She had given birth not so long ago and those seven little bundles of joy frolicked about happily, well six of them did any way. She had learned quickly that the seventh could not be let out of her sight. Already he had scorched his ears in the blazeing sun of the savannah and she had scolded herself for not seeing that happening. It had taken days for his ears to return to their milky white. her poor little Silas. he lay beside her and she groomed his pale thin fur, he just wanted to go and play in the sun with his siblings but, his curse, his pure white fur and palest of skin beneath prevented him from walking in the sunlight. She just didn't know what to do about him, he couldn't stay here and she couldn't go, too afraid of the world outside to leave her sanctuary but her tiny pale boy, he was only going to suffer the longer he stayed in this place. She was torn, ever so torn.
Silas lay in between his mothers paws watching saddly as his otehr siblings tumbled int he sun, how they rolled and played together beneath the bright light. Ocasionally he went to leap only to be pulled back by his mother, even his pleading eyes could not convince his kind mother to let him flee in to the sunlight. After the last incident he was sure he would never be allowed to play again. Settling down he rested his chin upon his fore paws, letting out a slightly sad sigh and a half sniffle. He just wanted to play. It was so unfair.
Once again, Kairi was on the move, heading back to the jungles she once called 'home'. Well...it still was home. After all, her oldest and closest friends were there. It wouldn't be too much longer...just a few more days. The sounds of laughter and play caught her ears and her blue eyes looked about, finally seeing a group of cubs playing. The leopard couldn't help but stop and smile. She loved cubs...sweet and innocent of the world's woes. Full of life and imagination. Unlike most females her age, she was NOT a fan of drama...she much prefered the 'happily ever after' cubs came up with. Strange though...why wasn't a parent outside with them? A careful look around rewarded her with two shapes in the shadows...one of them a very pale cub. So there was the mother...but why wasn't the little one off playing with their siblings? Curiosity got the better of her common sense, and she trotted over. "Good day, miss!"
Radi lifted her gaze as the leopardess approachedher. She smiled, her lips turning ina serene sort of way. "Good day to you too." She whispers glancing to the rest of her cubs cautiously as she looked up at the young leopardess. She was far from frightened of her, she was simply cautious, after all, she had heard many tales of cub napping and she wasn't about to have any of her brood go missing. "I have never seen your face around here before, you don't hail from the pridelands do you?"
Silas grinned as the leopardess came towards them, he had never seen a leopard before and he wriggled from his mothers grasp to greet the new stranger as she came in to the shadows. "You're not like mama." he stated, as cubs can state the obvious.
"Silas, Silas don't go too far come back here." radi whispered hilding out her paws to the sheer white cub, her lips pursed as she went to move to retreive the cub away from the sunlight.
Silas ducked, his ears flattening against his head as he padded saddly back towards his mother. "I'm sorry mama I just wanted to say hello to the lady." he mumbled flopping despondantly back in to his mothers paws and the shadowey darkness.
Kairi shook her head. "No...I'm from a jungle to the west. I'm actually headed back there now." She laughed softly. "The friends I had gone out to search for somehow found their way home without me." Kairi took another step into the shadows and laid down, front legs folded to show she meant no harm or ill will.
"No little one...I'm a leopard. Made for being in and around trees." Curious...she'd heard of creatures who were unable to go into the sun for various reasons. Was this cub one? "I'm Kairi." The poor cub looked so down and out...she kept a smile on her face, hoping it would cheer the little one up.
Radi smiled softly as she watched the leopardess lay down, her own demeanour relaxed a little, this one was no threat to her or her little ones. "Please don't feel offended Silas can't go out in the sun, he gets very brurned if he does." She whispers nudging the little cub and grooming his ears. "Perhaps it's my fault, I didn't know that leopards and lions could breed and because of that he is cursed." she shook her head nudging the cubs butt. "Say hello to the nice lady but don't wander out in to the sunlight my love." she coos licking his ears gently.
Silas beamed and leapt from his mothers paws at the announcement that he could play! in the shade but he could still play. Bounding up to Kairi he sits atop her crossed paws his small cubbish form nesting there quite happily. the words of his mother had gone right over his young head luckily "My daddy is a leopard, I'v never met him tho, mama says he went back to the jungle. What is the jungle like? i'm Silas." He grins in a cubbish manner his bright red eyes glistening almost eerily in the shade.
Kairi chuckled. "No offense taken." She blinked. This lioness hadn't known leopards and lions could have cubs together? And she thought the poor cub was cursed because of it? Oh dear. "He's not cursed...just blessed in a different way." She purred as the little one settled himself on her.
"It's nice to meet you Silas!" She'd never actually seen hybrids as cubs...but they were absolutely adorable! Like taking all the cuteness of a lion cub and a leopard cub and putting them together! "The jungle is a BIG place full of trees and flowers and plants. A lot of it is in shadow, because of how big the trees get and how big their leaves are. And the sun the breaks into it...makes these...big lines of light. It's really beautiful. And the moonlight is even prettier."
Radi smiled gently ehr pale green gaze glancing over her palest of cubs. "Some would call it unnatural but they are my babies." She whispers a gentle smile lifting her lips. She adored her odd brood even if they were hybreds, even if poor Silas couldn't play in the sun like his siblings. "Usiku told me much of the jungle, it sounds beautiful. i am much too frightened to leave the pridelands though and with seven cubs, I don't think we would all make the journey." She sighs gently.
Silas' jaw drops and he gapes at the leopardess "Ohhhhh, so you can play any where without getting hurt?" he blinked owlishly his soft reddish gaze looking surprised. "i would like it there, I could play with my brothers and sisters and not get burned." His ears twitched at his mothers words and he looked to his paws saddly, he couldn't go, his mother couldnt' go and he needed her. "It sounds pretty."
