Fun in a Peaceful Place

It had been about a month since Upendo had met his new russet friend and he enjoyed every second of her company. Well, as much company as she gave him, for the cub was still reclusive in her own ways. The young male was ecstatic when Queen Nyota let Giza stay in the jungle and he promised to keep an eye on his older female counterpart. He hadn't known much about her, just that her pride was gone, she was lost, and like him hated her father. Upendo wanted to know why the russet cub was so quiet, it was as if the whole kindness thing that Upendo was showing was new to her. Hadn't her mother treated her with some type of kindness before she became lost?

But for now, Upendo walked through the Kiburi Range, smiling and inhaling all the scents that were found in the area. He had almost forgotten about Giza or his father or any small thing that the young cub had or would face. Right now it was just him alone in the world, in the luscious and fertile lands that he lived in. The jungle was so peaceful, the birds were singing slightly and the wind was at a calm, cooling breeze. For once everything seems right in the world, and Upendo wished that every day from now on could feel just as he felt today. As Upendo neared the middle of the range, he came across a small section of rocks. The rocks were a dull grey color with moss growing around the north side and a smooth texture. There were around 15 different rocks all packed together and Upendo climbed onto the nearest one.

Normally the cubs would lay on the rocks but Upendo wanted to have a little bit of fun. The male crouched down and smiled, launching himself from the rock onto the closest one. A soft landing happened on each rock as he made his way around them, only to slip and fall on the last rock. Upendo landed on his back with a thud and breathed in a harsh breath, but he was quickly back on his feet again and back hopping around the rocks. It wasn't training as some may think, this was only fun for Upendo. If either of his sisters showed up or even Giza, Upendo wouldn't have much to do to explain himself, only that he was just trying to have fun. But yet again once Upendo reached the last rock he slipped on the moss and fell to the ground. Why was that rock not cooperating? Was he doing something wrong? Nonetheless, Upendo leaped back up and tried yet again to accomplish his fun goal.

Nyima was beginning to tire of lazing around in her cave all day with the other cubs who seemed quite content to do so. She was curious about the new-comer who was not a Lowlander originally but had been welcomed as one. She'd believed at first that her and the others would have a new friend, but the cub called 'Giza' had been quieter, and she hadn't taken much interest in playing with them. As it was, it wasn't as if they played much anyway. She noticed that Upendo often wandered away, but her mummy had told her that sometimes, one liked to wander on their own and not have a cub interrupt their thoughts. Nyima always listened to her mummy and her mama, so she didn't question their words and merely took their advice to heart. She looked up as Upendo left them once more to wander off by himself, and she settled her head back down on her paws.

Nyima yawned and looked over at the others. Quite content to laze about, Nyima tired of their company and she stood up. She stretched out her paws and scratched them against the cave floor before she trotted out of the cave and sat down once outside. The sun warmed her coat and the breeze ruffled her fur as she yawned in contentment. Nyima felt that familiar sad feeling in her stomach as the sun disappeared behind a rare bank of clouds and the breeze that had been welcome was now horrifically cold. She looked down at her paws and sighed, mourning the loss of her brother. He had been taken from her without her being allowed to say anything, and she didn't know where he'd gone. Her mother's never brought it up and so she didn't say anything on the subject, but it ate away at her. Had she done something wrong that had meant her brother had to be sent away?

With a sigh, Nyima walked through the forest slowly, not watching where she went. If there was a rogue lion around, she would've been easy prey for them as she was not taking in anything around her. A voice in the back of her mind told her to pay attention, not to wander but the young Princess would not listen to that voice. She picked up the pace and trotted along now, before she broke out into a run as she headed in the direction of the Kiburi Range. She arrived and suddenly, her instincts kicked in. It was for a few seconds that the scent was brushed over to her, and she made to turn and flee before she recognised it as one of the cubs. She inched along and broke through the trees to see Upendo leaping up onto the rocks. She may be older than the sweet cub, but she was not as strong as the male and so it took her seconds longer to jump up each rock then he did. She followed behind him quietly though, his fascination with his own game distracting him from her presence. Or maybe he knew and didn't say anything, Nyima was un-sure. "Upendo, where you going?" She called out as she rested on one of the higher up rocks and looked down.

