As the day progressed, the sun rose higher in the sky, burning the scales of every crocodile present in the clearing. Except for, of course, Makuu and Kiburi, who were napping the day away inside the cool-aired cave. As far as they were concerned, they had nothing to worry about.
"Come on you two, wake up!"
Makuu grumbled under his breath in annoyance, but obliged to the command anyway. When he arose from his slumber, Makuu spotted Tuma standing at the entrance to the cave, looking quite impatient.
"What's got your scales in a twist this time, Tuma?" Makuu begrudgingly asked, irritated at having been woken up by the Valley crocodile.
"I'm already stressed enough as is, Makuu. I don't need your temper to make it worse."
"How ironic."
"Just wake your friend up for me, okay? Is that too much to ask of you?"
Makuu wanted to argue, but knew he wouldn't get anywhere with Tuma, so he decided to keep his jaws shut and do as instructed. He swam over to Kiburi, who was still very much asleep.
"Do you mind telling me why you want us awake so badly?" Makuu asked.
"Wake your friend up and I'll tell you," Tuma responded.
"Let's hope you'll tell the truth."
"I'm not at all surprised that you said that."
"You shouldn't be, considering what you and Nkiru did to me."
"I was following orders!"
"Yeah, and remind me whose orders those were, exactly?"
This made Tuma go quiet.
"I thought so. Now, if you will excuse me..." Makuu cut off his own response by grabbing Kiburi's tail in his jaws and clamping down hard.
Just as before, Kiburi burst wide awake, but since Makuu knew what was coming, managed to avoid having his head smashed into the stone, again.
"Makuu! I was trying to sleep! What the hell is so damn important?" Kiburi snapped.
"Hey, don't look at me!" Makuu exclaimed. "I wasn't the one who wanted to wake you. Tuma just asked me to do it for him. So, if you want to blame anyone, then blame Tuma, not me."
Kiburi wasn't happy about being woken up, again, but he was even less so when he learned that Tuma was paying them a visit.
"Alright, Tuma, what's the big deal about waking us up?" Kiburi asked.
"To make a long story short, an important meeting is going to be held here soon, and I want to make sure you two know about it before you may or may not decide to say or do something stupid during it," Tuma explained.
"So why tell us?"
"Like I said, I don't want you two waking up during the meeting and interrupting everything. Also, Zula wanted me to give you guys the message for her. Don't ask me why because I don't know. I don't even get why she's so interested in you two, but whatever. Just don't do anything stupid, and I am sure that we won't have any problems. I'm pretty sure you two understand."
With nothing left to say, Tuma turned around and stalked off towards the opposite end of the clearing, where his sons Adisa and Zuberi were hanging out under the shade of a tree. As soon as Tuma reached them, the boys surrounded him and barraged him with conversation. For Makuu, and probably for Kiburi as well, it was surprising to see Tuma smiling, enjoying himself as he chatted with his sons.
{Tuma may be a huge jerk, but I guess he's okay as a father. I mean, his kids at least seem to like him, so he can't really be that bad.}
"So, any guesses as to what's so important about this meeting?" Kiburi asked.
"Absolutely no clue," Makuu answered. "Although, it must be pretty important if your new girlfriend got Tuma to deliver the message to us."
"She's not my girlfriend! Now, you and that female on the other claw..."
"Don't you dare bring Masika into this! My concern is you and Zula, considering..."
"Makuu! Honestly, I thought you said you weren't going to bring that up!"
"What? The fact that you and Zula might have done you know what?"
"Stop! Just, stop. If we did do what you're saying that we did, then blame natural instinct."
"Whatever you say, Kiburi, but if it happens again..."
"Can we please drop the subject? Besides, it looks like the meeting is about to start."
"Sure."
{For the moment.}
Makuu and Kiburi spent the next few minutes watching the Valley crocodiles pour into the clearing for the meeting. Tuma and his sons were still under their tree, so they had no real need to move from their spot.
