Chapter 4: Hide it in the Bush

Any words Jayden thought to say were caught in her throat. Her thoughts flashed though: oh no… the Pridelands… Dark's there! What if he's forgotten me? What if he has a girlfriend? I can't see them together, that would kill me… I can't go! I won't go!

Vitani spoke, "If that is what must be done, then so be it."

"But can Tempest travel?" Dayya asked. "It's not a short trip to the Pridelands."

"That is a good point…" Larne said, looking discouraged.

"I can go, I'm fine." Tempest was saying, but no one paid attention to her stubbornness. Mani rubbed her neck though with a gentle paw.

"She'll have to stay." Vitani said, "I'll go alone and bring the medicine back."

Jayden felt a bit of relief and sighed. This plan would save her from facing her fear.

"No, that can't be done." Tome interjected. "First of all, it's dangerous. You'd have to hunt alone, and if you were attacked, fight alone-"

"Who would attack-"

"Second." Tome cut in, "What if the medicines she needs are liquid in nature? They would have to be carried on a large leaf. That's the only way I can think of to transport liquid type medicine. You'd have to drag the leaf back by yourself. That sounds pretty uncomfortable for one lion to do the whole way."

"Yeah," Mani spoke up, "If we came, we can take turns dragging it. Or more than one of us can take it together."

"Well, someone will have to stay with Tempest, we can't all go." Vitani said, growing impatient.

This was Jayden's chance. "I'll stay." She said quickly. "We'll stay in the cave to avoid attacks… and I can hunt for us."

"Someone else would have to stay with you." Tome told his youngest daughter. "I say it's too dangerous for you to hunt on your own."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Tempest said.

"I'll stay too." Mani said.

"There's something I need to say!" Tempest tried.

"Fine." Tome said over her, "Mani and Jayden will stay with Tempest while Koru, Larne, Dayya, Drayden, Vitani and I will go to the Pridelands and hurry back with the medicine."

"No, no." Larne was saying now, "There will be no hurrying with that medicine! Just think, if you spill it all then we'd be back to where we started with no medicine for Tempest's infection. You'll have to walk."

"Walk!" Vitani exclaimed. "Who knows how long that could take!?"

Larne shook her head. "It has to be done."

"It already takes several days to get there, Mom." Koru spoke up. "And several back. That's by running most of the time, and fast walking the rest, with almost no resting. So that's nearly a week right there. So if we walked the entire way back the whole trip could take us…" Koru paused.

Jayden supplied, "Approximately 3 to 4 weeks depending on how fast the trip there is, if we come upon any reason to stop and how long it takes Mairu to collect the ingredients for the medicine."

"That's like a month!" Vitani said, exasperated.

"Um, excuse me, family?!" Tempest said, trying to get their attention. She didn't let them interrupt her again. "I don't think I can wait around 3 to 4 weeks… I'm pregnant."

Vitani and Tome's eyes doubled in size. Jayden dropped her jaw. Mani looked surprised too, but not disappointed. Jayden looked at her sister's belly. That news explained the slight weight gain.

"I should have realized sooner," Larne was saying, "You look about one and a half, to two months along. No, she can't wait a month. The cub might be coming by then."

"Well this certainly makes things more complicated…" Vitani said.

"Congratulations, Tempest!" Dayya shouted, and nuzzled her sister.

"You can always count on Dayya to lighten a dark situation, huh?" Drayden whispered in Jayden's ear.

"Huh?" she replied, because at first she thought he had said something about Dark, but then realized what he said. "Oh, yeah."

"Congratulations." Tome echoed. "To both of you."

Mani and Tempest nuzzled.

"You aren't mad at me, are you Mom?" Tempest said, looking up at Vitani.

Her expression softened. "Of course not, sweetie." she nuzzled her daughter. "I can't wait to meet my first grandcub."

"Unfortunately this makes things more dangerous." Larne said. "If the blood poisoning gets out of control… the cub will die."

Tempest gasped. "No!"

Mani put a protective paw over her stomach.

"Then she must go." Vitani said. "We'll all go to the Pride Lands, get the medicine and get her healed. We'll stay until the cub is born. Once he or she is old enough to travel, we'll return."

Jayden gulped. That was a long time. It meant staying there for several months.

Everyone was nodding to Vitani's plan.

"It's the only way" Larne said. "While we wait for the cub to come of age, I'll learn the things I need to know about medicine so I can be better prepared in the future."

"Sounds good." Tome said, and began talking about when they should leave.

Oh no… Jayden thought again. There's no avoiding it this time. We will be returning to Pride Rock. What am I going to do?

Jayden backed away from her family as quietly as she could. No one noticed, so she trotted away. Once she was far enough, she full out ran. Why am I running? she thought suddenly.

It's not like I'm running away or anything…

Are you sure you're not? Her inner voice asked.

