Dedicated to Deline Dwelly. Thanks for your support ☺️
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As Sydney formulated plans on how to get home, the two lions walked into the cave their bellies protruding from each side having finished their meal. They were full to the brim and had traces of blood all over their mouths that they kept lapping at to keep clean.
Sydney watched them with a smile dancing in her eyes. If she was still back at home, she'd never see herself calmly seated as two humagous predators strolled her way. Despite her love for the wild and adventures, everything she was experiencing here was beyond her mind. Riding on a lion's back, an eagle's back or panther. She still found it hard to believe but forced herself to accept reality. "Are you guys done?" She asked putting away her leftover fruits into the animal skin.
With a yawn, one of the lions walked over and took a seat next to the foot of the bed and licked his paw. Sydney felt silly for even asking. With their protruding bellies of course they were finished! The other lion walked over as well and looked at Sydney before helplessly laying on his belly. He gave her his full attention.
Seeing this, Sydney begun. "You see...I want to go home as soon as possible and if you guys want..you can come along! That place is better! You can make many friends and find beastmen from your clan too!" She persuaded.
The brothers exchanged looks then back at the female. Is she asking them to go with her? Why though?! They liked their life here. It was safe and full of life. Shouldn't the female remain here with them instead?!
[We can take care of you better! You don't need to leave.] the younger of the the lion brothers made a sound trying to tell her.
[She can't understand lion language! ] the elder reprimanded his little brother. He looked back at Sydney and saw her hopeful look. She had the greenest eyes he had ever seen and she was very pretty too. Of course they could take care of her! And once they gained their human forms, they'd be able to get along better...
[Then we should make sure she doesn't go!] The younger said to his brother. He really liked this female alot! If she stayed here with them, they could take her to play in their territory and give her the best foods on all of beast Continent. She'd be well protected by them!
[That isn't right though.... she'll be mad at us.] the elder gruntled. He had a better understanding of females unlike his dumb little brother.
[Then are you going to let her leave like mom left?!] The younger let out a low angry growl
[Don't talk about mom!] the elder growled back angrily. [She said she'll come back for us!]
[Ha! Stop being stupid! You always say I'm dumb but you are far more dumber! It's been many seasons and she hasn't come for us!] the younger was pissed with his older brother. He had been using the same excuse for so long that he grew numb to it. He knew that their mother would never come back for them.
[But....]
[ we didn't go to look for her either! Maybe she is waiting for us to go find her! Remember you once told me that as long as we have a female, we can go to every place we like right?! If we keep this female with us and she considers us family, then we can go with her. Mother could be in the place the female is talking about! She said there are many females like her. Mother could be there too!] the younger reasoned.
The eldest lion made a grunting sound in annoyance. He recalls that night as clear as day. They had been running for days and nights and their mother didn't let them get any milk! Their father also kept looking at them with very weird eyes. The same look one had when going to hunt with the intention to kill!
He had always wondered why their father wanted to kill them and why their mother kept crying? But regardless of anything, he didn't ask a single thing, not like he could since he was merely a cub until they came to this cave. That night, he remembers having had the last taste of milk from his mother and her warm embrace along with her soft voice but when he woke up the next morning, no one was there and his little brother was extremely sick!
He learnt some of the information from the legacy left behind by his father. He had tried to find the reason why they were abandoned but remembered his father commanding him to stay put and not leave. He also remembered the promise of their mother to return and take them back and for many many many seasons, they feared leaving this place.
What if their mother were to come to find them while they weren't here! That's why he ensured they never left this place! He mad up excuses of all kinds to keep his little brother put...but with time, he learned that the little one was getting smarter. His childish lies couldn't be used for long and he was sure, his little brother wouldn't mind wandering beyond their territory. He didn't want for them to be separated even for a day!
Sydney who had been watching this exchange understood that they were talking things out and there seemed to be a dispute? From the sounds they were making, the emotions could be easily understood...absurd but it seemed to be the power of being beastmen. They made expressions that were no different from humans.
"Hey." ..she interrupted their talk. "I don't know what you guys are talking about but I'm going to make preparations to leave for home. You can think about whether you guys want to come along." she said and stood from the stone bed. She didn't plan on staying here, she needed to get home, she was going to die trying! "Where's the animal skin from the beast you just ate. I need to use it for something." She said and both brothers looked at eachother.
[We'll talk about this more later! Let's see what this female is going to do!] the eldest said and stood up.
[Okay!] the younger relented reluctantly and followed suit.
Sydney walked past them and walked out of the cave. The ground wasn't as dump and the breeze blew softly. The younger brother went and retrieved the animal skin from where they disposed off waste of what they ate and brought it while carrying it between his teeth.
Sydney smiled and walked over. She took the bloody animal skin from him. "Thanks." she subconsciously patted his mane and spread out the animal skin before herself. It was damn heavy and had blood over it but it didn't have much tearing on it. That was good enough! "Is there water around?" she asked and the younger brother got down signalling Sydney to get on. With a smile, Sydney got into the back and the lion sprinted off, the elder brother took the animal skin from her and ran after to catch up with them!.
Not long after, they came to a stream of crystal clear water. There were white stone pebbles at the shore of the stream and the water kept glistening under the sun. Sydney looked at the view before her in awe. This place wasn't corrupted by anything, it was beautifully breathtaking. Nature here was at its best!
She looked into the stream and there was even fish in it. Her stomach growled as she longed to eat some cooked fish but she ignored it. She got off the lion's back and ran to the other to get her animal skin before she
carried it to the stream. Dipping it into the water, the colour was immediately dyed bloody red. She spent the rest of the day washing the hide. It got heavier when it got wet but that didn't stop her. She took a sniff to see if she could smell the blood and there was a faint scent. If she could still smell it then how about these beastmen with high definition senses. It wasn't yet clean! She dragged it up stream with much difficulty to get to a place with deeper waters and continued washing it. She disregarded the blazing sun despite sweating profusely.
She got a rock and begun beating the animal skin up. Behind her, the eldest brother's mouth twitched. Why was the female beating up the skin?!
Even Sydney didn't know what she was doing but she busied herself anyway! She needed to have animal skin for a purpose. After spending three hours, she was covered in sweat and the mad on her face was extremely uncomfortable!
She dragged the skin hide back to shore and spread it over so that it could dry up. She noticed the brothers were looking at her incredulously. She was petrified with their facial expressions but she ignored the looks they gave her since she needed them for her security. Her stomach growled once more!
She stole a look at the brothers who were also looking back at her. She wanted to ask if they knew how to light fire but recalled seeing them eating raw meat! Forget it!
Sydney took another look around her surroundings. There were certain herbs she was familiar with and there were lots of them! Of course..but that had to be for tomorrow.
First she needed to secure light animal skin pieces, then she'll find alot of herbs and keep them with her. Once that was done, she'd be ready to set off with these two lions. She had to find a way to convince them!
"You must be wondering what I'm doing now right?! I'm making skin clothes. They are required to keep warm, to dress up like me and make different things from it. But anyway, I don't know if I'm doing this right but it wouldn't be so troublesome if the skin was lighter and not so heavy!" she grumbled. If she was going to use this heavy skin hide, she'd die of exhaustion before she got home!