|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 9:41 am
Kiburi had been nursing her wounds at the very back of the den that she had first met Zenoni in when he had arrived at the desert as a juvenile. That day seemed far away and since then many things had happened.
Her energy was all but gone and yet after her encounter with the cheetah she was beginning to recover some of her energy. Her tail flicked idly at the flies that buzzed around her wounds and after a moment she moved to lay against the cool ground of the den, eyes falling closed.
She had been dwelling at the borders that last few days that had followed her attack as if searching for death. Yet in the end she knew she had to survive and had slowly returned to the lands, dragging her broken body across the sand where she had lain in the shade of the shelter ever since. It was then that she realised she had not seen Kirjava for a long while and wondered how she had the little one were doing. Hopefully they had managed to stay out of trouble.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 10:30 am
This was one of the few times where his mother would let him wander off with her constant gaze. Ravi was known by few in this pride as his mother tried to keep him safe. And, by keeping him safe meant that he had to be hidden constantly during the day. Which, didn't bother the little cub as it was too hot for him to play in the sands. Little paws took him over a dune before he spotted something. Golden eyes blinked before he ran back to get his mom. Calling out to her in a small voice, "Mommy! Mommy! I found something!"
Lying down on the ground, letting her coat soak up the warmth, Kirjava had just finished a small meal as she let her son wander around. She felt like a bad mother keeping him hidden and not letting him have the fun that he wanted, but after watching those red pelt cubs play, or rough-housing, she knew her son would be harmed in the process. Crimson eyes blinked slightly at his voice as a smile crept onto his muzzle, she loved Ravi so much and wanted him to enjoy himself, which was why she let him go wander off. Plus, they were rather far away from the pride so she didn't have to worry about running into any of the pride members. Though, her son coming into her view of sight caught her off-guard. Found something? What could it be? She got up and went to her son, "What is it, Ravi?" She let him take her to what he had found in the desert.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 3:52 am
Kiburi heard the sound of voices and curled up tighter, a shiver of fear running down the length of her spine. Her eyes squeezed shut and after a moment her own voice could be heard whispering small prayers to keep herself safe.
Kiburi was scared.
And yet as the two drew nearer she could make out the tone of the voices and realised to her great relief that it was none other than her dear sister!
She dragged herself shakily to her paws and stepped forth, walking out from the den and across the sand with a limp that was clearly visible.
The wounds that marred the right side of her muzzle and shoulder had begun the healing process. Her shoulder however looked much cleaner and healthier than the one on her face due to the fact that she couldn't lick that one.
"Kir...Kirjava?" She tried to smooth out the kinks in her voice. "T-that you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:38 am
Crimson eyes widen in shock at the appearance of her sister. Kiburi looked awful! What had happened to her, Kirjava had wondered silently. Quickening her pace till she came to the injured female, she nuzzled Kib and licked her cheek softly, "Yes, it's me, Kib. Ravi said he had found something, but I would have never expected it to be you!" She missed her sister so much, as she saw little of the lioness while trying to care for Ravi until he could walk. She licked the wound on the cheek again before murmuring, "Did one of the red pelts do this to you?" Perhaps her maternal instincts were kicking in due to the fact that she just had Ravi some time ago.
A smile danced on Ravi's face as he got to see his Aunt Kib once again! Though, she looked hurt and scared. Looking at his mom, he mewed at her softly and flicked his tail. As his mom was licking Kib's wounds like she did to clean him, he couldn't help but laugh at the sight of it all. Not that Kib was hurt, but the fact that his mom was cleaning another adult lioness. He took a few steps and rubbed his head against Kib's leg and mewed to her, "Auntie Kib! I'll protect you!" He puffed out his chest slightly and mewed, unaware the full extent of this pride and it's love for violence.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 8:05 am
Kiburi's ears drooped a little as she heard Kirjava's words and nodded slowly, wincing a little at the contact made on her muzzle. "Y-yeah..." She swayed on her feet and that made to sit down, curling her tail abotu her. "B-but don't worry, it was my f-fault." She swallowed nervously, "I a-attacked one of them." She could still hardly believe she had gotten away with her life.
