Welcome to Gaia! ::

With a yawn, Sin stretched her forelegs out in front of her briefly, and then she padded out of the den, blinking in the light. The necklace dangling against her chest and thumping lightly against her fur gained her attention for a moment. It was new to her, wearing jewellery like this, her father having only given it to her, as well as the ring that circled her tail, the day before. She appreciated the gesture, though, and she'd always loved this necklace. She just wished the gift had come out of a more pleasant conversation, even if it had been necessary for her to know the truth as much as Ezeoha knew it.

Yawning again, the young female took a few steps out of the den and further into the light, considering whether or not to head to one of her favourite sunbathing spots or find Tete. But, no, she couldn't find him, could she? They had agreed to wait three days, and so far, there had only been one. He might not have asked his father about his mother yet. She had to give him some time to ask his own questions and mull over the answers before they sat down together to talk it out.

Sighing softly, she moved further out into the grass, looking around - and then froze when she caught sight of the goddess lying so close to the mouth of her den.

Uncertain if she was seeing things clearly, she rubbed at her eyes with a paw and then blinked them furiously, but when she opened them again, this lioness with wings was still there. Sineri honestly didn't know what to make of this strange sight. She didn't really... believe in gods or goddesses. For that was what she had to assume this figure was. Even with the irrefutible proof in front of her, it was still extremely difficult to wrap her head around. She felt as though she was still dreaming, but the feel of the grass against the pads of her paws was all too real for that.

Still clearly uncertain, the young female took a hesitant step forward once more, this time toward Mtima. "H-hello...?"

The goddess... was talking to her. She didn't really know why that was weird, but it just was. Standing before her was the stuff of myths and legends... those legends shouldn't be talking to her as though this was a regular meeting to be followed with regular conversation. Especially when she hadn't really believed in them up until this moment! And Mtima even made it sound as though Sin was the one she'd come to talk to. But that couldn't be right. The young lioness even went so far as to look behind her for the other individual Mtima had to be talking to, but of course, only her own den was there. And no one was loitering at the front of it for the goddess could see.

Still confused, Sineri gave Mtima an odd look with a frown. "...Finally...?" she eventually asked, her puzzlement clear in her voice. She honestly couldn't think of a single reason why a goddess would seek her out specifically for a chat, even after that talk with her father last night about a whole aspect of her life she knew nothing about. "It sounds as though you've been looking for me. Wh-" She stopped abruptly, having to catch herself before she made a mistake and said 'what'. "Who are you?"

Though Mtima was quite right in thinking that Sin was finding this meeting strange already, the very mention of Sin's mother made her little body freeze and tense instantly. Her red eyes fixed on the goddess intently, and for some moments, she just stared silently. Not only was it startling just to find someone who knew of her mother (especially a goddess!), but it was even more so for the fact that just the day before, she had had an emotional conversation with her father about that same lioness. Had the gods sent one of their own to answer her questions finally...?

Sineri physically snapped herself out of such stupid thoughts and almost snorted at herself. Gods and goddesses didn't do that. Why would they care that one mortal wanted to know why her mother had left? It semed they would have much more important things to think about than such simple problems. But that didn't really line up with the fact that there was a goddess sitting right in front of her, who apparently knew of Kia.

Mtima was definitely right. This was very odd.

Clearing her throat, Sin found her voice to ask, "You know... my mother? My mother? Truly?"

Certainly it did need thinking over. It seemed everything Mtima said threw Sin through yet another loop. But there was something Sin's quick mind had grasped, something that overshadowed her questions about how Mtima knew who she was and recognised her instantly. It was much less important, and could wait until later. After all, it could be something as simple as she baring a strong resemblance to Kia... not that Sin wanted that. She was much happier thinking she only looked like her father.

Clearing her throat, the young lioness took a cautious step forward. "You knew my mother before she had us...? While she was pregnant?" Trying to hide her curiosity and hope for a good, solid answer, Sin continued carefully, "What was she like... when she was pregnant? Did she seem... afraid? About being a mother, I mean."

She hadn't really been able to press Ezeoha for as much detail as she would have liked. Partly because it seemed as though he truly hadn't known much, but mostly because it so obviously seemed to upset him to talk of Kia. She couldn't do it to him when he'd already answered her questions. But here was someone whom she didn't know, and would have no qualms pressuring for whatever information she could get.

Perhaps this meeting with Mtima was some form of divine intervention after all.

Despite it being what she expected, the news still had an impact on Sineri. Now she had solid proof that her mother really had walked away and travelled far beyond any of their reaches. Perhaps in the back of her mind she had entertained the stupid, vain thought that Kia was nearby, so that she had never really left them and watched over them from a distance, or that she had perhaps passed away, and that was why she couldn't return to see them. But having proof that Kia had walked away from them all and walked far shattered a little tiny something within her.

Sineri stepped a few paces away from the goddess, her head hanging a little bit as she stared morosely at the grass before her paws. She was going through the first emotion that would no doubt plague her at this news: sadness. Next would come anger, of course. Anger at a mother too stupid and immature to stick around and at least see that her cubs were doing well.

"It's all right. You don't have to make it sound pretty." Sineri shook her head, not wanting anything sugar-coated; she may be young, but in all other respects, she was a big girl. She could handle it. "I can see the truth. She turned her back on a loving family because she was too stupid to see that it's better than wandering around on your own for the rest of your life. It's just pathetic. I don't want to know anything else about her. If she won't give me her time, she won't have mine."

Sineri turned away from the goddess, sitting down with her back to Mtima and her shoulders hunched. Kia may have had good qualities, she may have had problems, she may have been too immature, but Sin had never really wanted to hear that. If she were to be honest, she'd wanted to hear that there was some magical, special reason why Kia had to go, and knowing the real reason... Well, nothing would make up for that.

"Of course I'm happy," she finally murmured. "I love my dad, and my brothers and sisters. I don't have anything to be unhappy about. But that doesn't mean I'm not angry at her, and that doesn't mean I'll ever forgive her. Not even once has she come to see if we're even all alive... not once. That's worse than being a bad mother. That's just a total disregard of us, and I don't care what you say to try and explain her actions."

She shrugged her shoulders and flicked her tail. "They're... all right, I guess. We all do our own things, but they're cool. Except Shaji, I guess. He's... a bit of a pushover, and dad keeps trying to make him a flirt, and Shaji goes along with it to make him happy even though he doesn't understand.... It's almost... painful to watch."

She tilted her head, as Mtima thought, confused. She couldn't say she understood why a goddess would be so concerned about meeting her and her siblings (it sounded arrogant even in her head to think that one would want to meet her specifically), as she was sure Mtima had much better and more important things to be doing. It didn't really enter Sin's mind that Mtima could be just like everyone else. It didn't really gel with the common image of deities.

"But... why? I know you knew our mother, but that was only for a little while... Why is knowing we're all right so important to... to someone like you?"