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 Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 6:35 pm
Fila walked back towards her makeshift home, dragging what remained of a roebuck carcass behind her. It was a hot day on the Savannah, and Fila was tired. She was beginning to feel the injustice of it all, as her good-for-nothing sister couldn't bring herself to lift a paw to help her with the daily tasks of life in the wilderness.
After all, it wasn't Fila's idea to wander aimlessly through the dried-out plains searching for someone who was probably dead. But Amira was convinced that Sikudhani was still alive. Fila wasn't sure. In fact, she thought that perhaps their brother was just a figment of Amira's overactive imagination. But try as she might to correct her, Amira still held to her belief that they had a brother, and that they would find him someday.
Fila sighed. If it hadn't been for Amira's insistence, they would still be back at their comfortable home in the jungle. They were fine there, well provided for and safe. Why hadn't Amira listened to reason?
Back in the jungle, they had been a team. Fila would hunt the larger game and scout for additional felines living in the area, while Amira would guard their home and locate new water sources. But Amira had always been of a more lofty sort. She just wasn't satisfied staying there. Fila loathed her restlessness and didn't see the point of inviting danger into their lives.
But now...not only were their very lives at stake in this fool's errand, but Amira was unable to do anything to assist the mission. She was a liability, endangering both of their lives. Because of her, Fila had to work twice as hard to make sure they both survived.
She did love her sister, but...sometimes she'd like some help.
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:39 pm
Amira lounged, her front paws crossed as she waited for her sister to return. She was so bored lately, as her duties consisted of merely waiting for Fila to bring home her latest kill. Amira wished she could be of more help, but the bottom line was that she hadn't acquired the hunting skill. After they were abandoned as cubs, she had been too grief-stricken over the loss of their brother to do anything but mope and drag her heels in the dust as she followed her sister. So Fila had taken it upon herself to feed the duo, and thus far there had been no need for Amira to learn the skill.
Amira lay her head on her paws, her eyes staring at a particular dust mite that had caught her interest. She sighed, wishing something more exciting would come along. She hated the periods of nothingness that occurred when Fila went to hunt. Fila wouldn't even bring her along...something about how she'd only get in the way.
Amira sat up as she heard a slight shuffling noise and saw Fila dragging their dinner behind her. "Hey! You're getting it all dusty, sis. I still have to eat that, you know."
Dusty food wasn't fit for a princess to consume! Didn't Fila know that?
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:50 pm
Fila dragged the buck over to her sister. She had already taken her fill, so she walked away from the kill.
Fila scoffed. "Dusty? You're lucky I bring you food to eat. If you were any other lioness, I'd have left you by yourself ages ago. I told you that you should learn to hunt, sister," she said, her growing bitterness at hunting for two spilling out into hostile words. "We're family, but really. I should have forced you to learn to hunt alongside of me, regardless of your sorry emotional state at the time." Fila growled softly, anger and regret seething through her being. She had been soft on her sister, because she was the baby of the family. And now they both were paying the price for that.
"Now you're a grown lioness who can't fend for yourself! You'd be dead by now if it wasn't for me!"
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:57 pm
Amira was shocked at her sister's behavior. But she knew! She knew that Amira wasn't to blame. Fila knew that it wasn't Amira's fault that she couldn't hunt...right? "Lucky? I'm lucky that you choose to care for your own family?! I see how important family is to you. You didn't even want to search for him. You wanted to let our brother stay lost!" Amira burst into angry tears. That was what this was all about, really. Sikudhani was out there, and Fila didn't even care. Amira pouted, refusing to even look at the roebuck.
"You didn't force me to then, sister, because I would have gotten myself killed. You didn't care that Kudha was missing then, and you sure as hell don't care now. How can you just forget your own brother like that?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:09 pm
Fila roared, an earthshaking sound that rattled the earth at their paws. "This is NOT about Sikudhani! If I didn't care, would I be out in this god-forsaken land searching with you?" Fila sighed angrily, taking a moment to compose herself. "Amira. I am unhappy with you and your poor hunting skills. I told you that you couldn't come with me hunting, because your ineptness would scare off the prey. But I also told you that I wanted you to practice while I was away." Fila paced back and forth, her paws kneading the earth below.
"I can't keep putting up with it, Amira! You not pulling your weight, you not doing your part. I can't hunt for the both of us anymore." Fila paused, a new and horrible thought blossoming in her brain. "And what will happen when you want to take a mate? Prospective males will want you to be able to feed yourself, as well as any cubs you might bear for them. You can't feed yourself, let alone anyone else."
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:17 pm
"Oh." Amira didn't remember Fila saying anything about practicing. Then again...she didn't have the best memory either. She hadn't spent that time practicing. She'd spent it lallygagging, laying around waiting for Fila to bring her her next meal. But she was a princess, right? That's what her mother had named her, so...she deserved to be treated that way...didn't she? Apparently Fila didn't agree.
