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 Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:27 am
((Cross-posted from the big rebellion thread))
It was like watching a dream, as her mother moved to attack the blood-red and white lion. She felt detached, barely hearing herself yell out "Mother!" But she couldn't move, couldn't try to stop her. Part of her knew - This wasn't her argument. When Bodaway moved away from the pride, she had a bad taste in her mouth. Her own impurities were forgotten.
In that almost slow moment, she noticed again that familiar pelt, the yellow eyes, the markings so like Wakia's. She had to know, she had to find out now. Time still feeling sluggish, she hurried over, eyes burning. "You, slave, we talk alone." She knew she would be seen moving, for her black pelt stood out, but she didn't care at that moment. She had to know.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:38 am
Slave. The word stung more than it should have. After all, Azarax had been raised with slaves and though Uzulu had never really made him do any work, he had always identified with them.
But it was not simply the word slave. It was the way she said it, and Azarax scowled. His eyes were trained only on what was unfolding before him. Kidondo speaking, and then... the all too familiar flash of orange. The yell of heretic. And then time slowed.
Everything moved frame by frame and he felt frozen in a single moment in all of time. Everything was going wrong.
But he wasn't even looking at the lioness standing before him. He didn't notice her looks or her dark pelt. He could feel the glare in her eyes, though. That was it.
"You should be careful what you call lions," He murmured, half lost in suddenness of everything that had happened. In a few short moments, life as all of them had known it was shattered. Gone, and there was no taking it back. And he knew, he could feel, and he could understand the reasoning behind Kidondo's return. It made sense. All of it.
"Especially here."
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:54 am
As they got out of earshot of others, she rounded on him, biting back a hiss. "What am I supposed to call you around the rest of the pride? I can't call you brother like I WANT to!" She stopped, taking a step back.
Gold eyes met yellow as she stared, the eyes flashing not with anger, but something else. What it was, though... She couldn't quite place a paw on it. Was it the love of a sister to a brother? Whatever it was, there was no hatred or malice towards Azarax. The prior hostility had been but an act, a ruse to not bring up suspicion from the others.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:07 am
He felt himself jerk. "What'd you just say?" He pulled his eyes away from the crowd, and felt his golden eyed gaze land on the black lioness.
He felt images flashing. In his mind he pictured the black lioness, and beside her, another one appeared. Orange like a flame. Ripuka. The resemblance was uncanny. He didn't have to think to know. She was his sister.
"I..." He didn't know what to say. He had siblings. He had always suspected it, ever since he had met Ripuka that day that seemed oh so long ago, but he had never known for sure. And now that he did, he felt a wave of sorrow wash over him. Sorrow for never having known his sister, his mother. And the rest of his family, whoever there might be.
With that he felt resentment. For the pride, for Finar-si, for the adamantly unchanging ways of their religion. And it was then that he truly understood Kidondo's motives. It all had to change. This was what was causing so much heartbreak. He was a living, breathing example of what belief could do, especially those of the Firekin.
"You're my sister," He said softly, more to himself than anything. His words were laced with wonder, for he did not know what else there was. He didn't know how else he could possibly respond. She was so familiar, and yet for foreign at the same time.
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Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:27 pm
She nodded, sitting down. "Yes, I'm your... I'm your sister..." She watched him, eyes shimmering just a bit. After a moment, a shudder passed over her. "All my life... I remembered another cub... Another sibling with Wakia and I. When I asked Mother about it... She said I was imagining it. And I've always passed it off as that... And then I saw you.... And I knew..." She shuddered again, before approaching slowly. "Azarax... Can you forgive your sister for not coming to you sooner? Because she thought you were a figment of her imagination?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 12:26 am
He stayed standing, though she sat down, and he saw the markings on her shoulder that lent her even more resemblance to their mother. What wonders could happen out here on the sands. And again, he felt as if he was floating through a dream. Because how could all this be happening, all at the same time?
