[PRP] Old Faces, New Places, Get Out. (Pur x Chayah)

[hibi-tea]

Things were changing quite rapidly around the pride at the moment. The old warlord was out, and Ru was now in. Pur didn't know much about Ru, but she did know his reputation in passing and his affiliation to the family so that was enough. He abolished the exile on her and her family and pulled her children out of slavery and that was enough. It was all enough.

But she knew it was not enough. With grandbabies running around the woods, and her mother lurking around the territory she knew it was not enough. Somehow she needed to ask Ru to impose an exile on Couer. Somehow she had to convince him this was what was best for the pride. She didn't know how she was going to do it, as she was not very persuasive herself, but she needed to figure out a way how. Maybe Herryk would know a way how. Herryk knew many things, he was very smart.

"Mnnn. Birds, birds, birds. Where are they nesting right now," Pur muttered to herself quietly.

With Klona taking good care of her babies, she had abandoned her fixation on birds for now. What better to go and surprise her child with if not the thing she has wanted for so long when she was not expecting it? Pur had tried many times before, before things had gotten bad and the day where she could not lift herself from her bed came, but now she had renewed energy and less sorrow to feel. She could find her daughter a bird now.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Things had certainly happened fast. Chayah shuffled around the woods aimlessly. She knew there were pride members everywhere. Trying to escape the lands would do her more harm than good. And she was kept separate from Kifuani most of the time, anyway. She would never leave without her daughter, and so she could roam. Not far, though.

Her tail dragged on the ground and her black eyes looked glassy. She was free from her mother again. That awful lioness, Coeur. But would slavery here be any better? Besides the capture, she hadn't truly been hurt. The terms seemed straightforward, no psychological manipulation like that from her mother. Maybe it would get better?

At least that's what she told herself.

Chayah had learned to cope. She'd had to.

Her nose twitched as she walked along. The scent seemed familiar, though long-forgotten. Eh. What did it matter, anyway. Nothing mattered.  

[hibi-tea]

Pur heard the rustling of something through the woods and tensed up, finding the closest, most sturdy tree and scaling up it to see. She really had no reason to be fearful now for herself, but the instinct remained ad there was the problem of her mother. And if there was one thing she had over her mother now, it was the fact she could climb the trees. After all, she had to, the cubs took after Herryk too well and they got up there very quickly.

Scanning around, she didn't see anything initially in the shade, but she soon caught a whiff of something familiar and she stopped looking. She knew this smell. It had been so long, but she still knew it. A sibling, her sibling. It was Chayah.

She remained still and looked down below her once again scanning, a serious look on her face. If Chayah was nearby, so was Couer. She was safest up here if she decided to speak to her.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Chayah rambled to the most concentrated area of the smell. Something about it made her nostalgic. Something she hadn't smelled since she was a cub. Could it be her sister? She'd had visions of her white counterpart in this area. That's what betrayed her and brought Coeur to the land. At least her mother hadn't found them. She hoped. Coeur had wandered off and left Chayah and Kifuani in order to hunt Pur, and before she could return, the two black lionesses were captured.

She inhaled the scent deeply, and plopped down at the base of the tree it hailed from. She was sad. So sad. Chayah curled up and wrapped her tail around her. Something about the smell almost comforted her as much as it broke her heart.  

[hibi-tea]

Pur stared down at her sister for a few moments, taking in the grown lionesses form. This was Chayah. All she knew from her tiny sister was there in a big girl package and it made Pur's stomach weave and knot a thousand times. A beaten little girl when she left her was a broken woman now and she pitied her. She pitied her and she still loved her dearly.

"Chayah," She whispered, "Chayah, look up."

She was still not sure if her mother was nearby, so she dared not talk loudly or call for her as she did so many seasons ago. She would talk to her quietly, like the woods demanded. As her very nature demanded.

"Chayah, look up."  

[Puhterodactyl]

Chayah's ears perked up before the rest of her head did. Her eyes, with brows furrowed finally found a great white shape in the tree. She tilted her head. It couldn't be. It had to be a ghost. A ghost that climbed trees. Chayah rose to her feet and placed her front paws on the trunk.

"Pur?!"

She strained her neck and her eyes, then shook her head.

"No, I'm imagining things..." She fell back to the ground and started circling the tree, glancing up every now and then, shaking her head and muttering things like 'impossible' and 'no way.'  

[hibi-tea]

Pur grimaced as her sister exclaimed her name, leaning against the trunk of the tree in an attempt to see her better. She looked down at her and went to give her a smile when she noticed her sister plunk back to the ground and begin circling the tree with utterances of disbelief.

Was it so unbelievable to her that Pur was alive? Chayah was here with their mother after all, and Klona already had spilled the beans to her meeting Couer with Sko so it's not like she doesn't know Pur was here. In fact, Pur was convinced Couer was here because of Chayah. Their mother was never above using her children to her advantage in any way.

"Chayah, it is me. You can stop circling now." She sighed, hoping down to a lower branch on the tree a bit clumsily.  

