Naledi hadn't been feeling very well for the past few weeks. She felt hungry, but at the same time she felt sick to her stomach and didn't feel like eating. She felt tired in her body, which was normal after hours of training to keep up her skill, but in the past days it seemed like she was waking up tired and unrested. Initially, she was confused and thought that maybe she had come down with a terrible virus, or had managed to eat something poisonous.
Naledi really had no idea how she could have been poisoned by food seeing as how the providers brought in fresh food everyday. Besides, no one else seemed to be feeling the way she was, or sick in any way at all. When her sickness did not let up, Naledi began to think that she really had contracted some terrible illness and she was beginning to consider isolating herself.
It was when she was teaching her class of young children when the idea struck her suddenly. It almost didn't come to her at all. It was when she happened to gaze into the sweet face of one of the small girls and think briefly of her own mother when a sudden realization rushed over her. Her eyes widened considerably and her jaw dropped slightly as she stared off into the distance. The small cubs around her began to inquire about her state of well being when a look of shock settled on her face and she did not speak or move for a long time.
She was pregnant.
She was pregnant and she was almost instantly sure of it once the idea came to her. Eventually, once the shock wore off, she reassured her class that she was fine and finished up with her lesson. After escorting the cubs back to the village circle where they would be watched over and cared for by the sages there, Naledi wandered into the trees in search of solitude. Once she was alone, she slowly allowed the feeling of bewilderment to wash over her once more. Naledi couldn't believe that she was actually pregnant. The lioness couldn't help but think back on the time that she'd spent with the male Taji with a bit of embarrassment at her frivolous lapse of judgement.
Yet still, Naledi slowly began to smile a wide smile that spread across her whole face. Even though the idea of having cubs of her own terrified her, it was also making her extremely happy. Ever since she was freed from her bonds of slavery, she had absently entertained the idea of being able to raise her own children. During her time as a slave, she would have died inside if she had been made to bear offspring for any of those monsters. It was just another reason for her endless gratitude and loyalty to Anansi for what she'd done for all of them.
They were free, and now she was to become a mother. Tears slowly rolled down Naledi's face as the weight of her entire life gradually made itself known on her being. The lioness could not stop the onslaught of emotions that came over her. Even though Naledi loved all of her sisters, she was still not comfortable with her own heart to expose her tears to the others. She wanted to remain a strong figure in their community, and simply didn't want the others to see her crying.
It was truly a miracle really, that after all of the injury she'd sustained as a slave that she could become pregnant in her freedom. Honestly, if she had conceived and given birth in slavery, she may have just killed her own babies. She could not have stood the thought of her daughters being doomed to the life that she'd been cursed with, and she could not have stood her sons being turned into the monsters that she hated.
No, she would not be forced to commit such an act. No, she was safe and any cubs she gave birth to would live peaceful and happy lives surrounded by those who cared for and loved them. Naledi could not have thought of a more ideal situation in which to give birth.
Even her own mother had been alone and without support or comfort when herself and her late brother have been born. The lioness couldn't help but wonder if her life would have turned out the way that it did if maybe her mother had had others to look out for her. Her mother had told her some things about her own parents, but left out a lot of information due to the pain that she felt. Naledi knew that her mother must have been frightened and lonely out in the middle of nowhere with two small babies.
Her heart swelled with pride and pain at the thought of how her mother had bravely stood on her own feet and cared for her cubs and herself to the best of her ability. It wasn't really until this very moment that she felt the level of appreciation and understanding for her mother that she did. Naledi was pregnant and surrounded by those whom she trusted, and she still felt frightened.
So she cried. She cried for her wonderful mother who never stood a chance. She cried for her poor small brother, who would have been bigger than her by now had he lived into his adulthood. She cried for herself, for the long years that she spent beneath the rule of cold blooded slavers. She cried for the fact that she was finally safe, that she had a home of her own that was full of those that she loved and considered to be her own family. She cried tears of pain and tears of joy.
After a while the tears stopped, and the tawny lioness breathed deeply in an effort to calm herself with meditative practices. She was both happy and sad, from both her past and present, and especially her future. Naledi knew that everything would be fine. After her overwhelming feelings began to settle, she made her way back to the village and allowed herself to become excited at the prospect of her impending motherhood.
She wondered how many babies she would have.