The tan lion shook his head with a sad smile. "There is nothing to forgive," He said softly. "At least not on your part." And though the blame fell on Ripuka's shoulders, he knew that he would never be able to hold that grudge for long. Like it or not, she was his mother and it mattered little how much he wanted to hate her. His heart would never let him, and he would have to make his peace with that. With the thought that someday, he didn't know when, he would forgive her. Though whether he would show such forgiveness, he had no way of knowing.
"Wakia..." He echoed the name, and somewhere deep in his mind, he felt the twang of something familiar. It was ringing a bell, but a very distant one. It felt more as if he was imagining it than anything. "You, you're Jua." He said after a moment. The name had surfaced from the same place in which his brother's name had been stored, and somehow it didn't feel right that he should know her name.
And he felt torn, and again he wondered what the world wanted from him. What Finar-si, if she even existed, wanted of him. This mighty goddess that the Firekin believed in... He couldn't decide. He remembered Mpaji's words. It was time to pick sides. And only moments before he had been fully prepared to seek out Mpaji and walk with him to the rebels. But... His golden eyes watched his dark pelted sister. There was pain hidden behind his stark yellow gaze. She didn't seem anything like ultra-traditionalist Ripuka. Or even Uzulu. She didn't seem anything like either of them. And yet she had to be, for that was the way she had ben brought up.
How would he be able to go to the rebels? He understood Kidondo's motives - to protect, not destroy - but would the Firekin? Would his sister? Because whether he wanted to or not, he cared what she thought, and he cared about her even though he had only met her a moment before. He didn't want her to die. But, war was at hand and there was no denying the truth. The only question now was... What was he supposed to do?
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Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:05 am
She nodded, feeling a weight leave her soul. But she could hear it - Their mother wasn't forgiven. But then, could either of their parents be...? She glanced at the mess being created, then back at Azarax. "Yes... I'm Jua... Jua'taka..." To want the sun... It was perfect, wasn't it? Her pelt so dark, she looked like the night thirsting for the light.
A niggling in the back of her mind seemed to draw her attention inward. 'You should tell him, he deserves to know why Finar-si cursed him... Or did she bless him?' She shook her head, trying to ignore it, but the persistent voice wouldn't give up. She looked up, a conviction in her eyes.
"Azarax... Our father..." She stopped, tail flicking. As she stood, she gave him a hard look. "You must tell nobody. Only three lions know - Him, me, and Bodaway. And now you. It must NEVER reach Mother's ears. Can I trust you with it?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:33 am
Her voice drew him out of his reverie. Even as he heard it, he realized what a lovely voice his sister had. She was a fine lioness, like Ripuka, and for a moment he felt some pride at his family. But there was little in the young lion to hold it there, and the pride slowly faded.
And he realized too, how he could see her pelt as it was. There was no shade of gray. It was stark black against white. His family, he could see his family as he saw few other lions - in their true color. How ironic it was that he should be able to see them as they were, but when he looked down at his own paws, he only saw gray that blended in with the blandness of the sands.
"I can keep a secret," He said with a nod. He doubted his mother would ever find out anything from him. He doubted he would talk to her much again. He could tell that she still thought of him as something of a son, but she had abandoned him after all. And if she had strength enough to do that, she had strength enough to keep him out of her life if she so wished. And he was not about to fight his way into it again.
Their father. He tried to conjure up a mental image. Any sort of ringing bells, but there were none. Nothing in his life that ever pointed to any lion other than Mpaji, or perhaps even Uzulu. But Uzulu wasn't his father, he knew that. So perhaps their father had never been around. But what was it about him? He could hear it in her voice. It was something grave. And yet he wondered. Why tell him? She didn't know him. He was related to her, but that was about as far as things went. Much as he felt he knew her, he didn't, and there was no changing that. So it must be something concerning him. Otherwise, there would be no reason to tell him anything about their father at all, especially not such a secret as Jua made it out to be.
