The blue-green leopardess pressed a paw to a wall, looking at the pictures on it. They meant... Something, but she wasn't entirely sure what. She'd been spending more time here, in the temple's walls, trying to figure out what the walls SAID. Nava had taught her a bit, and with the bird at her side, her memory had grown better. Esha was, to put it bluntly, a godsend. Perhaps her growing abdomen had had something to do with it, too. She didn't know who the father was - She didn't remember, frankly, but she'd tried to force her memory to improve for the cubs she carried. She sat back, letting out a hum, when she flicked an ear and looked over, smiling. "Good morning, Your Majesty!"
Sayen was... Happy. The colony was doing well, and one of the last two litters of cubs to be born had come into their adolescence. They were now fully-functional members of the colony, helping to continue the colony's survival. And to make things more pleasant, Shakuntala was pregnant! She had high hopes for the new litter of cubs promised by it, and was even more pleased that the leopardess showed no signs of the hardships that had brought her to the colony. Her memory had improved and she was no longer forgetting things from the previous day or week, though she still didn't remember what had happened or who she'd seen last before Sakura had found her. Now the leopardess, who looked so much like a bird, was learning how to read the walls of the temple from Nava, as Sayen didn't want anything chanced. "Good morning, Shakuntala!" She smiled warmly, going over to the other leopardess. "You don't have to refer to me as 'your majesty,' you know, you can just call me by my name! Now, tell me, how are you feeling today?"
Shakuntala smiled sheepishly, placing her front paws close together. "Sorry, I just... I've been here long enough to get this big, and I still feel like I should call you that..." She then sighed, looking at the wall. "I'm doing fine, but..." Her brow furrowed. "I still can't figure out what that says! I may have to talk to Nava about it..." Maybe he had some insight? She let out a sigh, shaking her head. "I think it's time to stop, anyway." The leopardess rose, stretching out and popping a few joints. Now standing, she looked at her abdomen, smiling and sighing again. "They're active today... I know there's more than one, I was laying in the sun on my back a couple weeks ago, and I saw several paws press against the womb!"
The brown leopardess laughed, smiling, then started to walk with the pregnant leopardess. "It's exciting, isn't it? I remember when I was pregnant with my first litter. So many cubs.." She laughed at the memory. "Why, when they were all just cubs, they covered Nava one morning and pulled on his ears and hair and even his tail! I can only imagine what will happen with these cubs!"
She smiled and laughed a bit, imagining Sayen's sons and daughters crawling on Nava as fat little cubs. Then she looked at Sayen in surprise. "They would really be crawling on him? But they're not his cubs... Why would they be...?" Her thought trailed off as she felt a twinge. It was soon followed by another, and she slowly sank down onto her haunches, eyes starting to go wide.
"Well, we'd be helping you, of course! We've helped you THIS far through... Through..." She stopped when she heard fast breathing and looked at Shakuntala... And felt her own heart rate go up. The cubs were coming! She took a deep breath, then closed her eyes, letting the air out slowly. "Don't panic... Come on, let's get you to a den." She helped Shakuntala up, leading the other leopardess to her own den within the temple, kicking Nava out in the process.
Shakuntala sat back down as Sayen prepared a space, then slowly walked over when told. As she stood on the bedding, her hackles raised as she squeezed her eyes closed, letting out a cry of pain. Nobody had told her this would HURT! Slowly she sank down, rolling onto her side and panting. "Oh gods... I... I don't think I'm ready for this..." Was anybody ever ready? Well, besides having a second litter... With their mate... Which she distinctly lacked. She had no mate, she didn't know who the father was - She didn't know WHAT the father was!
Sayen settled next to Shakuntala, nuzzling her. "It's okay, nobody's ever ready the first time. Sometimes they're not ready the second time... But cubs don't care. Just breathe, and do what your body tells you, and you'll be fine. I promise." She looked out the window, beginning to count the minutes, and possibly the hours. Her litter had taken several, but there had been six. How many would Shakuntala have, and how long would it take? She'd see shortly.
The sun rose further in the sky, with Shakuntala gasping and panting and shifting the whole time. As the glowing orb reached its peak in the sky, she finally felt an urge unlike any she'd ever felt before. The den was soon filled with a different cry - Shrill and small and displeased. Shakuntala panted, shifting and gathering the cub to her chest and grooming it. A black ridge of hair and red ears greeted her, set against a gray body. Her son was soon joined by another that looked less like their forgotten and unknown father and more like Shakuntala herself. Pink spots decorated the cub's rump, one of the few markings she bore of her father. She'd barely had the cub groomed when a third joined them, also a girl, but looking unlike the other two. Regardless, she probably had a relative somewhere that she looked like. Tired from the experience, and still sore, Shakuntala relaxed, a smile on her face. Ready or not, here they came... And she loved them just the same.
While Shakuntala rested, Sayen looked at the cubs... And frowned. Worry rose up in her, not because she thought they were unhealthy, but because... Well, as plump as they were, they were also rather thin of limb. While she'd never seen one before, Nava had described cheetahs he'd seen in his time with humans, and the cubs that had resulted when a leopard had found a way to sneak to the cheetahs. These cubs... Looked exactly as he'd described. As the cubs nursed and their mother slept, Sayen left the den to find Nava. They had a problem on their paws... And Shakuntala was absolutely not at fault for it. Her mind turned everything over as she thought about the circumstances of the leopardess being brought into the colony by Sakura... Her only conclusion was that, somehow, a cheetah of ill ripute had found a way to beat her up and take advantage of her, as, in Sayen's mind, no self-respecting leopardess would allow a cheetah to do that when she was in such a state. There was another issue... What would they do with the cubs? The colony would have to decide, because Sayen knew... There WERE leopards in the pride who'd seen hybrids before.