|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:04 pm
"In my understanding, there was little choice - the pride had thinned down near to nothing." It was one tradition that had needed to cave, without a doubt. Of course, it likely depended on why that particular member had left...some things were forgivable, but true abandonment? Perhaps not.
"I do not know." Still, he hadn't answered her question. "Yet despite your doubts, you've come back. To what purpose?"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:11 pm
Mwali had been kind of dancing around to avoid answering the question. It showed some weakness. Yes, he was outraged at the deception, outraged that the blood had been thinned, and that the firekin were growing increasingly further apart from their foundation.
However, both Makadari and Mwali could answer and agree. "...This is my home." He said, his voice slightly softer, "This pride was my family. What kind of a prince would I be if I abandoned them to a fate of slowly fading into nothing? Or worse than nothing...a collection of rogues in the desert?" He avoided her eyes for the moment, "We had our ways established for a reason. It kept us strong... The king of the pridelands was killed by a mere rogue. In the middle of his lands. In the middle of broad daylight!" He snarled, glancing her way finally.
"They are weak... their ways have led to a loss of their very foundation..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 12:52 pm
"So you have not come to challenge, and your secret likely won't be accepted - what will you do? Attempt to teach? Advise?" Aza wasn't so much suspicious as curious, and her tone revealed as much. She honestly wanted to know what he intended to do; they both worried for the pride's future, after all.
"No doubt you would be respected. You are the king's uncle, after all." And if what Mwali said was true, the last of pure royal blood still living.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 10:22 pm
He tipped his head a bit, rolling over the options in his head. Teaching? No... few would want to accept that their blood was tainted. Those of Kimeti's line would be offended, angered, and might deny it outright. No, it was much like an infection within the pride. Those that carried the illness were incurable. No amount of teaching would purify the pride.
"The bloodline needs to be cleansed." He said simply, looking off towards the pride's territory. "No amount of words will repair what deception has done to the pride. The thinner the blood, the further away from the goddess we are, the weaker we become. The weaker we become..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 10:52 pm
"But how?" Azachamorel questioned. "If you have no intentions of challenging, of not revealing the deception, then what way is there for you to cleanse the pride?" Short of going around in the night and slitting throats, she coulddn't think how else he could accomplish his goal. "Do you even have a plan?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:59 am
"I was not sure of the rumors... if they were true or not so I did not devise a plain. Any fool knows to first gather information on a situation before going any further." He glanced back her way then back over towards the territory. "It seems to me that the only way to restore the bloodline is to create more of my bloodline with a suitable lioness of the old blood. If I am truly the last of the royals, there seems to be little alternative. From there...I will need time and more information before I take another step."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:39 pm
"Most lionesses have litters already," she said slowly, "There are few who haven't taken a mate." Azachamorel, of course, among those, although she did not simply offer herself up. She couldn't be too easy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:23 pm
"I'm not looking for -most- lionesses. Most lionesses cannot handle the responsability of birthing and raising the true heirs of this pride." He smirked, very much liking the idea. "Heirs and heiresses with only the purest blood. They'll grow large...and strong...they can re-claim this pride and begin cleansing the firekin once more."
He glanced over towards her, flicking his tail, "Them and a few loyalists of course..and perhaps some slaves with the promise of breeding rights if they serve us well enough."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:55 pm
The huntress laughed openly, exposing the fangs so feared by her prey. "Cubs are not so difficult to shape, even when they're not yours. All you need to be is someone worth respecting, someone worth listening to, an authority who commands attention. It doesn't take handling - what it takes is caring enough about the outsome."
"Grant them the honor of giving us more slaves, so we don't have to go and get more for ourselves?" Aza chuckled. "I'm sure they'd leap at the chance." She wasn't scorning him, not really...just reminding him, perhaps, in a lioness' way, that he wasn't quite 'all that.'
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 9:31 pm
"An empty promise." He chuckled a bit. "But why would they side with us over the current pride? We have to have something to offer to them that's of interest." He shrugged a bit, "I have not had the appropriate time nor enough information to plan anything completely solid. Tell me...how is the pride now? Who rules?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 9:47 pm
"Another empty promise, then. A promise of freedom, when all is said and done." Inwardly, Aza took a moment to marvel; she had been running the borders, and now here she stood with the last, full-blooded royal Firekin, essentially helping to plot the demise of Kiu's line - of the pride as it was now. Something for which she would certainly be executed, not exiled, if it was found out.
"Kimeti rules, son of Kiu and Kinja." Mwali's nephew. Mwali's halfbreed nephew, if what he said was true. "He himself has children, who themselves have children. To my knowledge no new heir has been chosen to take Kidondo's place."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:50 pm
Mwali's maw pulled back into an almost cruel grin. Yes... a promise of freedom. Freedom could be defined in so many ways. They didn't have to specify, the slaves would assume they'd be free lions...perhaps free from the mortal realms of the world. Perhaps free from a few other things. Slaves were expendable resources afterall. There were always foolish lions seeking a thrill skirting the desert or weaker prides they could enslave. With the right bloodline that was... Perhaps he'd never see the pride under his rule again.
"Kimeti is weak." He chuckled, a deep, thick, and almost cruel sound. Mwali stirred once more. He'd met Kimeti as a cub... they couldn't turn on family like that!
"His blood is only half as thick as ours... he lacks discipline. He and his line must be removed or put in their place...They will only bring disaster to the pride. No heir chosen either." He chuckled, "Weak."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:02 pm
There was the slightest hesitation, like looking back over her shoulder, in Azachamorel's mind. She had never had reason to doubt Kimeti, until his own son had betrayed the pride...until his uncle had come with a story of deception. "He has not been a terrible king," she allowed, "But there could be better. One full-blooded, one like the kings of old. One who could restore us to what we were - strong, ruthless, feared."
"I tire of seeing rogues milling at our borders," she spat. "We have been forgotten."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:11 pm
He made a quiet growl of approval, nodding towards the territory. "There has been too much tolerance. Kui would have made a powerful king... a strong leader. He was raised under my father's own paw. He had no time to pass those teachings along to Kimeti. We cannot blame him entirely, but he does not deserve the honor to which he was given." He growled a bit, "The abomination he calls a mother denied her offspring that chance when she chose to betray our family line... to weaken our sacred blood."
He rolled his shoulders a bit, "But a king cannot stand alone..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:24 pm
In a way, she pitied Kimeti now - if he knew the truth of his origins, how would he react? What would he do? There was no way of knowing, of course, and as such no point in thinking on it further.
"Makadari." A whisper of awe touched her voice. Oh, how her parents had spoken of him! That was the sort of king who could make the Firekin into what they had once been. Before, she had worked quietly, speaking to every youth she met, attempting to influence them - succeeding, even, at times. Now? Now, she felt called to action! She could not simply go back to the way things had been, not after this.
Azachamorel laughed dryly, shaking her head. "We could be killed for this, you know. But I would rather that than die having done nothing at all." Her grin twisted. "If nothing else, there is something to be said for martyrdom, I suppose."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
