Nissa's haunted eyes sharpened with panic as the sudden shape of her daughter darted out of sight between the trees. She'd told that girl not to go out of sight - not whilst her sisters were sleeping off their dinner in the den. And look at her. Rushing away without a care in the world! What if someone snapped her up and took her away?
With a lurching pain in her chest, she pulled herself to her feet and hastened after the runaway cub, raising her voice to call out to her.
"Shesha! Shesha, get back here!" She whirled around the corner so fast that her paws slipped on the soft earth and she almost toppled. Fortunately, when she looked up, the dark-pelted cub was staring up at her, all wide eyes and bright, smiley teeth. The cub giggled, amused at her mother's clumsiness and then bounced forwards to attack the large female's paws.
"Got yah!"
Nissa sighed, rolling her eyes as she tried to swallow back the feeling of fear. Then, without warning she lifted the cub to her and held her close, ignoring as she wriggled in an attempt to escape.
"Down. Down! Put me down, Mama!"
"You put my poor heart through a lot, little one. Can't you just stay put for even a little bit? Give it just a little while longer and Signa and Taini will be up too. Then we can go for a walk altogether." She dropped the cub gently to the ground and watched as the words were mulled over with incredible care. Eventually the little girl decided that perhaps it couldn't hurt to wait after all and, with a short purr moved up to rub against her mother's legs. As she did so, however, she spotted the shape of another lion moving towards them.
"Oh, look Mama. Someone's coming to say hello."
Nissa wished her heart wouldn't lurch so easily in her chest, but the familiar fear took her and she whirled with a growl to face the stranger. Her paw rushed forwards, scooping up the cub and setting her to one side, hidden in the foliage just a side-step away. She would not lose another child. She could not.
Fortunately, the lion who had just stepped onto the path looked even more frightened than she. He was an average sized male, a little on the lean side with a kindly muzzle and large, gentle eyes. He shrank back a step the moment he noted Nissa's defence posture, his ears pinning in an attempt to make himself look smaller.
Pride cat, Nissa forced herself to remember, relaxing just a little. "You startled me. You...are of this land?"
The male smiled, though it still seemed nervous. "I--I am. Born and raised. I--I didn't mean to startle you." He dipped his head apologetically and Nissa felt the muscles in her back automatically relax. "I was lost in...in my thoughts and didn't know that t-there was anyone back here."
"I was shouting just a short while ago. Must have been some thoughts."
The male gave her a shy smile. "They...were." And then he blinked, looking concerned. "You were shouting, are you okay? Everything okay?"
"Yes. Yes. I just..I'm trying to get used to this pride thing."
"You were a rogue?"
"That's right. All my life until recently."
"Well then, welcome to the Mwezi'Johari." The male seemed to grow a little in confidence. "I'm Charon. A hunter."
"Nissa."
"And I'm Shesha!" The little cub poked her head out from the undergrowth and threw the male a huge grin. "Hello!"
"Oh!" Now it was Charon's turn to startle. "Hello. Is...is she yours?"
"She is. I have two other daughters with me." Her face grew deeply pained for a moment remembering that she had two sons, also...Somewhere out there in the cruel, cold darkness. What were they doing now? Was Hala...was he...hurting them? She felt the horrible, sickening despair grow thick in her veins again, suffocating her. She tried not to think about it. It hurt to do that. But sometimes...sometimes she just couldn't help it. It was just too hard.
"Are...are you okay?" Charon asked gently.
Nissa nodded looking up at him and blinked to clear her vision. "Y-yes. I'm fine."
"My mama has been through a lot." Shesha explained, drawing up to sit next to her mother's front paws. "Rogue lands has bad lions."
Charon nodded slowly. "I have heard that. My mother tells me that a lot, although...I was never sure whether she was just exaggerating it or not."
"Perhaps she had bad experiences...as I have."
"Well, you don't need to worry now." The male reasoned. "This pride is as safe as safe can be and we all look out for one another here. I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be." And he truly looked as if he believed that. "Your cubs have a lovely home to grow up in, that's for sure."
Nissa gave him a grateful smile and watched as Shesha leapt on a bug that had chosen that intimely moment to cross the path. Smiling despite her heartache, she looked up at the male again and blinked, frowning a little across at him. "You...you look familiar...somehow."
"I do? Oh...perhaps you met some of my siblings out in the rogue lands? I...I have a twin..." And now it was his turn to look heartbroken. "And...others."
"They left?" She ventured gently.
"It's...complicated. Our parents weren't mated. Father was a rogue and he visited us, telling us of stories of grandeur and that - when we were old enough - he would come and take us away to achieve great things."
"And they went with him." Nissa ended.
Charon nodded.
"Your poor mother. She must...I know how she feels. I know." And then the tears burned and she swallowed back the lump of grief that seemed to refuse to budge. She wanted so much to be able to do something but she was utterly powerless.
"She was bad before they went, but when they left...it broke her even more. My mother has always been a frail lioness. People have called her mad...and worse. They don't understand what she has to go through, though. Such hardship. I think she had a very hard life before she came here. I look in her eyes sometimes and I see...such loss."
"Can't say I blame her for being mad, in that case."
Charon nodded. "I couldn't bear to leave her or my home. So I stayed. I'm not sure if I do more harm than good, sometimes."
"She must love you."
"Sometimes I'm not so sure."
"Mothers...they cause such trouble."
Shesha looked up from play. "Not you, though, Mama. You're not trouble."
Nissa smiled affectionately. "Maybe not, dear one. Maybe not." Her eyes crossed the ground, to Charon's paws and idly she noted the ring-marks around his toes. They...seemed familiar. Awfully familiar, somehow.
She blinked and looked up at him again. "Sorry, this might seem like a ridiculous question but...who did you say your mother was?" A strange dread began to fill her chest. "She wasn't by chance...a relative of an Ivie'lingwa?"
Charon's eyes bugged. "Wha...Ivie'lingwa? That...that is my mother's name!"
Nissa fell into silent shock and for a long, long moment, she could barely even think let alone respond.
Irony had dealt her a cruel hand indeed.
Her mother. Here. In these lands of all places. What goes around comes around...
/fin
