(I had some spare time today, so here is an update)
Grass mingle (I think)
Qirunar swished his tail nervously. Usually Ainijaya did things like this, considering she was Kani from birth, while he only became Kanir through marrying her. He wasn’t instructed on all this court etiquette.
‘Very well. You two have my blessing.’ Qirunar tried to smile at the couple in front of him. They were well suited for each other, but definately unexpected. But then again, Enki and Kat knew each other since they were young, so it made sense.
‘Thank you Kanir.’ Kat grinned, and the two gave a small bow and walked away. Qirunar found it a bit silly that nichelings needed their leaders permission to marry and have children, but maybe that was to control population size. His tail kept swishing back and forth. It was hard to be happy for them, considering he and Ainijaya were being hunted relentlessly, and that meant their children were in danger as well.
‘How are you feeling, Jay?’ Qirunar walked up to Ainijaya, a small smile on his face in an attempt to make her feel better. When the Kani was in a foul mood, little could change that. And when she was sick, she was always in a foul mood.
‘How do you think?’ She rasped. There was the usual irritation in her voice, but also something else.
‘I was only checking.’ mumbled Qirunar, turning to leave.
‘Wait. Don’t go.’ She didn’t say it in the way a sick person said it, someone who didn’t want to be left alone. She said it almost fearfully. Then Qirunar understood.
‘I-I’ll go get Nikaj or Ramsi to keep you company.’ He threw behind him, quickening his pace. She didn’t say anything to that. Qirunar had never been a good actor. He could only hope that he was convincing enough now, or his mate could lose her life. Once he knew he was out of view, he ran to get Enki. Enki raced back to help the Kani, but by then Qirunar was out of breath, not used to all this running. He staggered back, and was met with the body of a yellow nicheling. His stomach turned. A warrior, like Enki. Ainijaya was backed away, panting, while Enki stood regaining his breath. He was swaying quite a bit though.
‘That nicheling wanted to bring as much of the royal family here as she could before she killed us all. She told me as much when caught me earlier. Clever, but not clever enough.’ Ainijaya muttered, breath finally stabilizing. Enki however, fell over, and it was only then that Qirunar noticed he was bleeding.
~
Kiji babbled at the sky, waving her tiny paws in front of her. It was all so big! A rabbil on the path ahead darted into the bushes, and Kiji wondered if she would be big enough to catch a rabbil one day. She hoped so.
‘Keep still, you spiky little thing.’ Kiji’s mothers voice was muffled by the fact that Kiji was being carried by her.
‘I can carry her.’ Her fathers calm, albeit a bit gruff voice floated over. Kiji squeaked, just to tell them she was part of the conversation as well.
‘No you can’t. You need to rest and recover, grumpy.’ mam said to dad.
‘You’re the healer.’ dad smiled slightly, but Kiji could see he was a bit hurt. He winced everytime he put weight on one paw. Kiji mewed unhappily. She still didn’t understand why he was hurt. She once hurt herself, when a burr found its way into her nest. It was very spiky, and she tried to bat it away, but ended up cutting her small, soft paw. Maybe her dad got spiked by a burr as well?
‘Almost there Kiji. The beach is beautiful, I know you’ll love it!’ mam smiled. Kiji didn’t know what a ‘the beach’ was, but it sounded exciting. She babbled happily to herself as the small family made their way to the shore.
~
Mita walked through the soft grasses, Hu right behind her, her tail gently clamped between his jaws. The wind was strong this close to the sea, and it was best for Hu to not fall into the water and drown.
‘How close are we?’ Hu mumbled.
‘Close.’ Mita replied quietly. As always. She heard Hu sigh. He was naturally talkative, so spending time with someone who barely said a word must be painful. Mita realised with a small pang of guilt that he still went out of his way to talk to her anyway. ‘Nikaj and Ramsi are already at the port. They went ahead.’ Mita added in an attempt to make Hu’s ordeal less painful.
‘Those two mean a lot to you, don’t they?’ Hu asked. He was nosy too. Talkative and nosy.
‘They do. I can’t have my own children, so caring for them is important to me.’
‘I still think It’s an awful punishment. Being demoted to that rank I mean.’ Hu said a lot of things, and Mita knew he meant well, but it made her feel like someone to be pitied whenever someone spoke like that to her. She didn’t like it.
‘It’s how things are. My family committed treason. It would be worse if we were all executed.’ Mita said, doing her best to end the conversation.
‘If its not too invasive, could I ask what did your family do…?’
‘You can ask.’ Mita immediately went back to being quiet. Technically Hu was higher rank, so she shouldn’t talk to him like this, but she knew he pitied her too much to ever report her for this. Her grandmother didn’t do anything too serious, just openly disagreed with any type of monarchy or caste system. The nobility didn’t like that kind of talk, and demoted her grandmother and her entire family to the lowest rank to keep them quiet. Mita had only been a child back then. Everyday she wondered what life could be like if things were different.
‘This way.’ Mita said. They had reached the flower port. Pink flowers blossomed across the entire port, filling the air with the heady scent of pollen. Petals flew through the air and landed in the bright blue sea. It was a picture from paradise. Mita hated to say it, but she would miss this island. Too bad they had to leave.
Have fun! :D.