[Puhterodactyl]

"I- I..." Her sister stammered as Pur leapt closer. Chayah shook her head again and choked on her words. "I Saw you, Pur. I mean SAW. Mother made me tell her where you were. You know how she is. I'm sorry, Pur. I'm so sorry. She found me. She found my daughter, Kifuani. I- I... I couldn't help it. I'm sorry."

Her ears were flat against her head and her tail tucked under her. Pur was never the type to get mad. She wasn't mad. But Chayah was so used to their mother's fury, her hate. The thought of disappointing anyone just recalled the punishment for doing the same to Coeur.

She looked up at her sister. She was overjoyed to see her, but that feeling was far outweighed by the tons of guilt.  

[hibi-tea]

Pur watched as Chayah curled up into herself, her gut wrenching at what she knew was the end result of Couer. Her poor sister. Pur should have forced her to go with Lajos and her, even if Chayah would eventually just run back. It was better than being there the whole time alone with her.

"Daughter...?" Pur asked, moving down the tree slowly towards her sister, "I have a niece?"

She wanted to keep the conversation off of Couer for now and keep it on Chayah. Pur can deal with Couer later. She had a husband, children, grandchildren and marriage-siblings who could help and protect her, but Chayah had nothing. Nothing but Couer's wrath and her daughter.  

[Puhterodactyl]

"Three nieces, three nephews. Only one is still with me. Her name is Kifuani. She has your eyes. She... She got captured, too. She's back at the main pride. They don't leave us together much. Worried about us escaping, I suppose... But if you're here, too, then I suppose it's got to be better than... the alternative..." Referring to Coeur, of course.

She tried to talk about anything but her, though. Pur's presence was helping her a little bit. She stretched out towards the familiar white shape. If only she could touch her sister. It would make it all real. Not just an apparition.  

[hibi-tea]

"Wait, wait, wait." Pur said, hopping onto the forest floor in front of her sister worriedly, "Captured? You don't mean.... Chayah, you're slaves?"

She looked stunned down at her sister. It was not a good situation to be a slave in the pride, but it was certainly a lot better than being with their mother. At the same time, though, their mother was not there which meant maybe Pur could reason with Chayah. If she could convince her, really convince her, to abandon their mother for good than Pur could possibly hide her in the forest.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Chayah nodded her head slowly. "She went out looking for you and your family and told me and Kifu to stay put. She wasn't gone long before some lions found us and took us. Kifu tried harder to escape than I did. We didn't get hurt badly, but we haven't tried escaping again." She looked at the ground and shrugged her shoulders, as if indifferent.

"I mean, they haven't hurt us again since. But it all happened so fast, I wouldn't recognize the lions who caught us if they were right in front of my face."  

[hibi-tea]

Puhterodactyl

"I...," Pur began, before quieting for a moment. Right now, both her sister and her niece were safest in the pride. They were not at the mercy of their mother, but they were now at the mercy of everyone else unless claimed. Either as family or as personal slaves.

Pur wasn't sure what to do at the moment. She could decree claim of her sister and her niece as family, but would that make them any safer? And if she did, would they run off back to mother? Her thoughts were muddled. She needed to talk to Herryk. He would know the right thing to do. He always knew the right thing to do.

"I...I'm sorry this happened," She said, looking away from her sister. "You'll be safe in the pride, though. As long as you do as they ask. They're... not known for cruelty..."

It was hard for her to say that, knowing full well she thought most of them cruel anyway. They had forced her family out of the pride as exiles, and then captured some of her children as slaves. It was a hard lie to choke out, but she hoped it was a convincing one. After all, it was the only one she had at the moment.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Chayah hung her head and nodded. Pur was right. She knew best. After all, she'd lived in this pride for some time. Chayah could trust Pur and put her faith in her sister. She'd done the same for their cruel mother, but Coeur had only had her own interests in mind.

She nuzzled her light sister gently before locking eyes with her. With her sister's strength, she was in a much better place already. Why, the black lioness could almost smile at the thought!  

[hibi-tea]

Puhterodactyl

Pur tensed when Chayah nuzzled her. It had been so long since they had seen each other she was not sure what to do. After a moment, Pur nuzzled her back and smiled sadly at her. This was the best thing for her right at this moment. She was safe, and so long as she was not specifically claimed she could roam semi-freely.

"I want to talk more, but I need to go for now, Chayah," She said quietly. "One of my daughters... she is pregnant and needs a lot of help. She's due any day now and I want to make sure I am there incase something goes wrong, or incase she becomes scared."

She looked to the thickening forest depths and then back to Chayah quickly, "We are always in these woods, ok? If you need me for anything. If your child needs us for anything, come to the woods and call for me. One of us will hear and will come help. We're sort of everywhere. But for now I need to go."

Pur turned to leave, but spun around quickly for a moment to look back at her sister, "One more thing. If you see a lioness who is pitch black, with even blacker markings, please tell her to come home.... We miss her."

And with that Pur left her sister and returned to the vastness of the forest.