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 Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 12:54 pm
 Mazimwi still lived. The realisation had hit her some time after the dreadful spectacle when she had been sentenced to serve as a Slave. The Spirits had blessed her and she could feel him, he lived under her heart and was still with her. She hadn't been a very obedient slave up until then. Not disrespectful enough to lose a limb, but always tardy and disobedient enough to earn some rough handling and to feel that she retained some of her independence. Sooner or later she would have stepped over the thin line or worn out her overseers patience, but the Spirits gave her the message in time. And just like that, she stopped resisting.
She started cleaning her fur voluntarily and even allowed a healer to look at the scratches on her front leg. She hadn't cared for them properly and the healer told her they would heal but leave a scar. Fine. Yuusa had stolen the token of Skugga's love, but the scars would be more permanent than a small bracelet of fur. She allowed the healer to take a second look at the scratches just to confirm that they were healing, but after that she did everything she could to avoid closer contact with them. They couldn't know.
Skugga told herself that she would be able to hide it, and watched her girth increase over time with a growing panic. She wasn’t stupid, and she had seen and heard what had happened with other pregnant slaves. If they knew they would take her babies. They couldn't know. The spirits would help her, hide her. Desperation sometimes gripped her during the long nights and she was torn between trying to run and save her young, and fear of death and severe punishment. She couldn’t run, but they couldn’t know. The whole situation seemed impossible, but Mazi was with her every night, telling her it would be fine. How? Only the Spirits knew.
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Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 4:22 am
 Yuusa had not actively sought out her sister once all the dust from the war had settled. One might even say that she had tried to avoid seeing Skugga since the dark lioness had been branded a slave, but that would assume that Yuusa had put in some actual effort in keeping away from where her sister might be that day, and that just wasn't the case.
She just didn't care enough to neither seek Skugga out nor avoid her. There was nothing left between them, really, as there wasn't anything really left of the loving sister that Yuusa had once known and tried to save. Her mind still shuddered when she recalled how much she had almost sacrificed in trying to save her sister from herself, before she had finally understood that there could be no saving of one who did not want to be saved.
So she had glimpsed Skugga here and there. And though she wasn't particularly concerned with how her sister chose to live her life from this point on, she couldn't help but notice the shift in the dark lioness' appearance. From one who seemed determined to attract as much dirt and filth as possible, suddenly Skugga begun appearing more clean - and not only that, by the looks of things her mood seemed to have improved, as she seemingly performed her assigned tasks with much less insubordination than before.
At first, Yuusa had thought that perhaps her sister had merely adjusted to her role and accepted her fate, but something in that whole concept just didn't ring true. So she had watched Skugga just a little bit more carefully. Still, it had taken her a while to understand exactly what was going on with the dark lioness, but when Skugga's increasing roundness could no longer be explained by a healthier appetite... The realisation had hit Yuusa with a force that sucked the breath out of her for a long moment.
Her sister was with cubs. Her slave sister, abandoned by the spirits' good grace, had still been blessed with the gift of cubs. There had been a sharp and almost crippling stab of pain in Yuusa's heart as both consuming rage and endless grief fought for supremacy for a while. Skugga, who had taken the one cub that Yuusa had ever had, who had murdered an innocent child and worn his pelt like a trophy, Skugga, who had abandoned her pride and her faith, was given this grace. Why? Why would the spirits be so cruel, and so irresponsible?
Then it hit her, an insight that made her mind reel and her head spin. Of course it could not be the spirits' will that Skugga be made a mother. Anyone who knew anything about the broken lioness could tell you that she was an extremely unfit mother. On top of that, she was a slave, and Yuusa had heard the rumours about what happened to pregnant slaves. Skugga would not get to keep her cubs any which way, so then...
...Could it be anything other than the spirits' will that Yuusa should have these cubs? Could it be anything but a reward from beyond for her faithfulness, and a compensation for the grievous loss she had suffered?
Could it be anything but karma that as Skugga once took her cub from her, Yuusa would now take Skugga's?
