Dr. S landed with a hard thud, kicking up a cloud of dust. After a bout of coughing, Clover glared down upon his bruised and dust coated body.
"Oy, is that all you got? Is that all you got?!" Clover barked.
Dr. S stayed where he was, tongue out, eyes closed.
"Oy, get up!" She gave his side a hard kick but no response. "You down for the count already, ya big baby? You know, I honestly expected better of you but I guess I was wrong!"
Still no response.
Clover wiped her brow, fingers brushing away beads of sweat. It was a practically hot day, the sun hanging high alone in a clear blue sky. Clover shielded her eyes against it's harsh rays and was suddenly aware of her dry, burning throat. She took one last look Dr. S's way, who still hadn't moved. Then she turned and headed towards the nearby table where there were several coconut cups of water waiting. Suddenly, she felt something colliding with her feet, causing them to give out from under her. She landed flat on her face and had barely touched the ground when something brushed up against her neck.
"Chomp, you're dead."
Clover opened her eyes and saw the tip of a scaly tail being pulled away from her person. She looked up and saw the rest of Dr. S towering over her with a big grin on his face.
"Got ya." He said with gleeful pride.
"Why you little...yeah, you got me." Clover admitted begrudgingly.
"Shouldn't have been so quick to turn your back on me." Dr. S said all smug.
"Yeah, yeah." Clover got up and brushed the dirt from her fur. Part of her wished to punch the smug self satisfied grin off his face but it was part of his training and she was genuinely a tad impressed.
For four days after that first session, Clover had ran Dr. S through the wringer, constantly testing him on signs of danger to look out for, what to do in all kinds of kingdom/King Julien threatening scenarios, and beating the snake doctor to the ground over and over again in sparing matches. Part of why she put him through such harsh training was to see if he would see it through or quit, say that kingdom security was too hard of a job. Clover knew he had saved numerous lives and his seemingly sincere words about fighting for Nurse Phantom and his vow to protect the kingdom was stuck in her head but the idea that the eccentric doctor would actually stick with such a demanding job and take it seriously was still a hard one to wrap her head around. She had fully expected him to have quit by then but he hadn't. Day in and day out, he got back up and threw himself into her painful lessons. There was plenty of moaning and groaning along the way but still, he came back for more each day. He still had much to learn but Clover felt that he was slowly but surely getting there.
"I can't believe you fell for the old fake injury trick." Dr. S said, chuckling.
"I did not! That was a freebie!" Clover said defensively. It wasn't but he didn't have to know that.
"Oh please, you fell for it. Admit it."
"Did not!"
"Did too."
"Did not!"
"Did too."
"Did no..." Clover was interrupted by a nearby ear piercing screech of a hawk. She looked up, half expecting her own hawk Shadow to appear but as the large bird descended closer, she saw that wasn't the case. The hawk that soon landed close to her side was brown with red, yellow and white and sitting on the majestic bird's back was none other then Clover's husband, Sage Moondancer.
"Sage!?" Clover and Dr. S exclaimed at the same time.
"Clover!" Sage exclaimed, hopping off his hawk to hug his wife.
"Sage, wha-what are you doing here?" Clover asked, hugging him back, happy to see him but also confused. They pulled apart and Sage explained,
"You've been gone for days and I hadn't received a message from you. I started to get worried and our people have as well, so I came here to see how you were faring."
"Oh my...I'm so sorry! I meant to write, I swear! I've just been so busy I must have forgotten! I'm sorry for making you and everyone worry!" Clover said, painfully aware of the kind of scenarios that must have ran through Sage and their subject's heads and how easy it would have been to ease their minds with a simple letter explaining that, yes she was fine and not dead or in any danger. Ugh, once again she had been so focused on one matter that she had completely neglected another, though at least this time without catastrophic consequences.
"So, howare you faring? How are King Julien and the people of this kingdom?" Sage inquired.
"I'm fine. King Julien and everyone are fine...now. Like I said, I've been busy. I've been training Dr. S...oh, this is Dr. S." Clover indicated Dr. S.
"Hello." Dr. S waved his tail. They had crossed paths more then once but had never formally been introduced.
"I'm training him to be my replacement in protecting the kingdom." Saying it out loud somehow made the idea even more insane to Clover.
