“We stood for our land. Our culture. Our roots.” I hold his gaze. “It cost us everything.”
“I am sorry, Alemayehu.”
I bow my head and let the weight rest on me---the grief I have been carrying since the smell of frankincense mixed with my Matriarch’s blood on her own altar. Kendra moves closer, her shoulder pressing into my arm.
My Bouda remembers a different time. Many wet seasons ago, when I intercepted a hunt that strayed onto Bouda territory. Meekah’s lionesses had chased an elk across the boundary line, and I met them at the ridge with my cackle ready. The lionesses fell back. Meekah did not. We circled each other for ten minutes, two primal predators measuring the distance between a territorial dispute and an alliance, and in the end we split the elk and ate on opposite sides of the same fire. His pride brought water from the river. Our clan brought frankincense to burn.
We miss those days,my Bouda says.
“One day we will return to our mainland and claim what is ours,” Meekah says, releasing my shoulder.
“I pray to Mother Fate for that day.”
He looks at Kendra. “I have a human mate and cubs of my own. There is much for us to catch up on. Visit my pride.” His gaze shifts back to me. “Have you completed the ceremony for your matriarch?”
Kendra tilts her head. “What ceremony? We’ve been here only three days.”
“It is the customary feast for a new matriarch,” I explain. “But no. It is only me and Zaki. Zaki is planning to search for more Bouda.”
Meekah’s gaze lifts past my shoulder and his features shift. I catch the scent a half second later---petrichor. Zaki stands behind us in new clothing, a fitted top and draped fabric at the waist that carries the silhouette of her traditional garments. The seamstress’s work. Her silver-ringed eyes are fixed on Meekah with a confidence that borders on challenge.
“Meekah of Zohar Pride,” she says. “You look older.”
His tail twitches. “And you look like you have been shopping.”
“The seamstress is talented. She understood what I needed without excessive questioning.” Zaki folds her arms. “Unlike the wolves here, who ask twelve questions before fetching a glass of water.”
“The wolves ask twelve questions because they need eleven of them to understand the first.” Meekah’s tail sweeps behind him. “Lions ask once and act.”
“And yet it took your pride six attempts to catch that elk on our border.” Zaki’s lip curls. “My brother intercepted it on his first.”
His jaw sets and for a moment the two of them stand three feet apart radiating energy. Then his tail lifts from its arc and drifts toward her, the tuft brushing against her cheek with a gentleness that does not match anything else about the man attached to it.
Zaki closes her eyes. Her arms fall to her sides, her shoulders drop, and the tension that has held her upright since the night our village burned drains out of her in a single exhale. A tear escapes and runs down her cheek, following the path Meekah’s tail just traced.
The market noise fades. I do not hear the vendors or the footsteps or the clang of the ironmonger three stalls over. I hear my sister’s silence, and it is louder than anything her cackle has ever produced.
“Oh, Zaki.” Meekah steps forward and wraps his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. She lets him. She stands inside his arms and lets herself be held, and her shoulders shake once.
Our sister is breaking, Alemayehu,my Bouda says, his voice cracked. I know, Bouda. I know.
I look at Kendra. Her eyes are wet and she is pressing her lips together. “Zaki---“ she starts, but Meekah catches it. He pulls back from Zaki in a movement that looks natural but is not, redirecting Kendra’s attention before the grief can take root.
Zaki clears her throat and wipes her face. She squares her shoulders. I have never seen her cry. My sister is one of the strongest women of our clan. If anyone should have broken by now, it should have been me.
“You must be strong for your queen,” Meekah says, his hand on Zaki’s shoulder. She sniffles.
“No, she doesn’t.” Kendra says it flat and certain.
Meekah looks at Kendra for a long moment. Then he turns back to Zaki. “Come to Zohar Pride. We will capture a fresh elk for you, and we can enjoy it over a fire. Talk about old times.”
Meekah is waiting for us to back him up,my Bouda says.
I nod and wrap my arm around Kendra’s waist, looking down at her. “Your items are in the market. We must take them to our cabin.”
She smiles at that. I can smell in her scent that she understands. This moment is for Zaki.
She walks over to Zaki and looks up at her. “See you tomorrow?”
