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 Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:29 am
So she was alone with the raging tides of fate lashing at her heels as she tried to escape. They wouldn't come after her now, not with how far she'd gone. She had run and run until she'd collapsed from exhaustion and how she was still taking herself as far away as she could. There had to be somewhere out there that she could find herself again. Somewhere that would appreciate her knowledge and where they would not ask questions or judge her on her past.
She would find that place. She knew it. Then, perhaps, she would be able to mourn properly for the family that she had lost.
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:48 pm
With a frown, Roshan stopped beneath the scraggly, gnarled tree. It had been a while since it had happened and yet he still found himself thinking of all that had happened, wondering if there was anything different he could have done. He was sure there wasn't, he just only hoped that she was out there, safe, with their cubs somewhere. Maybe she was still int he pride, how would he know? That's all he could do, though - pray and hope.
Feeling his emotions turning sour, he simply sat down beneath the old tree, letting his eyes swing out to the horizon in an attempt to find anything to distract himself. It was then that he saw her, the pale figure in the distance, like a ghost from his past risen to haunt him. At first, all he could do was stare at her, jaw slightly agape. Where were the words to confront her? He was sure she'd simply disappear at any moment, for surely he was suffering delusions from his own depression? However, as she steadily came forward, he rose back up onto his paws and let an unsure, unsteady cry fill the air.
"Umoja?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:53 pm
She had been lost in thought as her paws worked though the grass and her surroundings left little impression on her. It was only a cry of her name that snapped her out of her thoughts. Her head lifted and she stared at the form not far from her.
"R-Roshan?" She stuttered over his name. It couldn't be, could it? She thought for sure he'd died, left her, was gone. Taking the few careful steps forward she brought herself to him and carefully butted her head against his jaw. He was solid. Could he really be here in front of her like she'd wished?
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 1:21 pm
His pale eyes widened as she perked at the name, though what had he really been expecting? For her to be a ghost, or to be someone else? He wasn't sure, exactly, but he realized that the closer she got to him, the more his battered heart began to ache. Each step, so agonizingly slow and yet far too quick for him to comprehend. It seemed like both hours and seconds before she was before him, her familiar form butting her head against his jaw.
He couldn't help the way he closed his eyes, his head leaning down to brush his chin over the top of her skull. He couldn't believe it, couldn't believe she was here, though with her presence came his guilt over leaving her behind. "I'm so sorry," he muttered through a tight jaw, his heart twisting ever harder in his chest, "I'm so sorry, Umoja."
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 1:28 pm
"I thought you were dead..." She spoke softly as she buried her face in the fur of his mane. He had the same familiar smell and the soft feeling that she remembered all too well. "I couldn't find you after ... after ..."
Her voice caught in her throat as she thought about the cubs that she'd lost. How would she tell him that she hadn't been able to protect them? "I should be the one that's sorry..."
What would he do when he found out? Could he still love her after he found out that she had let their children die? She didn't know if she could survive herself if he didn't forgive her. She wouldn't be able to loose him so soon after finding him.
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:03 pm
"No, not dead.." he said softly, hesitating. How was he going to tell her that he had deserted her, left her there in that place that was so demanding and cruel? "I.. left, they threatened to hurt you and the cubs," he shook his head as he remembered their faces, their angry eyes, their surety that he was some sort of devil for touching their pure priestess. It was then, however, speaking of the cubs, that he realized they weren't with her. He had dreamed of knowing them, seeing them, and yet.. why were they missing?
"Why should you be sorry, Umoja, you didn't do anything," he said slowly, his eyes shifting up to look at the land around them. Were they out there somewhere, had she hidden them some place while she went to hunt? "Where.. are the cubs?" he asked hesitantly, looking down at her. No, something about this felt very wrong indeed.
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:08 pm
She took a step back from him and seemed to almost be trying to shrink into herself. "They're .... they ... he killed them .." And she hadn't been able to protect them from his wrath. She hadn't been able to free herself from the grip of the other females who thought she should pay for her crimes. "I couldn't protect them, it's all my fault .... "
She didn't deserve to meet him again after she had lost his cubs.
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:15 pm
A pang of loss ripped through his heart as her words stung his ears. It was much similar to what he had been feeling all this time, though something about this seemed much more.. final. He hadn't known if they had been delivered safely before, or if they were dead, but now he knew that they were gone. They had been the thing he was the most proud of in this world, even if they had never known it.
