Clova *COMPLETE*

Chapter 5- The Unkind

Almost two years had passed, Cornelia had given the child a name, Clova. Most of the apes grew fond of her as she was just as curious and playful as any other ape child. Some however, including Koba didn't. His hate for humans only grew as he couldn't stand one of them being raised by apes, he avoided contact with her as much as possible.

Clova was almost two years old, she wore a ragged t-shirt, brown trousers and welly boots. When Clova's old blanket was too small for her to use, Caesar ordered some apes to get some new clothes for her from the city.

She has now gotten used to the company of the apes, and was learning how to walk. At first, she tried crawling like other apes but later realised her physique wasn't built like theirs and found it difficult. Most times she was laughed at by other ape children but was always defended by Blue Eyes and Cornelius. Maurice spent time teaching her sign language. He didn't mind, as he had a thing towards children and enjoyed teaching Clova as well as the ape children.

One morning, Blue Eyes entered the hut and saw Cornelius and Clova still asleep. She was curled up into a ball with her arms wrapped around Cornelius for warmth, he quietly approached them and shook them gently. They both stirred awake and Cornelius jumped out of bed except for Clova who stretched out into multiple positions to get back to sleep.

Blue Eyes watched in amusement, he knew Clova wasn't an early bird, he sat on the bed and grabbed her feet, she burst into a fit of laughter and tried to crawl away only to be picked up by Blue Eyes and was thrown over his shoulder. When her laughter died down, he adjusted her on his back and climbed downstairs. Since she wasn't an ape or could hardly walk at her age, either Blue Eyes or Caesar would have to carry her down. Already sat at the table were Caesar, Cornelia, Cornelius in Cornelia's lap and the rest of the Ape Village. Koba sat at the far end of Caesar's family, still held a strong dislike against the child.

Clova sat in between Caesar and Cornelia, she played with her fruit and accidently squeezed some juice on her face, she giggled happily and Caesar smiled. As she ate, she looked over at Koba who gave her a spine chilling glare. Clova's cheerful smile disappeared as she whimpered and fearfully clutched onto Caesar and buried her face into his fur. Caesar saw her clearly scared and picked her up, he cradled her trying to calm her down. He looked over at Koba who was chewing his food blantly, he narrowed his green orbs at him and glared at him. Koba just grunted and walked away with his bowl, when Caesar looked down at Clova, she was still whimpering. Clova was comforted by a hug from Cornelius and Cornelia. Blue Eyes spoke up on Clova's behalf.

"Father, something needs to be done about Koba.", he stated to Caesar. Cornelia too gave her opinion.

"We know what Koba went through, but that has nothing to do with Clova." , she explained in sign, "She is just a child." Caesar cared for the well being of his family and listened to their inputs and they were right, enough is enough.

"I will speak to Koba.", he signed.