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 Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 5:30 am
No was indeed sound asleep. It had seemed like ages since she could finally take some in. But while Kidondo slept in unrest, a kind of quiet had fallen upon the regentess. Surrounded by her mob of children, her mate, and her pride, she was secure. But even in her sleep, her mind was still at work. Troubled by Kidondo's movements in his own sleep, she nestled a bit closer to the huddeled mass of cubs. They'd need a bigger den by the time they got anywhere near lion sized...
Faintly she heard him call her name. But the cubs said her name to excess, and she did not stirr readily until his head gently bumped against her shoulder and a deep roar reverberated against the old limestone rocks. At once her head snapped awake and her green eyes went wild. If it wasn't for Kidondo standing above her, she might have jumped up and woke the cubs before even realizing it. With him there, she was at least steadied- but she could see that the opposite was true of her mate.
"What is this?" No bristled as she heard another call. Teeth bared and ready for a fight, No gently pushed her cubs aside and rose herself. But something about Kidondo made her stop. He had a strange look in his eyes. It was not... well, it wasn't anger. It was almost horror. He even looked pale against that brilliant red fur of his.
"Ripuka?" She gasped as Kidondo suddenly fled the den. Of all people...! But, she did not need to know more to follow him. She gave a quick glance to be sure all cubs were sound asleep, and bolted behind him. It was the first time since her pregnancy that she had an excuse to test her strength again, and she was pleased to find it returning.
Invaders to our land? She thought, and even as she did a snarl pulled across her face. She was ready for a good fight. Heaven help the person who crossed her, and brought trouble to her children's land.
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:41 am
Where once he might have felt some sort of triumph at knowing that, finally, Ripuka could see the light, any such joys were overridden by an immense wave of despair. Even as she spoke, she seemed to be fading. Fading far, far faster than he had ever prepared himself for. The irony... that he might find his mother again, only to lose her so quickly once more. And he was powerless to do anything about.
That powerlessness nearly overwhelmed him. It was one thing to face death, but another entirely to watch its presence grow right before his very eyes, and it was eerie. So eerie he felt as if it was all a dream. His life was surreal, and his world... his world was so abstract he could hardly make sense of it.
Why here? Why now?
And much as he wished he could comfort her, tell her to simply be quiet because it was all wrong, he couldn't. That faith she had held, that all of the Safi held, it was useless - she was right - and yet every fiber in his body told him that she should not be dying while she felt as if she had spent her life in wrong. But what could he do, but listen. Listen and feel the multitude of mixed emotions crash over him, even as he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that soon, she would have to let go. Soon, she would have to leave, and then... she would never come back.
"He won't," He said, his voice barely above a whisper. "He won't." He found his voice, then, and repeated the two words with much more conviction. As if, in all his life, it was by doing this - by making sure that the little golden cub would one day know for sure that his mother did love it - that he could earn his right to be considered a true Firekin in Ripuka's mind. For this... This was worth more, far more, than anything else he had or could have done for her.
"Uddhava..." He breathed, though he hardly realized he had said the word. Though he knew this was where she had been headed all this time, alarm coursed through him as the light burning within her eyes faded, ever faster than before. He pressed his muzzle against her head.
"You are stronger," He whispered into her ear, not knowing whether or not she would hear. "Than I, or any other Firekin, could ever hope to be." And he meant every word. For there with the despair that she had brought him, there came as well a sense of awe at the greatness of her sacrifice. How much strength did it take, he would always wonder, to knowingly give your child away to strangers? "Where you're going, mother... I hope you will only see the light."
He nuzzled her head softly as her eyes slowly half-closed, unaware and uncaring of any other that came near. "I know," He said, even as a strange sort of peace seemed to settle over him - the both of them. "I know."
And he knew that it was coming to an end, knew that she was so close to leaving him, when her eyes no longer seemed able to find him. "I'll... I will. I'll tell him." He said, his voice cracking as he swallowed to keep the emotions at bay.
And then, with that one cough... she was gone. It was almost as if he could feel her soul leaving the flame-pelted body that had encased it for so long. And she was happy.