It was with certainty, and happiness, in her heart that Yuusa went to communicate her suspicions about her sister's condition to the Minders.
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 2:22 am
Mazi came to her in her dreams and promised that everything would be all right. Skugga couldn't see how it could ever “work our” for her and her babies. However implausible it was, she forced herself to have faith in Mazi and in the other good spirits that had to be watching over her. Other nights the bad spirits sent her nightmares that had her bathing in sweat when she woke in her dark den. But Mazi always came back and told her everything would be fine in the end, and begged her to be careful. She smiled in her sleep because it was so much like Mazi to watch out for her and make sure she didn't rush into more trouble than necessary.
She had decided to name her first born Masoka'koya to honour the spirit of his father, and if she got another he would be named Mazi after her private nickname for Mazimwi. For a daughter... Zimwi. It might be unwise to try to eat the prey before it was hunted down, but thinking about names was one of the things that helped her stay calm when all she wanted to do was run away as fast as she could. So she fretted and waited, and did her best to hide her pregnancy. Running away was tempting, but while she didn't care if she died or was punished she had responsibility for others now. New life grew under her heart. New life and old, because she could feel that Mazimwi was with her.
When she felt it was time in the dead of the night she silently thanked Mazimwi. The spirits had to be involved, because this night she slept alone in a small den. They would surely be found in the morning, but she was grateful that the spirits would give her this much. One night with their new family.
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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 3:22 am
Yuusa had kept a very close eye on Skugga since she had noticed the change, and she knew very well which signs to look out for. Just as the first tentative light of dawn begun to break, she arrived at the small den where her once-beloved sister had given birth to her new, already-beloved cubs.
The Overseer that walked alongside her was of the stoic, no-nonsense type, and quite a bit more strongly built than Yuusa herself, but the bright lioness still worried that Skugga might prove troublesome, even violent. How was that poor, maddened child to comprehend the bigger picture here, after all? Just to be sure, Yuusa had made certain that two strong Minders remained within calling distance, yet out of scenting range, in case the situation could be resolved peacefully, without unneccessary stress to Skugga and, consequently, the sensitive little cubs.
Yuusa's little cubs. Her heart lightened at the thought of it, and her love for them grew like a roaring grassfire with every step she took into the den. Oh, she couldn't wait to meet them!
The Overseer by her side remained quiet, leaving the delicate situation in Yuusa's paws for the moment, with a small nod. Yuusa pulled in a quick and shallow breath, held it for a moment, and then softly called out into the dusky den:
"Skugga? Are... are you all right?" She hadn't smelled anything to indicate that Skugga or the cubs were not, but her concern was not so much for her dark twin, as for the little cubs that she had with her. Yuusa knew better than anyone that Skugga was certainly not reliable around cubs, and at this point she just wanted her beautiful, beloved little cubs away from that mad lioness as soon as possible.
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 2:35 pm
Mazi had made her promise to stay calm and let things happen and that was the only reason she wasn't busy ripping Yuusa's throat out at the moment. That familiar voice and scent had been a truly nasty surprise, but she had to have faith in the Spirits. He wouldn't lie to her. Not her Mazi. He had promised that everything would turn out fine if she kept calm and level headed, and she could see his point. Throwing a fit at the moment could get them all killed, or worse. But all the reason in the world couldn't have kept the fur on her neck from standing on end right now. Why did it have to be Yuusa?
"We're all fine," she said, trying with all her might to keep her voice devoid of emotion, "Their father has been watching over us."
Skugga cleaned her sons once more, too keep her tongue occupied and out of trouble. There were spirits on her side this night, and they were going to help her. Yuusa might be backed by her pride, but did she have the spirit of a warrior standing guard over her? Well, Skugga supposed she might have, but that it wasn't very likely. Mazi was the only one talking to her at any rate, and he hadn't told her of any trouble in the spirit realm. And if her sister had any sense she would not make a spirit-warrior upset with her.
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