"No, Umoja," he said in a croak, feeling a stinging in his eyes that could only be unshed tears, "it's not your fault." He pushed the feeling away, refusing to break down. It was just as much his fault as it was hers. He had trusted them to keep their word - his leaving for their safety. "They're heartless liars," he muttered, drooping his head and letting his mane fall into his eyes. If he had been a meaner lion, he would have gone after them for revenge. He knew the odds, though. One lion versus a pride? They weren't good, and he wasn't cruel. Perhaps Do'al would have, could have, but he didn't have that kind of heart in him.
He would mourn and be thankful that at least Umoja was unharmed, but vengeance was not his style.
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:20 pm
Hearing the breaking in his voice was almost as harsh on her ears as hearing the little ones deaths. He had wanted the little ones just as much as she had and now they were gone.
"I should have protected them ... i shouldn't have trusted them." She shouldn't have left for the ceremony and left the cubs in a nanny's care, even one she trusted. "I didn't know what to do, couldn't stay there...." Her voice was soft as she forced it out of her mouth. "I missed you so much and when i couldn't find you .... i thought they'd killed you too."
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:33 pm
"You couldn't have," he whispered, taking a step forward and brushing his cheek softly against her own. Even with the pain of more loss raging in him, he knew that above all else, right now he needed to comfort her. She would never forgive herself if he didn't make this ok. "I should have stayed, together maybe we could have gotten them out safely, but they promised.." His voice broke as he said it, his eyes shutting with a sigh.
"I don't think they ever would have tried to kill me - something tells me they probably weren't keen on attacking an angry, grown lion," his teeth grit a little as anger filled him - such a foreign emotion to him, and yet, he welcomed it in place of the pain. "They're bullies to hurt defenseless cubs." Maybe one day, if he ever met that b*****d brother of his again, he'd give him some directions. It wasn't in him to harm another soul, but Do'al had no misconceptions about that and even he had loyalty to family, in his own twisted way.
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:43 pm
She leaned her head against his for the comfort it brought. He hadn't left her so maybe somehow this would all be alright. Together they could help each other over the loss and they could move on and maybe find a home somewhere that they would be welcome.
"They said it was a punishment i brought upon myself. For loving another ... for breaking my purity..." She had thought that the pride was a wonderful home growing up. It had been safe and secure and she had always been given respect. She had learned differently. Roshan had showed her things that she had never known and her pride had shown her that they were not the heaven that she thought they were.
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:58 pm
He knew that now they were together, this would be easier for the both of them, and with time perhaps they could learn to forgive themselves for what had transpired. Even though she brought with her the news of terrible loss, she was also his beacon of light and hope.
"Who are they to dictate what the gods will?" he whispered, his eyes still shut as he leaned his head into her own. He sighed and opened his eyes, pulling back long enough to look into hers. "You did nothing wrong. You simply loved and were loved by me," he whispered, "and a power-hungry pride to the justice of the gods into their own paws. One day, I feel that the gods will repay us. Until then, we can only hold our heads high." He sounded a great deal more confident than he felt, a great deal more put together than he was, but she needed this. She needed him to be strong - she'd been carrying this burden on her shoulders, alone, for far too long.
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:04 pm
"Roshan...." He had always been strong for her and she needed to be so for him. She knew that he was hurting hearing that the cubs were gone. "We can go on. The gods have seen fit to bring us back together and we are free of their hold on us." They could live freely now and love each other as they'd always wanted to.
"We have been given a new beginning and the spirits will guide us on."
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:18 pm
"We will go on," he said, trying his best to offer her a smile, albeit a very weak one. "We're together now and we can overcome anything, Umoja," he said softly, leaning down to butt his forehead softly against her own. Something had seen fit to bring them together again and he wasn't going to argue against it. It was such an unlikely coincidence for them to stumble across one another so far from the last place they had been together that he didn't dare question it.
"We will start again and this time nothing will separate us," he voiced, a promise in his words as he stared down into her bright eyes.
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:22 pm
She nodded and smiled as much as he could at him. Her light had been brought back to her and she could be strong. She could rise above the tides of despair and find the firm support of land once again.
They could overcome this together.
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