Post by Msasi on Feb 26, 2007 12:26:27 GMT -5
Involved:
Khamisa, Female Lioness.
Kiet, Male White Lion.
Tumbuiza, Female Vervet Monkey.
Nabana, Male Lion.
[Kivuli] Mountain Cavern
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The sickly white King is laying on his side against the wall of the cavern, chest rising and falling with each hard won breath. Kiet is still here, still alive, some part of his being unable to just let go and slip into the dark comfort that death promises. But each breath is still a struggle, and every so often a fit of coughs take over the male, fluid stirring in his lungs. Even when he's awake he seems lost to feverish dreams, seemingly unaware of the family gathered around him, praying for him to pull through the illness. Cheek resting on the ground, Kiet's half-lidded eyes stare dully across the cavern. The sound of paws echoes faintly in the cavern as Khamisa raaces up the mountain path, skittering into the cavern , dodging sleeping bodies as she makes her way back toward her father. "Father!" The lioness' voice is soft, urgent but hopeful. "Father, good news! Tumbuiza's back! The healer has returned, Father. Surely she'll have something to help you!" Kiet barely stirs, only tilting his head slightly to peer up at his daughter's face. "Leilani....?" Khamisa frowns, lightly chewing the inside of her cheek. This is perhaps the hardest part. "No, Father. It's me.. Khamisa." Kiet blinks several times, but it seems the vision in his head refuses to fade, refuses to give way to reality. "Lei..lani?"
Who knows where the monkey has been, how far she's travelled, how many moons have come and gone since she left Kivuli to answer a call known only to her. It was never planned for her to be away so long, and doubtless many have given her up for dead - yet now she finds her feet on home soil again, every tree and little hill as familiar to her as ever. Yet it seems to the healer that there is a shadow over Kivuli, deeper than that cast by the mountain that gave the lands their name. The same shadow that she first sensed in distant lands, that spurred her to hurry home. She stops only once between encountering Khamisa and arriving at the bottom of the cliff - at a bush she discovered long ago, by a river bank, bearing leaves that taste foul but ease pain. Without knowing what's wrong with the King, it's all she dares spend the time to get. Finally Tumbuiza reaches the mountain's foothills and scampers up, running on her three free legs and panting, finally hurtling into the pridal cavern and going straight to Kiet's side. "Good afternoon, my lord," she greets him brightly, squatting directly in front of his weary face and tilting her head to smile directly at him. Her face has lines that it never had before, and the bushy fur of her eyebrow-ridge is sparse now and poking out in places, but it's the same warm, compassionate monkey-face that has been there delivering cubs and crowning kings and healing scrapes and bruises for the last two generations.
Slowly wandering in a bit after Khamisa is one of the longstanding Kivuli knights, Nabana. Despite the darkness that may be over Kivuli, he's gone on with the patrols, keeping the peace, and just being generally helpful. He enters the cavern now after coming of patrol, head held up, pace slow. Gaze scans the cavern, and he moves closer to the ill monarch. He doesn't look well. A bit of concern shows in Nabana's eyes, but the rest of his face is otherwise stoic.
Khamisa turns, relieved, when the healer comes racing into the cavern. "It's that plague," She says, shifting over to give Tumbuiza room to work. "We think, anyway. Apparently it's been sweeping through the area. He's been so sick..." The lioness glances at her father, blue eyes full of compassion. The white lion makes no response, apparently unaware of his daughter and the pride's healer, his eyes struggling to focus in the space between them. "I've been giving him bits of meat that have already been chewed," Khamisa continues. "And we've been bringing him small, wet leaves from the river so that he's getting some water, but.." She trails off, glancing at teh white lion's side, where his ribs are starting to become visible through his coat. They've been able to keep him alive, at least, but he hasn't gotten any better. The illness has a firm hold on the King and doesn't seem to want to let go. Kiet chooses that moment to start coughing, each cough sounding painful and each inhale following rattling and wheezing in his chest. Khamisa plants a few small kisses on the King's feverish brow before looking to Tumbuiza. "And I think the fever is affecting him. The only thing he says when he talks is 'Leilani'.. my dead sister. I don't know if he thinks he sees her, or thinks we all are her..." She trails off, shaking her head sadly. Movement at the mouth of the cavern catches her eye, and the princess glances over to Nabana. He is met with a sad, worried look from the young lioness, a quiet nod given in greeting, before Kiet again erupts in a fit of coughing, her attention then drawn back to the white lion.
