It had been a long trip, made longer still by her worry for her love and their home. Bhima was only mildly wounded from the battle, but her emotions were running wild. She had been forced to fight against her own Sisters, and now half of them were gone to the forgotten island of Yael. She had not seen Hijil since it had all began and had no idea what she might find when she made it home. With anxiety still twisting in her chest she reached the clearing where she and Hijil had made their home and stopped.
...what was this? Vines and leaves lay about their home in natural patterns, as if she had been gone decades and not weeks.
"Hijil?" she called into the clearing.
DraconicFeline
Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2016 7:27 pm
grasshopper pie
have a giant post. I'm sorry about it.
Noon.
The day was bright and hot, sharp javelins of sunlight streaking through the canopy to stab viciously at the ground.
Hijil chose to sleep at these times, cloaking herself in the cool darkness of woven leaf mats and handily thatched roofs. She'd always been more of a night riser, and so she slept well during the day.
Not today though. Today, she was woken by the sudden screeches of her housmates, the young kinfa. She stared at them through her mats blearily, incredulously, as they flapped about with their developing wings. "I fed you, darlings..." she said tiredly, lying back down. It had been a hard day - every day was hard, harder still without Bhima there - and she wanted her rest.
They continued to shriek - but of course, they never did as they were told - and finally Hijil had to come to terms with the fact that they would not quiet until she fed them. "All right, all right..." she said, shading her eyes from the light as she staggered upright, towards their food, "Come on, darlings... I guess you are growing after all, aren't you..?" They had gotten bigger just in the past few days, and would be enormous in time. "Come on!" she called, shaking the mixture of and nuts while apportioning out some fresh grubs. The sooner they fed, the sooner she could be back asleep. "Atipi? Ath?"
They didn't come to her. This was baffling - the kinfa never refused a meal. Instead, they clustered, a bundle of excited feathers, at the door. Interested, clearly, in something outside.
"What is it?" Was it an alkidike patrol? Shifters? Bandits? Radaku? Somehow, Hijil always assumed the worst. It could just as easily be a friend of Bhima, come to visit or to bring news. She moved over to peer out, right as one of them - Atipi - shoved their way out first, fluttering to the ground on wings that could not yet fly. Ath followed soon after and they landed on the ground, necks outstretched as they approached the vine screen that hid their home from view.
Hijil thought, for a moment, that she heard her name... but that couldn't be right, could it?
What is this? Hijil wondered, scrambling onto one of the many bridges, and from there onto a lookout post in a tree. As the kinfa, having made their assessment, burst forth from the vines to make themselves known, Hijil spotted the person who had caused all the ruckus.
Her heart soared even as her body froze. Perched on a tree limb, she stared down, gaping, at the woman below. "Bhima?!" she exclaimed, as if she could hardly believe it.
It was the shrieking she heard first, but she couldn't be sure just where it was coming from. Their little shack had grown in the time she had been gone, figuratively and, at point, rather literally. These vines hadn't just sprung up from the ground. Someone had put them there. Hijil? She had been preparing for the children, hadn't she? Of course Bhima's time in the Isles had not been the right time for babies to be born, especially hybrids. This seemed excessive though. She'd been expecting another room, not lookout points and bridges! How had she done this so quickly, or how long had she really been gone?
The Alkidike crouched to tenderly scratch the feathery heads of the kinfa, and then her head snapped up. Oh, there was nothing so beautiful as that dark-skinned woman up in the trees. She was whole, thank the Goddess. Hijil was alright, and so were their feathery wards. She might have wept if it was in her character, but instead she threw her arms out wide and grinned.
"Hijil! I'm home, alone, but home!" None of her wounds seemed to matter any more. None of the strife. She was home!
DraconicFeline
Oh boy. Maybe you should have started after all! xD
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 8:19 pm
grasshopper pie
Hijil clambered from her perch with all the swift, agile ease of any treedwelling beast. She hadn't built in vines or steps, but she didn't need them - gravity gave her a path. A life in the trees gave her the smooth landing, her feet thudding into the dirt. And love propelled her forward.
"Bhima..."
She said again, unable to think of anything else coherent. She closed the distance between them and hugged Bhima tightly, her bulging arms wrapping around the Alkidike's body. Her face didn't quite reach Bhima's, pressing instead into the warrior's chest. Hijil didn't care.
She was crying, silent after the initial outburst, so unbelievably happy that it choked her voice (though of course, Hijil was not one for talking.) Bhima was home. Alone, yes, but home. That was what mattered. That was all that mattered. She held her close, and let herself be overwhelmed.
Bhima accepted Hijil into her arms graciously and held her tight. She let out a deep sigh. Oh, how good it felt to be home. She reached up and stroked Hijil's damp cheek, then leaned down to kiss her head.