Silence filled the air as Upendo finally made it across all of the rocks, he paused for a second in silent celebration to regain his bearings and he went forward again. Unknown to the cub he was being followed by none other than the princess of his homelands. Upendo seemed to be the only male cub in the lands, so if his queen wanted a mate for her daughter within the pride, it would most likely be Upendo. Needless to say, Upendo wouldn't mind being the princess's consort, but it wouldn't be right if they didn't love each other. But that didn't mean that Upendo didn't have a small crush on the princess, but was it really a crush or just adoration for the royal family? Finally Nyima spoke, startling Upendo and almost making him slip from the rock he was on before he balanced on one paw. He turned around and looked up to the older cub, his pelt only shades darker than hers, "Hello Princess Nyima," Upendo said, bowing at the same time, "how are you today?"

It took Upendo a moment before he raised his head and answered her question, he motioned his paw at the rocks. "Nowhere really, I'm just jumping on the rocks, it's really fun!" But the dark tan cub made no more effort to continue his fun for in his mind it wasn't right to ignore someone of the royal family. Instead, Upendo laid down on the rock and looked to the light brown female, "You see, Mala and Saki were being boring, and Giza was just plain sleeping. So I decided to come out here, enjoy the scenery," Upendo almost never used his sister's full names for he thought they were too long, and he would use those until the day he died; he would honestly never grow out of them. The cub peered into Nyima's bright cerulean eyes, those matching his sister and father. The small cub knew that they must have been inherited from her father, for Duara couldn't of sired the cub. Upendo knew that it took a male and a female to make a cub but thankfully he didn't know the details surrounding it. Although, Upendo then realized that him and the female in front of him were similar in so many ways, both had fathers in the Coldlands, and both had their brother's taken away from them.

Upendo sighed, he missed his brothers with a passion and he knew that Nyima must miss Sakitu as well. At least the brothers were together, but he wondered if they were fairing in the Coldlands. While Upendo's brothers could return, Nyima's brother could not, for he was the prince of the Coldlands, and from what he's heard he knew that the king wouldn't let him go. But Upendo pushed the thought of the boys aside and smiled at Nyima, "So what are you doing out here Princess Nyima? Is my mother looking for me? I don't think it'd be safe for you to be wandering around out here all alone," But that was exactly what Upendo was doing, although granted the cubs were together now and the chance of a rogue attacking were slimming down greatly. Dual colored eyes swept across the older female's figure and he noted the circular markings across her cheek, they had come from Nyota and Upendo knew that everyone would be able to tell that this was the princess. Although, was that necessarily a good thing? Safety could be compromised, but for now, the two cubs were safe and secure with nothing to worry about.

For a fraction of a second, Nyima's heart-beat quickened and she felt her eyes widen in fear as his footing slipped. In that moment, she thought that he might fall and harm himself - even die. The thought made her panic, but he seemed to regain himself rather quickly and the panic was gone. She smiled in relief as he seemed to be fine, and felt strange as he bowed to her. She wondered why he would perform such a strange act, when he called her 'Princess Nyima' and she remembered that she was royalty. Apparently, that meant she was more important then the others or something. She didn't think that seemed fair, she didn't feel more important than Upendo. She remembered her mother saying it had something to do with responsibility for the Pride, and she frowned. She was so little, how could she take care of the Pride? "Hello, Upendo!" She greeted in response. She focused her attention on the rocks and made her way over to him, sitting down beside him. "I'm good, a little bored. Yourself?"

Nyima's eyes lit up as he explained that it was really fun. She liked the thought that it would be fun, as lots of thing in her life was boring. She mostly just sat around, watching the others. She missed Sakitu quite a lot. She looked around the rocks and wondered if she could make it to the top, before her mind told her that she most certainly could. She reached a paw up, then another one, dug her claws in and climbed up onto the next rock. She was now taller than Upendo - as despite the fact that she was older than him, she was around the same height due to her smallness. Or maybe, he was just tall? "Good! I like fun stuff, it means you aren't bored," she stated with a giggle. She nodded her head in agreement. "Those three are so boring, I don't get how they can just sit around all day," whined Nyima. She looked at him pointedly then taped the rock she was on. "Come on, let's play." She smiled at him.