When it becomes clear the king isn't registering her presence at all, the monkey frowns and steps back, catching her breath a little after her rush through the lands. She looks up at the worried faces of the two lions and smiles softly. So many familiar faces, friends who deserve greeting, yet duty calls. "Is there anyone else still alive who's like him?" she asks softly of either, both of them. "I know many are dead, others missing... How long has he been like this?" Turning back to Kiet, she peers closely at his eyes, looking for any sign that he's actually in pain. By all rights he should be, yet he barely seems aware of his surroundings, let alone his own state. She steps up close by his mane, waits for the coughing to subside and lays her hands gently on his face, closing her eyes and murmuring a few soothing words in the healer's tongue. She then squats and presses her ear carefully against his throat, listening for the telltale rattle that she is sure she will hear even on his calm breaths.
The glance is exchanged with Khamisa, but the knight speaks up to answer the monkey shortly thereafter. "I don't know," he says, softly. "I have not encountered any others living like him, but I have spent most of my time on the borders." With Kiet sick, even though his kids are around to help take care of things, Nabana has taken it upon himself to keep a closer eye on things. After all, he's got the advantage of experience.
Khamisa is silent, allowing Nabana to respond to Tumbuiza first, while her own gaze lingers on Kiet. "None in the pride have been this sick," Khamisa says after the knight has fallen silent. Or, rather, lived so long as Kiet has while being so sick. "He started feeling ill not long after you left, Tumbuiza. He got worse over time. It's been about..." Oh, goodness. She's been so busy worrying about her father's health and trying to make sure he got food and water that the days have all seemed to blur together. "A moon? Maybe a bit longer that he's been in this state." Which has Khamisa worried. Have their efforts to keep her father alive just been extending his suffering until his death? Or does he honestly have a chance to make it through? "A meerkat visited just the other day," The princess continues. "He lost his mate to the plague. He said she was much like Father during her last days.. calling out for their dead son." The lioness shifts, not wanting to be in the way of the healer monkey as she goes about her craft. She manages another glance to Nabana, giving him a faint, thankful smile. Though Khamisa is sure that her brothers are doing a decent job helping out and though she knows Mizuka will make a good King.. it's nice to know that there are others more experienced around to help out. "You're feeling all right, aren't you?" She questions the knight. She'd feel bad if she'd missed someone else in the pride being ill because she'd been focusing on caring for her father. Kiet is still, his eyes closing as he slips again into unconsciousness. He is unaware of Tumbuiza tending to him, unaware of her ear on his throat, unaware that she will indeed hear that rattle even now that his breathing isn't interrupted by coughing. The white lion is lost to fevered dreams, unaware of any pain he is in or the difficulty of his breathing.
No sign of emotion touches the monkey's face as she draws away from Kiet, though she does let her eyes linger a moment on his vacant, empty face. Without being able to ask him questions, there's so little she can do. Her eyes briefly skim the floor around Kiet's head and settle on some little flecks of red blood. "Has there been any fresh meat here in the last few hours?" she asks softly. If not, it could only have come from the king's lungs. And even if so, her diagnosis is still pretty certain. Tumbu turns around slowly and looks between Khamisa and Nabana, and speaks more quietly than ever. "Where's Saibh?" She wants to talk to the King's mate, but a cold dread fills her heart at the thought of the Queen. "Or... or Xian?" So many dead or missing... for an aching moment, she longs for her dearest friend. Is even he alive?
"What, me?" Nabana returns his gaze to Khamisa, returning the smile with a faint one of his own. "Yes, I'm feeling alright. If I wasn't, believe me, I wouldn't be standing here or out on patrol." The monkey's question causes him to glance down to her, and then over to Khamisa. He'll let her field that one as he remains out of the way for now, simply on standby.
