Zim arrived on Earth and headed to Kenya, it wasn't as easy as just landing anywhere you wanted. Most of Africa was one of the areas that were being preserved as is, so if you wanted to visit you had to do so by human transportation.
Zim was now riding in a run down old truck like thing; it still ran on a combustion engine rather than the new emission free engines that most earth transports ran on now. It was noisy smelly and a rough ride both Zim's head and rear hurt from every big bump as first his head would hit the roof, then his but would reconnect with the worn out seat cushion.
Finally the arrived at the first location, Zim had been upset at first to find out that the Maasai wasn't a single tribe but several not only in Kenya but Tanzania as well. He was visiting Kenya because that's where Gaz said that the tribe she visited was.
The headman he visited didn't recognize which tribe Zim showed him in the pictures that he had copied out of Gaz's book
"You should visit the wise woman, she will guide you on your quest" Zim sighed and thanked the headman and endured another ride in the truck to visit the wise woman, his guide waited while he walked the path to the woman's hut
"Ah you came" said a positively ancient human female she dragged him into the hut sat him down and shoved a drink in his hand
"You seek what is lost to you, where the bond was once strong it has become tattered and frayed, much work will be needed to mend it. drink it will do you no good to be thirsty on your quest"
Zim was stunned by the forwardness of the woman, despite the heat his pak was working adequately to keep him cool and un-parched. Out of politeness and the fact that the human female was glaring at him for not drinking he sipped, it wasn't half bad so he continued to drink while she started talking again.
"I know where you must go but no road travels there, the one you seek is away from his village guarding the cattle. Take this map your guide will drop you off at the spot indicated, from there you will walk trusting in the bond to guide you"
She snatched the now empty cup and pushed Zim outside the door, she talked quickly with Zim's guide in their native tongue and before he knew it, they were speeding away, if anything the guide was driving even faster than before, flying over the bumps, Zim's head swam he was feeling odd just what was in that drink anyways?
-
Zim now stood alone in the vast savanna his guide abandoned him a while ago. He was following the only trail he could see. He wondered if he would die out here as there were lions and they were not afraid to attack Irkens.
The path ended all that was before him was grassland and short bush like trees he stood there for a long time wondering what to do, the he noticed a scrap of cloth fluttering in the wind, when he went to grab it, like spider silk it floated out of his reach and vanished from sight he looked and saw a line of the tattered cloth going off in the distance.
-
He had been following the cloth for hours every time he got close it would vanish, he looked behind him, he should have been able to see the line of cloth he had followed but he could only see it ahead of him. The bush was getting thicker again and he could hear cattle in the distance, he hurried his steps as he turned a corner he was practically running.
He stopped dead cold when a spear thudded to the ground in front of him, a very tall Maasai warrior came to retrieve the spear, at its tip struggled a snake, the warrior gave the spear a twist cutting off the serpents head, he picked up the snake.
"Poisonous" was the only thing he said in greeting, the warrior turned and walked away, Zim followed.
He saw a bright red and gold ribbon fluttering from the warrior heading in the same direction as Zim's tattered cloth, the warrior also had several other ribbons floating in different directions, two large red and purple ribbons and one that was two shades of red a smaller red/pink ribbon lead directly to Zim.
Once they arrived where the cattle was grazing Zim saw the warrior who the Red/Gold ribbon led to was also where Zim's tattered cloth led. he looked his tattered cloth was gold/pink, so that's what the wise woman made him drink, it was some sort of concoction that allowed him to see the bonds, his and Dib's was in a very sorry condition.
Dib hadn't noticed him yet; Zim hesitated, until he was pushed from behind
"Go"
Zim glanced back the warrior was smiling
"Thanks Rev" the warrior grinned wider, winked and gave Zim another push to get him going
Zim walked towards Dib who was sitting alone watching the cattle
"Can we talk" Zim asked hesitantly
Dib's head snapped up at the sound of Zim's voice but he refused to look at him, his eyes were narrowed.
