Laelia was in so much trouble but she had to act fast now before Horae snapped again. She was hurt by what happened with her sister and she had acted stupidly. It would have been a lie to say she hadn't thought about all the various possible lies she could tell, but she had never truly intended to follow through with any of them. Badiri's family was so big, there were plenty of options and each of his sons had seemed a reasonable choice in fantasy.
She walked very slowly toward the slave dens she knew were occupied by Badiri's sons, thinking about how she was going to do this. She had never even properly met Mazin, how could she ever ask him to lie for her? He was a slave but this wasn't something he could be forced to do.
"Mazin?" she called out nervously, her voice far too quiet to be easily heard, not really wanting to be heard.
Mazin had mostly been keeping to himself since everything that had happened with Selene and then his cousins and the silver rogue. He had, of course, been keeping up with goings-on around the family and he wasn't terribly surprised when Iei returned with cubs for Yareha. He and Aysu still spoke often, so even though he had never really spoken to Laelia, he knew well who she was when she started hanging around with the slaves more often.. and he wasn't terribly surprised when she became obviously pregnant, either. Of course, he assumed the cubs were Yareha's but he determinedly stayed out of it. More impressively, Aysu managed to stay out of it, too. She had been doing much better since becoming a mother.
He had spent his morning hanging out with Aysu's cubs while she was out on a hunt and he had since returned to the dens, taking a break before heading out to where he might find something else needing to be done. He was dozing off when he heard a quiet voice. His ears twitched and his eyes opened- had it said his name?
Yawning, Mazin pushed himself up and emerged from his den, looking around.
Laelia froze when she heard footsteps, taking a deep breath before turning around to find herself facing exactly the lion she had come looking for. He did look like his father, though he was more gray.
"Mazin," she said, taking a step closer, "Can we talk?"
It was a terrible way to start, it sounded so innocent but there was no good way to lead into this. She glanced around them, wondering how near any other slaves might be. Could they be overheard?
"Laelia," he said, sounding confused. He and Laelia had never formally been introduced or had a real conversation, he didn't know what they would ever have to talk about.. except perhaps Yareha, and he didn't really want to get into the middle of anything like that.
"Uh, sure," he said, taking a step closer to her.
Taking another deep breath, she shook her head and took another step closer to him- they were quite close together now and knowing what she wanted to talk about, it was extremely awkward.
"Can we go somewhere private?" she asked, glancing to the den he had come from. They could walk but you never knew when you would be interrupted. Dens were as private as she could hope for.
Looking less confused, now pretty sure they would be talking about Yareha, he only nodded before turning himself around and taking the few short steps back into the shadows of his small den. He didn't think anybody else was around but it wasn't worth arguing about, especially when it was so simple and she looked so anxious.
"What can I do for you?" he asked, taking a seat .
Laelia followed after him but did not sit down just yet. His kind question nearly sent her away. It suddenly had occurred to her that he might have agreed if he knew exactly what was going on and that it meant protecting his parents. She hoped she wouldn't get that desperate but she didn't trust herself anymore.
"I-" she started but then stopped, trying to think of how to start, "I need your help."
Mazin nodded, completely oblivious.
"How can I help?" he asked, still certain this was related to her situation with Yareha. He was preparing to tell her that he wasn't actually that close to Yareha, though he was close to his sister-- who, in turn, wasn't that close to Yareha either.
"Can you keep a secret?" she asked quietly. Horae had gotten the truth about it not being Yareha out of her, Mazin would need his own version closer to the truth if this was going to work. Hopefully, the actual truth wouldn't be necessary.. but the more she revealed and the farther she got away from blaming Yareha, the closer she got to having to tell it.
And now Mazin was back to being confused. If he wasn't going to have to talk to Yareha about something on Laelia's behalf, he had no idea where this was going. Maybe it wasn't anything to do with that. He was a slave, he could hardly refuse to keep a secret if that's what he was told to do .. but why someone would trust a slave with a secret was beyond him.
"Of course," he said, sounding more hesitant than confused.
"My cubs- they aren't Yareha's," she said, unable to continue immediately after admitting that. She had told Horae they were Mazin's but it wasn't the same as actually saying the words 'they aren't Yareha's'.
"Oh."
Why on earth would she tell him that?
"I- I need you to say they are yours," she said, finally spitting out what she was here for. She shuffled her paws, looking down at the ground, unable to stand to look up to his face now that she had said it.
Mazin blinked. And then he blinked again.
"What?" he asked, frowning and leaning back instinctively, "Why?"
Laelia had to take a minute to calm down but as soon as she did, she knew it was time to talk- and keep talking- but she didn't know exactly what she needed to say.
She started by looking up to his eyes.
"I know we aren't friends, we don't even really know each other," she said, "But I know about you, everybody knows about you. And I'm sure you know enough about me from what happened with Yareha, it was hardly a secret."
Another deep breath.
"I can't lie but I can't tell the truth," she said, her voice low and desperate, "I can't do that. I need someone to lie with me, just one person that I'm not lying to."
Mazin was stunned, he only stared at Laelia as she worked her way through a very vague explanation about what was going on.. and then a long silence fell between them as he processed what was happening.
"You can't tell the truth?" he asked quietly, not expecting an answer. If she was asking him, it had to be someone in his family- and there were so many of them.. but knowing she couldn't tell the truth narrowed down the options. And he didn't like any of the ones that came to mind.
Laelia maintained eye contact with him the whole time they were silent, nodding slowly when he repeated her statement, almost able to see his mind working through what it meant. She hoped he wouldn't do what Horae did and try to force an answer out of him because now.. he had enough information to know if she was lied.
"Mazin, please," she pleaded quietly, letting the silence carry another moment before going on, "You don't have to do anything, you don't have to pretend it was anything more than a fling and you don't have to help- I just- need-"
Mazin was shaking his head and it made her stop. He had one question- why him? But he could see the desperation in her eyes, hear it in her voice. And he could imagine her reasons well enough.
"I can't lie about something like that and stay away," he said, frowning. He didn't have anything really going on in his life now and someone in his family who shouldn't have been involved obviously was.. he could let this happen, like he often let things happened, but he couldn't stay away from cubs that were supposed to be his.
"Oh- oh," she said, but then she hesitated. He hadn't say he wouldn't do it, only that he couldn't be a father, even a pretend one, in name only. Did that mean..?
"Mazin," she said, feeling her heart begin to pound again, "Will you be my cubs' father?"
"Yes."
What was he doing?
All at once, Laelia felt an overwhelming sense of relief. The consequences of revealing Mazin as the father of her cubs would be uncomfortable but for the first time since realizing she was pregnant, she didn't feel like the future was going to be such a terrible mess. She was a horrible person, asking Mazin to do this, but she would make it up to him somehow.
"Thank you," she said.
Mazin knew her family, he had seen her around, he knew she wasn't a horrible lioness and, while he could be suspicious, she couldn't fake cubs and their genetics. He believed someone who shouldn't have been involved was. And she just looked so pitiful.
With a sigh of acceptance he moved to Laelia's side, nudging her so she could lean on him. It was extremely awkward for him but this was an easy first step.
Laelia was already on the verge of tears before Mazin came to her side, leaning on him she buried her face in his mane for a moment as she collected herself again. She could tell how tense he was, how awkward this was.. but she was so grateful.
"Thank you," she murmured again.
Fin!
