Chapter 25: Night Walk

After a few minutes, Jayden brought up the idea of a spar, and as she suspected, Dayya reported she wasn't in the mood. Taeliss and Mebala were game, however. The three of them traded off. Jayden felt like she did well but couldn't tell it was because of luck or she was truly getting better. Dayya did end up joining in for a spar after Taeliss and Mebala had a turn, but it was obvious her heart wasn't in it, and Jayden beat her easily. She wondered for a moment if she should have gone easy on her to make her feel better, but Dayya surely would have noticed.

When they finished, Dayya said with a gloomy voice, "You're getting better, keep up the good work."

Jayden could have been insulted by her older-by-one-minute sister, but she took the praise happily, knowing she meant it genuinely and not in a I'm better than you way.

"You'll have to spar with me more often, okay?" Jayden said hoping to begin to knock Dayya out of her funk. "I need your toughness to whip me into shape." she said, and nudged her playfully in the shoulder. Dayya smiled briefly and nodded.

They all rested after that. A little later, Zuna, Zula and Clous joined them and rested on the rocks, and on the ground next to them. They talked about Tempest's new cub. Clous and Zuna reported they just visited the cub before they had come over to the rocks.

"He's adorable." Zuna said and Clous nodded.

"Oh, I need to go see him!" Zula said, getting up. "Jayden, wanna go with me?" She gave her brown friend a strange look that suggested she had something to say to her in private.

"Yeah sure." she stood.

"Vitani and Tempest are only wanting two visitors at a time, so you might have to wait in line." Clous said. "Well, I say 'And Tempest' but I really mean just Vitani." he chuckled. "She's very protective."

"Yeah I bet." Jayden muttered.

"We'll make sure to wait 'til it's clear then. Come on, let's go." Zula led the way to the front of Pride Rock. Toni and Kanai were waiting some distance away from Tempest and Torrent who were still under the rock's shade. The cub already had two visitors, Jika and Larne. Jayden could hear them awwwing and baby-talking. Jayden wanted to snicker. She never heard either of them talk like that before and it was quite amusing considering their normal disposition. Zula and Jayden waited behind Toni and Kanai, but with enough space between them, so Zula and Jayden could talk privately.

"Oh my God, you and Dark, I can't believe it!" Zula said in a raspy whisper. "I barely had time to get used to the idea before all the excitement happened. It didn't seem real until I saw the way he looked at you."

"Shh!" she warned, looking around.

"I am shh'ed! You talk!"

"Talk what?"

"How do you two keep it a secret? I just want to yell it out. You're adorable together." Zula grinned.

Jayden blushed. "You think so?"

"Yes, you're perfect. Let me live vicariously through you okay? I'll pretend like I'm the one that's in a two-sided loving relationship. Just keep feeding me details, but I'll pretend I'm with someone other than my brother." Zula laughed loudly and Jayden joined in.

When they got quiet, Zula asked in a lower tone, "How are you just going to break up when you leave…?"

Jayden looked at the ground. "I don't know…" She didn't want to think about that.

"I guess it's better just to live for now. Be happy now, right?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm going for. Oh, by the way, since I'm not ordered to keep you updated on every single thing that's going on with me…"

Zula grinned as a response, and Jayden went on. "I told Drayden 'no.' Finally. A firm no. Basically a 'never' but in a nice way."

Zula giggled, "Of course in a nice way. I know you. How'd he take it?"

"Seemingly fine. I told him he'll be fine. I hope that was the right thing to say. Was it?" Jayden said, unsure, and very much wanting her friend's opinion.

Zula shrugged. "I'm not an expert, but you said what came naturally, so it must be right. Right?"

Jayden shrugged too as Toni and Kanai moved up to visit the cub now that Jika and Larne moved off. Jayden and Zula moved up in line.

"Right or wrong, it's true. Drayden's a tough guy and he will be alright. Just because your names rhyme doesn't mean you have to be a couple."

"Exactly!" Jayden laughed.

The two waited in silence for a few minutes when out of the blue, Zula said, "I better not catch you kissing my brother though!"

Jayden giggled, "Well, we don't do that."

"What, never?" she stared.

"Well not during the day." she said. "No where someone can see us."

"So what do you do at night?" Zula said, giving Jayden a suggestive wiggle of the eyebrows. Jayden shoved her in the chest and rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, don't be obscene."

"Whatever, tell me what you do for real."

"We meet at a rock on the side of Pride Rock. There's a short grassy field there and a long grassy field around that."

Zula nodded.

"We just lay there and watch the sky, and talk. Or sometimes we don't talk. Some nights he's playful and wants to play tag or wrestle."

"You sound disgustingly cute. I'll make sure to never go that way at night."

Jayden chuckled.

