“Mwindaji!” “ The word was a husky cry, from deep in the shadows of the Lagoon. Before long, Shenzi made her appearance, loping into view and pausing but a small distance away, where she stood tall and alert. Her eyes settled upon the silver bay’s face and did not waver, though she remained alert to all else. With shrewdness, she searched those newly familiar features of Nyimara, wondering if the mare would be surprised to see her, relieved, or perhaps a little of both. After all, it certainly hadn’t been Shenzi’s intention to ever set foot in this squalid swamp again.
And yet, here she was, of her own free will. Funny how things turned out.
“I went looking for you in your domain, but I found no-one.” Old scents, only, weaving through a barren landscape, cold and unforgiving. At first, this had only served to stoke the flames of Shenzi’s temper – she would not stand for being snubbed in such a manner. The cold had been enough to send her back to the Crossing – if only to seek the silver-haired Arch Queen and set teeth to her shoulder again. That she had found traces of Nyimara’s scent leading to the Lagoon served to redirect her anger. If it was that brash young brute with more swagger than sense that had somehow got the best of the silver bay woman, well… Shenzi might have to make good on her threats.
But there would be time enough for that later, perhaps.
For now, Shenzi’s main concern was the queen stolen away from her kingdom. And the child she had at her heels. Prowling forwards, muscles tense (for Shenzi was no stranger to this place, really, nor the malefactors that seemed to inhabit it), the seal brown mare’s darkened gaze slanted across the other mare’s form in a way that was almost hungry. And hungry she was – for a reason to war with the world itself. So much had been taken from her. It was time to take something back. And where better to start than with these crooked men? With the one who, in a roundabout way, was responsible for Shenzi’s path leading her right back to where she’d started – the murky depths of the Lagoon, whose paths she’d skirted when first she’d crawled ashore this chain of Islands.
“Tell me, my sweet fierce thing, who’s responsible for this mess we’ve found ourselves in.” Perhaps more than Nyimara herself, Shenzi was surprised. Perhaps it was a foolish thing, to forsake her own freedom, but something about Nyimara had struck a chord with her, and already there was fostered a strong sense of loyalty to the displaced Arch Queen. Whether it would burn out quickly, the way a fire consumed itself, only time would tell. But this was all too close to home for Shenzi to back away now.
“I came for you,” she growled gently, drifting closer, tipping her muzzle up to Nyimara’s ear. “One day soon, Malkia Mkali, we shall be free from this place,” The promise was breathed into Nyimara’s ear, the words no less primal for their softness. Pulling away only a little, Shenzi shifted her attention to the filly.
“Hello, little one,” she said by way of greeting, consciously slinking about to better shield the young girl from the brutes who were sure to descend upon them any moment. Shenzi was ready for them, and she fiercely hoped that Nyimara was too. No matter what, though, the scarred barb mare was determined to stick to her companions. And the heavens help any who tried to come between them.
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