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 Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 4:05 pm
No.
Nonononono.
This couldn't be happening. This wasn't happening.
But despite Sitara's frantic thoughts, it was. Something that she'd naively assumed - despite everything that had befallen her - happened only to other lions...had happened to her. She had attempted to flee, when she'd woken under a moonless sky. But the Mwezi'johari anticipated such things, and no amount of flailing and struggling could change the fact that their god did not find her worthy of notice. Once subdued she had listened to the Nurse in a numb silence, and caught perhaps half - if that - of her words. She could only think of one thing.
If he found her, she was trapped.
And so she was pacing, wearing the grass away and kicking up small clouds of dust as she did so. She had joined for a refuge, and found a prison instead. And she had no idea what to do about it.
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 4:09 pm
 Halili was wandering through the pride as usual, looking for ways and places where she could be of help. Whether as an extra pair of eyes or paws, this was one low class lioness who meant to do her duty as well as she could! She might only be a juvenile, but the young lion took her job very seriously. However, she was still young and prone to distraction. Such as when she saw the very pretty lioness that she didn't recognize at all. Obviously, she needed to meet this stranger! "Hi there!" she called out, padding over. "I'm Halili, but I've never seen you around before! Are you new?"
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 4:56 pm
Sitara froze at the sound of a voice, eyes and ears flickering about until she caught sight of the pale juvenile. She wasn't sure how to respond - or what to think of her, even. Halili was so...so cheerful, something that seemed almost like a foreign emotion to the star-pelted lioness in this place and time.
She might have been cheerful, once. Not so long ago, even, although it felt like a lifetime.
Her mouth opened, although for a long moment no sound came out. What would she say - what could she say? Finally came a quiet, "Yes."
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 5:08 pm
Yes she was agreeing or yes she was answering the question? Or maybe yes both? Halili wasn't sure but decided to go with the lattermost option. But there seemed to be a problem here. The juvenile was in a perfectly good mood, but the stranger lioness didn't seem to be. Well, as a member of the low class, Halili would do what she could to bring a smile to the other lion's face!
"Well, you don't have anything to worry about anymore, this is a good place to live," she told the bigger lioness. Not that Halili had any experience with living anywhere else...but her parents did and they said the pride was better. Lots better.
"So what's your name?"
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 7:32 pm
Sitara's ear's slicked back as she shook her head. "I'm not so sure about that..." Pausing, she corrected, "I thought it would be, but then I woke up and there was no moon. I...don't know if I want to be a slave." A soft laugh, although it held a bitter, fearful edge. While the lioness saw some humor in her choice of words, there was little to be found in her situation. "I'm not sure I have a choice, though."
A name...she glanced at the younger lioness. "Sitara."
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 7:35 pm
Halili wrinkled her nose at the older lioness. There was nothing wrong with their class, nothing at all! But, she supposed, for a former rogue it made a difference. It just made the juvenile all the more glad she'd been born here.
"Technically we're called 'low class'. It sounds a lot nicer than 'slave,'" she chided Sitara gently. But that was a really pretty name - perfect for such a pretty lioness!
"And no, we don't get much of a choice because it's the Great Lion who chooses, but there's nothing wrong with being in our class! I think we get to know each other a lot better than in the upper ranks - isn't that fun?" Halili wanted to bound around in her excitement, but decided sitting still and being on her best behavior was better.
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 7:47 pm
Wait, 'we?' Halili was a slave, too?
Taken aback, Sitara gave the other a second look. She seemed happy enough...but perhaps her parents sheltered her. Or perhaps she hadn't yet realized that were she ever to want to - or need to - leave, she couldn't. Sitara feared the possibility of that need. Would this pride close ranks against him, or would they blame her for bringing trouble upon them?
"Fun?" She questioned. "Being at the bidding of the others, unable to leave...is fun?"
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 7:51 pm
The younger lioness cocked her head at the older one, a slight frown on her face. "Well, it doesn't sound fun when you put it like that...but that's not how it is here!" She couldn't blame Sitara for being unhappy if that's what she thought of the low class of the Mwezi'Johari.
"It's not that we do what others say, it's that we're to help them however we can, in exchange for being safe and protected in the pride. And some of us help out on the hunts, though usually only near the full moon," Halili explained. "So it's a trade off. The pride shares protection with us that we wouldn't otherwise have, and in return we do what needs doing." She paused for a breath.
"But I meant it's fun that we're much closer than the rest of the classes. We spend a lot of time together and all that!" the juvenile told Sitara cheerfully.
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 8:24 pm
Safe...protected?
Sitara's fretful expression was replaced with one of confusion - and maybe, just a little bit of hope. "So we don't...we aren't on our own because the Great Lion didn't notice us? Even if...if someone from outside were to come after us?"
Could it be that things were not as dire as she'd feared? Was the refuge she'd hoped to find still possible?
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 8:26 pm
"Of course not!" That idea was completely and totally opposite of all Halili had ever known. "The pride is here for our protection," she repeated again. "If some rogue is trying to get at you, the pride will keep them out," the juvenile told Sitara firmly. There could be problems within the pride, but a member was family and someone outside was not. That's why slaves didn't stray - the Great Lion protected the pride as a whole, even if slaves didn't have much individual protection.
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 8:47 pm
At Halili's emphatic reassurance, some of the tension slowly, tentatively, drained from Sitara. Not completely - everything was still far too new, and she was still not entirely sure that she could trust in this promise of protection - but enough that she did not appear ready to snap in two from the stress at any given moment. "That is...different than what I had feared," she admitted slowly. "It is still...a new thing, but it is sounding like not such...a bad thing." Maybe...if she stayed close to the center of the pride, and kept far from the borders...even if he had followed her, he would give up eventually. He had to.
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Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 4:29 pm
The younger lioness grinned at Sitara. "Nope! Not a bad thing at all!" It was good that the older lioness didn't look as down as she had before. Sitara still wasn't nearly as cheerful as Haili, but the juvenile was accustomed to that at least. Very few lions were quiet as happy as she was.
"Well, I'm going to let you get back to what you were doing and I'll get back to my duties - see you around!"
With a hop, skip and a bound, Halili disappeared out of sight as suddenly as she'd appeared.
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