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Brynja crept closer, belly flush against the ground. The scent of a lioness grown wafted towards her on a warm breeze, and Brynja could barely make out the shapes of two small juveniles crying. Another quick glance to her side and Brynja caught the faint shimmer of dust being kicked up by the rapidly-retreating lioness.

There was something very wrong here. Very wrong indeed. One did not just leave their babes behind, not unless there was very good reason to do so. The babes both looked to be quite fit and whole of body.

Why would their mother leave them behind, then?

Brynja waited, watching the duo for a moment longer. She would approach soon enough, but for now, she would watch and wait.

Yakuti was not going to shriek after her mother. No, the dark girl with the pretty blue eyes would sit and make every attempt to care after her sister. Nyuki was the one who needed tending to - she would worry about herself later.

Quickly grooming her sister's cheek in an attempt to soothe her fairer sister, Yakuti tried to purr past the knot in her throat.

"Shh, shh," she whispered to Nyuki, resting her chin on her sister's shoulder as she cleansed her sister's face of tears.

Brynja listened closely to how the girls spoke to one another, ears perking when the paler sister mentioned her father and the other King. It was then that she made her slow, wary approach, not wanting to startle the girls. That was the last thing she wished for, to scare them off. They were beautiful little things - the types of daughters she could see herself having, as far as looks went. The darker girl was almost the same color as she herself, and the paler one reminded her of her cousin Gunnar.

Narrowing her mismatched eyes, Brynja softly cleared her throat, following it up with a quick, "Do not be startled."

"I don't think it was our fault," Yakuti soothed her sister, nuzzling close as she continued to clean her sister's face of tears. She almost didn't hear the movement from the brushline nearby - thankfully Yakuti was quite the observant little thing. She warily watched the stranger approach, placing herself between the dark lioness and her sister.

Yakuti would not let anything happen to Nyuki.

"What do you want," Yakuti growled as fiercely as she could, her blue eyes intent on the interloper.

Brynja's heart was breaking. She was not normally so motherly, but there was something about these sisters that simply tugged at the strings of her heart. Alone in this world, left behind as if they meant nothing? Brynja could not just leave them here.

They would be hers.

"I mean no harm," she began softly, eyes moving between the two. "I... I can take you with me. To my home. It is safe there -- just until we find your mother again." She knew that day would never come, but the words were spoken in hopes that they would encourage the sisters to come back to the Stormborn with her.

She needed them.

There was something about the eyes of the lioness that Yakuti trusted. She seemed so gentle and kind, with her pretty bone-decorations and the beaded feathers. Pretty, just like their mother had been. Yakuti turned back to peer into her sister's blue eyes, eyes so much like her own. Still so distressed over the fact that they'd been abandoned, Yakuti wasn't certain that Nyuki could make such a decision at the moment.

"Why should we come with you? Where are you from? What if you take us away and then our mother comes back looking for us?" Deep down, Yakuti knew her mother wouldn't be coming back... but she didn't have it in her to say as much for fear of upsetting her sister.

"What's your name?"

Brynja did not want to have two hysterical little girls on her paws, so she moved quickly towards them, fully intent on providing them with comfort. With one paw pressing Yakuti against her stomach and the other moving to do the same to Nyuki, Brynja felt a strange feeling tickle throughout her gut. A gentle yearning for babes of her own, perhaps?

Yes, she needed these babes as much as she needed them. She had yet to find a male suitable enough for her. Rather picky? Indeed, one could say as much. And yet... here were two daughters, motherless and melancholy.

They needed her, too.

"I am Brynja, priestess of the Stormborn. If you come with my, sweetlings, I shall treat you as my own daughters. You will be raised in high standing with only the best food and shelters. Each day we will pray to the Gods for the return of your mother. We will leave a sign here for her so that she knows you have moved. Until that day comes, you will need to call me Mother, for I will be taking care of you as such."

That sounded a little demanding.

"But only until your own mother returns." Brynja knew that their mother would never come back for her daughers -- and even if she did, Brynja would kill her. Brutally. These girls, these beautiful, gentle daughters?

They were hers now.

Yakuti listened quietly, inhaling deeply of Brynja's fur. It was so nice to be comforted by such a soft and gentle lioness. She reminded Yakuti of her Mother in this way - and as Yakuti gave a soft, quiet exhale, she peered at her fairer sister. Yes, they would do well to go with Brynja. It sounded like they might even be treated like almost-princesses. Yakuti liked he sound of this very much. It sounded so important and enthralling.

"We will go," Yakuti whispered softly, lifting a paw to make contact with her sister. "We will go to this safe place, Nyuki, where nothing bad will ever happen to us. And we will have each other, won't we, Nyuki? Together forever."

She couldn't bring herself to lie outright to her sister, to say that their mother would return. Deep down, she knew that Nkem would never come home. This was a chance at a new future, maybe. A chance to make something of themselves.

"Come on, sister. I will take care of you."