Brotherly Love

Today was seemingly a normal day in the life of Upendo, he had made his way to the Oasis for a morning walk in the peace and quiet. It didn't dawn on the dual-eyed cub that living here was the true king of another land, he just knew that usually the pride stayed away from this area. He knew that there was something against hunting this thing called a warthog and another thing called a meerkat. But Upendo didn't really hunt except for the small lizards in the area, so he didn't have to worry about the impromptu law that would be there until the lion and his friends left the lands. Upendo loved walking around in the silence, it allowed the calm and sweet natured cub to reflect on his life. A lot had happened in the seven months since Upendo's birth; his father had taken his brothers away from him, he had saved the russet cub Giza's life, and he had learned a multitude of skills. The cub longed for his life to return to normal, for his family to return to the way it should be. But the dark tan cub knew that his family would always be torn apart. But he didn't know how much.

Giza, the male hadn't broken through her thick skull yet and he couldn't unearth anything about her past. All he knew was that she was lost, her family didn't come to find her, she was part of a large litter like himself, and said family was gone. He felt for the older female, but it was just as if the two were polar opposites. Was this why they never seemed to leave each other's side? Or was that just because she was nervous? But who wouldn't be nervous if they had just lost their entire family? Even though Giza loved to sleep and was almost the complete opposite of the male cub, he felt of her as another sister. Her bright cerulean eyes matched his sister's Sakina's and his demon of a father, so he instantly classified her as a sister in his mind. But who wasn't to say that he had developed slight feelings for her? It was in Upendo's nature to care for everyone that he came across, but with Giza it was something special. Maybe it was just because he had rescued her from the harsh desert lands that lay beyond the trees, or maybe it was because he had convinced her to stay. There was just something about her that irked the cub, and he loved it.

For now, Upendo trotted along to the place where he had last seen his brothers and father. It must have rained or something overnight since the place was full of mud. Upendo might be a young, energetic male cub, but he hated the mud. It stuck to his fur like glue and it would take forever to walk from here to the closest watering source to clean himself. His mother was a distance away as was the rest of the pride, so if he were to fall into the mud it would be a miserable walk home. So for the time being, the cub perched himself of a rock that overlooked the area in front of him. He loved his home in the Lowlands, it was so beautiful, and everyday the cub wanted to explore more. The animals that lived around the area were ones that he found common. So when Giza spoke of antelope and wildebeest, Upendo thought she was crazy. But who was really crazy anymore? It was, after all, just a matter of where one lived to see what was common. As Upendo thought about this, his eyes started to close but his ears remained on high alert, it was as if Upendo knew someone was going to be here, but he had no idea just who it would be.

The moment the dark cub was safely within the borders of the Lowlands, he had abandoned his father, who could go no further. All he could think to do was run, though Jabari knew he would have to return when the pangs of hunger threatened, for he was too small to survive on his own. His nostrils scented the breeze, searching for the siblings he had left behind months ago. He had no idea if they would all be okay, or even alive, since it wasn't unusual for young lion cubs to not survive until their first birthday. But deep down, Jabari was certain his sisters and Upendo were alright. Their mother had been loving and caring, this much he remembered.

While Ziko and Jabari shared a special bond, Jabari missed the others and thought often of his siblings. So when he spied the lone cub sitting with his back turned, his expression was ecstatic. The brothers were opposite in many respects, including their feelings for playing in the mud. Jabari was a rough-and-tumble mess of a cub, and since mud so closely matched his pelt color, it made a great camouflage for him. He had no problem wallowing in the filth like a warthog! The youth was rather filthy already from the long journey, and would never allow Shinikizo or any of the other Coldlanders to give him a bath back home – he couldn't even remember the last proper one he had received.

Crouching low, the cub waited until the perfect moment. Upendo seemed completely unaware of the oncoming attack. Without a warning, Jabari pounced his brother in a playful manner, sending both male cubs tumbling into the mud below with a sticky splash. "Remember me?" He grinned down at Upendo as the darker cub rose to his feet, not bothering to shake his fur clean of the mud. Proper manners had never been taught to the Coldlander cub, or had been forgotten over time, but his playful greeting seemed perfectly fine to Jabari, who sat down right there in the muck. "We came back to visit! Ziko is around here somewhere, too. And our father..." His ears fell back at the last comment, and he offered a faint growl.

