When Akira stumbled upon the shore of the island, tired, hungry and exhausted, she set about finding shelter immediately. Night would fall soon and she needed somewhere safe and secure to settle before the sun set or else she'd be vulnerable to whatever dangers were on the island. With this in mind, climbing the high hills and rockfaces went by quickly, the sabress pulling herself up onto the highest point of the island and the area with the most vegetation.
She didn't expect to see a group of rodents—of hyraxes—huddled together, whispering in what seemed to be distress until one noticed her, freezing like a deer in headlights. Akira prepared herself for the inevitable panic, blinking owlishly at the creature as its friends noticed its attention was elsewhere and followed its gaze. Now about thirty pairs of eyes stared at her, no one moving an inch until the smallest baby she had ever seen peeked out through the legs of the group, big eyes curious.
Horror crept up onto the adults' faces as the baby rushed forward, babbling excitedly and as Akira let her eyes follow the little one, she barely noticed as a few of the adults fainted in their fear. The sweetest blue eyes peered up at her as the baby tripped, the sabress reacting quickly and catching him with her paw. A gasp from the adults but the soon-to-be mother didn't glance away from the little hyrax, smiling warmly, "Hi."
The baby giggled happily, latching onto her leg and glancing back at his family, chittering happily. The sabress counted all of five seconds in which there was absolute stillness before she found herself surrounded by hyraxes, the braver ones wandering close and tugging curiously at her fur. The most courageous one of them all had scrambled up onto her head, snuggling into her pelt with a soft purr.
Setting up a temporary resting place would have been a gruelling task had Akira not had near a hundred hyraxes eager to help, no matter how young or old, small or big, they contributed where they could even though the sabress was a little hesitant. A part of her felt as if she was taking advantage but their constant chatter reassured her that she was doing no such thing.
That the assortment of furs and leaves and moss in the hollow of dying tree was no fur off their back and their utmost pleasure. Especially when she realized that the rodents had trusted her enough to take her into their home, into a hidden, small area of greenery—of bushes and trees rich with fruits and nuts for the residents. She would do right by them given that they had trusted her as they did—riskily so but a right choice for all.
Akira was all too eager to settle down, feeling fatigue seeping into her bones, making her swollen paws ache as she laid down on her side, huffing fondly as the chittering rodents joined her inside her little abode. They surrounded her in a soft, talkative enclosure of warmth and the sabress felt some of the tension drain from her body as it shook with her next heavy exhale.
A soft hum left her lips as her eyes drooped with exhaustion, "I thought there would be more of you." Her murmur was quiet, barely coherent over the noise. Near instantly, silence fell over them but before Akira could properly react—could rouse and apologize or even deduce the issue before being told—the oldest Hyrax, silver fur streaked through warm brown, spoke up in a series of darkly-tinted chitters and angry gestures.
The sabress only understood the sign of conflict until the Hyrax began jumping from paw to paw, mimicking the noise of an ape. Of Gutt, she realized once his face screwed into a toothy snarl. She frowned, brows furrowing in worry. "Captain Gutt?" she echoed, startling slightly as there was a wave of chatter from the surrounding hyraxes. Agreement. Confirmation. Akira's frown deepened. "Did he. . ," she didn't want to think their friends and family were dead. And thankfully, she didn't have to as the elders stepped forward and told her a story of how some of their strongest were taken away, forced to slave away under the rule of the pirates as the captain rebuilt his ship. There had been many stolen but they'd staged a rescue—gotten some back. However, not everyone survived.
The younger rodents cried, some of them having lost their parents and Akira's heart ached in sympathy, more than willing to let them curl up underneath her chest, encasing them with her paws so they stayed comforted and warm. "I'm sorry," she whispered once the story had come to an end, "I don't know what I can do but I know that there is something to be done. Your people will be free." Promises were dangerous. Especially ones of safety in their situation but Akira wanted to believe it. Did to some extent. She'd faced worse. Conquered scarier creatures. Gutt couldn't be allowed to live with how dangerous he was—with the threat he posed to their herd now that he knew them, who they were and where they were from.
They would end this adventure with the ape dead and his crew scattered to the winds. Even if it was the last thing she did, Akira needed to ensure a safer place for her cubs. For her family. For her herd.
When Akira woke in the early morning, roused by the coming light of the dawn, she was wholly unsurprised to find that she had a few more bedmates than she did when initially falling asleep. Curled up against her every expanse of fur was a hyrax. Under, beside and on her pregnant belly, on her back, her side, beneath her chest, resting on her paw. . . even her head had a snoozing resident, Akira only noticing when she raised her head and felt them sliding down onto her neck. She huffed fondly, tempted to stay where she was warm and comfortable but knew she couldn't.
This island wasn't safe and it wasn't home but it was all she had at the moment when her cubs were due any second. She needed to prepare for birth, and alone, unfortunately—or, well, not quite alone, she thought as she made gradual work of extracting herself from the puppy pile she'd found herself the main attraction of. But there was only so much the little rodents could do. There were many of them but they wouldn't know much and if baser instincts kicked in, she was a predator and they were prey. It was a risk she didn't feel the safest taking.
The sabress stretched quietly once she was free of the pile, ensuring the rodents were tucked safely away in the hollow tree, on the furs, before she felt reassured in walking away, intending to explore as much as she could before needing rest. Finding a meal would be ideal as well. Such a feat took hours before Akira acquired herself a small meal in the form of a groundhog pair scavenging as she was. They were more than she bargained for, pleading for one another rather than themselves and whilst she felt deeply sympathetic, she was hungry. And if she even hope to have enough food for when her cubs were born, no meal could be wasted.