I just can't see Dark! Not after all this time.

You always run away.

No I don't! Not always…But Jayden thought back to when she was a cub, back at the Pridelands. Her mother had announced to Kivu that she planned to take her Pride home. This was the instant she realized she would be forced to leave everything that made her happy. She ran then too. She didn't have anywhere to go, but instead of standing, talking and dealing with it, she had fun into the cave and cried.

I do always run… She realized, and stopped. She found a nearby tree and collapsed under it. The lioness put her head in her paws and tried hard not to cry.

"I do always run." She muttered aloud, "I'm such a coward. I'm weak." Jayden cried quietly in her paws for a few minutes, then thankfully stopped just a few minutes before she heard pawsteps approach, and a female voice call her name.

"Jayden?"

It was Dayya.

"Hey." Jayden called to her, feeling exposed and kind of silly.

"Hey yourself. Why'd you disappear suddenly?" The red-cream lioness sat by her sister, and looked at her with curiosity. Dayya usually was loud and oblivious, but she did have her quiet moments. Jayden felt very thankful for that.

"Well I just came here to think…" she said. Though I can't tell you what about…

"I think I know why." Dayya said.

Jayden was surprised. "You do?" The dark brown lioness looked at her sister. Could she really know?

Dayya looked at the sky. "I think about it sometimes too." she adapted a far-away look.

Jayden's eyebrows rose. Were they speaking of the same thing? Dayya did love Dark too, back then. She even promised him she'd still love him and one day they'd be together. But Dayya hadn't talked about Dark in a long time. Through the first months after Vitani had taken them home, she talked about him and the rest of the Pridelanders a lot. But after that, Dayya almost never spoke of Dark or the Pridelands. It was like she had forgotten him. There was no way Dayya knew what Jayden thought now. She remained silent so Dayya would speak.

"I mean, she basically died because of us…" she said.

Jayden was confused. "Who?'

"Sarafina of course!" Dayya looked at Jayden again. "Isn't that what you were thinking?"

"Oh… yes. I was." Jayden lied and thought back to the Pridelands again. During the battle with the Black Pride, Jayden and the other cubs were to stay in the cave, and Sarafina was assigned to baby-sit them. Sarafina bravely sacrificed herself when two wild dogs who were on the Black Pride's side attacked. The cubs were able to get away unhurt while the brave old lioness fought the tough dogs.

"But don't worry, sis. I just always think of it like this: Sarafina practically snarled at us to leave the cave. To protect us. There was no way she wanted us to get hurt. We were saved and that was what she wanted."

"Yes." Jayden agreed.

Dayya went on. "So why does that make you not want to go back to the Pride Lands? I could kinda tell you didn't think it was such a great idea when it was suggested."

"Um…" Jayden had to think fast." I just um…fell bad, and being near the Pridelands, especially the cave will remind me of what happened and how I couldn't help her."

"So you're scared of facing those feelings?" Dayya asked.

"Yes that's it exactly." Jayden said, then stopped. Wait. That is it exactly, but about my feelings for Dark.

"Hmm…" Dayya said, looking reflective, "Well you can't hide from things forever, and that includes feelings. I think of it like this: Feelings are always there, and you can shove them under a bush for a while, but eventually you walk by that bush again, because you live by that bush, you know, so you're bound to walk by it sometimes, and there are those feelings again. You can keep hiding them in the bush, but then you'll have to begin avoiding being near it, then you'll have to go out of your way to avoid even seeing it, and by that time you'll have avoided half your life. Do you see what I'm saying, Jayden?"

Jayden's mouth almost dropped. She had made perfect sense, albeit with a silly example. It was dead-on about her feelings about Dark. She had been "shoving them under the bush."

"So I should face my feelings and go to the Pridelands." Jayden said looking at her light brown paws.

"Yes! And that's how you'll get over them."

That's how I'll get over Dark. Just see him, say hello, then act normal. Maybe even act as if we never met. That might be best. I can do that.

Dayya spoke again, "Really, Jayden, for being the smart one in the family, sometimes you can just be so… sense-missing! I mean come on, being upset about something tha happened that wasn't your fault? That was like two years ago."

"Yeah, you're right, I was silly to worry about what happened to Sarafina. I think going there will help." she said.

Dayya nodded and smiled, "There you go! Well alright then. Dad says we're leaving in the morning, so we better get back and get ready. Mom wants us to exercise a bit so we'll be limbered up before we start the trip." She stood and headed for home.

"Coming." Jayden said, standing too. She looked at Dayya's dark-red striped back. "Dayya?"

She turned to look at her.

"Thank you."

"Certainly, my sister. Come on!"

Author note: A short and happy-ish chapter. Dayya on occasion has words of semi-wisdom. I know many of you are excited about Tempest's news. The chapters will lengthen as we go along. Read on, thank you!