Her mother had been gone for weeks. Pallas and her siblings had grown to adolescences while the female had been away. The time had given her a chance to think and observe those she considered family. Her father, Athena was the head of the pride. Below him were the numerous females who either had cubs and left, or stuck around and had cubs. Following them were all the cubs and offspring; herself included in that. She saw how much her mother had. That somewhat special relationship. Not quite mates, but still closer to Athena than anyone else.
These thoughts had been rolling around in her mind for the past couple of days. With her mother’s successful return to retrieve her jewelry it was time. Pallas had come to a decision and she was fairly sure her mother wasn’t going to like it. It had taken her a couple of days to work up the courage to go talk with the lioness. The young female had found her mother laying out on a rock soaking up the sun’s rays. She marched determinedly up.
It had been a grueling several weeks for the lioness. Most of it had been spent alone, tracking a rogue wild dog that had stolen her jewelry. Right at the end she’d encountered some unexpected help. Together the two lions had pinned the wild dog. Zenobia got her jewelry back and left the dog to his fate. She was eager to return home to that half pride Athena led. Never had she been go long from her cubs. The surprise was hers when she got back for her cubs were nearly adults now. Somehow this litter seemed to be going faster than her first. Of course she only had Zenoba from that litter.
Several days she’d been back now, and Zeno had noticed a nervousness in her white daughter. She had been unable to fathom what the problem was, and decided to wait until the female came to her or Athena. Today she was resting on a sun warmed rock. The sound of paw steps made her open an eye. Zeno smiled. “Pallas, welcome. Come join me.” The youngster certainly had a serious expression on her face, the female noted.
She had purposely made her footsteps obvious, and her mother had heard. Pallas took a deep breath as her mother invited her up. Gangly she jumped up onto the rock. She was still growing into her paws. For several minutes she lay soaking up the sun in silence. Pallas considered several options on how to open the discussion. There was no easy way to start. The adol took a deep breath. “I’m glad you got you’re jewelry back mother. I think it’s time you know that I’m going to be leaving.” She shifted her paws uneasily, unsure of how bad or well Zeno would take this.
As expected, Zeno took it rather badly indeed. Her head came up suddenly and her red eyes stared at her daughter with disbelief. “You’re leaving? Why are you leaving Pallas? Did someone hurt you while I was gone?” Her claws scrapped against the rock, what she’d do to whoever had harmed her daughter.
“Did you bring this up with Athena? He would have helped you. Of course you don’t have to leave Pallas. We’ll get this worked out.” Zeno tried to give a reassuring purr.
This was going to be a scene; Pallas was positive. Her mother wasn’t going to accept her leaving easily. She shook her head at her mother’s questions. Of all the. Like anyone here would hurt Athena’s children. The female shifted her paws uneasily. Perhaps she should have gone to talk to Athena instead and let him explain. But that would have been cowardly, and Pallas wasn’t a coward. She’d face her mother.
“No, no. I’m not hurt. I just had time to think about stuff while you were away. You’re my mother and I wanted to talk to you.” Here she paused and took a deep breath. “I do have to leave. I want to find my place. A place where I belong and can find someone for me like you have father.” She hoped that would hit home; her mother had often told them stories of her rogue days, traveling alone for days on end.
Zeno’s tail was lashing against the rock. She wasn’t ready for her cubs to leave yet! Why she’d only just gotten back. She blamed that idiotic wild dog for this too. If he hadn’t stolen her jewelry then her daughter wouldn’t have wanted to leave. The pale lioness huffed, then looked at Pallas. “Well I’m glad you’re not hurt dear, but what brought this on anyhow? There has to be a reason for you to want to leave.” Her tone suggesting that her daughter didn’t really want to leave but feeling she had to.
She nodded. Of course Pallas would come talk with her, another female, and not her father. “Well if you do have a problem, know that you can always go to both of us.” Zeno flicked her ears as she talked about the lioness’ relationship with the fluffy male. “Well that’s no reason to leave! You do have a place here Pallas. I don’t know what gave you the idea that you didn’t. There is most certainly a male out there for you.” She gave a happy purr with a bit of a laugh. Her daughter was worried about boys.
The young female gritted her teeth. Of course her mother wouldn’t see the problem. It would be hard to tell her that she couldn’t be herself around her parents. There was more to it. Yes there were males in the group, but she felt related to most of them. Either through Zenobia or Athena. This pride was just a bit too closely related for her tastes. Somehow she needed to make Zeno see this.
“Mother. It is the reason. I’ll never find a mate here. Everyone of eligible age is probably related somehow.” Pallas twitched her tail and sat up, a bit more sure of herself now. “It’s not that I want to leave you and father. I need to go out and be myself. Find my own mate. You have a really good thing here, and I want something like that for myself. Whether you can accept this or not, I’m leaving. Not quite yet, but soon.” Pallas decided now was the right time. She needed to give her mother some time to think about this. Alone. She bobbed her head and jumped down from the rock.
It had certainly not gone the way she had expected. Zeno watched as her daughter got up and walked away. Her current expression probably giving her the look of a stranded fish. She just couldn’t understand why Pallas couldn’t stay here and find a mate. Sure a lot of the members were related to Athena. That didn’t mean a male couldn’t join. Zeno decided she had to talk to Athena about this. Surely together they could convince Pallas to stay.
