, Nicholas, and Judith in tow. When asking the why of their team, the badger simply stated the most prevalent reasons as quickly as she cared saying that Nathan had a good nose, Meeko had decent night vision, Nicholas had the best night vision and is very good with a sword, and Judith had spectacular hearing. Honey hadn't known her long enough to surmise that well enough so the red fox figured she wanted the rabbit along for more personal purposes. Scoping out a potential daughter-in-law was her thinking, of which Nicholas had no doubt.
Leaving the convoy of mammals behind and donning armor, as well as small packs that weren't over encumbering to each mammal, the five of them headed into the dark cavern, lighting a torch or two upon reaching the entrance.
"Remember, no touching or eating the passionfruit," Honey reminded them.
"No need to repeat that," Meeko complained. "I heard your paw well enough the first time when it slapped the thing from my own paw."
"Just making sure that stomach of yours doesn't convince you to ignore my warning," the badger snapped back sassily.
Nicholas and Judith both snickered at the poor raccoon, who smiled in favor of being a good sport at the jibe. Nathan was more engrossed with the surrounding cavern than the social exchange, sniffing the air and twitching his ears at every drop of water. Whether he was excited or anxious was hard to tell from the other mammals' respective perspectives.
Following along the single route before them, avoiding the vines lining the wall with oddly colored but delicious looking fruit, a sweet scent wafted through the winding bends as a rush of cool air flowed past them. Nathan took a long draw and looked confused.
"What's that?" he asked simply. "It doesn't smell like the fruit on the wall."
"Lotus bloom," Honey answered. "It grows along the walls of the city and must be wafting through the caves. Hopefully that means we're closer than I would have assumed."
At that point, the group came upon a fork in the path…
More like a honeycomb…
The chamber they entered was still a natural part of the cavern, but had eight new caverns to venture into. A small pool sat in the center with a huge stalactite hanging from the ceiling dipped down until it almost touched the water's surface.
"Ideas? Anyone?" Judith prompted the group. Everyone scanned the chamber, both trying to look for markers as well as the more olfactory inclined trying to track the source of the lotus bloom scent. It seemed to emanate from all the potential paths to take. Airflow seemed to pass rather evenly through each of the caves as well, stumping the mammals as to where they should go.
Splitting up was a big problem, seeing as any mammal that took a wrong turn or got lost would be hard pressed to find their way back.
"This…" the fox began, "is going to be frustrating."
"Oh shush," Judith and Honey spoke at the same time, sparing a blinking stare to one another in slight surprise.
"Great. I have two of them now," groaned Nicholas.
"Call it a mental exercise," the badger provided with an optimistic inflection. "You'll come out smarter because of it."
"You and I both know you don't believe that," the tod snarked back to his mother, to which she snorted in amusement.
"Can't deny that."
Honey, Nicholas, and Meeko were the holders of the torches for now, waving them around to get a better look at the walls of the chamber, getting increasingly annoyed at the lack of direction they all wanted.
The bunny doe stuck close to her fox, holding onto his tunic from behind. Nathan kept near Meeko and Honey kept to herself mainly.
"Hold this," the tod demanded suddenly, pawing off the torch into the rabbit's paws, her grip barely registering before the fox let go. Before the doe could voice her objections and curiosity at what he was doing, Nicholas cupped his paws over a portion of the cavern wall. He then leaned in to press his eyes to the gap created by his cupped paws. Judith arched a brow in confusion but stayed silent, hoping he would explain when he gave up whatever he had going.
The red fox stepped back with a sigh.
"Sorry, my lady," he breathed. "I thought this cave might have some of that glowing lichen I've seen before. It usually clings to the walls and originates from deeper caves. Might have led us to Upendi, if I had been right."
Tilting his head back in defeat, his ears lowering, the fox let out a small whine. The bunny doe found it rather cute, but kept her muzzle closed on that note.
"It'll be fine," she tried to comfort. "We'll find a way further in." the rabbit reached out and held his paw, squeezing it as she looked around to see how engaged in other activities the others were. Seeing no onlookers as the other three were rather entranced with various boring elements of the chamber, trying to find a puzzle meaning from nothing of note, Judith rose high on her toes to give her fox a chaste kiss just under his muzzle.
