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 Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:44 am
It'd been on her mind to talk to her brother about a very delicate and very personal topic for a few weeks. In fact, shortly after being decided on as the successor to the throne, she'd started to work the idea around in her head. Of course, it was a super awkward thing to talk about. For one, there was a matter of pride involved. Lela and Thoth COULD produce an heir on their own, right? But. She was so nervous. And it was her brother, did he really need to know things like this?
Yezi had been incredibly lucky as far as procreation was concerned, though, so Lela had finally swallowed up her huge dose of pride and put on her best face, trying hard to believe that a situation is only uncomfortable if you make it that way. Now, however, standing before where she knew she'd find the former king, she was starting to get nervous again.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:04 am
Following Alcmene's death, Unyezi had been a rather ineffective slave. Though he'd managed to see her and talk to her for the first time since he'd made her queen before she died, it hadn't seemed like enough. She had heard him out and forgiven him, and that meant a great deal to him, but he couldn't seem to just accept it. Two months later, he was functioning normally but it was still on his mind. He had mixed feelings about everything now, but his opinions didn't matter. Everybody was busy or off hanging out with someone, Unyezi had been avoiding doing anything in particular and had just arrived back at his den after a short walk around, vaguely attempting to find anybody who needed help. He had no idea someone was coming looking for his help.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:14 am
Lela had not talked to her brother as much as she would've liked to over the past two months. She had found it hard to come up with the right words to say. After all, Lela had lost a niece, but Unyezi had lost a daughter. And it was only one more turmoil to add to his long list of hardships in life. Lela often thought that her brother at least had found happiness in his mate, but she was sure there was only so much Nerit could do for him right now. Perhaps asking him for help wasn't such a great idea right now, or perhaps it would help him, give him something to do.
She saw her brother walking somberly to his home den. The nervousness was setting in more now than it had before she'd spotted him. "Yezi." She called out to him and took a step forward, leaving a front paw in the air, ready to move again. She also was now thinking that she should've perhaps prepared for him to be in a bad mood. She wasn't exactly sure what kind of welcome she'd receive. She had no doubt that she and her brother had a good sibling type relationship, but every sibling type relationship comes with some boundaries. Also, even if you love your sibling, you tend to... lash out at them?
She flicked her tail nervously. "I - I wanted to talk to you about something. If you aren't busy." She quickly cast a glance around the, making sure they were alone. She didn't really want Nerit or the children to hear what she had to say. Much less some non-family member. The idea of a random pride member hearing such a delicate, intimate detail about her life... she couldn't handle to think about it.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:47 am
He was surprised to hear someone call out to him as he hadn't really noticed anybody nearby when he was walking- and he was even more surprised when he turned around and his sister was walking nearer. She looked nervous, and Unyezi shuffled his feet as he positioned himself better for conversation. He wasn't surprised Lela was coming to chat with him, he knew it wasn't going to be a social visit. He wasn't sure how he felt about that particular fact, either, but he was largely indifferent when dealing with those outside his immediate family lately. So he looked on passively.
"I'm not busy," he said, deciding it would be better not to bother pointing out that she was one of three lions who could always override any business any of the slave might have had when needed by them.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 12:18 pm
Lela had a large discomfort for the class difference between herself and her littermate from the start. At first, she'd disliked Nerit for what that lioness had done. Unyezi's happiness, though, did matter to her. And she was willing to get passed her feelings about the topic if it meant that her brother was happy. The class change, however, had never sat well with her. When she was simply a priestess, well, that wasn't simply, was it? She had been high class then, too. And Unyezi had shared that with her at one time. Now, however, they were on opposite sides of the spectrum. Things were much more polarized now, too, that she was queen. And, she wasn't even sure how Unyezi felt about her being in this position. After all, the only reason she was in it was because his daughter had died.
She pushed the thoughts down into a hole, trying to bury them. Her insecurities about their differences and their similarities were too much for her to think about if she was really going to bring up the topic of heirs. She wasn't, however, going to treat this like a slave-queen interaction. Why would she? She was a sister in need of support from her brother. That's all she wanted them to be.
"Alright. I - well. Thoth and I, we've talked a little about... the problem we all seem to face in this family." She averted her eyes. Unyezi, of course, had been uniquely faced with the challenge of heirs. His daughter had troubles, as well. Lela was only on the threshold. "I am worried about an heir." She quickly glanced back at him, searching the familiar face she'd known since birth. This was much too difficult. "We're very aware of our situation, our age, and..." Her voice fell away. She didn't want to bring up the need for security after Ally. She simply closed her mouth and looked at her brother.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 12:31 pm
Of all the things Lela might have asked him about, he wasn't very surprised that this was the particular topic she had chosen to bring to him. It was indeed a problem each ruler faced, and it wasn't entirely uncommon to not get it right the first time. His parents hadn't and his daughter hadn't.
"Well, you'll need one," he said, not sure how to approach the topic when he wasn't sure what he could really offer since she hadn't really clarified her concerns. But as she looked at him, he knew she was looking for more than that-- and he had only really one main piece of advice.
"You'll want to try for later, not earlier," he said, "Shira will be able to help you if the full moon is about to pass by but there's nothing anybody can do if you're early. It happened to mother and it happened to Alcmene." His tone was indifferent, even when he mentioned Alcmene, but he was privately glad that was where his advice stopped for now. Njiru had been born just before the full moon, and so had Alcmene's litter. His own, litter, however, would have been just after the full moon but Shira knew how to speed things up if she deemed it safe to do so. A little late was OK.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 3:58 pm
Lela stood thoughtfully. Her unease about talking to her brother was still there, but was slowly sinking away. Her mind was turned to the more pressing matter of heir production. She hated that she had to look at her future litter in such a way, so analytically. She had little problem with being critical of many things - but of making cubs? It almost seemed... unnatural. A part of her wished very much that she was not in the position she was currently in, that she and Thoth could simply have their children and not have to fret as much. Sure, she was positive her and Thoth would want their kids to be as happy as possible, but she wouldn't be so desperately hoping for a high class litter.