Zula asked, "Do you think he'll care that I know?"

"No, I don't think so. I'll ask him tonight."

"Okay. I'll try to embarrass him about this whole situation all I can."

"What a good sister you are. Just don't tell anyone else, or let it slip in any way. Got it? I really can't let Dayya find out. She's already really hurting about Dark. It would destroy our relationship if she did. Oh, and my mother would totally blame me for hurting her, like I did it on purpose."

"I won't say anything, I promise."

"Thank you."

A couple minutes later, it was their turn to visit Torrent. Tempest was alert, and the tiny cub was asleep in her paws.

Vitani and Tome were resting nearby. Jayden knew Vitani was keeping an eye on things without even looking at her.

"Thanks for coming, you two." Tempest said quietly, smiling.

"We're happy to." Zula said, "He's adorable."

"Thank you." she smiled more, and gazed at Torrent with an unconditional love. Now that Tempest was a mother, she looked more mature and graceful than ever. Jayden could remember like it was yesterday when Tempest used to play fight roughly with Koru, or get into petty shouting matches. And of course the time she got separated form the family as an adolescent and traveled all this way in the wrong direction. If she had known she should have just stayed put, she never would have gotten so lost. There was no sign of that naive and sometimes hostile adolescent today. Jayden knew she'd make a great mother.

"Is Mani taking a break?" Jayden asked, noticing the big brown lion wasn't around.

"He was so bursting full of energy, I let him go play with his friends." she giggled. "He's very excited. That makes me so happy. With both of us taking care of him, Torrent will be such a great cub."

Jayden felt warmed at her words. "He'll be perfect."

"I can't wait to take my little guy home." she licked his back lovingly. His little peach paw moved slightly.

Jayden felt a stab go through her chest. Home.

"About how long do you think it'll take before Torrent's old enough to travel?" Zula asked, probably for Jayden's benefit.

"Mother thinks it will probably be a month. His legs will be strengthened and I'll have taught him a few things about rules and the dangers of the world by then. I'll try to carry him when I can. We've already planned what to do when we're sleeping. Someone will always be watching him."

"That's good." Was all Jayden could say. One month. One more month with Dark, and everything else she loved about the Pridelands, including Zula. Four weeks. Thirty days. It might as well be two.

Jayden and Zula moved off a few minutes later, but not before Jayden licked her nephew. He smelled of soft grass and milk. Tempest asked them to visit again soon, and Jayden promised they would, and gave her a short nuzzle. Another pair of visitors waited some distance behind them, and moved up when they stepped away.

When the two were far enough away, Zula said, "You gotta work on that look."

"What look?"

"When she said one month, you looked like you had a heart attack. Are you okay?"

"I was that obvious?"

"Duh."

"Well, okay, I'll work on it. And I'll be okay. I'll miss you though when I'm gone."

"I'm still thinking about going with you. Nothing like leaving your past behind to get over it! What does Ol' Simba say sometimes? You gotta put your behind in-"

"Your past behind you."

"-Oh right. Yeah that. Hey, do you think Drayden would give me a chance? I don't really know him that well, but I could learn to like him!"

The brown lioness laughed at her enthusiasm. "Maybe!" She actually loved the thought of Zula coming with her. That would lessen the pain of leaving Dark. But she never wanted to come between Zula and her home and family. It would ultimately be her decision whether to leave or not.

"A walk?"

"Yes, a walk. Come on, it'll be fun." Jayden said to Dark. That night couldn't have come any sooner for Jayden. Her time with the black lion was limited, she had to use it to the best of her ability. She suggested a late night walk as soon as she saw Dark waiting there by the rock. The idea came to her suddenly and would be a nice change of pace.

"Well, sure, it sounds nice." Dark smiled.

The two headed out in the night. Jayden told him about how they only had a month left. Dark could see how upset that made her, and he nuzzled her. She hoped she'd never forget his scent.

As they walked, Jayden brought Zula up.

"So… Zula knows." she said.

Dark chuckled.

"I hope you don't mind."

"I don't mind. I wish everyone knew about us." he looked at her.

She looked away, thinking about Dayya. He knew what she was thinking without asking and sighed. "Our story doesn't have a happy ending does it?" he said quietly.

Jayden choked up and started to cry.

"I'm sorry, that was a stupid thing to say." he said, noticing her tears right away. She didn't say anything, so he stopped walking, and stopped her by putting a paw on her shoulder. She faced him and looked up with her sad purple eyes. "Hey…" Dark said and rubbed her shoulder with his paw. "We'll be okay."

It was the same line she'd given Drayden except Dark was included in the promise. Jayden was relieved the line actually did make her feel a little better.