"A giant snake protecting the kingdom? Cool." Sage said in awe without a hint of sarcasm to be found. Dr. S was taken aback by this response. He knew that Sage was a lemur that marched to the beat of his own strange drum but still, he was one of only a handful that had expressed total confidence in him from the get go. Confidence that Dr. S himself wasn't sure he deserved.
"Typical Sage." Clover thought to herself, annoyed from Sage's lack of questioning the situation. Even without the context of Dr. S's history and personality, the idea of a giant snake protecting a bunch of lemurs who he could just as easily swallow whole was still a pretty outlandish situation. One that deserved at least a little skepticism. Then again, this was Sage, when did he ever make a fuss over anything out of the ordinary? Still, giant snake protecting lemurs, he could at the very least be dumbfounded by the sheer ridiculousness of the idea.
Another screech of a hawk was heard, followed by Shadow the hawk flying over and landing next to Sage's man hawk. The two birds greeted each other with joyful screeches, nuzzled the sides of their heads together and then proceeded to talk to each other in their hawk language.
"Clover? Dr. S? Sage?" Maurice said in surprise as he, Mort, and King Julien rushed unto the scene.
"Sage? Wha-what are you doing here?" King Julien asked, panting, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
"He came to check on me because I forgot to send him an update on everything." Clover explained, embarrassed.
"I've heard rumors about the carnage plaguing this land. Tell me, what is fact and what is fiction?" Sage asked everyone.
So Sage was given a brief run down of all that had happened since his and Clover's wedding, all the while Sage himself didn't utter a single word until after the recap was finished.
"So, you received a sign from Frank that Dr. S was meant to protect you guys and so Dr. S has been protecting you guys? Awesome." Sage said in awe, again with no hint of sarcasm to be found. Everyone looked at him incredulously.
"And?" Clover asked, clenching her jaw, trying to keep her composer.
"And what?" Sage asked back, confused.
"Is that all you have to say!?" Clover snapped, intense green eyes glaring up at serene blue ones.
"What else is there?" Sage didn't understand what else his wife wanted him to say.
"What else...this whole mess started because of our wedding! Our wedding, which made everyone let their guards down, including me! I was so focused on you and dresses and feelings that I didn't check on Mary Ann, didn't access King Julien and everyone to see if they could actually defend themselves, didn't train anyone to take my place, did nothing to ensure that everyone's safety! No, no, it just made me an idiots that went 'Good enough! No need to do anymore, no need to ensure lemurs won't die without me! I'm sure the kingdom will be just fine'!" Clover said in a mocking fake, doopy happy tone. Then she snapped back to show her very real anger. "But it wasn't fine and it wasn't enough! Lemurs died at our wedding reception, Sage! Died! And many more almost have!" Clover paused and briefly looked over at King Julien, guilt written clear across her face. It pained Julien to see that expression. Clover then turned back to Sage and took a deep breath. Shame and remorse was painfully clear in her voice as she continued. "I know neither of us meant for anyone to get hurt but the fact is, lemurs have been hurt because of our actions. For the love of Frank, don't you regret getting married so quickly? Maybe if we hadn't, if we had a longer engagement and thought things through more, then maybe I would seen that more had to be done before I left. Then no one would have gotten hurt."
Clover looked expectantly at Sage, hoping to see a change in his demeanor, to see the gravity of the situation hit him. She didn't need for him to start yelling at the sky, lamenting over what he had done in dramatic fashion. She just wanted some indication that the gravity of the situation was effecting him, show that he gave a damn about the innocent lives effected by their careless actions. He loved every creature big and small and always showed real sorrow at their pain. Surely he felt sorrow then and there for all the pain that he had helped cause, right? He had to.
"What's done is done and regret is an anchor wrapped around the soul in sea of wasted tears." Was Sage's composed response.
Blood started to boil and everyone else present all had their own scathing remark in mind but it was Clover who beat them to the punch with,
"What's wrong is you!? Innocent lives have suffered because of us and you're just brushing it aside like...like it doesn't matter!"
"Of course the suffering of innocents matters but the innocents of this kingdom aren't suffering anymore, are they? All are safe and sound thanks to Dr. S. Why dwell on what if's when they will only smother you like a stage mother living vicariously through her child?" Was Sage's calm argument.
"What's Tammy have to do with any of this?" A new outraged voice suddenly appeared and from the sound of it, coming from close by. It was followed by a none too quiet whisper.
"Quiet hun!"