"Later?" She thought that one out. The due date would of course, be best suited for the full moon. But it was so easy to miss the small window of a chance for high class. Her own family was full of those examples. But getting AFTER the full moon wouldn't help, either, would it? It'd be just the same as being too early. "How can Shira help with this?" She took a few steps closer to her brother, definitely worried about any eavesdroppers.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 4:13 pm
"Shira knows about more herbs than just the ones used to initiate new members," he said, "I'm sure she and Miakoda will be helping you and Thoth learn about them all soon, but there are ones that Shira may use to help induce birth on the proper days, if she believes it would be safe to do so."
It wasn't exactly common knowledge that she could do this for the insecurity that it might be seen as improper or cheating. The Great Lion was watching carefully those nights, if it worked then it was seen as favorable enough to make up for 'cheating'.
"Where you're under such pressure, she may be more willing to help," he added, "Normally it is a last resort, not necessarily something to use the first try." Unyezi had convinced Shira in his first litter, but he had had other things on his mind. Other things that became clear as soon as his litter was old enough.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 4:24 pm
Lela nodded numbly. She had never heard of such an herb before, and to her, it sounded risky. The idea of altering the course of a pregnancy sounded like it could be dangerous for the unborn cubs inside... and for her. All pregnant females of any species were aware the things they did to their bodies were to be done with care. Anything she did to herself, she was doing to the youngsters with in. Being the worrywart that she was, Lela already planned to take herself extra easy while she and Thoth were trying. She was pretty sure she wouldn't be doing any strenuous activity during the time, and she was going to try her darnedest to keep her emotions level. And her worrying under control. She'd heard that stress can hurt chances of pregnancy, and that just wouldn't do, since she was the type to stress her brains out over this stuff.
Especially when she was worrying about her litter being born on the right day. But inducing the labor? It seemed so strange. She did trust her brother, though, and she trusted him enough to say she would put her life in his paws if the occasion called for it. And she knew that Shira and Miakoda would never do anything that would put her or her children in harms way.
She took a deep breath. "Ok. I will talk with her about that, and I will shoot for late over early. Thank you, Yezi." She hesitated for a moment, but then took the two or three steps between them to nuzzle his cheek with the top of her head affectionately, and stepped back to look at him. He'd had it hard, sometimes harder than her, for certain. "Are you alright?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 4:29 pm
"Shira knows when it is and isn't safe," he said, accurately reading her expression based on a lifetime of knowing her, "And if she wasn't sure, she would talk to Mitsuki or Ukene, though Mitsuki doesn't have such a high opinion of the method and I'm not sure Ukene is aware of it." Ukene was younger and Mitsuki had not been involved in any such intervention though the concept had been run by her before.
He didn't really seem to respond when she moved in and nuzzled him, but he sighed when she stepped back and his ears twitched when she asked if he was alright.
"I'm fine," he said.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 4:37 pm
Lela was happy to be reassured about the matter, but she would most likely worry about it a little more before she considered using the method. And she'd have a thorough talk with Shira, and with Thoth. Shira because she was the expert on the matter, and Thoth because, well they were his children, too. And perhaps he could ease her worries on the matter. She was surprised that she hadn't considered this option as... perhaps cheating? But really, if she thought about it, it wouldn't happen if the Great Lion didn't it want it to work that way, right? So how could it be cheating?
She bit the inside of her lip gently, unsure of what to say. He said he was fine, but the way he was acting. And after everything that's happened. She wondered if he truly could be fine. And deep down, she was worried that their relationship with each other had been injured by her becoming queen. Unyezi had bent over backwards to produce an heir so that he could step down. And for what cause? Now his sister had gone to the throne, anyway. "If you say so..." She was deciding if she should drop the topic and leave. "I'm worried about you." She almost wondered if she should talk to Nerit about these things, but she wasn't sure. She'd never sought out Unyezi's mate for a serious subject matter before.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 4:50 pm
"I will be fine," he said after some hesitation after she spoke. There wasn't much he could think to say on the subject, he knew he wasn't really handling things all that well but he was still living as normal. He wasn't neglecting his mate or his family, he just wasn't particularly cheerful on his own or when forced to acknowledge the consequences of what had happened.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 4:54 pm
Lela had learned at least one thing from being Unyezi's sister. She knew went to quit pushing. She nodded and kept her mouth shut, and took another step back. "Alright." She nodded once more. "Thank you for your help, Yezi. I hope you'll have some nieces and nephews soon. They can play with their cousins." She smiled at him genuinely. At the heart of the matter, she just wanted the family she hadn't yet had the chance to have. She wanted the cubs that she would groom and Thoth would wrestle with, the cubs that would play tag with their cousins and visit their uncle. She wanted a big, warm family. She wanted happiness.
The lioness turned to leave her brother in peace. "If you need anything, don't be a stranger." With that, she turned and slowly padded away.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 5:01 pm
Unyezi nodded and maintained his neutral-indifferent expression until Lela turned away and he couldn't help but frown, watching his sister go off, full of mixed emotions. He felt bad for her that she was finally getting a family, something he knew she'd always wanted, but the circumstances surrounding it were less than ideal. He'd been in a whole marriage out of duty, she, at least, had a loving mate. She would be fine.
Feeling suddenly lonely watching Lela go, he looked around, wondering if Nerit might be back soon. Or perhaps he would go and see Uli and his cubs. Something to keep him busy. He would be fine, it would just take some time.
Fin.
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