Nicholas smiled slowly, finding the short and sweet way she kissed him rather endearing. He tilted his muzzle back down to offer a kiss of his own in return on her nose. It twitched in reaction and the fox found it rather adorable.
In her surprise at the nose kiss, Judith dropped the torch she was given to rub her nose, attempting to get it under control. Neither mammal could react in time as the torch plopped into the water of the pool, after making one or two hollow thumps against the rocky floor.
"Oops," the doe said, giving the tod an apologetic grin.
Nicholas wasn't worried about that at the moment. He was looking up, confusion filling his face now as he tilted his head several different ways. He could make heads or tails of it. Why would the ceiling of the cavern… his ears perked up suddenly.
"Honey. Meeko. Put out the torches," the fox tod ordered. Both mammals exchanged glances and looked back to the fox, who was now looking up again.
"Why?" the badger inquired, splaying her paw out in a gesture for her son to explain himself.
"Just trust me."
Exchanging another glance, the two torch wielding mammals sighed and used a metal cap Honey carried to extinguish the flames. The chamber entered utter darkness and silence followed.
No mammal dared breach the newfound silence for a solid minute, thinking it might ruin whatever the red fox was waiting for.
"So… what?" Nathan finally asked curiously.
"Just give it a second," Nicholas assured them. "If what I'm thinking is correct…"
A twinkle.
"There it is…"
Another twinkle followed, then another, and another, and then a slew of twinkles lit up the ceiling of the chamber, though not the whole ceiling. The first sparkling of lights spread forth from the stalactite hanging from the chamber's ceiling. The lights grew brighter and seemed to spur more into existence at a rapidly increasing pace.
Going in a spiral outward from the stalactite, the twinkles blazed a path or light across the cave ceiling and zigzagged down the wall towards one of the many paths they had been trying to decide between. It was a path that was off center and to the left from where they had come in.
The path of light continued in this matter deep into the cavern and into the unknown.
"Guess the part of the riddle where your heart will take you there was correct… ish," Honey said with a bit of her usual sass, giving Judith and her fox a knowing stare.
"What?" Nicholas asked in defense.
"Don't think I didn't notice your little display a second ago."
At the badger's mention of that, the red fox tod turned his head and scratched the back of his neck. The grey bunny doe pulled her ears over her face and tried to will the blush in her cheeks away.
"I'm liking her more and more," the badger divulged with a hearty chuckle to accompany her statement.
"Great, now I have two of them teasing me…" Judith moaned in defeat. The fox couldn't help smirking a bit in pity at her predicament and leaned down to kiss an errant ear over her face.
"You know you love it… at least when I do it," he whispered in the ear he kissed. The doe seemed to attempt shrinking further behind her ears over her before peeking out from behind them.
"Do I know that?" she paused, mulling it over before nibbling her lower lip. "I suppose I do."
The group packed away their torches, pursuing the course laid out for them by what appeared to be crystals inlaid into the cave ceiling as a guide.
"What do you think they are?" Nathan dared to ask in the tepid silence of the cavern, with only the occasional sound of drips to accompany them.
"I'm guessing it's a variety of bioluminescent crystals that become fluorescent when light is lacking," explained Honey. She looked back to see a very confused raccoon and wolf. Nicholas seemed to understand well enough, being taught by her after all and Judith at the very least got the context and appeared to be void of due confusion the other two exuded.
She rolled her eyes at the two confused mammals stating more to herself at first, "Thank goodness you two are blessed in looks at least." Meeko looked rather happy at that remark, while Nathan smiled in false understanding of what was going on but wanted to look on board with it all.
The badger continued, "I think they are rocks that glow when the light is gone." Both mammals voiced a slow 'Ohhhhh' of understanding.
"Is she always this…." Judith started, making wild gestures towards Honey. Nicholas withheld a laugh and coughed instead, not wanting his mother to hear the two.