"Becca? Abner? Where are you guys?" Maurice said in surprise, looking around to see if he could spot the couple.
"Oh, looks like the jig is up guys. Might as well come out." Xixi's voice was heard a moment before she herself stepped out of some nearby bushes, followed by at least a dozen or so lemurs, including Abner being pushed in a wheel chair by Becca.
"What the...okay, how long have you guys been ease dropping on us?" King Julien wanted to know.
"Long enough to know that this bubble brained bastard here doesn't give a damn that he almost got us all killed!" Hector answered furiously while glaring daggers aimed at Sage's throat. Other citizens nodded in agreement while directing their own scathing glares.
"I literally just said that I do care about your pain. It's just that I'm not allowing guilt to consume me over events that cannot be changed and actions that had no malicious intent behind them." Sage told him with just the tiniest hint of an edge to his tone, with Clover being the only one to hear it and she wasn't sure if it's real or she was imagining it.
"Actions that who what now?" Abner asked, scratching his head in confusion.
"He's saying that he ain't gonna feel bad over what he did cause 'it's over and done and he didn't mean to hurt anyone'." The second half of Hector's sentence was blatantly said mockingly. Which Sage either didn't notice or didn't care.
"Exactly. Only by living in the present can one truly enjoy the gravy train of life." Sage said in his normal whimsical manner with straight face. One of Hector's eyes twitched in response, his teeth clenched tighter and it was all he could do but silently seethe, least he lunge and wrapped his paws around the bubble brained bastard's neck.
Sage then turned to Clover and said to her with tenderness, "Speaking of, I'd love to once again ride that train with you. When are you coming home?"
"I...you..." Clover found coherent words escaping her. She paused, narrowed her eyes and said firmly, "Go home, Sage."
"Oh, we're going now, cool." Sage said with delight.
"No, not us. You, alone. I'm staying here to continue training Dr. S and you're going home without me. Understand?" Clover said through clenched teeth, trying to restrain herself with great effort.
"No, I don't. Why must you continue to train him? From what I've just heard, it seems he already has the job covered." Sage argued.
"Cause while he has been successful so far, he's capable of much more and that's where I come in." Clover argued back, looking briefly over at Dr. S, who was taken aback by the unexpected praise.
"...Don't allow guilt to drown you, Clover." Sage warned her with audible concern.
"I'm not drowning!" Clover snapped at him, highly offended. "I'm taking steps to ensure that everyone will be safe instead of just cutting corners and going 'good enough' again!" She said the two words in the same doopy manner as before.
Sage looked at her for a moment, unconvinced, then said, "If that is what you wish...so, when do you think you'll come home?"
"I don't...I don't know, Sage. Just, tell everyone I'm fine, King Julien and his people are fine, and the work I have here and that I don't know when I'm coming back, okay?" Clover asked of him in frustration.
"Okay." Sage said to her, not satisfied but not wanting to argue with her anymore. He then spoke to his avian companion in his own hawk language. The great bird then took off with into the sky, taking Sage with him and the two of them up and away. Clover watched them go for a moment before looking back down and around at everyone still there.
"Clover?" King Julien started towards Clover, reaching out a paw in concern.
Clover looked to him with a pained expression and he could see that her eyes had grown misty. She looked to the crowd and said with her voice strained under the weight of guilt and anger and sorrow, "I'm sorry you lot had to hear that. What you've gone through, the pain you've endured, I know that pain don't just go away. You're still enduring it and you don't deserve to have it down played like that and made to look like it doesn't matter anymore and I'm sorry that he did...I'm sorry…." She then turned her back on everyone and ran off towards the jungle brush.
"Clover!" King Julien called out to her with great concern.
"Leave me alone!" Clover yelled back at him without looking back.
Julien started to go after her but Maurice grabbed his arm.
"Give her some space, your majesty." Maurice said firm and gentle, wanting nothing more then to comfort Clover too but had a feeling that she wouldn't welcome it, not at that moment at least.
"Maurice..." Julien was tempted to pull away and go after Clover anyways but between Maurice's urging and his own gut, he relented, figuring that maybe his friend was right. So the two of them and the rest of the crowd watched Clover run away until she disappeared into the jungle brush. It was then that Julien faced his subjects, unsure what to say but feeling that he had to say something. So he spoke to them while stumbling with the words themselves, the feeing behind them was sincere.