"It was terrible," she said, "but I'm home." She took a moment then to look over what had become of their dwelling. "I see you were busy too." Preparing for babies, likely. Babies that didn't yet exist.
DraconicFeline
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2016 4:28 pm
grasshopper pie
Yes, you are home... Hijil thought warmly, crying happily into Bhima's chest. The Alkidike's shirt was stained with her tears and she was sure that they must be cold and uncomfortable, but Hijil couldn't help it.
She was just so happy.
Guiltily, sniffling, her eyes shining like stars (and tears), she pulled herself away. It was a physical effort to not hug Bhima, but it was hard to talk when she was pressed so close. It was, also, impossible to show off her handiwork. She gestured, blushing shyly, to the hanging vines and the now expanded woodwork.
Bhima couldn't have cared less about the tears spotting her shirt. They were only proof that Hjil had missed her, loved her, and was still in working order. The extremists must have missed her in their rampant attacks of hybrids and Shifters. Good. She had been so worried, worried that Hijl was in danger, worried that Hijil had been at the Shifters' festival when everything had started going wrong and then disappeared on the battlefield. No, she had just been home, elaborately decorating. Thank the Great Mother.
When Hijil pulled back slightly, Bhima caressed the side of her face and smiled. Oh, her beautiful love. Life had worked so hard to keep them apart, but in the end they were simply meant to be. Oh, thank the spirits and the stars, Aisha, whatever other Gods may exist and have taken pity on them. She pulled Hijil closer for just a moment and hugged her hard, then released her somewhat and nodded.
"It looks brand-new," she said. "Might I be able to get the grand tour?" Obviously their shack had grown. So what had been added?
DraconicFeline
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 7:50 pm
grasshopper pie
Did Hijil want to show off her handiwork? Did Hijil want to display the house she had built for them to her love? Had she wanted to do this for months? Yes.
She kissed her again and nodded, happiness plastered guilessly across her face. She took Bhima's hand and pulled her beyond the curtain of vines, practically glowing with delight.
From the ground, the buildings were harder to see, but Hijil pointed them out anyway - the main hut, the offshoots, the lookout posts, the ladders and hand holds that led to the network of huts and bridges in the leaves above. Most of what she had done, in fact, was high in the trees, where it was safe, but a few things were below: The gardens, for one, useful and beautiful plants hidden amidst jungle brush. But again, the true beauty of their home was above, and so Hijil let go of Bhima's hand, gesturing to the rope.
"You first." she said, blushing. She had been blushing the whole time, a tint of rose against the black. With pride, anxiety, embarrassment, or sheer overwhelming and persistent delight, she couldn't tell.
It seemed as if Hijil's Shifter nature had bee brought out of her. There were still a few strategic buildings on the ground and their original shack remained, but it seemed most of the changes had gone up into the trees. There was a small part of Bhima that wished Hijil had discussed this with her first rather than heading into the tree limbs, but the rest of her couldn't care less. Hijil had done this for them, and for the children they had been expecting. It was wonderful and special, and so she happily grabbed the rope and began up into the trees. Sweet nostalgia kicked in halfway up. When they were much younger, a lot of their time had been spent in the trees. Not these trees, of course, but it still brought the warm fuzzies back.
DraconicFeline
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2016 1:42 pm
Always, when she returned to the higher ground she had built, Hijil felt a sense safety and relief wash over her. Now, it was also a vibrant excitement. Hijil wanted to hug Bhima - again, as if hugging her again and again and again would make up for the long time spent away - but she knew she could do that later. She took Bhima's hand again, gingerly, as if returning the contact would somehow dissipate her.
"This..." she showed Bhima into one of the satellite rooms, "I thought it would be a good place to store things. Food. Supplies. Uh... Things..." she blushed a little at her inability to communicate what this place was. Was there actually a word for a room that one stored things? A Store-room? Somehow, that seemed too obvious.
Here, above the ground, Hijil had made a pantry, which also held drying leaves (for thatching among other things - she never knew when roofing was needed!), pots for preserving (lumpy, unfired, amateurish affairs that did their job passably well), a few roots, herbs, tubers, and fresh berries, protected from sun and water on the hand-wrought shelves.
"And this one... it's for the kinfa." because they were getting too big to sleep next to Hijil. Essentially, Hijil had made a nest. Feathers were strewn about it, as well as some less pleasant things - there was only so much Hijil could clean out every day. With it's open sides, the kinfa chicks could practice their gliding (or short flights) at will, and the air helped with the smell. At the same time, balconies (well gnawed at this point) prevented any unintentional falls.
She took Bhima along one of the bridges - a doubly secure one, knotted into the trees at various points to prevent it from swinging and swaying over much. "This one is..." she began, but stopped. It was a small room - it even had little beds of leaf and the shed skin of larvae like insects, softer than fur. "It's for..." But Bhima had come home empty handed, and Hijil wondered if she should bring it up at all. "Um. Maybe... nevermind...
