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 Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:32 am
She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting would happen.
Surely not this, however. Never had Aliona expected that the death of her parents would haunt her so. Never had she imagined that their presence and... memories would somehow find a way to almost cling to the trees of the land.
It was becoming overwhelming for her and many of her family members; she had noticed that much and while they were all putting up a strong face, Alion could see under their masks. Ushaufu was the most obvious, really, which was almost ironic given his domain. The godling cub would pad the lands looking confused, out of place and horribly haunted.
There were times she feared he was getting flashes of the past, and while the brown pelted female wanted her 'father' to remember them slightly, she wasn't sure if it was worth having him remember the painful past. This was a second chance for him, and she didn't want it ruined by ghost of the past.
Maybe... it was time to move on.
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:16 am
Zuri had had a small reprieve from the worries of her life, the things that had been plaguing her since her father died and.. reappeared as something not quite himself. Though she loved the little cub that was there in his stead, it still hurt to look at him and be reminded that it was not quite the great male that had protected her as a cub. What a strange twist of roles fate had played on them.
Now, however, Zuri had become distracted with her own family. A mate, who she had never expected to find, and a litter of cubs so large that she had been nearly unable to move right before they were born. She'd been worried about the health of them, at first, but now she was confident that they would survive their unusual birth. Ten, though, really? Zuri wasn't sure she ever planned on letting Rishi near her again - not if it meant she was going to be having that many little rascals.
It was shortly after her cubs arrived, though, that the visions began. She wasn't sure if it was simply because she was pained at the thought of her cubs growing up in a land that was once so vibrant for the existence of her parents, or if her pregnancy had simply triggered something in her - some maternal instinct she had yet to understand. But day in and day out she was plagued with visions of another land, and with ten cubs in tow, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. The best thing to do now was to seek out her sister and speak with her.
"Aliona?" she called out, frowning as her amethyst eyes glanced around her. Nearly her polar opposite in color, her dark pelt wasn't always the easiest to spot against the dark night.
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:38 pm
An ear perked as her name was called out. The lioness lifted her head from where she'd been resting it on the ground, over crossed forearms and smiled up as Zuri neared her, "It's a wonder you can even more ten feet away from your den, Zuri. It's a wonder you can move at ALL, really," she'd suffered an equaly large.... painful birthing herself, and thus knew the pain of having to birth a large amount of cubs in one sitting, "Is something bothering you?" she scooted over on the soggy ground, giving her sister space to lay with her.
Honestly... it was clear something was bothering Zuri, however, Aliona wasn't sure if it was even the same concerns she had. Her visions in the water had been triggered more and more easily lately, and something was out of place with them.
Why would they start now that the lands were almost recovered? Why now of all times?
It was right about then that Aliona realised the reason; their lands were growing lusher, yes, but rogues knew not of them. They thought they were dead and dreaded their approach. Not only that, but most of the lions within the lands themselves were related to her cubs and Zuri's too... which meant it would cause a problem once such huge litters grew up and could not find mates, "Oh God," she whispered softly, quite suddenly, as the realisation hit her, "Why hadn't I thought of that before...?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:14 pm
"Rishi is a good baby sitter," she said with a small smirk, flopping down at her sister's side comfortably. She loved her cubs, but with that many of them even she needed a little reprieve for the sake of her sanity. She'd accepted that she was going to be a mother when she realized she was pregnant by her wandering male, she just hadn't realized she was going to be a mother of quite so many all at once. "Besides, I can't lay around forever." She curled up closer to her sister, her paws tucking neatly against her chest.
"Yes, actually," she said at her sister's question, tilting her head up to stare at the moon instead of her darker sibling. "Ever since the cubs were born, I've had some rather unsettling visions." She paused as she thought about her phrasing, and then shook her head as if to erase what she had already said from being. "Not unsettling, exactly, I take that back. They've just been very strong, and they call to me in a way others haven't. I don't know what they mean, or why I'm having them." She frowned, a rare thing for the trickster, and looked down at her sister beside her.
"Hadn't though of what?" she murmured, moments after her, her brows drawing down with concern. Had her sister been having visions as well?
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:02 pm
A chuckle resounded the silence of the jungle around them before she should her head. Even after her realisation, she couldn't help the chuckle; cubs would be cubs, and it was amazing how well Zuri was coping, "Yours are apparently less demanding than mine were then. Not that it surprises me," as the lighter colored female lay by her, Aliona shifted to place her head against hers in a sign of affection, "No, we can not."
She had used 'we' for a reason; she literally meant that perhaps none of them could lay around here in these lands forever, as if waiting for some sort of miracle to happen, "Visions?" she questioned, then frowned, "These visions wouldn't be of a dark, lush valley of mists, would they? Humid territory, far greener than this one we live in.... moonlit forest with mists."