Kairi nodded. "New things can be very scary...To be honest, I wouldn't have left the jungle if my friends hadn't gotten me mad by not telling me they were leaving." She sighed. "They're such dufuses..." She smiled again. "Perhaps...one day when they're older, you could visit the jungle?" A visit was always a good step...no pressure, and there was always home to return to.
"Yup! You could play all you want! On the ground, in the trees...and there's lots of water that runs through it, so there's lots of places to swim!" Kairi couldn't help but feel a little attached to the cub. Such a bright spirit held to such hard restrictions by the accident of his birth.
Radi shook her head gently. "No..I can't leave the pridelands not again." She whispers, her ears flattening tightly against her head, she was deathly afraid to leave the borders of her birth. She looked up at kairi and a gentle smile lifted her lips. "Would you like to stay with us this evening? I have already hunted and there is plenty to eat." An idea had formed in radi's smind as she looekd at the leopardess, perhaps, perhaps it would be best if she could get Silas to a place wheer he could do as he pleased, wheer she didn't have to fear for him constantly.
Silas giggled happily his bright eyes glassy and grinning. "maybe when I'm older I can come and visit you kairi. I would like to see the jungle. I bet I could find my way there all on my own...if theres lots of shade ont he way." His eyes looked away dreamily then, he smiled, the idea of a place where he could play wheer ever he wanted was a dream come true.
Kairi was curious what could make the lioness so scared to go beyond her pride's borders. But she was certain that was probably a topic better left alone for now. And though she did want to get home soon...she rather liked this lioness and her cub. Made her wonder if all the cubs were this sweet. And her friends could wait another day..."I would like that." Kairi blinked. "Ya know...I just realized, I missed your name."
Kairi giggled. "And I'll be sure to greet you when you get there, Silas!" She purred. "And you can meet all my friends! I'm certain they would love you." The little cub reminded her of Sora, in a way...bright and cheery, despite any situation.
The lioness smiled "I'm sorry, my name is Radi." She whispers, her soft green eyes moving from the leopardess to her pale son. Taking a deep breath she signaled for Silas to come to her grooming his head as she did. "Go inside and sleep now my love, your brothers and sisters will be in with you soon." She fidgeted a little as she watched Silas hop in to the darkness before she turned her head and called for the other cubs whom all piled in to the den without a moments hesitation, all ready for sleep.
"Tell me kairi, this place you speak of, is it safe?" she could feel a heavyness welling in her heart as she asked these questions. She knew what she was about to do and it hurt and pained her, tore her apart. it felt like she was about to ask kairi to remove a peice of her heart, but something made her truth the young leopardess.
Kairi smiled as Silas hopped off. Someday, when she found the right man, she'd have cubs too...She looked back to Radi and nodded. "Mm-hmm. While I was growing up, there were only a few things that would try to harm a cub...and there were adults enough that those things either stayed away, or reminded why they needed to stay away." She chuckled.
"That and most of those things were stupid enough to think chasing a leopard up a tree was a good idea. For the leopard maybe, but certainly not the thing."
She let a little laugh roll over her lips as she stood up stretching and moving from the shadows. "Come, I have my meat stored a little way away from the den, keept the jakals out." She smiled and let a very heavy sigh roll over her lips. She knew what she was about to say. "Kairi, I need help, Silas, he gets ill if he isn't kept in the shade constantly, but he can't play with his siblings, he can't explore. i need him to go some wheer safe, some wheer away from here wheer he can play, wheer he can be a cub, be a child not forced to live in this constrained environment." she swallowed hard and looked at kairi, tears welling in ehr eyes. "I can't go, i can't expect seven cubs to travel even if I had the courage to take them accross these borders, but one..one could maybe make itt if, if you travelled at night." She choked back a sob and looked away.
It was hard for her,s he was giving up a child to a stranger but it was the only idea she could think of to make Silas' life more bareable for him.
Kairi followed Radi...and then realized why the lioness had been a bit nervous. She knew what was being asked of her...and could see how hard it was for the lioness. Her expression was one of compassion and sympathy. "You are a very, very brave mother Radi..." To let go of a cub so they could have a better life...
"Only if you are sure of it, Radi."
Radi looked to the leopardess, taking a deep breath she swallowed hard and looked at the young leopardess. "You have to promise me you will love him like a mother kairi, it breaks my heart that I have to let him go, but I fear, i fear he will die one day from just sitting in the sun. At least in the jungle he can be safe. You will care for him won't you? i can see you have a good heart kairi. i don't want to let him go but what if he died all because of me just holding on to him when he could be safe and happy in a place I just can't go."
She paused and looked at her paws saddly. "Please, say you will care for hima nd i will trust you with my pale son."
Kairi nodded, a sad smile on her face. "I will." This lioness needed her help...who was Kairi to refuse it? And the little one needn't fear the sun in the jungle. Oh sure, she would have a lot of explaining to do to her friends...but she didn't mind. "As I said...you are a very brave lioness. There are too many who would hang on, despite the pain it caused. If you want...when he's older and stronger, I can bring him to visit."
Radi smiled softly and nuzzled the leopardess. "I would like that, just, please look aftermy baby okay." She smiles softly leading the youngleoprdess to the meat she had caught earlier. "Please, eat your fill then you're welcome to join us to sleep." she swallowed hard. "i will miss him very much you will tell him I love him and always will won't you." She whispers her watery green gaze looking even more glassy.
"I will. And anyone who tries to tell him otherwise will get promptly bapped upside the head." She smiled. "I'll make sure he grows up safe and sound...and if the jungle is anything like it was when I left, he'll have lots of friends and playmates." Kairi did eat...she had been hunting rather sporadically after all. Though she resolved to hunt more regularly on the last few days of the trip...she would have a cub's belly to worry about as well as her own.