Well, Hijil had gotten quite a lot done in what hadn't seem like too much time, hadn't she? Of course back at home it must have felt like forever. What would it be like to sit out of a war? To just stay at home and try to keep her family safe? She wasn't sure she could do it. One less body on the battlefield had to mean something.
But battle was long and far away, and now she had her love and their own little--well, not so little any more--home.
"Oh, this is nice," she said of the store-room. Being Alkidike, it made more sense to her to dig a basement than store things up high, but whatever Hijil liked was fine with her. it seemed like she'd already started stocking up, actually.
She nodded deeply at the kinfa's new nest. They had gotten so big, they definitely needed their own place to sleep. It smelled distinctly like animals but there were much worse things. It wasn't like the kinfa could help it. "I'm sure they love it," she said.
Then they came to that one room that made Hijil stutter. The plan had been to return with children, but war had stamped that out. Maybe Hijil didn't even understand the scope of what had gone on, but she seemed upset. Hijil tried to move on, but Bhima caught her hand and pulled her to her, wrapping an arm around the Shifter's waist.
"I didn't forget about them," she said softly, "The extremists started rioting on Chibale. I had to run back to defend... it wasn't the right time for babies, but now..." What would they look like, curled up in their soft little beds? Bhima imagined it and smiled, leaning her head against the top of Hijil's.
DraconicFeline
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2016 7:09 am
grasshopper pie
"I didn't think you'd..." Hijil fell quiet, ashamed, as Bhima pulled her close.
She hadn't thought that Bhima had forgotten about the children - of course not - but the thought had crossed her mind (when it wasn't occupied with worry or with construction or with the kinfa or with basic survival) that maybe, just maybe, Bhima had forgotten about her. That, among her sisters, with their children, in the midst of a rumored civil war, 'little' Hijil had been somehow pushed out of her mind. Hijil wouldn't blame her for it. She was out of sight, after all.
But Bhima was here now, she hadn't forgotten, she hadn't been hurt or trapped or captured or stars forbid... Dead... That was what mattered, right? Surely, she should just be happy about that: war and riot and long distances hadn't stopped Bhima from coming home.
She should not be disappointed in any way.
She didn't want to be disappointed that Bhima was home empty handed.
She hated that she was.
That was why she wanted to move on from the room.
Her face was always honest - there was no one around for it to lie to - so it always showed her emotions. So she hid them, those traitorous and selfish feelings, in Bhima's warm, strong embrace. "But now?" she said hopefully, cuddling close.
Bhima could not read her love, and this was at times a point of some frustration. If Hijil would only talk through her problems... hah. This coming from Bhima, who had almost always solved her problems with fists. She was older now, though. She hurt less. There was no need for fighting.
"Now? Now is the time for babies," Bhima said, grinning a little and swaying with Hijil, "I thought that, since the extremists were exiled, you might consider coming with me? Then when the petals unfold we can meet them together, as a family." She could have gone to Aisha after the battle, but coming home had seemed more important, and now she wondered if this hadn't been at the back of her mind the whole time. Hijil was her one and only, and she'd rather they be together when their children were born than have to tell stories about their other Momma until they made it home.
DraconicFeline
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 8:17 pm
grasshopper pie
They couldn't but now they could. They weren't but now they... were?
Hijil held Bhima tighter (if that was possible), her thoughts dancing about her head in a whirlwind of excitement. She wanted to just melt into her and never let go, now that she was here. They weren't in the right room for such things, but who cared. Bhima was here. Bhima was saying wonderful things.
She nodded, her movement restricted by warmth and the smell of Bhima's skin. "Yes..." she mumbled, the movement of her lips evolving into a kiss. Her hug loosened - mainly because her arms and chest were beginning to hurt from the pressure and she needed a little more air. Only a little. Enough to look at her.
Honestly, the thought of going to Aisha... of going into society at all and being among large groups of people... of leaving her tree home, even, was terrifying. Mind numbingly, tar-black terrifying. But Hijil couldn't say no? How could she, when Bhima had come home and said this? She nodded again, a more obvious affirmation. Yes - she would go.
Bhima smiled into the kiss and then relaxed her lips to return the kiss properly. Her hand stroked Hijil's side until the kiss broke. Hijil still seemed nervous from the state of her face, but she had said yes. Good. Their children would meet both parents at the same time, and could be named together.
"I have something for you," she said suddenly, and pulled away to reach into the bag at her hip and draw out a closed fist. She dropped to her knees then as if in prayer and opened her hand to display a simple ring, silver with elegant lines and three small gems set into the face.
"Hijil, I love you more than I've ever loved. Fate has brought us together again, at last, and I wanted to ask: would you be my wife?" The poor Alkidike could feel her face flush and her limbs heat up. Imagine! Bhima herself proposing! Hah! Clearly Hijil was a special sort of person.
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