"Eccentric, sassy, flagrantly over the top, or snarky?" the fox provided. The doe gave him a deadpan expression and crossed her paws.
"You just described yourself on certain days," the bunny revealed to her fox. He gave her an insulted look, maw agape at the accusation.
"I… you… that's…" he sputtered.
"You are your mother's son," Judith whispered to him. "Sass and all. It's fun though."
Nicholas resigned himself to biting his tongue and throwing the rabbit a roguish smirk.
"Sly bunny," he breathed.
Once the new path was followed, the group came out into a new opening with much the same routine. Five new openings and a path of luminous crystals that went down the correct cavern exit.
This routine was followed for the next hour another three times. They debated what the continued use of the light crystals was if it was highly unlikely any mammal would repeatedly find the correct path this many times without putting out their torch. Their collective reasoning was that even a drunk mammal might make a few correct and lucky decisions before running out of said luck. In the end, they couldn't complain, seeing as it made everything easier.
They finally reached a point that looked to be an end to their wandering, when the light crystals ran their path to encompass a spot on the wall in a circle. Within the circle was a large stone door that had an engraving on it. A lion and lioness encircled a signet in the center, much in the manner of the Yin and Yang symbol.
"What now?" Meeko supplied.
"I'm honestly stumped here," Honey replied in earnest. "The riddle didn't seem to mention this. I think."
Nicholas sighed, "Can we hear the whole thing? Or read it if you wrote it down?" He held out a paw to illustrate his point. Honey shuffled her pack off her back and pulled out a roll of parchment to hand off to her son. The fox wasted no time unrolling it and reading.
"Passionfruit… Love… yatta yatta. What about this part saying 'It just takes two to make it true'?"
"Yeah, I didn't get that part much," his mother mentioned reluctantly. "Does it make sense to you?"
The fox held up a digit as he examined the door, running his paws over the edges of the door and into the molding surrounding it. Judith padded next to him and helped scan over the door. In the dark, her eyes only worked so well, being a rabbit, but the crystals helped her be at least a little useful in her endeavor.
Everyone else looked at the doorway from afar, using the distance to provide a more all-encompassing perspective as opposed to the pair or mates making more minute observations up close. there wasn't much to see on the door itself, besides the engraving. No switches, release levers, or pull chords. It took a good long while, or so it felt like, to finally take a few steps back and see a strange pair of openings high above the stone door.
The openings were within a recess that was above the door. It was too far apart for any of the present mammals to try walking up the sides of it.
"I think I know what we should be doing to get up there," Judith offered tentatively. Nicholas and Honey gestured for her to continue. "Help me up, Nicholas."
The red fox obliged and lifted his mate up to hang off the top ridge of the molding around the stone door. Turning back around when she got situated, the doe pulled her fox up when he leapt up to grip the top edge with one paw and his doe's with the other.
Standing up to look at the walls of the recess, he examined their options and looked to Judith, shrugging.
"What's the plan?" he asked.
"This," she said simply as Judith guided her fox to the center of the recess, facing him to one side, then facing the other herself, putting her back against his. She then roped her arms back and around his, keeping their elbows locked together.
"Now we walk up and see what's in those openings," the bunny explained in short. Nicholas nodded, a curiosity washing over him as well as a certain amount of respect at her ingenuity.
Pressing their backs together more firmly, the pair put a paw each to their respective wall, thanking whatever higher power that they weren't craggy or overly smooth. It was a balanced level of porous and not so knobby as to be painful to walk up.
They then took their other foot off the ground and slowly, tentatively, walked their way up the walls of the recess.
"Where did you get this idea from?" the tod inquired with amusement lining his tone.
"When Heather and I were kits… we did this between two large cabinets in the kitchen area to reach the sweet snacks they kept up high," Judith happily explained. "We pilfered so many sweets."
"I knew you were a little rebellious, my dear Judith, but that right there is adorably so," Nicholas stated with a light-hearted tone of affection.
"If we weren't so high, I would elbow you for calling me adorable."
"You know you love it, my lady."