"I...what Clover said. You guys don't deserve to have all your suffering made out like it wasn't a big deal or it's not anymore, cause it still is a big deal. And your safety is a big deal too." But the crowd was hardly listening, more focused on Sage and Clover's words bouncing around in their brains.
"Uh, thanks King Julien. I'll...see ya later." Willie said absentmindedly, walking away. The rest followed suit until it was only King Julien, Maurice, and Mort, and Dr. S left to stare at where Clover's distressed form had disappeared.
…
About ten minutes later, King Julien was wandering about, calling out with paws cupped around his mouth, "Clover! Clover, where are you? Clover!"
Suddenly, he heard a familiar "Hiyah!", followed the sound of a loud crack followed by a lot of rustling and snapping and then a great big thud and the earth shaking under his feet. He ran towards the noise and soon found Clover panting, manic eyed, fists held out and feet spread apart in a fighting stance next to a downed tree.
"Clover!" He called out and rushed to her side.
"King Julien?" Clover said in surprise. She faced him and the blazing inferno in her eyes simmering down. Then she scowled and said firmly, "I thought I told you to leave me alone."
"Clover please, I just wanted to say thank you." King Julien said sincerely and Clover gave him a confused look in response. "Thank you for taking mine and the peoples pain seriously and trying to make sure we don't get hurt again, unlike some people." Julien narrowed his eyes and growled the last three words.
"...The way Sage acted. I mean, yes it was an accident but that doesn't change the fact that lemurs got hurt cause of our carelessness and then to act like I'm over reacting for trying to fix things, for making sure I don't leave you lot helpless, again!? That's not over reacting! That's trying to learn from my mistakes to prevent more suffering and he just wants to let it go and pretend that what happened doesn't matter anymore! It does matter and he needs to grow up and face his mistakes like a man, Frank dammit!" Clover said with great offense on everyone's behalf including her own. She then went over and punched the closest upright tree, her fist leaving behind a crack in it's trunk.
"That's so Sage. Ignoring other people's pain and brushing it aside like it's nothing." Julien snarled, then added barely above a whisper. "Just like at your wedding."
"What did you say?" Clover asked, having heard Julien's voice but not his critical comment. Now, Julien could have tried to back pedal on it and leave the matter alone. He could have but he didn't.
"Remember how we all thought that Sage was dead in an unmarked grave, how you cried over him? And when it turned out that he was really alive, he just didn't bother to tell anyone that he had dug himself out hours before and went to go pick up his fish friend? How he brushed your tears aside like they were nothing, even though he was the one who made you cry!? He treated your pain that he made you go through like it didn't matter, just like he just did with the people's cause he only cares about himself and-and you never should have married him!" King Julien argued with great conviction. Sage's dismissal towards the feelings of his peoples and Clover being the final straw that broke the dam that had been holding back his anger, now pouring out in cascades of rage wishing to swept up Sage and pull him away from Clover forever. Or Clover away from him.
"What did you say?" Clover said in stunned disbelief, hoping that she had heard her friend wrong.
"You heard me! Sage doesn't deserve you! You should have dumped his not sorry butt instead of marrying him but I get it! You were under the same stupid fog that we were but the fog has cleared and you're in your right mind again and you can see that Sage is horrible and you need to dump him!" King Julien argued.
"Wasn't in my right mind? Are you serious!?" Clover said with offense and disbelief.
"You said yourself you regretted marrying him!"
"I said I regret marrying him so fast, not that we got married period!"
"Oh please, you so regret marrying that self centered jerk, you just won't admit it!" King Julien said, so sure that he was right.
"Oh, oh, look whose talking? I seem to recall plenty of times you've been self centered, including my wedding! When you thought that you had lost Sage, instead of telling me the truth, you had a robot built to fool me, that you were going to go ahead and let me marry!" Of course Clover was talking about King Julien commissioning Timo and Dr. S to build him FrankenSage.
King Julien was taken aback by this. He thought she wasn't angry at him about that anymore. "I...yes, okay, that was seriously messed up and wrong but you know what, at least I gave a better apology then Sage! His sorry was more a sorry you give when you step on somebody's foot, not making you cry cause you thought he was dead cause he ran off without telling anybody! Unless he did give you a better apology that I didn't hear? Tell me Sage apologized, really apologized to you for that day and I'll back off." For as angry as he was, deep down Julien still wanted to believe that for as much as he screwed up and could be an insensitive jerk, that Sage still put in efforts to be a good husband to Clover. That he at least tried to do good by her because he loves her. For Clover's sake. She deserved much better but it still would be better then the worse scenario that kept playing out in Julien's mind.