Ah, well that's good to hear. Khamisa gievs Nabana another small, brief smile before an ear perks to Tumbuiza's question. Fresh meat? The princess shakes her head. "No.. I haven't brought anything. Unless one of my brothers has, but..." But they should both be out on patrol right now. Her mother and grandfather? Khamisa's head tilts to indicate further back in the cavern where it is darker. "Sleeping sickness," She explains. "I don't think either of them have caught the illness Father has, though." They have been silent, easy sleepers, anyway. Khamisa would worry greatly if Xian came down ill. Though he's big and strong, the barbary is old. She has no doubt that illness would easily claim his life. Khamisa swallows heavily, a sudden lump forming in her throat. Bright blue eyes are turned on the monkey healer. "It's not good, is it?" She asks. Though fully grown and an adult in the eyes of the pride, Khamisa still feels much too young. And she and her brothers are supposed to be leaders of the pride.. but that seems like a hard task when grandfather and parents aren't right there to help.
Tumbuiza's eyes drift involuntarily to the rear part of the cave at Khamisa's reply, where the royals have their own secluded corner, and a little of the anxiety lifts. At least they're here, where she can tend to them - not wasting their last hours away in some ditch, as she had feared. Yet without Saibh.....
For a moment she is quiet, letting her hand drift through the snowy softness of the King's mane. Then she pulls away, suppressing a sigh, and goes to stand near the feet of the princess and the knight. "He is close to death," she says gently. "He is seeing those who have already gone, those who walk in the next world. But there is still hope. It may be that he speaks of Leilani because she is here with him, reminding him of his love for his family, holding him to this life." She looks between the lions, her eyes meeting theirs with sincerity and concern. "His lungs hold water, like... mm... like a large leaf weighed down by heavy rain. If he wishes to live, I can help him a little... I can prepare something that will make him cough much harder until the rain is gone and the leaves are light again. I... it may let him live, or... may simply make his passing more comfortable."
The knight's head gives a slow nod as he looks down to Tumbuiza. "He will do as his spirit is wanting, and as those of the past wish him to do. Kivuli has seen dark times before... but we'll make it. We always have." His gaze is cast over to Kiet. "But hopefully his time to walk with those past has not arrived."
Tears spring to the eyes of the lioness, though they don't yet trace paths down her cheeks. It's always difficult to be confronted with death, especially the death of a parent. She was so very ill as a cub.. she should be able to do something, anything, to help her father in return. One white-rimmed ear tilts to Nabana's words before both ears slip back against her skull. This is a hard decision to make, and she has to comes to terms with it herself. Her brothers aren't here, her mother and grandfather are asleep. Khamisa sniffles, then takes a slow, deep breath. A nod to Tumbuiza. "Go ahead and give him what you will," She says softly. "Even if it only helps him pass.. at least we were here, and we tried."
Respect and compassion are clear in the healer's eyes as she listens to the judgement of each of the Kivulians. She straightens, bows her head in acquiescence and quietly slips out of the cavern again without another word to search for the plant she needs. The Queen and Xian must wait for the sick - and there's nothing else she can do.
Tumbuiza has disconnected.
Looking after Tumbuiza for a moment, Nabana's gaze soon returns to the ill king, and then to Khamisa. "Anything is worth a try. And deep down, he knows that you'll do all you can do to help. He knows that we all would." A bit more concern creeps through his features as he looks upon the lioness. "But most importantly, how are you holding up?"
Khamisa's eyes linger on the form of her father, though a single ear tilts to listen to the sounds of the monkey's retreating steps. The sickly King is givn a gentle nuzzle and a quick kiss to the cheek before Khamisa steps back, turning to Nabana. A nod is given to his words, words she knows are true and that they have done all possible for Kiet. The healer will just give him that bit of extra help to hopefully make him well. Or, at the very least, see that his end is comfortable. Folding her haunches beneath her, the princess considers her response for a moment before finally hitching a shoulder in a small, uncertain shrug. "OK?" She offers, giving the knight a vague smile. "I'm not sick, anyway." She's thankful for that, too. Khamisa has a feeling that, like the old and the young, she would be at risk should she have come down with the plague. Her childhood illness made her weak, and even these days she cannot do some things as well as others, as well as she should. Things like running and hunting are out.. she gets winded too easily, which sends her into a coughing fit of her own that makes it difficult to catch her breath and.. well, one can imagine that wouldn't be good if she were ill like Kiet. Blue eyes slip from Nabana to Kiet, then back again. "I guess it's just weird.. Grandfather and Mother are down with the sleeping sickness, and Father..." She sighs softly. "My brothers and I will be left in charge of the pride. I hope they're more ready than I feel."