Upendo had been sleeping peacefully as the time flew by, dreams of him becoming a strong and healthy adult flowed through his mind. But it wasn't long before the cub was joined by another presence and the two were forced into the mud. Upendo awoke with a shock and quickly shook off the mud on his pelt, peering over to the figure that had knocked him in. The male mistook the other cub for his sister Sakina and began to chastise her as the last of the mud left his body, "Sakiii... You and Mala know I hate being the the mu-" But when the muddy figure turned around and asked if Upendo had remembered him, a smile crossed his face and the young cub shot forward, wrapping his muddy paws around his muddy brother and tackling him into the patch of grass that was next to them. "Jaba!" Upendo had unknowingly used the nickname that their accursed father called his brother, but it was only nature for the cub as he shortened all of his sibling's names as a sign of compassion. That was except Ziko, for his was already so short, that shortening it anymore would make the name seemingly disappear. Unlike his father, Upendo called Jabari this out of love, not a desire for affection.

But then the darker cub mentioned that both he and Ziko had returned for a visit, Upendo's ear shot up and he smiled. His pure white brother had also returned, and that only meant that their father had to tag along. Upendo remembered his queen's words well, his father couldn't step foot into the Lowlands or else he would be attacked. The cub wanted his father to taste the fear of a whole pride against him, but he knew that he wouldn't dare. His father was smart, although Upendo hated to admit it, and he wouldn't defy a rule placed against him. But Jabari confirmed the cub's fears and he growled along with him. "At least he can't enter our lands brother, Queen Nyota and Queen Duara wouldn't have it," Wanting to change the subject Upendo smiled and shook off the remaining mud that was on his paws. "So have you seen Mala and Saki yet, Jaba? They'll be so happy to see you! What about mother? She misses you so," The dark tan cub padded quickly over to the rock he was laying on before his brother had flung him into the liquefied dirt that Upendo seemed to loathe. He took his place on top and flicked his tail, allowing his brother all the space he could need for wallowing in the mud.

The cub couldn't wait to tell his brother about all that had happened in the Lowlands, how he had learned to swim and how he had found and rescued Giza. How Princess Nyima had become one of his closest friends. Dual colored eyes blinked as his tail flicked around behind him, staring at his brother with a smile. Upendo could tell that Jabari wasn't the one for touchy-feely stuff so he gave him his space. He was like Giza in that way, or at least that Upendo had seen. But then a lone fear struck Upendo's heart and he sighed, looking into his brother's violet eyes. "Jabari," Upendo stated with a serious voice, "Father hasn't left you and Ziko has he? He hasn't created a new family and left you two in the dust has he?" It was a small concern that to the boys was unknowingly mostly true. Their father had mated and would sire yet another cub, a half-sibling for the litter of five. But their father wouldn't know the result of the litter, nor would the rest of his family because of his impending doom. Upendo sighed and placed his head in between his paws, closing his eyes and trying to control the slight anger that tried to force it's way through the kind and sweet cub's nervous systems.

When Upendo uttered the nickname he despised, Jabari gave an annoyed sigh, but he was better able to control his temper around his innocent brother than his look-alike sire. "Don’t call me Jaba, it's a girly name, and I'm a boy!" In truth, Jabari didn't much care for the opposite gender, for he viewed them as being weaker, and he had no respect for lionesses yet. This was something that had to be taught, and Jabari had never witnessed it from his father. In the cub's mind, girls were inferior to boys, and he didn't want to be associated with them. His chest puffed out defiantly. "That's what he calls me, anyway, just to make me mad. Call me something else, if you have to." The stubborn cub didn't like for his name to be shortened at all, but he would allow his brother to call him something else – anything but Jaba, which would always remind him of the father he detested. Anything associated with Shinikizo was automatically a bad thing to the darker cub.

He said nothing about his mother for a long moment, but Jabari's expression turned suddenly harsh. Why had his mother not come to meet them at the border? Upendo claimed that she missed him, but Jabari had his doubts, and he snorted. "I'll bet she does," he finally remarked under his breath sarcastically. "I'm gonna try to find the girls later. Are they okay?" His mind lingered on the other cub that had been left behind, the Lowlander's princess called Nyima, but Jabari didn't bother to ask. He was a Coldlander now, after all, loyal to Ismahel and Sakitu.

Jabari was still ignorant about his father's affair with Sarafina, or the small litter that would soon result from their encounter, but Jabari wasn't stupid. The moment a cub appeared that looked anything like Shinikizo and his own siblings, Jabari would assume the worst, and rightfully so. Kizo's genetic traits would be passed on to another hapless offspring, but Jabari would have no pity for it. Instead, he would despise the Pridelander lioness and any half siblings created, for they were the part of him that Jabari despised most – his father. As he looked at his brother, he tried to shake from his mind just how closely he resembled their sire. "No, he hasn't ditched us yet. I keep on hopin' he'll just leave without us, but I doubt it. He keeps goin' on about how much he wants to be a dad," the cub muttered, and his violet eyes rolled upwards with impatience for his imbalanced father. "But he's bad. You're lucky you get to stay. Does mother train you here?"