We will be okay. I'll be okay. It'll be hard for a while, but it'll be fine. She closed the distance between them and put her head on his chest. His paw went around her back and he tugged her close. She felt like she could hang on to him like that forever, and just be lost in their love and his scent, and soft mane.

A cricket's chirp reminded her to come back to reality. Jayden had stopped crying, but Dark pulled back his head to look at her eyes to check. When he saw no tears, he gave her a big grin, the goofy kind that she couldn't help but return.

The two continued to walk. They were headed in no direction in particular. There were several active birds in the trees they passed. Jayden thought she saw a bat fly overhead, but Dark thought she was making it up. At one point, they saw a big cat of some kind stalking through the grass a few yards away. All Jayden saw was the back leg and tail. Dark was worried it would be the troublesome leopard that they fought, but Jayden was pretty sure it wasn't.

"It looked more like a cheetah to me. The leg was skinny and so was the tail."

"As long as it wasn't that leopard. Or as long as this cheetah isn't hunting us." he said.

She giggled. "You'll scare it away if it tries anything."

"I'll protect you."

"Aw, my hero." she gushed and nuzzled his shoulder with a push.

"Has the pride ever had trouble with cheetahs before?"

"No, they pretty much stay away. According to the stories, they come to the presentations of new heirs, but other than that, I think they generally avoid us. Have you heard the story of Ciara's first huntress test?" she asked. "Where a cheetah ruined her possible kill?"

"No, I don't think so."

"I heard it from Dayya. Who I think heard it from Kivu. The cheetah, also a young female like Ciara was at the time, came running out at the prey just before Ciara moved into position. The cheetah hadn't been in a great position either, so it completely ruined any chanced either of them had at catching prey."

"Sounds like she had a spot of bad luck." Dark grinned and Jayden groaned at the bad joke and rolled her eyes. They walked along for a while until they made it to one of the borders.

"Let's rest here for a minute." Dark suggested, and flopped down, belly-up, in the long grass. She settled beside him until Dark motioned with his paw for her to come closer. She happily obliged and lay on his chest with her arms around him and his around her. It was the most comfortable she'd ever been in her life. They lay quietly for a moment, when suddenly they heard approaching paw steps coming from outside the border. Jayden slipped off Dark's chest so he could move to his stomach to get a better look. Both of them stayed low in the grass, but ears were held high. Who'd the paw steps belong to?

It was dark out, but the two could see two lions approaching. One appeared male and the other, female. The female was considerably smaller. The male's mane stretched under his shoulders to his elbows.

"Is this is?" came the quiet and high pitched voice of the female.

"Almost." said the male.

Jayden recognized the voice. "I think that's Koru." she whispered to Dark.

The couple got closer, and then crossed the border into the Pridelands. They were only a couple yards away from Jayden and Dark, but they hadn't been spotted.

"Now. This is it." the lion said and grinned at the lioness.

That's definitely Koru. Jayden thought.

"Who's that girl?" Dark whispered so quietly in Jayden's ear. She shrugged.

"Wow, the Pridelands! This is really it, I'm in the Pridelands!" she female said.

"Yeah, but shhh," Koru said, "I don't think I can bring outsiders in."

"I'm not an outsider! You know me." she purred.

"I know you, but no one else does."

"Yet."

"Um… yeah." Koru said, and she nuzzled him.

"Looks like we aren't the only ones who sneak out at night." Dark whispered. Jayden nodded. Who was this girl with Koru? She'd never seen her before. She obviously wasn't a Pridelander by her reaction. But she and Koru had definitely met on more than one occasion.

It was too dark to see exactly what she looked like, but the lioness's pelt looked darker than Koru's golden one. Possibly she was brown or gray. On her head was an off hair tuft that looked a little like Vitani's. Her eye color couldn't be made out.

"Can we move close?" she asked.

"Sure," Koru said, and closed the distance between them, putting his chest against hers.

She giggled, "No! Closer to the Pridelands. To Pride Rock."

"I'm not sure about that."

"Come on, seeing it from far away is so depressing! I wanna know what it's like to live here. You're so lucky!"

"I don't actually…" but the lioness had already started moving. "Jiyi, wait up!" he followed. When the two were out of earshot, Dark and Jayden let out a sigh of relief that they hadn't been spotted.

"So Koru has a girlfriend." Dark said.

"I guess so. I've never seen or met any of Koru's girlfriends before."

"He doesn't seem interested in letting you meet them either," he chuckled.

"Nope." Jayden agreed. "He was trying to impress her."

"The Pridelands are impressive."

"So are my brother's smooth moves." she joked.

"Yeah, so maybe we can move closer?" he gave a sly smile. She laughed and said, "Sure." Then cuddled up next to him and put her head in his arms. He rested his head on top of her's and again she thought, There is no better comfort than this.