The male offers the faintest of chuckles, and a reassuring smile to Khamisa. "Your father was as much a true king of Kivuli as I've seen, and he was... the third one I've witnessed, and the second I've served under. I doubt not that you and your siblings are the same--if what little I have seen and heard of you are any indication. So long as you remember what it means to be a Kivulian--a true Kivulian, you'll do just fine. And should you ever be in doubt..." Here Nabana steps one forepaw back, and lowers his forequarters in a slight bow, which he holds. "I have pledged my loyalty to the true king of Kivuli so long as I have life. All any of you need do is ask."
Khamisa dips her head in acknowledgement of the knight's words, smiling faintly. "Thank you, Nabana." It is good to know that she and her siblings have such support. The princess, skilled as she is in the history of the pride, is aware that changes in leadership call adjustment and patience by all in the pride, even in times when the previous King is alive and well and sitting ready to serve as an advisor to his successor. She can only imagine that in this case, with the old King ill and possibly dying, the adjustment might take longer. "I'm sure my father will be glad to know that you and the other knights are here at a time like this."
Nabana rights himself again, and turns to look slowly over at the king. "Darkness has fallen on Kivuli before. Xian's queen Nyesha passed... and the dark prince, Malik, attempted to take over the throne while Xian was away once with all these delusions of grandeur. His death happened before he and his brother Ramses could do much, and I believe that is how your mother came to be the heir. Camrath and I kept the lands in check until Xian returned." His gaze slowly wanders back to Khamisa. "Support is the reason we have been given the posts we have. We hold our positions longer than the kings in most cases--but we also must willingly give up the desire to be kings ourselves. If we didn't, a king could not trust that his knights were not planning regicide, although I don't doubt that there are some who wish for the position for that purpose."
Khamisa, Female Lioness.
Kiet, Male White Lion.
Tumbuiza, Female Vervet Monkey.
Nabana, Male Lion.
[Kivuli] Mountain Cavern
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The sickly white King is laying on his side against the wall of the cavern, chest rising and falling with each hard won breath. Kiet is still here, still alive, some part of his being unable to just let go and slip into the dark comfort that death promises. But each breath is still a struggle, and every so often a fit of coughs take over the male, fluid stirring in his lungs. Even when he's awake he seems lost to feverish dreams, seemingly unaware of the family gathered around him, praying for him to pull through the illness. Cheek resting on the ground, Kiet's half-lidded eyes stare dully across the cavern. The sound of paws echoes faintly in the cavern as Khamisa raaces up the mountain path, skittering into the cavern , dodging sleeping bodies as she makes her way back toward her father. "Father!" The lioness' voice is soft, urgent but hopeful. "Father, good news! Tumbuiza's back! The healer has returned, Father. Surely she'll have something to help you!" Kiet barely stirs, only tilting his head slightly to peer up at his daughter's face. "Leilani....?" Khamisa frowns, lightly chewing the inside of her cheek. This is perhaps the hardest part. "No, Father. It's me.. Khamisa." Kiet blinks several times, but it seems the vision in his head refuses to fade, refuses to give way to reality. "Lei..lani?"
Who knows where the monkey has been, how far she's travelled, how many moons have come and gone since she left Kivuli to answer a call known only to her. It was never planned for her to be away so long, and doubtless many have given her up for dead - yet now she finds her feet on home soil again, every tree and little hill as familiar to her as ever. Yet it seems to the healer that there is a shadow over Kivuli, deeper than that cast by the mountain that gave the lands their name. The same shadow that she first sensed in distant lands, that spurred her to hurry home. She stops only once between encountering Khamisa and arriving at the bottom of the cliff - at a bush she discovered long ago, by a river bank, bearing leaves that taste foul but ease pain. Without knowing what's wrong with the King, it's all she dares spend the time to get. Finally Tumbuiza reaches the mountain's foothills and scampers up, running on her three free legs and panting, finally hurtling into the pridal cavern and going straight to Kiet's side. "Good afternoon, my lord," she greets him brightly, squatting directly in front of his weary face and tilting her head to smile directly at him. Her face has lines that it never had before, and the bushy fur of her eyebrow-ridge is sparse now and poking out in places, but it's the same warm, compassionate monkey-face that has been there delivering cubs and crowning kings and healing scrapes and bruises for the last two generations.