Clover's expression changed. The scowl slide off her face, her eyes lost their intensity as her focus shifted to the depths of her memory, searching desperately for a time when Sage expressed more remorse for his actions that day other then his calm and collected and like he forgot to take out the trash 'sorry'. She couldn't find any such expression of remorse and from the lost look on her face, Julien soon realized that.
"He's never really apologized to you, has he?" Julien said after some moments of silence, compassion for Clover and rage for Sage mixing together into a bitter cocktail.
"It doesn't matter." Clover said in an unconvincing manner, looking away from King Julien.
"What the...of course it matters! He doesn't care about your feelings or anybody's and you deserve better then that, Clover!" King Julien snapped.
"That's not true! Sage loves me along with every animal and plant and-and whatever! It's just that he's just a flipping moron whose obsessed with living in the present but that doesn't mean that he doesn't care!"
"Or that's just the excuse that he gives so he can get out of saying sorry!" Julien argued, then grumbled. "Like he always does."
"What did you say!?" Clover barked.
"You heard me! Sage goes on with his own 'I love everybody and everything and peace and love'," King Julien said the words in a mockingly happy way before switching back to his angry tone. "So he can get away with junk like bailing on me with a ship full of killer pirates or helping my uncle and your sister ty to kill me and you! Oh, oh, and how could I forget him almost marrying said sister! And has he ever said he was sorry for any of that? Like, given you an actually good apology? Cause I sure haven't gotten one!"
"...I can't listen to anymore of this." Clover turned her back on Julien and ran off.
"Hey, where are you going? Hey! I'm not finished!" King Julien yelled after Clover but she didn't respond and soon, she had once again disappeared into the jungle. Julien stood trembling, breathing heavily, with fists balled at his sides for a moment or two until he screamed up at the sky,
"Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!" Before storming off in the opposite direction.
…
Clover made her way through the jungle like a hurricane, tearing apart and hurling about anything in her path. Crack went a tree trunk as her fist collided with it. Rocks flung or broken apart in explosions of pebbles scattering about the jungle floor. A tiny gecko sunning herself on a boulder suddenly startled awake and clinging on for dear life when Clover suddenly lifted the large rock off the ground and held it above her head. Her thoughts were like a swarm of enraged bees, both Sage and King Julien' words relentlessly stinging from all sides, clouding Clover's focus to the point where she was hardly conscious of her surroundings. Then suddenly, a familiar sounding voice called out,
"Stop!"
It was Dorothy's voice and it brought Clover back to the here and now, Looking about at her surroundings, Clover saw that she was facing the side wall of a hut and Dorothy was striding towards her with a determined scowl on her face, her paws balled up in fist at her sides. Clover became aware of the weight held in her own paws, looking up and seeing the large boulder she was holding.
"You put that rock down this instant!" Dorothy ordered, pointing a finger towards the ground while stomping her foot. Then she quickly added frantically while holding her paws up in stopping motions, "Slowly!"
Clover obeyed, putting the boulder slowly back unto the ground. The tiny trembling gecko's legs gave out and she spread out and flopped down unto the rock in relief.
"I know you must be feeling something awful right now. Heck, you have every right to be but that don't give you the right to take that out on my house!" Dorothy pointed back towards said house behind her and Clover realized with horror what she had also done to said house. "Or innocent geckos for that matter!" Dorothy added, having just noticed said gecko.
"Dorothy, I...I'm so sorry! I didn't see...I'm so mad at King Julien and Sage and was in my own head but that's no excuse and I'm sorry!" Clover said, mortified over what she had almost done, yet another home destroyed because of her. Then another thought struck, what if she had hurled the boulder into the hut and Dorothy and/or Ted had been inside? Clover covered her mouth with her paws and shook her head in growing horror and shame. What was wrong with her!?
"Whoa there, slow down, King Julien? Sage, I understand, I heard him too and I'm plenty mad at him myself but why King Julien?" Dorothy asked, confused and curious. It was true, she had been among the group of citizens who had ease dropped on Clover and Sage's earlier conversation.