"So you'd let me starve?" Amira asked, shocked. "You know I can't hunt on my own! You never taught me." Her tears, unacknowledged by her sister, continued to fall. "And if I ever got a mate, he'd love me for the princess I am, and hunt for the both of us and whatever cubs I gave him. So there."
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:24 pm
Fila shook her head. "No, Amira. No one will want you as a mate if you can't take care of yourself." She glared at her sister, "And don't give me that! I tried to teach you just last week. You wouldn't have it. Something about 'breaking a nail' or something."
Fila thought, her pacing wearing a track through the dirt. "I have no choice..." she murmured, a sad expression on her face. "Amira, I can't hunt for you any more. And if I traveled with you, you could scavenge my kills. So...I'm going to leave you, and you won't be able to keep up. I'll come find you someday, with the hopes that you'll have learned to care for yourself."
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:31 pm
"NO!" she wailed, real tears streaming down her face. "Fila, don't leave me! Don't go! I'll be all alone...don't leave me alone, Fila! Don't you love me anymore? Won't you miss me, too? How can you just leave me like this?!" Amira was horrified her sister would even consider this option. Didn't family mean anything to her? Amira wailed harder, knowing that she probably couldn't change Fila's mind.
She also knew that if Fila had decided that this was the best course of action, then it probably was. The knowledge didn't give her any comfort. What if she didn't ever see either remaining members of her family ever again? What if something happened, or Fila couldn't find Amira again?
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:36 pm
Amira was being overly dramatic and emotional. As usual, Fila thought. "I'm sorry sister. One day, you'll see that this was for the best," she said, turning to leave. "Don't worry..." she said softly, not looking back, "I'll find you again."
With that simple statement, Fila loped off, to find her own futures for once. To go after her own heart's desire, with no one to hold her back. She would return to find her sister, she wouldn't let her starve. But Amira needed to think that Fila wasn't come back anytime soon. That she was truly gone. Only then would Amira put forth the effort to teach herself to fend for herself.
Fila's heart was burdened by her actions, though she knew they were for the best. Amira needed to learn to take care of herself. That was the bottom line...that was the mission. Amira would come out stronger for this, better suited to life. So Fila could not feel guilty about leaving her, even as she heard her pleading cries, begging her to return.
"One day, dear sister...you will understand," Fila whispered, a single tear streaking down her cheek.
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Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:43 pm
Amira lay crumpled in a heap, grieving her sister's departure. It just wasn't fair. She fulfilled her share of the work! She guarded the place they slept. Sometimes, scary bugs would come up and she'd have to fight them to make them leave! Didn't that count for anything?
And she wasn't to worry. NOT WORRY? She was alone, frightened, and was probably going to die. What would she do? She couldn't hunt for herself. That wasn't her job.
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Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:46 pm
It took everything she had within her not to turn back. Amira was her sister! How could she just leave her? Fila ran faster. This was for the best. It was the only way, the only way she could force Amira to learn to live for herself, to not be dependent on anyone else.
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Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:36 pm
Amira sat there and sobbed for a bit longer. Her world had been shaken to the core yet again. Wasn't it enough that her mother had died when she was but a cub? Wasn't it enough that they had lost their brother on top of that? I mean, sure, Kudha was probably alive. But...he had been missing for years.
You'd think she would have been used to things going wrong. Still...it was a lot of grief to deal with, and Amira hadn't quite processed all of it. She lay there, watching Fila walk away...Amira watched until she couldn't see her sister any longer.
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Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:39 pm
Fila kept walking. Even when tears started rolling down her face, something unheard of, she kept walking. Fila didn't have very many soft places in her hardened heart. Amira was one of them. She knew that Amira would hate her for what she was doing. But she knew...she knew she had to finish what she had started. It was hard to keep going, especially since their being together had given them purpose. Without her sister, Fila was equally unsure about what she was supposed to be doing.
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Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:41 pm
Amira knew that she couldn't stay there forever. She knew that she'd have to pick herself up eventually, or she would die in that spot. So...she slowly dragged herself to her paws, turning away from the direction Fila had gone. If she wanted to leave, then fine. Let her. Amira would show her that she could make it without her.
"I'll be fine! Just you wait, I'll be better off on my own than I EVER was with you!"
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Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:43 pm
Fila finally stopped, her grief too much for her to bear. The few, shameful tears had been wiped away, and she stood there, her head low, mourning all that had happened...and what would happen to Amira. It wouldn't be easy...this Fila knew from experience. Perhaps Amira would fare better than she had. Perhaps Amira wouldn't close off her heart, her emotions...
"I wish you luck, my sister..." she whispered to the wind.
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