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Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:17 am
She nodded, then looked to the south. "Our father... Is not of The Blood." She looked over, eyes flashing. "He is no Firekin. He was never born a Firekin, he doesn't cary the blood of a Firekin... And he never WILL. And Mother must never know this. NOBODY can know it." She paced, tail flicking, before she looked at her brother. Her brother.... "Our father, Makaa'kali... Is a Pridelander." It made her sick to admit it now, to say it. A shudder ran through her body before she opened her eyes again. She looked to her brother again, watching him for his reaction.
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:56 am
He knew that if he had been brought up the same way as Jua had, the news would rock him to his core. As it was, the young lion took a moment to let the news sink in. His father was not of the Blood. He blinked. How?
Had Ripuka's reason for his abandonment not been that... he did not bear the colors of the Blood in his pelt? And yet here was his sister telling him that their father was a Pridelander. Azarax understood less of the Firekin's politics than his sister, he was sure, but he knew that those of the Pridelands were in some way enemies of his kind.
A small frown made its way onto his brow. "She doesn't know..." He said, more to himself than anything, more to clarify. More to keep the irritated thoughts away. Ripuka was a hypocrite. But she couldn't be blamed she didn't know. She didn't. He shoved away the flashing thoughts of hypocrisy, and turned his attention instead to the father he had never befoore met in his life.
So. His color must have been from their father. Yet he did not feel the wave of contempt wash over him as he thought it should have. Why? At the back of his mind, he knew it was because, in a way, he was glad to have been raised different from the Firekin. He could relate to them, but he could also see their faults as clear as day. Faults that they themselves appeared completely blind to.
"But... how do you know?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:58 pm
She paced a little, tail curled, before looking at her brother. Her brother... "I know, because I am a seer. I see things. I see others. And I see him, all the time, in the Pridelands." She shook her head, ears back. "Swear to me you won't tell Mother." She cared greatly about her mother. Her poor mother, decieved by the lion she thought would help.
Help...
A flash of claws, angry words, teeth in the light... Roars everywhere... Kidondo leaving a fight...
She shook her head, eyes flashing. "Mother... She needs help!" She started to go, then looked at Azarax. "You. Go. Go help her. Please.." She was asking as a sister. She was just an adolescent, no match to a full grown lioness. But he was male, even adolescents could fight grown lionesses... "I can't help her, but you can. You can prove to her you're just as much Firekin as Wakia and I are, even if you look different."
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:19 am
A seer? That would explain it. Somehow, he didn't see their father telling his children what he hadn't told their mother. And he had never seen his father before, so he had no reason to judge. Perhaps it was for a good reason. Or perhaps not. After all, love could be blind. He knew that only too well. Love for another could blind, and so too could love for a goddess.
Finar-si. Yes, that was what had to change. It was what Kidondo had returned for. Every passing second, it was becoming clearer. Perhaps, too, why he had been born tan. Perhaps there was truly some higher power that controlled life on earth. Perhaps that was why he was who he was. For he loved his family, though he hardly knew them, and for that alone he was willing to do whatever it took to try and show them what they were doing wrong. If only they would listen.
Azarax shook his head. "No, Jua, I have nothing to prove to her," He began. Though he tried not to, he felt his gaze turning from his sister, and before he even recognized the blazing flame of Ripuka's pelt, he spotted the fighting amongst the calm, and even from where he was he didn't need Jua's seer powers to tell who had the upper hand. "But simply because she is my mother, so my body tells me I must help her."
And so, too, his heart told him he must help his family see change.
He half turned toward the scene of the battle, his head turned back toward Jua. He felt something inside him breaking at that moment, as he realized that this perhaps would be the only time he would see Jua as simply Jua. Once he left, he would make it clear which side he fought on. And once that happened, Ripuka, Jua, Wakia the brother he did not know, they would all be on the other side.
Then he felt the urgency of battle drawing him forward, and for one last fleeting moment he watched Jua. She looked so much like Ripuka...
"Jua," He added, almost desperately. His eyes sought forgiveness where he had done nothing yet that needed it. "I am not your enemy."
And then he was gone, running as though it was his life that depended on it.
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