And none were. Akira found one more when she walked the shoreline, hearing a loud splash before a concerningly massive fish landed a few feet away. She was startled, eyes shooting to the ocean for the predator responsible but the sabress found herself relaxing, huffing softly as she glimpsed the sleek gray-blue of Precious before the beast disappeared entirely.
Seizing the fish by the tail, it occurred to her that the whale had to have been waiting for her to have a delivery so perfectly timed. A small detail that warmed her heart and had her feeling immensely grateful. For the whale and the hyraxes for giving her food and a safe place for her cubs. Things she needed very, very soon, Akira thought to herself as she felt the beginning pulse of contractions. They could be false alarms or they could be her cubs on the way. Either or, there was no room for chance. She needed to prepare for birth, just in case.
Just in case—.
Akira paused where she was hauling the fish, dropping the tail from her mouth a scent caught her attention. It was nearly entirely masked by the salty smell of the ocean but the sabress knew that scent like the back of her hand. Could single it out from a crowd of mammals because it was unmistakenly pungent. A scent that Diego, despite the years of familiarity, never ceased to complain about. Her eyes flickered in the direction it wafted from, eyes catching the slab of ice big enough to at least hold a mammoth, two sloths and a sabre.
The weight on her shoulders seemed to lighten almost instantly. Akira found in herself a burst of energy as she hurriedly dragged the fish to a line of trees, propping herself up on the bark to snag some large leaves from a low branch. She didn't have opposable thumbs like Sid—that was enough to make her smile—but still, she managed to loop the leaves together without using twine to connect them, pulling the fish onto the bed of leaves before she sunk her teeth into that and began making her way back.
Twine would have certainly made the job easier but Akira didn't want to waste any more time postponing the reunion with her herd.
Exhausted and hungry and dehydrated, the herd wasn't the least bit pleased to be chasing Shira down the shore, up cliff faces and through the forest. It would've been so easy to simply let her go and deal with their own problems and their missing sabress but Shira back in Gutt's clutches helped no one but the enemy—a feat the herd and Jace couldn't afford. And so they chased and chased and chased until Diego and Jace worked together to ambush the sabress and seal her away in a hollow tree with bar-like bark that acted pretty convenient as a holding cell.
Jace guarded the pirate as Diego wandered off—though within paw's reach—to find and guide his herd back to him. They were settling down, fatigued from the unwanted run when a soft squeak caught the Southern sabre's attention first. His stomach growled up a storm when he raised his head, alert to spot a fuzzy head peeking out from the bush. "Aw!" Sid gushed, derailing Diego's hungry train of thought and thankfully so.
He was hungry sure, but not hungry enough to eat something as admittedly cute as the hyrax or young. He tended to avoid it as best as he could but it was times of scarcity in food when it became difficult. He huffed, laying back down with his back facing the creature. He could still hear and smell it but the 'out of sight, out of mind', did work at least a little. "Aw, look at you little guy. Are you lost? Need some help finding—oh! There's mama. Oh, and papa. . . and uncle and auntie and grandma and. . ." Diego wanted to claw his ears out as Sid kept talking and talking, addressing each individual hyrax until the sabre reached his breaking point, raising his head with a snarl on his muzzle only to stop in his tracks.
The baby hyrax stood at his back, staring at him with big, blue eyes as if he was one of the wonders in this world. Diego blinked at the rodent, shifting uncomfortably. He looked to Sid for help, though he'd never admit it, only to find that all the hyraxes had emerged from the bush and were staring at him with wide eyes. "Uh—" He barely uttered his confusion before the baby cried out and rushed forward jumping onto his back and snuggling into his fur.
And it was all the others were waiting for.
Diego found himself drowning in a sea of hyraxes, hungry, confused and too tired for any of it when Sid said something that made him pause. "Kira?" The herd tensed, Diego's head whipping around so quickly that he dislodged one of the hyraxes, muttering an absent apology. But his mate was nowhere to be seen. He turned back to Sid with a glare only to see he was looking at the rodents. Naturally, Diego followed his gaze only to have the youngest on his head flop down onto his face and obscure his sight and smell. For better or worse although, the sabre was leaning toward better.
He sniffed delicately at the youngest as he lowered him to the ground, recognizing underneath the smell of earth and salt the smell of his mate. He practically dug his nose into the pile of hyraxes, eliciting a chorus of happy and disgruntled yips but he found more of what he was looking for. "She was here. Akira was here." At the sounds of her name, the chittering grew excited and Diego frowned, wishing he could understand the rodents as he glanced around at them in confusion.
"Really?" Sid's rising excitement caught his attention immediately. The southern sabre raised his eyebrows as he saw the sloth listening intently to one of the older hyraxes. leave it to Sid to understand their mindless, pitched chatter. "Uh huh, yeah—oh my mammals, you won't believe this!"
Diego begged to differ. He'd believe anything while riding the high that his mate had been here. That she was alive and hopefully okay. His paw twitched impatiently as manny crowded closer, urging Sid on with a gesture of his trunk. Jace even inched closer but all three were mindful of Shira though no one acknowledged her as she scoffed, turning her back on them. "Ridiculous." And Granny. . . the older sloth was in her own world, jabbing a poor hyrax with her cane until Manny huffed, lifting her up and over to the other side of the gathering.
"They said Kira got here yesterday. They found her and brought her into their home—gave her shelter and food—and Junior here says she went out to the beach around dawn. If she's on the same beach we rolled in on, she'll see our boat." Sid relayed, grinning toothily. The sabress among them snorted, "Boat." The herd rolled their eyes, Sid waving her off. "So, do we stay here and wait? Because she has to come back soon or do we go looking?"
No sooner than he had spoken had there been a thud behind them of something small but heavy hitting the ground. "And track your scent all over the island?" The mammals, jailed excluded, whipped around to face the newcomer, a series of sighs and yips sounding from them. "I think not."