Mwenzi Prologue

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Prologue

The stars danced across the night sky and the grasslands below were calm with a nightly breeze. The cricket's chirping was only accompanied by the giggles of one bubbly lion cub. Kota the chocolate mousse furball had lain between his father's front limbs and all snug as a bug at that. His father had lain on his belly with his head up and front limbs outstretched. Kota's yellow-eyed glance bounced from the ground to his darker brown father. "Dad, what is our family like?" the cub said with curious intent unwavering. His father, Bahari, peered down warmly at him, and softly loosed a yawn before replying, "What do you mean, son?" Kota sat up a little still looking up at his father. "I mean like before the, what do you call it again?" The word escaped him but it started with "Fe." "Feuding?" his fathered said filling it in for him. Kota was sure his father had an idea where this was going now. "Yeah before the "feuding", like grandma, maybe before grandma," he continued. He didn't know much before grandma at all, which would be enough to make him all the more curious." Well son, back in our day.." his fathered joked. "Oh geez! Is this one of those stories..?" He rolled his eyes and was about to sigh. "I'm just playing." His father chuckled before getting to the real story.

"Well let's start way back, with your Great-grandpa Amani..." Amani. So that's the name of his great-grandpa. "He was born in a small pride on these grasslands by this very waterhole when he was a cub. He was just as curious as you too." He showed a big smile to his father at this. He wished there were more cubs like great-grandpa around here to play with. "He didn't have a mother for long, but luckily he found Pride Rock and was adopted by a sweet old lioness..." Wait a minute, if great-grandpa left for Pride Rock before any of them were around, did he end up coming back somehow? "...but the great lions of the past had something else planned for him which returned him to his old pride. The new leader was a tyrant, and he fought for his birth pride with honor but was, what do you kids call it now, creamed?" Was that it? Was great-grandpa okay? Kota flushed with a little bit of worry until his father continued. "While he was forced from the pridelands for it, his real purpose was waiting for him in the outlands. Great-grandma just had to find hers." A smile returned to Kota's face. So was this the start of his family's side in the outlands? He heard of grandma living with her parents in the outlands at one time.

"Next was your Grandma Mai and her mother Nina. Your Great-Grandma Nina was an old friend of your Great-Grandpa Amani and unknown to him at the time he was the father of her cub." Silly great-grandpa. At least they were all coming together, but Kota wondered what grandma was like as a cub. "Mai was a simple little girl as a cub. She'd play with friends, or just lay and relax. Your great-grandma took Mai to go be with your great-grandpa after a while." The pieces started falling into place in Kota's little head as his father yarned out more about their family. "She doesn't remember much of it cause she was so young, but she grew up accustomed to the rough outlands life. She was too busy to relax then. She ended up meeting an outlander, your Grandpa Kunai, and was happy there." His great-grandparents finally met in the outlands with their child. Their child grew up and met his outlander grandpa and his side of the family, the second feuding side. He didn't blame his grandparents for that though.

His father's muzzle ceased loosing the story. The lack of noise made the crickets come alive again. "Wait, what about you dad?" Kota inquired, thrown off by the stark ending in his father's story. "What, me? You don't wanna hear about your old man. Besides we're here, we're creating some family history." Kota got up on his back legs and pressed his paws against his father"s muzzle. A small and high-pitched giggle sounded from him. "Daaddd, your mom and dad had to come from the outlands for some reason." His father must have known Kota would find the hole in the story sooner or later. His father's chuckle was muffled by Kota's soft paws pressing, but was made out nonetheless. "Alright, alright," his father muffled a reply, and Kota's paws returned to the ground as he sat once again. The story once again was picked up. "Your grandparent's meeting was forbidden. They were a pridelander female and an outlander male, and each side didn't trust the other. So they moved to these grasslands along this waterhole in the pridelands here. It was your great-grandpa's idea you see. Your grandparents could both be close to their homelands and soon they had me." Kota looked at his father as he mulled over how to word the next part for the cub. "Just, some trouble arose with the outlanders about their meeting. They were a little more "upset" about it than the pridelanders. Your grandparents "handled" it. I grew up at this lake, there's a lot of good memories here. Your grandma's side of the family lives in the main pridelands, and your grandpa's side of the family lives in the rival outlands. The lake is a waterhole inside the main pridelands, but it is out far enough that it's about halfway between the two prides. We get to visit each side but only individually, cause they don't really get along. While it can get crazy, we love 'em. Right son?" Kota had drifted off to sleep. He barely felt the tug as his father pulled him close and laid his head down to sleep himself.

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