The Kijani Guide

[Embyr_Somm]

On this oddly humid, late morning, a tiny, pink tongue was hanging out from the serval kit's pale jaws.
"That hike never gets any easier," he complained to himself, annoyed by that fact. Maybe, when his legs got longer, the destination would prove easier to get to and there would be less panting and pausing on the journey.

The brighter side of this trek was that Kafele would earn a nicer and safer place to rest tonight. It was a beautiful cave with glittery stones everywhere, splatter painting the inside walls, floor, and ceiling with many colors. The outside cleverly covered its entrance, with thick nets of moss and vines roping across the opening. Pretty flowers, pink and blue and purple ones, peeked through the foliage curtain. They smelled really nice too, inviting butterflies and bees to their petals during the day.

Strangely, the setting had a dazzling response to both sunlight and moonlight. The rocks' surfaces twinkled brightly and the mushrooms that were around glowed a greenish white color at night. Fireflies would somehow find their way into the cavern, often hovering above and lulling him to sleep as he pawed at them.

His family used to stay here sometimes. Kafele's father would pick one or a few of the flowers for his mother, then she would put them behind her ears. She used to say the cave gave good advice, too, but Kafele never actually heard anything.
"That's absolutely true," her soft voice hummed in agreement, "Beauty is as beauty does. The inside will break out if you let it and outside will sink in if you let it. The trick is to make them both beautiful." Then, his father would say something sappy, like how gorgeous she was all over and they'd become lovey-dovey with each other. Which would cause their son to gag with disgust and the parents would laugh, etc etc...

Kafele slowed down near the top of the path. He missed his mother's voice and his father's laugh. It wasn't that long ago when they were taken, but he was already beginning to forget their comforting sounds. He was always expecting her to bound out and groom him after he got back from playing, amazed at how dirty his fur had gotten in such a short time. His father was always close by, watching them and shaking his head with that handsome smile on his face.

A couple tears fell from his eyes as he walked toward the cave. It still smelled like them in some parts, but the extra shimmer that was once there had dimmed dramatically. He climbed onto a ledge that stuck out from the outer wall. Lying down, the serval rested in the nest of cool leaves, with his head partially on one of the higher platforms.

Everything in view was lovely, but he felt cold and dark on the inside.

[Ankhese]

Out side the cave, down by the water's edge an angry roar echoed through the jungle. The wondering young lioness had arrived in this lush land the day before, and had finally managed to make a kill after over a week with out food. However, the young zebra she'd managed to take down was right next to the water, where a hungry crocodile was waiting to steal her kill.

As the reptile started to drag the zebra body down toward the water by it's leg Ankhese snatched a hold of the zebra's neck, pulling back her direction. Her lips pulled back to display her teeth as she snarled and tugged, trying to appear too aggressive to be worth the croc's time. For a moment the two were stuck in a tug of war over the zebra, knowing if either let go the corps would belong to the other. Attacking the croc would be suicide fro the young lioness but with the body between them he could not lung at her either.

Her black claws dug in to the ground as she pushed her self back, trying desperately to take back her kill. Fortunately the croc didn't have the traction on land she did and was slowly sliding up on to the bank. Ankhese gave a few quick jerks, trying to get the croc to loosen his grip, but a crocodiles jaws were amazingly strong.

[Embyr_Somm]

The sound jolted him up and into a standing position. His fur was on end and the pupils of his ruby eyes were beady, tiny with surprise. After a few minutes, he was able to settle down enough to think about what could be happening.

Hoping from his perch and peeking over the cliffside, he spotted a lioness. She was tugging at her kill, but a crocodile was the other contender.
"Ha, fat chance of getting that back," he thought. Kafele smirked, trying to get a better look as he watched the event with high interest.

Some stones tumbled down from the edge where his paws were gripping, but he continued trying to get the best view. Thankfully, he realized that this was a bad idea and backed up so he wouldn't fall down and into the water.

Because tat would definitely suck. It would also suck if she came up the path to his secret cave. He would hate that! This place was his and only his now. Nobody was suppose to be here or would stay here except for him. The thought made him pout, but the battle below took his mind off of it for the moment.

[Ankhese]

Despite all Ankhese's efforts the struggle over the zebra was quickly turned when another crocodile made his way up on the shore. Hopping to share in the stolen kill this one went after the young lioness, forcing her off the zebra. Ankhese was forced to release her grip to jump away from the snapping jaws of the second croc. As her kill slipped in to the water another with the two reptiles she gave an angry roar, just to make sure they knew she was not happy about this.

Knowing her meal was lost Ankhese turned away from the water in defeat, ready to hunt again. She grumbled a loud to her self, inaudible curses directed toward the crocodiles who stole the zebra she'd worked so hard to take down. Zebras were a rather large kill for a lone lioness, she only managed to take down that one because it was still young, she doubted she'd get so lucky a second time if she continued on that herd. So Ankhese lifted her head to sniff at the air, searching for the trail of easier pray, or possibly even carrion as she was beginning to grow desperate.

With a few deep sniffs of her pink nose she picked up, not a prey item but another feline near by. She knew this one was no lion, but something much smaller, though she was unfamiliar with exactly what species she was picking up on. Her nose lowered to the ground, searching for the trail of whatever this strange feline was. She was not normally one to cannibalize on other predators but she was hungry, if nothing else this feline might have a kill she could steal.

[Embyr_Somm]

He was about to say 'watch out' when the other reptile lumbered out of the pond. Two against one wasn't fair, those cheaters! But Kafele wouldn't be much help though, seeing as he was barely physically half a lion in size. So he kept the warning to himself.

Luckily, the lioness saw the on-coming sneak attack before being injured. Afterwards, she sounded very annoyed. Her roar sent chills throughout his tiny body. It was then he decided to slip out of sight, just in case she discovered someone had seen the embarrassing conclusion to her struggle and wanted to focus her anger on something, meaning someone, else.

Hearing pawsteps nearing the trail to his hideout, he was forced to check out who was coming. Kafele frowned, his ears went flat against his head.
"No, not here," he mumbled, hoping up onto his previous perch and scurrying to the nearest crevice in the cave's wall. Kafele had been hoping she would leave the area and try hunting elsewhere.
"Go Away!" the serval shouted, partially afraid and mad. He was beginning to wish those crocs had eaten her, too.

[Ankhese]

The trail lead her to a net of thick moss and vines Ankhese sniffed at curiously, searching for where the trail went from there, not seeming to realize there was an opening behind it at first. That was until she heard a voice from with in. Her head jerked back in surprise hearing the small voice from in side telling her to go away. Her head cocked to one side, one ear sitting higher then the other as she lifted a brow, a look that seemed to express annoyance that one so small thought he could tell her what to do.

"You sound a bit small to be talking so big." She called back before seeming to decide that whatever this feline was, he wasn't worth further investigation. Even if he had food she could steal, she wasn't about to take food from a cub. The black tuft of fur on the end of her tail twitched curiously as she sniffed at the air again, wondering if it was worth another attempt at hunting, or if she should just find a place to sleep for the night.