The two were now a good thirty feet off upwards from their starting point and probably a little under forty from the cavern floor. The openings were just a couple feet away and more clearly seen now. Inside them, it appeared that they housed a release lever of sorts. Probably a counterweight that would pull the stone door aside or up.
The problem was that in their current state, the levers were too far apart for either of them to effectively grasp, making them reevaluate their predicament.
"Above you," yelled Meeko. The two looked down to follow the raccoon's outstretched paw, pointing to a pair of grab bars that hung from the ceiling directly above them.
They each disengaged one arm from their linkage and reached up to grab the bars closest to themselves. With the pressure on their backs and legs relieved, they sighed a bit, not worried about the strain that now built in their arms.
The two swung easily to use their other free paw to grab their lever, glancing at each other and exchanging a look.
"Together?" Judith asked. Nicholas nodded and they pulled together.
A resounding and somewhat satisfying sound of sliding stone surface upon stone surface echoed throughout the cavern. Unnerving at first, it was more than welcome as the stone door rolled to the side, into a vacant space within the cave wall.
Before the fox and bunny could think reluctantly about the effort it would take to climb down safely once more, the bars they were holding on to dislodged from the ceiling and slowly dropped downward. It worried them at first, but they saw they were actually being lowered by ropes, giving them a far less strenuous return to the ground.
Reaching solid cave floor once again, Judith stood on shaky legs, the nerves of being that high finally getting to her. She looked over to see Nicholas experiencing a similar thing but trying his best to hide it. She smiled and leaned over to hug him.
"Something wrong?" the tod asked with a tinge of concern. "Scared of heights?" Thankfully, he wasn't teasing her this time.
"No, I'm just realizing how well we work as a team and I'm glad for it."
The red fox's facial expression softened into a gentle smile as he wrapped a paw around his mate.
"I'm very glad to hear that. Thank you, Judith." Her tail wiggled at his mention of her name. it made her immeasurably happy to hear him utter it in any circumstance. The way he said it with such sincerity and conviction, as if each utterance were itself a declaration of love from the fox. It was as if her name carried some weight within his heart that he didn't want to take for granted. She could appreciate that. A name could be just a name… but still carry the meaning of a mammal within its mention. The meaning she could hear in her name from the maw of her fox was no shortage of endearment and adoration.
"Well then," piped up Honey. "Shall we press onward?" All mammals of the party nodded in agreement, making their own mentions and complaints of the journey thus far.
Padding through the doorway they had opened, the group was met with a healthy amount of brilliant light from above. It appeared to be a larger form of the crystals from the cave behind them.
They couldn't focus on that for long though, as a grouping of mammals with spears and bows enclosed them in a tight circle, every point within inches of their fur.
"Is this Upendi?" Nathan said, getting the hint to hold his paws in the air. The mammals sieging them gave each other a look or two before turning back to the party.
"Why are you here?" the panther closest to them asked slowly and with a heavy accent painting his voice.
"We're looking for refuge for our fellow mammals trying to escape prey controlled regions to the south," Honey explained evenly, barely looking at the spear tips offending her field of vision. "We're short on time and supplies and hoped we could gain your assistance… or at least hope you were open to trade?"
At this point, a voice was shouting from behind them, telling the mammals holding weapons to the group to stand down.
All of the guards reluctantly pulled their weapons back, most keeping them trained on the group and a few standing their spears upright on the ground. None of them took their gaze from the group however.
Parting the crowd of spear toting guards, two lions made their way through, followed slowly by an elderly looking baboon.
"They opened the door! You can all relax. It takes a special variety of mammal to make it here through that old passage," the larger male lion chastised the guards. "My goodness it's been years since I've seen it used."
"I dare say I haven't seen it opened since you were a cub," the baboon mentioned, offering the party a smile.
"Is it safe to say you aren't going to play pincushion on us with your spears?" Meeko asked with a twinge of fear as he lowered his raised paws cautiously.
"Oh, my dear guests, of course not," the lioness gently offered. "We just don't see this passage open often and are cautious of it, but you said you were in need?"
