A Crocodile's Journey

Chapter 7

Since his grounding, Kitwana was stuck in Lake Matope, unable to hang out with Kion or Hodari, and some members of the float kept an eye on him to make sure he didn't leave his 'permitted area' on Makuu's orders. Though this was unnecessary since Kitwana never disobeyed his father, the crocodile would rather be safe than sorry. What saddened Kitwana the most was the fact that he'd miss the Kupatana; and no matter how much she tried, Akina just couldn't get her mate to change his mind.

Despite often acting like he didn't care much, the truth was that Makuu was bothered by two things: the first was that his charge didn't annoy him as much anymore, and tried to keep distance, even when he was hungry, perhaps because he thought he was still mad; he thought he'd be happy about it, but instead he... missed it.

The second was Kitwana's surprisingly quick growth rate: about three and a half weeks ago Kitwana was but a fuzzball with legs and a naked head, but now he had grown considerably. His baby down was starting to fall down, instead being replaced by milky white plumage, and his beak and head had started taking a dark coloration instead of the pinkish hue he had when he was born. Height-wise, he was perhaps only a few inches shorter than Ono. But what called Makuu's attention the most was his wings: the little stubs were growing longer with each passing day, and much like his baby down, it was starting to grow white feathers, though these had black tips.

Crocodiles took years, no, decades, to even reach a proper adult size, so naturally most of the float was stunned at how fast Kitwana's development was, some of them even missing the little gray fuzzball.

He was growing not only in size and body, but maturity as well. He didn't ask for food as often as before, instead preferring to catch his meals himself, something of which Makuu was grateful; it was tiring having to feed a chick every few minutes.

Makuu was worried about the time he'd have to tell Kitwana the truth: he would never fly if he thought he was a crocodile, because by common sense crocodiles did not fly. Not even with the notable difference in physiology did the ibis fledgling suspect he belonged to a different species.

And... Well, it wasn't that he actually cared, but how would his charge react to the news? Would he hate him for letting him believe such a lie? How would he react to the truth of what happened to his real mother? He didn't care if the chick did, but.... Akina and Hodari had gotten attached to him. Yeah, that was it.

However, though he might not admit it, he did like him. Akina, the float, the Guard, even some of the Pride Landers who had witnessed their interactions together had started to notice that Makuu did genuinely care for Kitwana's wellbeing, even if he didn't openly show it, and denied it when asked. Some could not believe it, others were relieved that the crocodile was starting to 'soften up'.

And Akina was hoping that, perhaps, he'd finally change his mind about having hatchlings of their own.

Kitwana, meanwhile, was completely unaware of what was going on in his 'father's' head. He was also noticing the strange changes in his body. His wings, in particular, proved to be a nuisance; he did not see them as wings, though, but rather as his 'forelegs'. They were much more longer and lacked any claws or fingers, and got in the way whenever he wanted to swim around. This frustrated him to no end; he had been dying to make a Death Roll, the characteristic hunting move of crocodiles, but his wings enabled him to do it properly.

He also noted the different... locomotion he had. Instead of walking on all fours, he walked on his two hind legs, which he thought to be too long. He was also confused for his white coloration, rather than everybody else's green, not to mention the lack of teeth. Was he a different type of crocodile?