Slowly wandering in a bit after Khamisa is one of the longstanding Kivuli knights, Nabana. Despite the darkness that may be over Kivuli, he's gone on with the patrols, keeping the peace, and just being generally helpful. He enters the cavern now after coming of patrol, head held up, pace slow. Gaze scans the cavern, and he moves closer to the ill monarch. He doesn't look well. A bit of concern shows in Nabana's eyes, but the rest of his face is otherwise stoic.
Khamisa turns, relieved, when the healer comes racing into the cavern. "It's that plague," She says, shifting over to give Tumbuiza room to work. "We think, anyway. Apparently it's been sweeping through the area. He's been so sick..." The lioness glances at her father, blue eyes full of compassion. The white lion makes no response, apparently unaware of his daughter and the pride's healer, his eyes struggling to focus in the space between them. "I've been giving him bits of meat that have already been chewed," Khamisa continues. "And we've been bringing him small, wet leaves from the river so that he's getting some water, but.." She trails off, glancing at teh white lion's side, where his ribs are starting to become visible through his coat. They've been able to keep him alive, at least, but he hasn't gotten any better. The illness has a firm hold on the King and doesn't seem to want to let go. Kiet chooses that moment to start coughing, each cough sounding painful and each inhale following rattling and wheezing in his chest. Khamisa plants a few small kisses on the King's feverish brow before looking to Tumbuiza. "And I think the fever is affecting him. The only thing he says when he talks is 'Leilani'.. my dead sister. I don't know if he thinks he sees her, or thinks we all are her..." She trails off, shaking her head sadly. Movement at the mouth of the cavern catches her eye, and the princess glances over to Nabana. He is met with a sad, worried look from the young lioness, a quiet nod given in greeting, before Kiet again erupts in a fit of coughing, her attention then drawn back to the white lion.
When it becomes clear the king isn't registering her presence at all, the monkey frowns and steps back, catching her breath a little after her rush through the lands. She looks up at the worried faces of the two lions and smiles softly. So many familiar faces, friends who deserve greeting, yet duty calls. "Is there anyone else still alive who's like him?" she asks softly of either, both of them. "I know many are dead, others missing... How long has he been like this?" Turning back to Kiet, she peers closely at his eyes, looking for any sign that he's actually in pain. By all rights he should be, yet he barely seems aware of his surroundings, let alone his own state. She steps up close by his mane, waits for the coughing to subside and lays her hands gently on his face, closing her eyes and murmuring a few soothing words in the healer's tongue. She then squats and presses her ear carefully against his throat, listening for the telltale rattle that she is sure she will hear even on his calm breaths.
The glance is exchanged with Khamisa, but the knight speaks up to answer the monkey shortly thereafter. "I don't know," he says, softly. "I have not encountered any others living like him, but I have spent most of my time on the borders." With Kiet sick, even though his kids are around to help take care of things, Nabana has taken it upon himself to keep a closer eye on things. After all, he's got the advantage of experience.