Unbidden, a tear rolled down the desert-pelted lion's face, tracing a glistening path down the black tear-mark on his face.
The droplet lingered for a moment at the base of his face, and then, as if it could no longer quite cling on, dropped free and landed with a splatter on the flame-red coat of the lioness that lay motionless in the sand beside him. Azarax stared at the drop, wordless, as if for one moment the entire world had come to a standstill. Then slowly, ever so slowly, he rose to his paws. And his golden eyes swept across the still body once more, the fur still glinting in the rising sun with a lustre that seemed so out of place for the bleak morning.
His gaze landed on the little cub with the tuft of red in his mane. The little one for which both of their mother had made the ultimate sacrifice. For a while, Azarax gazed at the little cub, wordless, much as he had that single tear. Then he lowered his face closer to the cub.
"Uddhava."
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:30 pm
For once, having No at his side brought him no comfort, no respite from this terrible, gut-wrenching fear. As he ran, he felt himself stumbling, losing the grace that he'd had since a youth. His legs shook, his whole body shook and it took all of his strength to press on.
His ear flicked sideways, perhaps the only sign he made to acknowledge No's presence at his side. His throat was tight. He couldn't speak, especially not whilst he was running. And what would he find when he reached the end of this run? He didn't dare to let his instinct take over, because instinct was telling him that something terrible happened and he didn't want to believe it. He was afraid to believe it.
And suddenly the gentle slopes of the dunes seemed to give way and the scene appeared to him on the distance, as if someone had opened the pages of a book. There, that image froze in Kidondo's mind with such vibrant clarity that he would come to remember it for all eternity. His eyes flitted briefly across the contrasting forms of Uuo and Yin-li, before settling on the huddle of lions a little way from them.
Azarax's back was arched, his head bowed, pressed to Ripuka's own. And she...she lay upon that sand and it was as if it were not her at all. If it were not for the heart-felt mewling, he would have missed the cub, but there was no mistake. A cub lay between them, crying as if his little heart would burst. Kidondo felt a flare of emotion swell deep inside of him, clawing desperately to free itself, but he held it in. How he did, he didn't know, for it raged in him like a mad thing.
It was surreal. Like running into a dream, one of his cursed visions. Maybe he would wake to find this nothing more than a cruel joke. Maybe if he just closed his eyes everything would be okay...
But he knew this wasn't a dream. The sand was hot beneath his paws and the smell of blood carried to him on the wind.
His eyes glazed with a sheen of tears and suddenly the adrenaline that had fueled his sprint failed him forcing him to slow to a stand-still, close to where the females stood. He dared not draw closer, afraid he might break son and mother apart and steal them away from this precious reunion. He did not realise, then, that Ripuka was already gone, not until he stepped sideways and saw her face. Her eyes.
The lioness lying on those sands was not Ripuka. It was a body lacking the spirit.
She was gone and he was too late.
Without warning, a violent sob racked his frame and he staggered forwards, lowering his head in a vain attempt to hide his grief. He could feel that swell of emotion crawling into existance, like a spider emerging from it's den.
"Ripuka...I-I have failed you." He drew in a strengthening breath and raised his eyes to the sky. "I..." His body shook. "I have failed you..." There was so much more he wanted to say, to speak to the winds in hopes that her spirit still dwindled here somewhere. He wanted to thank her, thank her for all that she had done, tell her how much he loved her, that no matter they were on different sides he thought of her as a mother. That he was sorry, sorry for ignoring his visions and not acting upon them. For, could the future not be changed if one is aware of it? Could he not have prevented the death of the Storyteller if he had only trusted in these visions?
But no more words would come and when words failed, Kidondo found solace in the only way he could.
He strengthened his stance and, with another deep breath, threw his head high and roared to the sun. It's sound was so full of grief, so full of sorrow that any who heard would know that a lion had died that day. A good lioness who, for all her faults, had redeemed herself at the very end.