Her eyes left her sister's to travel towards the far distance which they couldn't really see through the foliage of the territory, "I was thinking that perhaps my visions were telling me... that we had to leave," as if expecting her sister to jump at this and call her crazy, she suddenly turned to her, "This land is recovering, yes, but others think it's dead. Almost no one comes here. It's a miracle Rishi did, really. We're all related... most of us are all related. What will happen when our babies grow up, Zuri? They will have no one to mate because... no one comes here," she shook her head slightly, then let out a sigh, "We're living with the ghosts of the past here. Ushu wakes up at night with horrible nightmares, and I know this place pains you... all of you, as much as it does me. Mother's ghost is still here. Ushu's... whatever it is, is still here. He can feel it. We can feel it."
Then her eyes roamed back away from her sister, "Perhaps we should leave."
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:25 pm
She didn't miss the way her sister used 'we' instead of 'I', she didn't miss the implications it had. Yet, she was patient enough to wait for what her sister had to say. As she unraveled her own visions, said them aloud, her brows rose. Aliona must have been having them as well, though she wasn't sure why she was so surprised. They were the same blood, in the same position, so alike that their outward differences were really all there were.
"That's exactly what I've been seeing," she said lowly, "and that place has been calling to me, wherever it is." She frowned as she thought about it, but was cut off as her sister began to speak again. What she said made sense, and even Zuri was surprised that she too had not thought of it before.
"The ghosts here are painful, and before I thought I could live with it for the sake of the pride, of being here with our family." She chewed at the inside of her cheek, her head nuzzling gently against her sisters where they were braced against one another. "But you're right, our family will be doomed if we stay here. Perhaps it is because of our cubs that we see this? It's their future we must protect, and this new land, this new beginning, maybe that is where it all starts."
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:13 pm
"Why am I not surprised?" she breathed softly, then shook her head from side to side, a slow smile forming upon her maw. Even despite how different they looked, they were sisters, and while the nature of their visions were different in a way (after all, Aliona saw things reflected in water), the underlying message was the same.
"I wish I knew where it was. I have no idea where to start looking. I see the past, and future, Zuri... I saw that place in the past. And saw it how it could be with us there. I saw.... those mists and the way lions traveled withing them hidden like specters. It was breath catching," a small pause as Aliona wrinkled her brow, "But I have no idea where it could be. However... I think that I've seen at least a couple of the newer rogues talk about visions and finding this place following those visions. Maybe we can talk to them, and see if they can help us?"
Another sigh as she leaned into the nuzzle, "I know the are. That's why we should go, Zuri. We weren't meant to be living like this. They wouldn't have wanted us to."
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:28 pm
"I have no idea how to get there either," she said softly, "I can see it, and see it clearly, and feel it calling to me but I can not feel where it calls from." She let out a deep sigh and chewed at her cheek. "We belong there, I think, it's just a matter of finding it. Perhaps if we talk to these new members they can help us? Maybe they'll even want to come along."
She nodded again at her sister's words, knowing that she was right. "You're right, Aliona, they wouldn't want us to live like this. They'd want us to go on." She drew a deep breath, thinking of the visions she had seen, the lands and the lions in them. "It will be a huge task, to move and go, especially with all the cubs," she murmured, "but I think it's our destiny."
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:36 pm
"That's because we are not that type of seer. I've heard stories of those with the ability to know where they are all the time. Might be just a rumour though, but still, pretty interesting, don't you think?" she lapped at her sister's cheek for a moment before smiling, "We'll get this sorted out, Zuri, don't worry. We've always come through, haven't we? We can talk to the others, see what they think."
First though, before getting excited over such new dreams, they should best get back to their families and talk to them, "I think we've left our babies unattended long enough. I bet Rishi's wanting to kill himself, right about now," she chuckled, specially if her own babies decided to pay their cousins a visit, "Lets get back to the dens and see if we can find the others, talk to them... they might have been having similar thoughts."
That said, she stood and shook off the mud that clung to her brown pelt, then began to walk into the foliage. She only stopped to wait for her sister before continuing.
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:41 pm
"It would be nice if we were," she said with a soft laugh, "then we wouldn't be having this little dilemma." She simply shook her head and thought about who it was she had recalled hearing about being a seer. She didn't think she remembered, but Aliona did, and that was all that really mattered she supposed. "We've always come through, yeah," she murmured, looking up at her sister as she licked at her cheek. They were here, strong as ever, even without their parents to guide them anymore. That counted for something, didn't it?
"Oh, I bet he is. They're probably all crying out for milk by now, and the poor fellow is probably at his wit's end trying to calm them." The thought did give her a wicked picture to amuse her, but she pushed herself up anyway to follow after Aliona. She was beyond her trickery, at least of her family. "Home it is, to feed the little ones and find out the secrets of the future." She laughed at the wording, but caught up to her sister, walking off with her in hopes of finding out just what it was they needed to know.
They had a long journey ahead of them, and it all started with these first steps.
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