"Hi, guys!"
It was Zula, along with both of her brothers.
"I hope Tuma delivered my message to you guys."
"He did, but why didn't you bring the message to us in the first place?" Makuu asked.
"I was tired because I had a long night and didn't get much sleep. Since Tuma is a close friend of mine, I asked him if he would deliver the message to you guys for me. He wasn't happy about it, but I'm glad that he did it anyway."
From behind Zula, Makuu could hear Keyon snort in disgust at having to listen to his sister's explanation.
"Do any of you know what this meeting is about?" Kiburi asked.
"No, but I sincerely wish that we did," Keyon answered irritably.
"What's got your scales in a twist, Keyon?"
"Many things, Kiburi. Many things."
It seemed like Keyon was going to say more, but before he could, a loud voice rang throughout the clearing.
"Every crocodile! Be quiet and listen to me!"
The individual that was speaking out was Nkiru. Seeing the crocodile that nearly killed him and dragged his tail all the way here for no reason made Makuu's scales prick. Of course, he wasn't the only one who was displeased at seeing Nkiru.
"Oh, joy," Keyon whispered sarcastically. "An announcement from Nkiru. This should be interesting to listen to."
"Shut up, Keyon!" Zula hissed. "I'm sure we'll find out what's up very soon."
"Well she better hurry it up. Some of us have an important schedule to stick to."
"Whatever you have to do can wait, Keyon. Right now, just shut it and pay attention."
Keyon still wasn't happy in the slightest, but he gave in to his sister.
"I still wonder why Nneka lets her sister start gatherings and make announcements like this," Keyon pondered. "Speaking of Nneka, shouldn't she be out there with Nkiru?"
"Maybe she's passing this time around?" Zula suggested.
Keyon looked doubtful at his sister's response, but didn't push her any further. They all quieted down and faced Nkiru, who was being unusually patient as she waited for everyone to go silent.
"Crocodiles of the Crescent Valley...and other," Nkiru called out, addressing her float, as well as, surprisingly, Makuu and Kiburi. "I'm afraid I have some rather terrible news to share with you all."
Nkiru took a deep breath in and let it out very slowly before speaking, and suffice to say that no one was prepared to hear the three words that she spoke next.
"Nneka is dead."
For what felt like an eternity, silence fell upon the clearing. Everyone was shocked by the news, especially since no one believed it. A few whispers could be heard here and there. Before long, the entire clearing erupted into a mix of angry shouts and frustrated questions. Some of the crocodiles were even crying, one of them obviously being Keyon. Everyone knew how close he was to Nneka.
"Keyon, I...I'm so sorry," Zula consoled. "I know that you and Nneka were very close..."
"Very close?" Keyon rasped, practically choking on his own tears. "Zula, we were inseparable for spirits sake! When our parents left, she was the only one willing to look after us! Hell! She was doing that even when both of our parents were still around! No one in this world is more important to me than Nneka, and now she's gone!"
Makuu felt bad for Keyon, he really did, but something else was bugging him. He wasn't at all surprised that Nkiru was taking her sister's death well, considering they weren't all that close to each other. However, that was also the problem. Makuu had the feeling that Nkiru was taking the news a little too well.
"Hey, Makuu!" Kiburi hissed, trying to catch the other crocodile's attention.
"What, Kiburi?" Makuu quietly snapped.
"I want you to take a look at Tuma and tell me what you see."
Makuu stared skeptically at Kiburi. He wanted to ask why, but kept his jaws shut and instead did as told. Tuma was still right where he was before, and while he was comforting his sons, Makuu knew that that's not what Kiburi was talking about. Tuma's sights were set on Nkiru, and, to Makuu's absolute surprise, didn't seem at all happy or pleased in the slightest.
"Well? You see the exact same thing that I saw?"
"If you mean that subtle yet obvious suspicious glare that he's giving Nkiru, then, yeah, Kiburi, I see it."