Khamisa is silent, allowing Nabana to respond to Tumbuiza first, while her own gaze lingers on Kiet. "None in the pride have been this sick," Khamisa says after the knight has fallen silent. Or, rather, lived so long as Kiet has while being so sick. "He started feeling ill not long after you left, Tumbuiza. He got worse over time. It's been about..." Oh, goodness. She's been so busy worrying about her father's health and trying to make sure he got food and water that the days have all seemed to blur together. "A moon? Maybe a bit longer that he's been in this state." Which has Khamisa worried. Have their efforts to keep her father alive just been extending his suffering until his death? Or does he honestly have a chance to make it through? "A meerkat visited just the other day," The princess continues. "He lost his mate to the plague. He said she was much like Father during her last days.. calling out for their dead son." The lioness shifts, not wanting to be in the way of the healer monkey as she goes about her craft. She manages another glance to Nabana, giving him a faint, thankful smile. Though Khamisa is sure that her brothers are doing a decent job helping out and though she knows Mizuka will make a good King.. it's nice to know that there are others more experienced around to help out. "You're feeling all right, aren't you?" She questions the knight. She'd feel bad if she'd missed someone else in the pride being ill because she'd been focusing on caring for her father. Kiet is still, his eyes closing as he slips again into unconsciousness. He is unaware of Tumbuiza tending to him, unaware of her ear on his throat, unaware that she will indeed hear that rattle even now that his breathing isn't interrupted by coughing. The white lion is lost to fevered dreams, unaware of any pain he is in or the difficulty of his breathing.
No sign of emotion touches the monkey's face as she draws away from Kiet, though she does let her eyes linger a moment on his vacant, empty face. Without being able to ask him questions, there's so little she can do. Her eyes briefly skim the floor around Kiet's head and settle on some little flecks of red blood. "Has there been any fresh meat here in the last few hours?" she asks softly. If not, it could only have come from the king's lungs. And even if so, her diagnosis is still pretty certain. Tumbu turns around slowly and looks between Khamisa and Nabana, and speaks more quietly than ever. "Where's Saibh?" She wants to talk to the King's mate, but a cold dread fills her heart at the thought of the Queen. "Or... or Xian?" So many dead or missing... for an aching moment, she longs for her dearest friend. Is even he alive?
"What, me?" Nabana returns his gaze to Khamisa, returning the smile with a faint one of his own. "Yes, I'm feeling alright. If I wasn't, believe me, I wouldn't be standing here or out on patrol." The monkey's question causes him to glance down to her, and then over to Khamisa. He'll let her field that one as he remains out of the way for now, simply on standby.
Ah, well that's good to hear. Khamisa gievs Nabana another small, brief smile before an ear perks to Tumbuiza's question. Fresh meat? The princess shakes her head. "No.. I haven't brought anything. Unless one of my brothers has, but..." But they should both be out on patrol right now. Her mother and grandfather? Khamisa's head tilts to indicate further back in the cavern where it is darker. "Sleeping sickness," She explains. "I don't think either of them have caught the illness Father has, though." They have been silent, easy sleepers, anyway. Khamisa would worry greatly if Xian came down ill. Though he's big and strong, the barbary is old. She has no doubt that illness would easily claim his life. Khamisa swallows heavily, a sudden lump forming in her throat. Bright blue eyes are turned on the monkey healer. "It's not good, is it?" She asks. Though fully grown and an adult in the eyes of the pride, Khamisa still feels much too young. And she and her brothers are supposed to be leaders of the pride.. but that seems like a hard task when grandfather and parents aren't right there to help.
Tumbuiza's eyes drift involuntarily to the rear part of the cave at Khamisa's reply, where the royals have their own secluded corner, and a little of the anxiety lifts. At least they're here, where she can tend to them - not wasting their last hours away in some ditch, as she had feared. Yet without Saibh.....
For a moment she is quiet, letting her hand drift through the snowy softness of the King's mane. Then she pulls away, suppressing a sigh, and goes to stand near the feet of the princess and the knight. "He is close to death," she says gently. "He is seeing those who have already gone, those who walk in the next world. But there is still hope. It may be that he speaks of Leilani because she is here with him, reminding him of his love for his family, holding him to this life." She looks between the lions, her eyes meeting theirs with sincerity and concern. "His lungs hold water, like... mm... like a large leaf weighed down by heavy rain. If he wishes to live, I can help him a little... I can prepare something that will make him cough much harder until the rain is gone and the leaves are light again. I... it may let him live, or... may simply make his passing more comfortable."
The knight's head gives a slow nod as he looks down to Tumbuiza. "He will do as his spirit is wanting, and as those of the past wish him to do. Kivuli has seen dark times before... but we'll make it. We always have." His gaze is cast over to Kiet. "But hopefully his time to walk with those past has not arrived."