"Sorry isn't going to be good enough this time papa"
Dib had practically spat the word Papa
"I know, a million sorrys won't be enough for what I did, I'll make no excuses but I will tell you why it happened"
Zim paused for a bit he would have to be careful what he told Dib, he could get in big trouble with the control brains for what he was about to revel
"The trial it messes with what you believe to be reality, tossing you into worlds that are opposite of our own, when I came out I thought I was still in a world where you had turned out evil, and were about to destroy the entire Irken empire. I thought I had to stop you, the trial was so real, it wasn't until I later woke up from the tranquilizers that they had kept me on for several days that I realized what had happened, and by then you had already left. You may never forgive me but at least know this I will never forgive myself for any of the scars you ever earned at my hands. Irkens aren't taught how to be fathers or mothers and most of us never see how it's supposed to be done, the only time I saw parenting was on Earth and from what I am told Humans aren't always the best examples to learn from"
Zim would have continued his long speech just to fill up the silence but Dib had spoken softly
"you we a good papa the majority of the time, better than I ever got as a human" Zim smiled and moved to Give Dib a hug but he had gotten up to avoid the embrace
"It's time to go back to the village you can go ahead it will take a while to drive the cattle"
The warriors were herding the cows and were too busy to point Zim to which way he was supposed to go, he looked carefully the wise woman's potion had worn off but now that he knew what to look for he could concentrate and just barely see the ribbons that had shone so brightly before
He followed the small pink and purple ribbon and soon came upon a small village, one tall lady set down her basket and ran to greet him.
"Uncle Zim, am I ever glad to see you, Have you seen Dib and Rev already? He won't tell you but he was missing you badly and was beginning to worry that you would never come to find him"
She hugged him and that's when he noticed she was taller than him by a few inches. Dib and Rev had both been standing on slopes so Zim hadn't noticed the height difference, but now he knew that he wasn't brining back family, we would be brining back the new rulers of Irk.
"What's wrong Uncle Zim? Come on you can talk to me in the hut, the boys will be back soon and they can join us there"
She led him to a large hut, inside was bare aside from a few chairs and doors leading to other rooms, she set the basket down and opened up a cupboard to get some food.
"We don't have much in the way of Irken amenities here but it was necessary, we didn't want any reporters or fans to find us. We had to vanish completely until you were ready to find us. We were a bit surprised when Gaz showed up first but she told us that you never stopped looking and needed a bit of a hint in the right direction. So we posed for several pictures with the rest of the tribe for her family"
"I know I saw the pictures, you blend in very well here, except for two things you never disguised the lack of fingers and while the rest of the tribe was all shaven bald you wore a head wrap and the boys had hair"
"We had to disguise the lekku, and not all Maasai are bald all of the time the boys will grow their hair and braid it deliberately, they will shave it when they reach their next age, it was difficult to get other tribes to realize that they weren't shaving their heads for a different reason. We always said that they were waiting for a family member to find them."
Rev and Dib entered the Hut, Rev came over and Gave Zim a big hug
"I missed you Uncle and I can't wait to get back, I want to see papa and daddy again"
Dib just ignored Zim while the greeting was going on; after Rev was done, everyone expectantly looked towards Dib.
"Papa let's take a walk, I want to talk alone"
Dib walked out of the hut not even looking back to see if Zim followed
-
They walked for a long time without saying a word, they reached a watering hole and sat watched the animals on the far side for a long time, Zim looked at his bond ribbon it looked a little less tattered in his opinion, but it still needed allot of repair.
"What's wrong with me Zim" Zim was a bit taken aback by the question
"Nothing is wrong with you; it's me who's the defect. I know why now that defects are banned from breading, it's not because we might pass it on, it's because we make horrible parents, the bond isn't strong enough to prevent a defect from hurting the smeets, it should but it doesn't"
"That's not what I meant, Papa I'm confused, I'm afraid that the Empire won't want me, my mates even bonded had a hard time understanding my human traits now that they have shown up. They don't understand why I don't mind being so far from civilization and why I want to protect those who want to protect their culture the way the Maasai have. Papa I worry that if I come back the Empire will reject a half-breed from taking the throne, and they will revolt from the changes I want to make"
"You only know the Empire under Tallest Purple and Tallest Red, they were the ones who started Impending Doom one and two. Tallest Miyuki who reigned a long time made many peace treaties with other intelligent races. You will do fine"
Zim felt something brush the top of his head, he looked up to see big brown eyes with huge lashes, the giraffe lipped hid head and tasted him with it's long tongue.
"How dare you try to eat the almighty Zim! And how Dare a mere creature be so tall! I demand you to kneel!"
Dib was rolling around on the ground laughing hard as Zim yelled at the startled giraffe, it soon decided it wanted nothing to do with the yelling shrub and ran away to the other side of the watering hole it looked back confused, how could something so green and tasty looking taste so bad and yell at him.
Zim glared at the orange beast. Then nearly jumped a foot up when he felt Dib hug him
"I missed you papa, but I'm not sure if I am ready to go back"
"If you won't go back for the empire go back for Memb's sake. It's not fair to him just because you were neglected by him when he was your father that you do the same to him when you are his favorite father figure"
"Ouch I've been properly chided and you are right. I will go back, not just for Memb but for all of the Empire, I shouldn't neglect my duties just because I am afraid"
Zim hugged his son again, he looked for the bond ribbon it was still badly frayed but it no longer looked like a tattered bit of cheese cloth