Nyima was quite content to play with Upendo, as she harboured a small crush on the cub. She didn't see how she couldn't, as for one he was the only male cub around, and two he had beautiful dual coloured eyes. The red was slightly creepy, but it complimented his dark coat and the purple was lovely and made her think of Shani. She liked Shani, the lioness was very young and kind. Nyima shook her head at his question and continued her way up onto the next rock, though she almost lost her footing on this one. She managed to recapture her balance swiftly and sat down on this rock in wait for Upendo. "No, she's not. Im just out wandering because the others are boring. Mama is probably around here somewhere, she likes to stay close to me. Even if she's not, I have you to protect me don't I?" She asked with a wide smile. She knew that as a Princess, she was required to be protected at all times. Silly, in her opinion.

Upendo watched the princess carefully as she attempted to climb onto the rocks. He was relieved when she made it up safely. That wouldn't of been a fun conversation to explain why the royal princess had become injured if she had fell off of the rock. 'Oh yeah, sorry about that Queen Nyota...' He smiled as Nyima became taller than him by a few inches and he looked up and stared into her bright blue eyes. It seemed that the Lowlanders all had the same traits that helped define them as a pride. Bright cerulean and violet eyes, a darker pelt, and in the case of some; dual-colored eyes. Upendo loved his pride and everything about it, especially the love and compassion the royal family had for others. The chocolate brown cub chuckled when the female stated how she couldn't imagine how the girls slept all day. "I know, I'd say it was a girls thing, but then again you aren't sleeping Princess Nyima," And then, Nyima mentioned that the two should play. Upendo nodded and smiled, "Alright, what should we play? We can always hop around on the rocks!" The dual-eyed male smiled and hopped to the next rock and back to the one he was on just to move his legs and spike up his energy once more. Upendo may be calm and collected, but he still loved to play.

The male flashed his cute, adorable grin that he found his mother loved and he nodded when Nyima stated that her mother was probably around. "I can see why Queen Nyota would want to protect you Princess Nyima, you look just like her!" he paused, "Plus, you're probably going to be the next queen, we have to keep you safe from danger," But then, the female said that if she wasn't around, that Upendo himself would protect her. The male chuckled and rubbed his growing tuft of mane with his paw before setting it back down. "It's my duty to my pride to protect you and the royal family. Trust me, no one will hurt you while I'm around!" It was a shaky promise that Upendo had just made. If a rogue or worse -his father- was around and attacked, the little cub would be nothing more than a shield so the princess could run away and possibly receive a moment more than she would have originally had. But in the Lowlands they were safe, nothing could harm them as they stayed in the peaceful jungle. And if anything, one or more of their pride was only a moments call away. The cub smiled and plopped down on to the rock he was sitting on, sprawled out and his paws hanging off the edges. His tail flicked around a few times as he waited for Nyima to make up her mind about what she wanted to do.

(Sorry this post is so crappy, couldn't think of another paragraph to type out)

[[OOC: That's okay Teo, I actually prefer not so long posts. It's hard to find things for your character to ramble about sometimes.]]

Nyima looked down and almost felt dizzy at how high up she was. She didn't exactly want to fall, so she made sure not to just leap up like she had been and take care. She edged inward towards the centre of the rock so as not to slip on one of the edges and go tumbling down. That was not a fate that Nyima would desire, and Upendo would be in trouble with her mother too. Nyima stared down into Upendo's dual coloured eyes and smiled happily. They were quite interesting eyes she had decided, as one was purple like his mother's, but the other a vivid red. Though it may seem strange, the vivid red only made him look more unique, special. Nothing about his appearance came off as hostile, though she was sure if he wanted to... "Maybe it's a girls thing and i'm just weird? I've never liked sitting around, it's really boring. How can you just laze around all day?" Nyima shook her head as if the answer to this question was something they would never know. "Yeah! That sounds like fun, just be careful not to fall!" She called after him as he hopped up the rocks ahead of her.

She bounded up after him, still being careful not to fall and stopped a rock below him. She felt herself blink in surprise at his adorable grin and smiled back shyly. "Of course I look like her, she's my mother silly!" She giggled at Upendo. "Am I? I guess I am, mother doesn't have any other cubs, does she?" Nyima looked surprised at her own logic, and then pleased. Being a Queen sounded like lots of fun, and she would be the best Queen ever! She'd be very nice to her people, and wouldn't let anyone hurt them. Nyima laughed and hopped up next to him. She sat down right beside him and tilted her head slightly to the side. "But as a Queen," she paused in confusion now. "Doesn't that mean I have to protect you, or do we protect each other?" She asked. She watched as Upendo proceeded to drop down, paws hanging off the edge of the rock. She laid down in front of him, head resting on her paws and her tail curling around herself.