|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 11:53 pm
Waseme nodded her approval to Ure, appreciating both the respect and attention. The former was in short supply around this place. Compared to other prides, the loyalty around here was awfully lax. It wasn't unheard of for someone to accidentally step on her paw and not bother apologizing. But, hey, better than nothing right?
Amira agreed with that sentiment. Better later than never. Hearing the name she smiled, but it quickly melded away, shifting into a look of... what? Shock. Yes, something like that. And amazement. Confusion, too.
Her mother was...?
"Excuse me. Just one second. Wait right here." Forget cheetah. She could make a bullet train cower with how quickly she bolted back to the Goddes, just in time to here Waseme's outcry.
"Are you insane?! You can't bring something like that here!"
"Mwokoti!" Amira cried out. Normally she was more mindful of interrupting, but found herself too overwhelmed to worry about it now. "That--That lioness! She's... She's Ohahira's daughter!"
"Wait, what? What?!" Waseme looked back and forth between the two frantically. She felt someone passing behind her and didn't bother looking to see who it was before she called to them. "Get Hasana here! And go find that boy of Banji's whose out wandering!"
From there Waseme was torn between staying with Mwokoti and going to inspect the female. Deciding it was political correct to stay put, she jerked her head toward Ure and instructed Amira, "Go back so she doesn't get nervous or something, but stay calm."
Go back Amira did. Calm? Well...
"Um, so... Sorry about that. You were saying about your family? Like your mom... What's she like?"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:01 am
When there was a disturbance, Ure sat down. She watched the youth sprint back. Even at this distance, she could catch a few of the words that were passed between. The words were said very loudly.
She heard something about Ohahira, and daughter. Ohahira had quite a few. There was nothing special about it.
Eventually she settled onto her stomach, and waited that way instead. It was comfortable ground and there appeared to be no threats here.
Everyone was all very odd, however.
When Amira came back, Ure was on her feet once more. The question, however, made her freeze. Family had never been asked about. Everyone simply knew.
For a little while, she just smacked her jaw together in a search for the right words. "Like the sky at night. Cold and speckled black and white." Perhaps not the perfect analogy, but it was Ure's analogy never the less.
"Tanana says she hates us." Tanana was often right about things, but it often got her in trouble.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:10 am
While her own mother was considered flightly and her father naive, she and her sister were by no means stupid or incapable of reasoning. She mused over the information, mumbling the name to herself as if trying it out. What a funny sound.
"Tanana, your sister, right. Where is she at now?"
Meanwhile, Mwokoti and Waseme were not having such a pleasant conversation.
"You can't keep that thing here. What if he hurts someone?"
"He can barely move, and won't be doing so for a while. I suggest that you keep Rosko as his guard, given his abilities as a seer, as much as possible. Use Amira when he isn't available. Keep round the clock guards as well, at least three. Make sure one keeps his injuries fresh so he doesn't get too much strength back--"
"Are you insane?!" Waseme barked a second time. "Absolutely not! I can't enslave my followers to work like that!"
"You can, and you will. I know you've been told of what is occurring on the outside, Waseme. Prides are being overthrown left and right. The Firekin yields to this even. What's to stop someone from doing the same to you other than myself and Ukali? In exchange, we occasionally ask your obedience for favors you may or may not approve of."
"But someone could get hurt," Waseme defended.
"Then do as I say and choose your guards wisely."
"Kitambi isn't going to approve of this."
"He'll bring no harm to the Nchi. As of now, he can not cross the borders of this pride."
Just for good measure, Mwokoti lifted Uzulu again and swung him violently into the side of the mountain. Yeah, he'd be feeling that (among other things) in the morning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:15 am
Amira, Ure decided, was a very odd lion. She was an even more odd creature to be under the guidance of Finarsi.
Ure, however, would not question the goddess' will. It was simply not done.
"I don't know," she answered honestly. There was a very large desire to go running through as many flowers as she could see, but she kept this withdrawn.
"We were all seperated in the big fight." And that was that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:26 am
"A big fight?" Waseme repeated quizzically. She was soon interrupted.
"A big fight..." Oh! The rebellion. Amira knew of it from Lakisa, and who knew where she'd learned of it. She suspected through her grandmother somehow, since Ohahira was somehow linked to them and she of course knew all about her. The situation was getting so complex it was nearly enough to make her head spin. "That's so sad. I'm sure you'll find her one day! Family always comes together in the end."
Maybe she was her daddy's girl after all, being naive enough to think Ure was the beginning of a parade that would be marching in, including Ohahira, to reunite and be a full, happy and infinitely huge family one more. She didn't even consider the hulk of a male left behind.
But not far away, that was still the only thing being discussed.
"I see... Fine, that'll work. For now."
