Once Upon a Timon - ENGLISH

Appendix 2: Commitment and duty

Her mother had always spoken of her wedding day as one of the best moments of her life. She remembered how willing she was to tell her the story, very detailed, whenever she asked her. And when she told it, her mother's eyes lit up in a special way, and she smiled enraptured into nothingness. This made Tesma understand that the day of celebrating her own marriage would be something happy.

Why she was not happy then?

Tesma sat down on the edge of the pond. The garden of her home was completely alone, since the entire colony was focused on getting all the preparations ready. The meerkat had taken the opportunity to sneak away to her mother's garden, leaving her ladies-in-waiting alone. Only there she could find shelter from the hustle and bustle that was taking place outside the castle. She hated to know that, sooner rather than later, the time would come when she would have to face that hubbub and face her terrible fate.

The meerkat poked her head into the calm waters of the pond just so she could see her reflection. At first glance, she looked like any other girl on her wedding day: she wore a tiara woven with lilac-hued wild flowers on her forehead, her fur was completely clean and scented with a combination of herbs that had been placed in the water where she had taken a bath, and someone had even bothered to deface her face with circular markings along her forehead and below her eyes, as was tradition, with a lot of brightly colored powder that Tesma didn't bother trying to recognize. She looked beautiful. The other females who had helped her get ready had done a good job with her outward appearance.

She wish they could have done it with the interior as well.

Tesma inhaled deeply, so much so that she felt her lungs would burst, and then she let everything out of her with a deep sigh, as if with that she could expel everything that ailed her. Of course something like that was not so simple.

Marry Tay.

She had known for many years that this moment would come. But it seemed that it had come too soon. Over the last month, she had struggled to accept the idea, and although she did not like Tay, she had begun to believe that maybe it would not be such a bad thing.

But then, Timon appeared in her life again.

She did not regret anything, she was sure of that. But maybe that moment would have been easier for her to swallow if she did not have the memory so recently. At least he would not be around to witness the her sorrows.

How she wished her mother were there with her! She might even be able to stop this act before it even started. She was sure that if her mother had known the true nature of the affection between her and Timon, she would have convinced Kuba to call off the engagement.

But all that was just guesswork. In the end, her mother was gone and Tesma would never know another possible future.

"Tesma" somebody called for her from the garden gate. She didn't even turn around. "It's time."

She took a few seconds to stand up. Tesma gently stroked the leaves of the plants that grew around her one last time before walking back to the castle. She cut a small orange lily from the bush closest to the door and tucked it behind her ear.

The meerkat who had called her said nothing else, and she led Tesma silently to the entrance of her home. This had been covered with a curtain of leaves that prevented seeing outside, but the noise of voices all speaking at the same time made Tesma understand that the entire colony was already there, on the other side of the curtain.

A fat tear rolled down her cheek. She had to clean it up when she saw her father approach her with a leisurely step, leaning on his cane.

"It's time, Tesma," he told her when he reached her.