"Yes," the badger answered, trying to grab the reigns of attention again. "We have others on the surface in need of supplies and refuge from prey armies chasing us. I don't want to impose and we have items to trade for the things we ask."
The lion and lioness exchanged a few looks, their tails swishing lightly behind them. The male was a dark tan with a near black mane. The lioness had a lighter tone to her tan coat with varying degrees of dirty cream fur on her paws, belly, and under her muzzle.
"Well then, a welcome is in order then," the baboon spoke, softly pushing the two lions forward.
"Ah, right then," the lioness said, trying to find her words. "I am Kiara."
"And I'm Kovu," the lion voiced for himself, who then gestured to the baboon behind the pair, "and this is our advisor and longtime family friend, Rafiki."
The one labeled as Rafiki stepped forward, using a tall staff with various baubles and charms hanging from it to walk, and with arms spread wide, pulled the two lions together as they all said in unison, …
"Welcome… to Upendi."
YAY! more Disney character induction to the story.
I love Kovu and Kiara. Simba's Pride was and still is my favorite Disney animation sequel. And to my favorite Disney animated film too. there were alot of bad animated sequels but this wasnt one. Hope most of you agree.
Also hope you all caught my Emperor's New Groove reference. XD hehe. All the Disney nods!
REVIEWS!:
ShadowRaven27: No clue what that beginning line was but i love it. lol. and thank you. always a pleasure to hear good things. repetitive or not. XD
JudithWildeHopps: Happy birthday to you too. late but never too late do so. depending on how old you are... 6-6-06 must have been a creepy birthday for you. lol. almost... satanic. Anyways, thank you for saying so. I'm trying to get better at character development and i'm relieved to hear those like you like the interactions i write. Hope this chapter had a healthy amount of those as well.
Tantio: firstly... great name. sounds like a hulking polynesian warrior ready to crack a mountain open. and it's actually a nod to the movie Lion King 2: Simba's Pride, but i love how you came up with that. lol. Upendi is swahili for Love. as for archer Judy... maybe...
FeyFable: Thank you. and glad you agree. I couldnt think of a better person who seemed like the surrogate mother to a snarky fox like Nicholas. As for the forest... that was a general idea I was going with but I will explore it more soon. XD
Fox in the hen house: Not quite loco but the fruit is very... odd... I couldnt resist making it so divine you lose your mind. hehe. Meeko might still try eating it though... that little rascal gets away from me sometimes. I swear if i dont close my laptop... he'll jump out when i go to the restroom and clear out my cupboard.
Fannyfan: Glad you love her. I'm grateful people are taking me at my suggestion to read her in that voice. I know it's my own character but i love writing her with that voice in mind.
Blackhawk24: No worries. as long as you are honest but not insulting with your reviews, i would even accept a stammering spiel of fangirl squeals and screams in text form if it meant you liked it. You are most likely correct about the spear shafts thing you mentioned. i thought about it before paw... hehe... paw... ahem... and I figured the context might be that these bandits had poorly maintained weapons an dry cracked wood shafts for their spears that could easily be splintered. i would have included that but figured it might ruin the moment with over explanation. I take no offense, just to clarify and might edit in the near future. thanks for making that 'nitpick' considerately. lol. and thanks for the birthday wishes.
Leon Banz: Haha. glad to be so mysterious. I try not to be too obvious about my plot devices. I originally planned for Meeko and Honey to be the thing but after the mention by Judith and Nicholas about Gideon and the resulting positive feedback concerning that... i'm rethinking it and will get back to you when i make a clear decision. but for now, i'm letting Honey mess with the poor raccoon.
Merecor: Thanks for that. i did enjoy it greatly. I'm glad you like Honey. I hope to keep everyone entertained by her sass for a good while.
ChaoticImp: thanks so much. and I sure did. lol.
Bluefashioned: That... is hilarious. and thank you for saying so. I'll try my best never to disappoint.
DONE!
Alrighty then... I'm gonna wrap this up... with bacon... and i'll see you guys and gals later.
Until next time, It's been a hustle, Sweethearts.