At Ravi's words however the lioness broke into a fond smile, beaming at him with her slate-blue eyes shining. "Well you c-certainly are a brave boy!" She purred, turning to gaze at Kirjava, "you must be very proud of him. I'm glad nothing bad has happened to you two...I d-don't know what I would have done if anything had."
She had yet to explain that her attack upon a firekin lioness had been in order to protect another slave.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 8:17 am
Blinking in surprise, Kirjava was a bit taken back. Kib took on one of the red pelts. She couldn't help but smile at her sister at the thought of her paws marring the pelts of one of them. Glancing at her son, she flicked her tail playfully at Ravi and watched him pounce on it. Turning her attention back to Kib, she sat down next to her sister. "It is a miracle that none of the other red pelts have come to find and kill Ravi, as I heard what they do to slave cubs. I keep him hidden most of the time because of that fear." She sighed softly and felt the heavy burden on her chest once again, "I've watched the cubs of the red pelts play here, and they don't play nor are they very friendly. It makes me feel like a bad mother for not letting him play and enjoy his cubhood like he should, but I am very proud of him."
Ravi mewed to Kib as he ran over to snuggle inbetween her front paws as she sat down. As his mom talked, he looked up at Kib, "I've missed you, Auntie Kib! Mom warns me not to be seen by the red lions. She says they're not friendly like Auntie Kib is." He smiled at her and pawed at the golden sand beneath them. Looking at the size of his tiny paw compared to his mother's and Auntie Kib's.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 8:24 am
Kiburi stared at the mother and her son with a sort of sad smile spread across her face. Her skinny and scarred body was nothing like it had once been and as she stared at them with that expression she seemed somehow old despite her youth.
She doubted her family would even recognise her anymore.
"Oh sis." Kib exhaled, "you have to escape here and raise Ravi somewhere he can be safe." Tears beaded in her eyes. "You must!" There was a determination in Kib's voice that took even her by surprise, and yet to think of Ravi being hurt scared her half to death. "The red pelts are stupid lions, they forget they are the same as us. I won't let them hurt slaves anymore."
She smiled in a more genuine fashion as Ravi came to sit between her forepaws, lowering her head to brush a tongue across the top of his head. "I've missed you too Ravi, and yes your mama is right, you need to stay out of their way and keep safe, okay?" She purred. Such a sweet cub! He deserved a better life than the one that the Firekin offered. Both he and Kirjava deserved their freedom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 8:38 am
Smiling at her son, Kirjava flicked her tail before turning to Kib, "But, I couldn't bare leaving you here while I went off with Ravi! What kind of sister would I be then?" She missed the grass underneath her paws, and the freedoms she used to enjoy. Family was important to Kirjava and she loved Kib too! "They are stupid and blind, and none can be trusted." At the word "slaves" her ears perked up slightly as she turned to Kib, "Are there others here too?" There was little for Kirjava to eat, as she was skinny without a real full meal in her stomach in such a long time. Though, it didn't matter how she was, just as long as she could give Ravi his milk until he got old enough to hunt for himself.
A mew came out as the top of his head was licked by his Auntie Kib. Ravi smiled and nodded his head, "I do! I do!" Golden eyes looked up at the lioness he was sitting beneath, "I stay in a den during the hot hours of the day and come out when it gets cooler." He curled his tail around Auntie Kib's front leg and leaned against her, "The desert is so hot, Mom tells me that it's not this hot anywhere else."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 8:54 am
Kib smiled fondly at her sister, eyes shining the way they used to before she had become so run-down physically and mentally. "I'll be okay here." She spoke, nodding quietly, "t-there is one more slave I know. H-he was the one I was pr-protecting when I got into the fight." She lowered her eyes to watch the little cub between her paws. She had become rather fond of Zezzie and definately had no regrets in protecting him.