Clover hesitated. She must Dorothy must have hated her like most everyone and therefore, probably wouldn't be sympathetic but she had all this rage inside that had to come out one way or another and venting about it would be a less destructive way. Her best opinion would be Maurice of course but no doubt King Julien would also be seeking him out to complain and she wasn't sure how helpful Mort, Dr. S, or Nurse Phantom would be. So with apprehension she told Dorothy,
"King Julien told me to dump Sage."
"...Oh." Was Dorothy's simple, stunned response. Truth be told, she wasn't sure how to respond.
"He accused Sage of being this inconsiderate jackass who doesn't care about anyone's feelings and then he dares bring up the wedding, which mind you, almost didn't happen because of Julien and I called him out on this and he has to the gall to turn it on Sage and..." Clover started ranting a mile a minute before Dorothy held up her paws in stopping motions and said,
"Whoa whoa, slow down there. Why don't we can go sit down and you can start from the beginning, okay?"
"Right, probably be easier to follow." Clover said in embarrassment. Then She and Dorothy went over and sat on the hut's front porch. Then Clover took a deep breath and proceeded to recount her conversation with King Julien at a more reasonable pace.
"I mean, the whole reason Sage came here in the first place was to check on me and all of you, to see if we were alright. It's just...Sage doesn't like to focus too much on the past. He says that it takes away from enjoying the present and to some degree, I can agree but the problem with Sage is, he takes that mentality too far, like he did today. It's wrong that he won't face his mistakes and you have every right to hate him for it but please, please try to understand that while he can be an insensitive prick and is being one right now, that doesn't mean that he doesn't care and I promise we'll have a long talk when I get home and...and that's all I've got to say." Clover finished speaking her sincere piece, then proceeded to wait anxiously for Dorothy's response. Dorothy had remained silent and stone faced while listening to the recount and stayed silent for a few moments more, scrunching a scowl unto her face and crossing her arms before speaking.
"I'm still angry as heck but...Sage is your husband, you know him better then I do. If you say he cares then, I guess I'm willing to take your word on it." She said begrudgingly but still, it was a lot nicer response then Clover had been expecting.
"You're willing to believe the bitch that left you for dead?" Clover asked, nervous and skeptical.
"I'm...willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, about Sage I mean." Dorothy said, guarded. She had once been so sure that Clover didn't care if everyone in the kingdom lived or died but listening to her speaking to both herself and Sage had now left Dorothy unsure how to feel about her. She had some thinking to do. She did however add more openly and with more confidence, "I know King Julien went too far. In your right mind indeed." An edge creeped into her tone.
"I know! What gives him the right to tell me how to handle my marriage, that if I don't dump my husband at the drop of a hat, then I'm a...a..." Clover struggled to find a suitable word.
"A moron who doesn't know what's best for her? That you're too stupid to make your own decisions?" Dorothy offered bitterly.
"Exactly! And for Julien to act like he can make them for me, it ...it hurts." At the last two words, Clover's anger morphed into misery, the feeling of betrayal stabbing her like a crown of thorns wrapped around her heart.
"I know." Dorothy said gently. Seeing Clover going through an all too familiar pain made Dorothy's grievances towards her not matter in those moments. Part of her wanted to offer at least a comforting pat on the back but hesitated, in consideration of Clover's stance on personal space for both Clover's comfort level and Dorothy's fear of getting punched. Before she could think to ask, Clover said to her sincerely,
"Thanks. Thanks for listening and understanding despite...everything. Is there anyway I can repay you?"
Dorothy was taken aback by the gentleness and warmth she was displaying and didn't know to respond. She settled on, "Just try and control your temper better in the future alright?"
"Deal."
…..
Meanwhile, King Julien had gone over to Maurice's house to vent to Maurice about the confrontation between him and Clover.
"How could you say that?!" Maurice demanded to know, furious.
"Cause Clover deserves better and you know it!" Was Julien's impassioned response, not understanding why Maurice wasn't on his side.
"Of course I do! You think you're the only one whose been having doubts about their relationship lately? I've been having a whole heap of them and I'm with you, Clover does deserve then that-that inconsiderate jerk!" Maurice told him, the fires of rage towards Sage blazing within his own amber eyes.