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:31 am
For the first length of their journey, No was so aghast at the expression on her mate's face that she could hardly funnel all the anger she was feeling towards this intrusion in the night. Kidondo always did have a strange sense of things... perhaps he knew something? Something was wrong. This wasn't just a thief in the night. It wasn't even safi making their return. It was something worse, and she wasn't sure how that was possible. Kimeti returning from the dead? She didn't believe in such a thing, but the look on Kidondo's face half had her in fear of it.
And then in the distance- something was playing out. There was the sounds of a cub wailing, and immediately her own mother's heart panicked. She had been sure her cubs were all safe and sound, but-! Blood was in the air, along with strange smells on the wind. Scents that were not firekin, neither simo or safi. These were a different kind. Outsiders.
But as they came to a close, panic gave way to hot fury. She stopped at the top of the dune as Kidondo flailed forward. It was Ripuka! A female she had never quite cared for- to this day, she remembered the old woman's searing words to her back so long ago. But just looking told No that something had changed in this old woman's mind. The little cub was a stranger- but no doubt it belonged to Ripuka. Skin as gold as a pridelander's, and with Azarax here, she could all but guess what had gone down. So they had won the old woman over, finally? Almost at once, it absolved the poor soul in her mind. And then, with as much fury as if it had been one of her pride she shouted, "Who has done this?" The black cat bristled.
It had to have been a safi! But...this smell!
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 2:49 am
The sob, so ridden with anguish, broke the moment of surreal tranquility. He raised his head, tilted his eyes to see Kidondo and No upon the scene. For a moment, his dizzied mind tried to recall just when it was they had arrived. All he felt were disjointed thoughts swimming frantically in his mind. Unable to focus, think... This was...
He sought the words, the words that only moments before had been flowing freely from his mouth. And yet, it seemed, in the span of only seconds, they had retreated. Retreated so far inside him that he couldn't quite find the strength to bring them back again and to use them to address his Regents. He uttered something akin to a sigh, and bowed his head deliberately to them both. Words. Hah. What use were they when all that was really needed were the pictures. Especially in a time like this.
Then Kidondo's roar pierced his ears, and Azarax's body tensed as the finality of the moment reached him. Yes, he was right, and that one wordless sound was enough to convey what a thousand words could not. For here lay the remains of a lioness that would be sorely missed by so many others, and for all her flaws and all her mistakes, there was no denying that she was a good creature. Because she was, and her actions here had more than proved it a hundred times over.
His eyes flickered toward No as she bristled, fueled in her anger as if one of the Simo had been harmed. He felt gratitude cross in his chest, to know that Ripuka was not just one of the Traditionalists. To know that it hadn't been too late. His mouth opened as, once more, he reached for words and none came. He raised his shoulder and shook his head. No... He didn't know.
He turned his gaze back to the still figure, peered into her dull, lifeless eyes. He would never know, perhaps. Then he remembered the slave. The slave who, even after suffering at the hands of the Firekin, had not wished harm on anyone. Who had died without any hate in her heart, despite the cruelties life had dealt her.
Perhaps she wouldn't want us to know... He thought, watching the flame-red corpse without moving so much as a muscle. Perhaps she wouldn't want us to find her killer and tear them apart. Maybe.
For moments for, he remained silent, simply standing where he was, his eyes fixated upon Ripuka's body, as if absorbing as much of it now as he could - for these last memories would have to last him a lifetime. He was making his peace with it now. Making his peace with the fact that, after today, he would never again see the lioness he called his mother, yet had hardly known. Making peace with the fact this cruel twist of fate would affect so many lives, in so many ways...
For he knew that once he left the scene, it would be a long time before he would think or talk about this day again.
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 9:14 am
(( Sorry! Just realised I failed to post with Uddhava before @_@ *will make up for it this time* ))
The cub gave a pitiful mewl. The world had become a confusing and horrible place. Truly horrible. So many strange lions. So many horrible smells. His mother pushing him away! Why? Why would she dump him here? Wait…she’d spoken to him about this before, on their way here…but he couldn’t remember it. Was he supposed to trust this big, strange lion? His eyes had finally dragged from his mother’s face, gladly in fact. For that face seemed hollow and empty, as if his mother had crawled out of her skin and skipped fur-less across the land. Now they had lifted to look properly at this big lion. But he was not just any lion. He was…was…brother. Brother not like Rap or Ngoma or Lua, a brother bigger than them and one with fur that was different. Different like his own was.
