Journey of Courage: Makani's African Quest

The sun was high and the day felt endless. The four of them were all tired, and some more than others.

"How much longer?"

"I don't know, about another hour." replied Nulani. "It's not too much further now." she insisted.

"Not too much further from what?" said Makani. "We've been walking since yesterday afternoon. I'm tired, I'm hot, I'm hungry and I'm annoyed by your stupid little bird voice." He added as an after thought. "Why can't you just speak like a human for once?" he asked in exasperation.

"Because my voice is cute." Said Nulani innocently, almost sounding hurt by his words.

"Your voice is annoying." He said flatly.

Nulani huffed and flew off up into the sky to fly on her own. This made Makani feel bad but he couldn't help himself sometimes. They had been at each other's throats for days now, ever since they had left their home village of Ambangile, in search of the legendary artifact known as the 'soul stone'. It was rumoured that this artifact had many powers, and if they were to find it, then maybe it could be used to save their people from certain destruction. A lot was riding on this mission and everyone was feeling the pressure. Except Tumelo however, who seemed to be pretty relaxed about it all by comparison.

Makani remembered back to when he first met Tumelo on his way home from the war with his friends in tow. They had been drinking beer on the beach when Tumelo came along demanding to know whether or not any of them knew where a soul stone was hidden in their village. After they explained they didn't have a clue what he was talking about, Tumelo had decided that they would do just fine for his quest instead and told them so in no uncertain terms before walking off down the beach alone in search of someone else who might be able to help him.

After saying goodbye to Javanah, Makani packed his things into a bag and began to walk towards home when he noticed one of his friends follow after Tumelo down onto the beach below looking confusedly at him as he went along while trying to start up a conversation with him over his shoulder without making any headway whatsoever with him. As Makani approached them he realised why - Tumelo looked like he'd lost it completely, muttering something about souls stones and strange creatures before gesturing wildly at the ocean in front of them whilst talking enthusiastically about a sacred adventure that needed fulfilling right away before time ran out forever! It took a while but eventually his friend managed to get through to him and explain that they'd never heard anything about what he was talking about before finally getting him to talk some sense into him... which wasn't easy by any means due to Tumelo's erratic behaviour but eventually he agreed to go back up onto the cliff top with them whereupon Makani introduced himself formally and offered the group drinks from a bottle of whatever beer happened to be left from earlier that evening, which soon got things going between them again before long as they smiled and laughed together sitting outside under the stars until far too late before deciding it was time for bed so they all said their goodbyes for now and went back home again with new found friends in tow.. except for Tumelo who decided to stay behind because he wanted to keep looking for this soul stone thing all night long! This made Makani laugh because even though Tumelo had turned out crazy after all just like everyone else did eventually (as far as anyone knew anyway), they still became good friends over time despite it all - even if they did drive each other crazy sometimes!

The next day things got worse however when they started arguing again as they tried unsuccessfully to get closer to their destination without making any progress whatsoever thanks largely thanks to Tumelo being unable to remember where exactly 'the island' was supposed to be located within miles upon miles of rolling jungle-like plains so full of giant trees that you could literally get lost forever within minutes if you weren't careful.. not that there was anywhere in particular that anyone wanted or needed necessarily to go anytime soon! So there were times when tensions were high because nobody knew quite how far away from home they were anymore so people started getting grumpy on top of everything else but thankfully Nulani always seemed able somehow to cheer everyone up whenever things got really bad around these parts because she always seemed happy enough herself despite everything going on lately!