Tears spring to the eyes of the lioness, though they don't yet trace paths down her cheeks. It's always difficult to be confronted with death, especially the death of a parent. She was so very ill as a cub.. she should be able to do something, anything, to help her father in return. One white-rimmed ear tilts to Nabana's words before both ears slip back against her skull. This is a hard decision to make, and she has to comes to terms with it herself. Her brothers aren't here, her mother and grandfather are asleep. Khamisa sniffles, then takes a slow, deep breath. A nod to Tumbuiza. "Go ahead and give him what you will," She says softly. "Even if it only helps him pass.. at least we were here, and we tried."
Respect and compassion are clear in the healer's eyes as she listens to the judgement of each of the Kivulians. She straightens, bows her head in acquiescence and quietly slips out of the cavern again without another word to search for the plant she needs. The Queen and Xian must wait for the sick - and there's nothing else she can do.
Tumbuiza has disconnected.
Looking after Tumbuiza for a moment, Nabana's gaze soon returns to the ill king, and then to Khamisa. "Anything is worth a try. And deep down, he knows that you'll do all you can do to help. He knows that we all would." A bit more concern creeps through his features as he looks upon the lioness. "But most importantly, how are you holding up?"
Khamisa's eyes linger on the form of her father, though a single ear tilts to listen to the sounds of the monkey's retreating steps. The sickly King is givn a gentle nuzzle and a quick kiss to the cheek before Khamisa steps back, turning to Nabana. A nod is given to his words, words she knows are true and that they have done all possible for Kiet. The healer will just give him that bit of extra help to hopefully make him well. Or, at the very least, see that his end is comfortable. Folding her haunches beneath her, the princess considers her response for a moment before finally hitching a shoulder in a small, uncertain shrug. "OK?" She offers, giving the knight a vague smile. "I'm not sick, anyway." She's thankful for that, too. Khamisa has a feeling that, like the old and the young, she would be at risk should she have come down with the plague. Her childhood illness made her weak, and even these days she cannot do some things as well as others, as well as she should. Things like running and hunting are out.. she gets winded too easily, which sends her into a coughing fit of her own that makes it difficult to catch her breath and.. well, one can imagine that wouldn't be good if she were ill like Kiet. Blue eyes slip from Nabana to Kiet, then back again. "I guess it's just weird.. Grandfather and Mother are down with the sleeping sickness, and Father..." She sighs softly. "My brothers and I will be left in charge of the pride. I hope they're more ready than I feel."
The male offers the faintest of chuckles, and a reassuring smile to Khamisa. "Your father was as much a true king of Kivuli as I've seen, and he was... the third one I've witnessed, and the second I've served under. I doubt not that you and your siblings are the same--if what little I have seen and heard of you are any indication. So long as you remember what it means to be a Kivulian--a true Kivulian, you'll do just fine. And should you ever be in doubt..." Here Nabana steps one forepaw back, and lowers his forequarters in a slight bow, which he holds. "I have pledged my loyalty to the true king of Kivuli so long as I have life. All any of you need do is ask."
Khamisa dips her head in acknowledgement of the knight's words, smiling faintly. "Thank you, Nabana." It is good to know that she and her siblings have such support. The princess, skilled as she is in the history of the pride, is aware that changes in leadership call adjustment and patience by all in the pride, even in times when the previous King is alive and well and sitting ready to serve as an advisor to his successor. She can only imagine that in this case, with the old King ill and possibly dying, the adjustment might take longer. "I'm sure my father will be glad to know that you and the other knights are here at a time like this."
Nabana rights himself again, and turns to look slowly over at the king. "Darkness has fallen on Kivuli before. Xian's queen Nyesha passed... and the dark prince, Malik, attempted to take over the throne while Xian was away once with all these delusions of grandeur. His death happened before he and his brother Ramses could do much, and I believe that is how your mother came to be the heir. Camrath and I kept the lands in check until Xian returned." His gaze slowly wanders back to Khamisa. "Support is the reason we have been given the posts we have. We hold our positions longer than the kings in most cases--but we also must willingly give up the desire to be kings ourselves. If we didn't, a king could not trust that his knights were not planning regicide, although I don't doubt that there are some who wish for the position for that purpose."