They were not red, black and white, not in the sense that his parents were. Yes, both lions held traces of red and white, but clearly their markings were not typical. Uddhava didn’t understand Firekin rules yet, but he’d seen enough with his own two eyes to know that he was different and that it was very wrong.
Suddenly, looking at Azarax, he knew he wasn’t alone in the world. There was someone else like him, and even better, he was his brother.
And as Azarax had lowered his face, the little golden cub had reached up in an attempt to press his nose to his. He hadn’t managed to get enough strength into his hind legs to succeed, but the extra closeness had indeed brought comfort.
Uddhava.
Was that…was that his name? His mother had said that word a moment ago, hadn’t she? Now, now his brother was repeating it, looking at him.
Did he finally have a name to call his own?
Before he had time to truly comprehend it, another roar blasted into the air and he cowered back, afraid. He half-turned back to run to his mother, but changed his mind and, instead, cuddled up against his brother’s foreleg, peering across at the bright red lion and the black lioness who looked…furious.
He whimpered.
--
Kidondo’s head lifted at the sound of his mate’s anger, and turned sandy eyes towards her. Who had done this, indeed! The obvious explanation was that Ripuka had been found out and that the Safi had chased her across the desert. Either that, or they’d attacked her on the lands, leaving her to die. But he didn’t understand, if that was the case, how she’d managed to get so far. There was no way the Safi would let Ripuka go if they had discovered her treachery. She was an elder, one of the original members; such treason would be unforgivable, unthinkable! They would have made sure that she had died for that. No, there was more to this than simply the act of turning on a traitor.
He shook his head sadly, feeling a wave of despair and hopelessness grip him. He could offer no words of comfort to Azarax or that cub and an apology would be empty and meaningless. He could send out a search party, but for who? The Safi or a rogue? If he sent anyone into Safi territory another war would break out, one that would mean the Safi’s destruction – and he certainly didn’t want that, not if Ripuka’s change of heart was anything to go by. Similarly he couldn’t just send warriors out into the desert without first calculating risks.
Kidondo was a lot of things, but unlike his father and his father before him, he was not so easily led by anger. He would not lash out and fall head-first into a terrible mistake.
But still, he couldn’t just stand here. No, a search party needed to be organised, and quickly. They’d steer away from Safi and try their best to make sense of what happened.
“We will find them.” He murmured to No, moving close so she could hear. “We’ll organise a hunt and chase down the ones who did this.” He felt his voice crack but kept himself together.
“Uuo.” He called suddenly. “Gather together three volunteers. I’ll lead a search party and follow the tracks. If we leave it too long the wind will wipe them away and we’ll be left with little hope.” He paused and cast his eyes back to Azarax. To lose a parent…it was a horrible thing, whether cub or adult. He’d never wish the pain on anyone, especially Azarax who had already had so hard a life.
“Azarax…” His throat caught. “I’m sorry. I'll...we'll do all we can to see Ripuka's sacrifice not be in vain.” His eyes darted to the little golden face peering nervously at him. "Take the cub with you, Azarax. He needs his brother."
Just as Azarax probably needed him right now.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:03 am
Everything seemed to be flowing in chaos. The little cub whimpering- something which particularly broke her heart, Kidondo speaking, Azarax staring fixated on the broken body of Ripuka. No nodded in agreement to Kidondo, attempting to keep down her own coiled rage. If this was indeed the Safi, and Ripuka had betrayed them- then killing her here was surely a message to them. Bitterly, she snorted and licked her lips. Did they think they could scare their own people from finding the truth? If Ripuka of all people had seen the light, then surely times must be grim indeed on the other side of those ridges.
