Waves crashed against the rocky shore of the island, the land-bridge covered for now. A lone warrior lay on one of the higher boulders, her head resting on folded paws as she stared out across the sea. In the distance, she could make out the shape of the mainland, dark and perhaps just a little bit foreboding as it hunched there. That was the land of constriction, a land where males could control a lioness, where a female was forced to take on many roles, to be great at none of them.Kalypso considered this world as she lay there, watching for the waters to begin their recession. What would it be like, to live in a world like that?
Awful, she thought with a small shake of her head. Absolutely awful, no doubt.
She was a strong lioness, had chosen to become a warrior for her pride and had spent her young life perfecting her art. And oh, she was good at it. She didn't have the tactical skills of some of her sisters in the paw, but she was fast, powerful. She could easily strike down an opponent and often had in her sparring. Of course, she'd never been able to take down the Lady, but that was to be expected. Her blood-mother wasn't the Lady of the Paw for nothing.
Still, for all the pride Kaly took in her achievements, there felt like there was something missing in her life, one last piece of the puzzle yet to be filled. Adventure, that was what she was craving, there was no other explanation for the hollow feeling that sometimes came over her. Every time she looked out from her post at the bridge, every time she saw her sisters return with cubs or consorts, she knew what she was missing out on. The island, this pride, it was her home and always would be. It wasn't like she wanted to leave permanently, she just... wanted to see something else, at least once.
Kaly sat up and looked over her shoulder, back into the forests that lead to home. The pride had grown small, with a disease that had run rampant through young sisters and old, and the giant wave that had crashed against and flooded parts of the island. She had been too young to remember the latter, not yet born for the former, but the trials were in the history. And the effects were clear to anyone. Yes, there had been a few litters since then, but not many. The number of sisters was down, the number of males in the consorts' village even smaller. It would be her honor to help restore the pride to a higher glory. Of course the Queen often counseled against such ideals. She knew, the history-keepers knew that the island could only support so many. It was one of the reasons why the Einaliai had always been such a small pride. Certainly not the only reason, but one of them.
But if bringing young sisters into the world would be her reason to go to the mainland, she could see little point in leaving the island just for that. There was at least one unbonded consort on the island, she could easily lay with him if she wanted to achieve that goal.
No, she wanted to see the world, or at least part of it. She wanted to hunt in different territories, observe strangers. She'd heard stories of other great predators. Not as strong as a lioness, but fast cheetahs and sneaky leopards. The thought of seeing one intrigued her.
And perhaps in the back of her mind, she also wanted to bring new blood back, stronger blood. She was half outsider, after all. It had made her strong, and though she would have little to do with any cubs she bore, she wanted her daughters to be strong as well. Or faster or more clever. And she'd be able to see them use their strengths to become great, something she could take quiet pride in.
Yes, that was it. She wanted an adventure. She would talk to Katerina after the most recent party returned from the mainland, and she would go out on the next hunt, whenever that may be. If she went as just a guardian to the other sisters, or as a huntress herself, it didn't really matter.
Would this adventure be enough, though? That thought gave her pause. What if when she went to the mainland and all she saw there only made her want to see more? Kaly frowned to herself, lying back down and resting her head back on her paws with a plop. She didn't want to leave her home, she didn't want to run the risk of having to fight her way back from someone's clutches, be they a male's or a slaver's. She'd heard stories of other prides, ones that enslaved other creatures, even other lions. She wondered if mainlanders told stories about the Einaliai that way. They did sometimes make off with males, after all. But it wasn't like anyone probably thought. The sisters who brought males back to the island to live with the consorts, those males came willingly, they were a sister's favorite, or a sister's son. They could always leave if they really wanted to, just as long as they didn't get a stupid notion to take from the pride or endanger it.
She couldn't imagine having a slave, or being one.
No, that world held little for her, this was her home and she would always come back to it. She would see what she could and that would be the end of it, more or less. If she offered to be a guard on more hunting trips in the future, what was the harm in that?
Her heart jumped a little in excitement and a smile formed on her maw. She was looking forward to talking to the Lady, to the next hunt. It would probably be some time, since hunts didn't happen to often, but she could wait. Kalypso could be ever so patient when she put her mind to it.
(WC: 1,026)