In the days following that first time, Clover had gone on to vent more about Sage being passive aggressive about her new and approved more violent training sessions and how much she and their subjects loved it. Not saying anything upfront about wanting to stop it but watching the sessions what Clover swore was a critical gaze and shaking his head in disapproval and when she confronted him about it, he started spouting something along the lines of,
'Do you truly want to shepherd our people down a road paved with teeth and blood, a road called violence road? A road so easy to travel down but the farther you go, the less exits there are to get off." Or something like that, Clover couldn't remember it word for word but she knew that he was basically 'warning' her to stop and think about what she was doing, if she really wanted to continue leading their people in such violent activities, that it might lead to less controlled violence. When she point blank asked him if he was trying to make her change her mind about the training regimen, Sage went off on another weird roundabout spiel and Clover got frustrated and that was the end of that conversation.
According to Clover, several of their subjects had told her that Sage had tried to get them to change their minds as well.
Clover had absolutely taken things too far in the past (nobody who knew her would deny that) but this wasn't her beating up innocent animals over perceived threats who didn't have a fighting chance. This was her sparing against trained warriors who loved fighting just as she did and she had a point about letting out pent up aggression in a controlled environment.
The only concerns Maurice had were whether or not they had a doctor close by and/or if anyone knew first aid. Clover told him about the medicine man right there in the village and the fact that part of standard warrior training for mountain lemurs required at least basic knowledge of first aid and that Clover was learning some as well. That was more then enough to satisfy Maurice.
But apparently not enough for Sage.
Maurice could be more understanding of Sage having issue with the lessons if he was willing to be open and direct about his discomfort. Willing to have an adult conversation with Clover and their people, talk things through until they reached an understanding and compromise. But no, he had to be a passive aggressive jerk about it and that's what made Maurice mad.
Between that and the wedding, it had forced Maurice to rethink his previous notions about Sage and his and Clover relationship. The new picture that was being painted on the canvas of his mind wasn't a pretty one and now, with Sage's newest dismissal of Clover's feelings and dismissing the feelings of everyone in King Julien's kingdom and now knowing that he had never given Clover a decent apology for his pre-wedding stunt made that picture all the more uglier by the minute.
"Then what are you yelling at me for!?" King Julien demanded to know.
"Cause you were way out of line! It's Clover's relationship and it's her decision whether or not she wants to try and work things out, not yours!"
"But Sage is all wrong for her and she needs to know it!"
"It's up to Clover to figure that out for herself and you need to respect that! Not tell her that she made a terrible mistake cause she 'wasn't in her right mind' and in a 'stupid fog'." Maurice quoted Julien mockingly with air quotes. "Implying that if she doesn't dump Sage now, that must mean that she's stupid now, too stupid to know what's good for her but you do cause 'you're oh so much smarter'!" Again, Maurice used and his mocking tone and could see the confidence on Julien's face waver.
"I...I didn't mean it like that..." King Julien said low and stunned as he rewinded and played back his and Clover's argument to see if he was coming off that way.
"It sure sounds that way to me and I bet you it sounds that way to Clover." Maurice said bluntly harsh and King Julien knew that he was right, which casted Clover's anger towards him in clearer, harsher light.
"I just want Clover to be happy but I just made her more sad, didn't I?" Julien asked sadly, his earlier conviction deflated like a popped ballon.
"Yes, you did." Maurice said gruffly. Then he let out a long, tired sigh and continued more gently, "Look, I know you love Clover, I love her too but Clover is a grown lemur who can make her own choices and that includes her relationships and we have to accept that. Even if we know she could do better." He grumbled the last sentence.
"Augh! I don't wanna treat Clover like an idiot but what am I supposed to say? What do I say about her and Sage cause I don't think I can say nothing but I don't want to hurt her anymore then she already is hurting but I don't think I can lie and say I'm cool with Sage and I don't want to and-and...what do I say?" King Julien asked of his friend in desperation.
"Just...tell Clover that despite your own feelings about Sage, that you realize that you went too far and that you respect her right to make her own decisions about her relationship and that you'll be there for her no matter what she decides. You think you can do that?" Maurice asked cautiously hopeful that Julien would say yes but ready to yell at him some more if he said no.
King Julien took a deep breath and said with as much conviction as he could muster. "Okay, I will. For Clover."
…..
King Julien and Maurice found Clover sitting on the edge of Ted and Dorothy's porch, staring off into space with an expression of stone. They were surprised to find her there of all places but that was a question for later. They had more important matters then and there.
"Clover?" Maurice said cautiously. Clover turned at the sound of his voice.