But it pained her to hear his voice crack. First his father, and now this- a lioness which had most suredly been like a mother to him. “We will,” No said with biting resolve. “They won’t escape us.” She bristled.
With a hop, she moved from the dune incline, and came closer towards the gathering of lions around the deceased. She snorted, inhaling the smell of blood and faint lingering of strangers. “There will be justice for this,” No said to Azarax.
Was it a justice she could deliver upon? At the moment, she had no doubt in her mind that she’d remember this. No matter how long it took, she would remember that lingering scent. The audacity and callousness of the crime seemingly ensnared her to the core. A mother with a child! No, there would be justice for this. Someone would pay for it, someday.
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:30 am
Without quite considering what he was doing, he used a paw and gently drew the whimpering cub closer to him. He knew that he understood what Uddhava was feeling. The same feelings had once been his as a cub, though he had been young enough that he only just remembered them. The circumstances where blurry, but that unmistakely pang of abandonment was one that he had always remembered, and always would remember. Much like, he was sure, Uddhava would remember.
His senses began to clear as Kidondo began to speak. His head no longer felt as if he was swimming underwater, and the numbness that had enveloped him was now slowly retreating. "No, I..." If there was to be a search party to hunt down those who were responsible for Ripuka's death, he wanted to be one of them. Much as he wanted to think that perhaps Ripuka had found peace in her last moments, and wouldn't have wanted them to exact revenge on her murders, Azarax did not feel the same way. Generations of hot, war-oriented tempers had been passed down to the tan pelted lion through his mother, and thoughts of avenging her death raged rampant through his mind.
And yet... his mind focused on the reality of the situation for a split second, and he shifted his resolute gaze to the confused little cub that clung to his foreleg. And he knew Kidondo was right. Uddhava had only just lost his mother without even realizing it, and the last thing he needed was for his brother - no matter how little they knew each other - to abandon him to other strangers and go hunting for lions. And more than that, Azarax knew that much of his anger was fueled by the need to simply be doing something. Something, anything, other than simply sitting around and wallowing in his misery. He didn't need the self-pity.
But Uddhava needed some sort of stability, he supposed. He knew what it was like to have the entire world as he knew it torn out from under him. The confusion, the panic. Azarax would not be the cause of more of the cub's distress. Much as he wished he could go out and hunt, and not stop hunting until he had found the lions responsible, he knew his responsibility now lay with settling Uddhava. Ripuka had brought the cub here for a reason. He wouldn't let her down.
Gazing up once more at the two Regents, Azarax nodded. A steely resolve hardened in his eyes. Yes, there had to be justice. There would be justice. No was right. One day, there would be hell to pay for what those lions - whoever they were - had done, be it from his own claws or someone else's.
"Thank you," He said, glad to be in the knowledge that there were others who cared, just as much as him if not more.
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 8:41 pm
((Late closer tag from me for Uuo and Yin,))
Uuo and Yin-li had been keeping a considerate distance from the main group, watching the events transpiring from different perspectives. Previously each had joined in the mournful farwell, falling silent again one out of respect and the other out of a loss for words. For Yin-li the moment was horribly surreal and painful to observe all at once, but when the male regent, one of their leaders called for her Uuo immediately rose to the summon. She simply took her leave as the instruction was given, trusting that the others needed no further confirmation than that that she would see to her assigned task. She climbed the dune again just as swiftly as she had come down, grim as she set about her work to find the best trackers to aid Kidondo with the search party.
Yin-li stood behind, watched Uuo go briefly then looked to the gathered lions once more. When Azarax and the regents began to speak all Yin-li could do without feeling like an intruder upon the moment was to try to meet Azarax's eye, if only to silently communicate her unspoken, deepest condolences for her mate's loss. She wished the search party luck, but certainly realized that her place would be to remain there with the other Firekin for the time, to be there for Azarax when he returned. No one would soon forget this day. Even those of them that had not known the storyteller personally were now each bound to carry the heavy hearted burden of that morning's memory, of one traditionalist's selfless sacrifice, and her dying acceptance of change.
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