She took a breath to calm the trembling of her voice and continued, "You need to get out of here, both of you. Don't worry about m-me." She faltered and nuzzled against her nephew affectionately. "That's a good boy! You do your mother proud!" She purred, "and no, this place is the h-hottest I've ever been to. The place I was born was a lovely place now I-I come to think of it...though a b-bit boring."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 8:04 pm
Well, this was news to Kirjava. Another slave, and Kib had protected him! Crimson eyes turned to her sister as she smiled softly, "Another? Well, as much as I wish it wasn't so, I'm glad that we aren't alone." Gazing between Kib and her son, she couldn't help but have her heard swell with pride. Ravi was such a sweetie and Kib needed some attention at the moment, besides worrying about her wounds. "I would worry about you, Kib. You are my sister, and I couldn't turn my back on you..." In a fond tone, she added, "I would love to be free again, but if it meant leaving you here, I don't think I could go without you. We could take your friend with us..." Her voice trailed off softly, unable to voice the rest of her thoughts as they were lost by the sea of gold that they were in.
A mew escaped from Ravi before he pawed at his Auntie Kib back playfully while his tail wagged. He perked up as Kib spoke to him, "Really? You weren't born here?" He heard very few stories about his Auntie Kib and where she was from, and what he knew about his mother's life before here was lots of grass and having the ability to do whatever you wanted to do without the fear of others. He let his mother and his Auntie Kib talk while he snuggled inbetween her two front paws before he perked up once again, "Do I get to meet someone else?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 12:52 am
She listened to Kirjava with a feeling of warmth in her heart and was suddenly very very glad to have met her. "If one good thing came out of this it was g-getting to m-meet you." She exhaled deeply and smiled. "You are the b-best sister anyone could ask for, that's why you h-have to leave this place." It seemed as Kiburi had hit adulthood responsibility had finally reached her. She would always be a little naive and innocent but the adventure-seeking part of her was gone, maybe forever.
"I would love freedom as m-much as anyone but...but to travel as a group and try to escape would be i-impossible. We'd be s-seen, h-hunted d-down." She shuddered and bowed her head to press her nose once again to Ravi's small tufted head. "It makes me h-happy that wou would t-think of me, but you n-need to think of your son now." She looked up with pleading eyes, "he deserves a future."
Yes Kiburi had changed.
It was then that Ravi's words reached Kib's ears and diverted her attention briefly from Kirjava. Slate-blue eyes fell upon the red and green cub and a smile once again graced her delicate features.
"Nope, I was b-born in the Pridelands." She spoke softly, "with two older brothers and my parents." Her heart shivered as she remembered the family she had left behind. "But like all little cubs I dreamed of a-adventure. The P-Pridelands was safe and pretty but not much goes on t-there. I left my family for a life of e-excitement and ended up with a l-life of suf-suffering."
"I don't want that life for you Ravi."
At his further question she smiled fondly and gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "Maybe. I think my friend Zenoni is a little shy."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 7:46 am
A frown slowly appeared on Kirjava's face as she looked between Kiburi and her son. She wanted the best for her son, but he wasn't getting it here. Living a life no better than none, hiding most of the time...but the time will come when he'll be bigger and unable to hide all that well. A sigh escaped before she shook her head and the thoughts away. "You are right, Kiburi. Ravi needs a future. A better life than what he is living now, and it pains me to think of leaving you." The words slowly died off before she turned to her sister, "If I were to leave, do you want me to visit your family? I don't want you nor your friend to spend the rest of their lives here and isn't your family worried about you?"
Listening to his Auntie Kiburi talk, Ravi was in awe at her words. She was from a place other than the desert! All he had ever known were the golden dunes that laid out before him, and the stories his mother told of other prides than this one. His ears drooped slightly at her last words, suffering? He got to his feet and looked at Kib through his golden eyes, "I would miss you alot, Auntie Kiburi!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:15 am
(( welcome back Kire! Hope yah had a good holiday! ))
She smiled despite the tears that shone in her eyes and though she was saddened she knew she was also happier. Just knowing that Kirjava and little Ravi would be safe made her feel lighter somewhat. She knew she'd be able to sleep easier knowing that despite the fact that she was still here in this place.