What Mwokoti had suggested was this: Put Uzulu in the side of the cave, block the way out with rocks up to near the top. That leopard and her unusual products of daring to speak with Hasana's twin could put those climbing skills to use and toss him food over the ledge. Rosko, for one, had always seemed more leopard than lion.
"I'll still post guards and at least one seer. I don't trust any of these 'Firekin' things as far as I can throw them."
Not far.
Amira's attention was drawn back to where she had been. Mwokoti had drug Uzulu and kicked him into the cave. With the added strength granted by Ukali, smashing into the side of the mountain enough to make a wall in front of the entrance was all too easy.
At first there were too many stones, and for a brief moment Mwokoti considered letting him suffocate. She didn't, and brushed the rocks away from the top as if they were pebbles, permitting only a small bit of light to shine through.
Maybe next time he'd think twice about what he said to other Gods.
What in the world did the Goddess of Change think she was doing running the most traditionalist pride to date anyway?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 2:24 pm
Ure looked back as she heard movement. Finarsi was surely cruel to Uzulu. Ure could not imagine the thing that he had done. It was rare that she was so very curious, but today was one of those days.
Turning her head to look at Amira for a brief moment, Ure decided it best to ask.
"What would Finarsi have me do for you here?" There were always things to do.
"I am adept at finding water in the desert and have gotten quite good at hunting in a solitary fashion. I can hunt with other slaves if you need me too."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 6:17 pm
"We... have hunters," Waseme assured her. This was getting stranger by the minute.
Amira's mind was reeling trying to grasp this situation. She wasn't sure what she was or wasn't supposed to say here. Finarwho?
Deciding it was best to stay quiet, that's what she did. Her silence didn't last very long, because not a minute later her grandmother was in sight. The closer Hasana got, the more Amira backed off, at a loss of what to do except just watch.
Hasana's breath caught in her throat as she stood in front of Ure. The colors, those were Ohahira's. The stripes on her face could have easily been from her. Those eyes...
"Beautiful," she whispered to herself, tears swelling in her eyes.
A truly beautiful granddaughter. Just like Amira.
"Ure? Is that your name?" The elder breathed in deeply, trying her hardest not to burst into tears. That would probably make the poor dear more confused. "Ure, dearest, my name is Hasana. I'm your grandmother."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 6:29 pm
Ure was waiting for an answer patiently. Had she been allowed, she would have sat and waited until the seasons changed and she lost count of what time of the day it should have been.
There was another lioness approaching, however. She was pretty, and she had a face not unlike Ohahira's. Ure did not, however, understand the tears.
She put back her ears once more and took a step forwards. As if she'd known her for a long time - and to her it might as well have been ages; she new nothing more than to find comfort in her siblings and other slaves - she stepped forwards and bumped her head into the female's shoulder.
"Don't cry, grandmother," she said softly. "No one is hurt. Tanana will make sure that everyone stays okay."
She stepped back and sat onto her haunches and watched for a while. It was always the worst when they looked as though to cry. She could only do so much, and she couldn't understand. The tears had never helped. Ure remembered crying when she was very little.
"Don't cry," she repeated and finished with, "I am pleased to be meeting you," and a stupid little smile.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 6:49 pm
Hasana nodded once, twice, and then lowered her head. She remembered when Banji had left her, when Tara had left her, and all the recent woes within their family. Through all this she had stayed strong, but seeing someone she knew had suffered so much, one of her own blood...
"How..." Her voice quivered before she managed to finish her question. Try as she might (and try she did), the tears didn't stop. They wouldn't. "How many of you are there, Ure?"
Amira looked increasingly nervous, calming some when her grandmother motioned her over.
"This is your cousin," Hasana offered softly. "You have many family members here."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 7:00 pm
Ure thought on a little while about what that meant. 'You' meaning slaves or 'you' meaning siblings? Or perhaps 'you' meaning banished Firekin.
She eventually went for the second. It seemed the most reasonable. If nothing else, Hasana might have been a slave herself.
"I have four sisters and one brother," she finally responded. She listed all their names just as she had to Amira.
Having a cousin, however, was something she hadn't expected. It was all starting to make sense now. It was like a giant pride of slaves under Finarsi's rule. Perhaps this was what the lioness had spoken of when Uzulu mentioned her words on growing strong once more through other bloodlines.
Perhaps this was Her way. There was a tiny tinge of regret at this knowledge. For one second she'd thought. . . well, she wasn't sure. But there was regret of some sort there and she wouldn't understand why.
"You all look so healthy," she said in awe. "You must be perfect." And because they were, and what masters they had did not scold them, Ure would try her best to be just like her grandmother and her cousin.
In the months to come, they would have to deal with her trailing their every footstep and heeding their every word. It was bound to get obnoxious.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