"Maurice?" Clover said in surprise. Good old kind and sensible Maurice who would be another lemur sympathetic of her troubles. The thought brought the beginnings of a smile on her lips and then she noticed King Julien and scowled instead, her tone growing harsher as she said to him, "What do you want?"
King Julien winced and then said nervously, "I came to apologize but I can come back later if now's not a good time."
"...Go on." Clover said skeptically.
King Julien took a deep breath and then spoke with tenderness, gaining confidence as he went. "I'm sorry for treating you like an idiot. You're not an idiot, you're one of the smartest lemurs I know. Smart enough to make your own decisions and I shouldn't have gone all agro on you about your decision to want and talk things through with Sage. It's your life, your marriage and I should respect your right to make your own choices concerning that marriage, even the ones I don't like. I'm sorry for not respecting that right but I want to now. I will now and I'll there for you no matter what happens with you and Sage."
Clover wanted to believe that her friend's apology was sincere, that he would be true to his word. She wanted to believe that but had her doubts. She had to know for sure, so she started to say calm and collected like,
"Thank you, your majesty. Your apology means a lot and speaking of, I assure you that Sage and I will have a long talk when I return home. I'll calmly explain to him that what happened to you all still matters a great deal and him not wanting to face that is insulting to all the pain and suffering that everyone has gone through because of our wedding. That you lot are still dealing with the consequences of us being stupid and that he needs to own up to his mistakes and face them like a man, Frank damn it!" As she spoke, Clover's blood started to boil and by the time she got to the last few words, she ended saying them louder and harsher then intended. Seeing her friend's concerned expressions caused Clover's body to stiffen and she loudly cleared her throat before continuing to speak, desperately trying to mimic the calm and composed tone she had started off with, "Once he's realized that, we'll come back here and he'll apologize to you all."
"But what if he won't apologize?" King Julien blurted out in distress and anger.
"King Julien!" Maurice scolded him in frustration.
"He will!" Clover threw back in retaliation.
"But what if he doesn't? Or if he does, it's just like the one he gave you at your wedding?" King Julien could not, would not hold back his justified concern for Clover's happiness or his rage towards Sage. Clover, Maurice, nobody was going to stop him from speaking the truth.
"You shut up. He will give the best apology, even if I have to drag it out of him." Clover snarled, trying to keep her composure, which was easier said then done.
"Oh great, you have to make him see that he's being a jerk. What a great guy." King Julien said with bluntly bitter sarcasm.
"Oh, oh, and look whose talking! I know Maurice had to do the same with you, just like he always does!" Clover pointed out.
"Not always! I've figured out I've been a jerk on my own...just not this time..." Julien's fury faltered and then he doubled down. "What does that have to do with Sage being a horrible person?"
"Cause you and Sage have at least one thing in common. You're both oblivious morons who have to be smacked over the head before you realize your mistakes and be forced to do anything about it!"
"I don't always have to be forced to face my mistakes and are you seriously comparing me to Sage again?!"
"Yes, cause you're demanding that I break up with him for the same crap that you pull all the time!"
"I...at least I mean it when I say sorry!"
"You just said you would respect my right to run my life like an intelligent adult and yet here you are, continuing to treat me like a stupid child!"
"You're not stupid! I know you're not! You're smart, Clover, smart enough that I know that you know deep down that I'm right and that you deserve better! You just won't admit it!"
"YOU SHUT UP! You don't know me, you don't know Sage, and you certainly don't know our relationship and I am done listening to you pretending that you do! Get out, get out of my sight now!" Clover screeched, pointing a finger away from the house.
King Julien started to argue but before any words could come out of his mouth, he caught sight of Maurice's glaring gaze, amber eyes threatening to burn him then and there if he didn't shut up and did as he was told. So Julien shut his mouth, took one last look at Clover, narrowed jungle eyes ready to pounce if he opened it again. Julien glared back, then turned and started to walk away.
Maurice didn't move, his gaze lingering on Clover. Then he said to her with gentle concern, "Clover...would you rather I stay here or let you have your space?" King Julien stiffened and stopped but didn't turn around while Clover was taken aback and then her expression softened.
"Maurice...stay..." Was her soft and grateful answer. Maurice took one last scathing glace at King Julien before walking back to her. King Julien looked over his shoulder to watch his companion go and felt a painful twinge in his heart. He then quickly turned back, deepened his scowl and walked away.