"My family?" She whispered, thinking back to Mchele. Would he be an adult now? Perhaps he had found himself a wonderful life in the Pridelands living alongside mother and father. Is that what she should have done too? Was the world really too big and dangerous for her?
"Y-yes...if you ever s-see them then please, let them know that I'm okay. Tell them I a-am alive and that I have not for-forgotten them." A tear curved the side of her face. "But d-don't tell them what be-fell me. I'm afraid they'll come s-searching and be enslaved too. I couldn't bear it if...if that happened. I just..." She paused and shook her head, buring her face against her nephew's neck. "My m-mother is named Bakhti, she is a g-golden lioness. My father is Mahiri, h-he is a white lion with dark brown pa-patches, the two are most kindly. My b-brother...he is called Mchele. He is a beau-beautiful gold with small white dots above his eyes. He is the o-one that most looks like me." She knew they would still remain in the pridelands, they had been most adamant about staying.
And then her eyes turned to little Ravi and her heart warmed. "I'll m-miss you too Ravi, very, very much indeed." She nuzzled against him. "And whilst you're away y-you'll take care of your mother for me, w-won't you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:21 pm
((Thanks! Oh yes, it was a lot of fun and quite relaxing. ^^))
The crimson and tan lioness inclined her head slightly towards her sister as Kirjava spoke softly, "If I happen to come across them, I know I shall for you, I will tell them your message. And that we happened to chance a meeting while wandering and spent some time together." She meant to keep that promise, for is Kib didn't want her family to know where she was, then she mustn't break it. A heavy sigh and a slightly pained heart weighed on her conscious as she curled her tail around Kib and leaned against once more. "I never would have thought the day would have came where I would have to part with you and this horrid desert. It was beginning to grow on me!" A little joke to lighten the mood as she knew with the upcoming night, Ravi and herself would have to prepare to sneak off...without her sister by her side.
His Auntie's nuzzle made him purr as Ravi made his way back to curled up next to both his mother and his Auntie. Ears drooped slightly at the thought of leaving, though it made him wonder what the world really was like! Kind of exciting that he might get a chance to actually meet and play with other lions. Though, leaving behind his Auntie made him a bit sad. Golden eyes gazed at her peachy coat as he reared up to Kib's side, getting closer to her cheek and giving it a nice lick. With the swaying of his tail he replied, "Of course I would take care of Mom for you! I could take care of you when we see you again!" The idea of seeing his Auntie Kib again made him happy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:14 am
(( That's good to hear! ))
"T-thank you." Kib stuttered, shaking her head to try and rid her eyes of the tears. She didn't want to cry but...but this was heart-breaking. She wanted to go with Kirjava and Ravi, she wanted to be rid of this terrible place...and yet....she had someone to care for here. Her duties and responsibilities were in this desert, and she had promised the moment she had made her friends that she would not leave them.
She laughed quietly at her sister's joke, the tears sparkling in her eyes as she smiled timidly. "Yes, it has a-a tendency to d-do that." She leaned against her sister too and drew in a deep breath.
"I'll be th-thinking of you." She whispered, "both of you. I h-hope you both get the l-life you deserve." She smiled down at Ravi and nodded, the smile still on her face.
"I'd like that R-Ravi." She nudged him affectionately with a paw, "would make m-me feel ver-very safe to know I had you as m-my bodyguard." Sweet, innocent little Ravi. He was the most beautiful and amazing cub that Kib had ever met, he would be an amazing lion one day and Kiburi hoped she would be around long enough to see it.
"I'll m-make sure no o-one f-follows you. If the r-red pelts catch on I'll d-distract them." It was the least she could do to make sure her family got out safely.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
