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 Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 12:02 pm
Aesir shrugged. He hadn't been born into the pride, but he had adopted the pride's attitude toward non-warriors readily enough. They had been much in keeping with the attitude he'd had even before finding the Stormborn, which had been more than a little like that of a bully. Those who didn't fight were best-suited to being picked on by those who did, or else avoiding them. Not that he could behave like that as a Warlord, and he had learned to respect their different abilities, but he definitely understood his daughter's preference for warriors.
"All right. You're too young to be worrying about that anyway, as you say. And young men can only be a distraction from your apprenticeship."
Yeah...he had five daughters and as far as he was concerned there were no lions in the pride who were good enough for any of them. He didn't relish having to let them make lives with inferior males. Maybe he could convince them to agree not to take any lion as a mate who couldn't beat him in combat. The thought was appealing.
"How's your training going anyway? Is Susu a good instructor?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 6:15 pm
"Susu is . . . a bit odd. She seems eager to teach but I often don't know what she's talking about. Still, I learn by observing her and the other priestesses, and Susu has plenty of patience. Susu says that more understanding will come in time."
Broni was often perplexed by her mentor, but she was more than willing to put up with her eccentricities. Besides, Morrigan rarely came to discuss anything with Susu and Broni was content not to be directly under the Head Priestess' eye.
"And I learn new prayers or rituals every week. There seems to be a lot more to being a priestess then there is from the outside."
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 5:16 am
Aesir's thoughts on Susu were in line with his daughters. That priestess had always struck him as being odd, too. Oh, all the priestesses had moments where they were odd, even eerie, but Susu was truly just strange. For one thing, he remembered hearing that she had challenged to get into the pride and gotten herself accepted as a priestess.
As Warlord, Aesir only had a role in selecting priestesses in the event that there was no Head Priestess. That not being the case, Aesir was content to leave decisions regarding the priestesses up to Morrigan, who was far better equipped to handle such things. She knew what was needed in a priestess and she knew what was expected, which was more than Aesir could honestly say. Delegation was a fine thing he felt.
"Of course there's more to it," Aesir said. "If it were as easy as it is made to seem, anyone could do it, and I'm told it's a calling as much as a profession. Something you're either able to do or you aren't, and if you aren't, it won't matter how long you train."
Being a Reaver really wasn't like that. A lion could call himself a Reaver once he had been brought along on a viking by a captain. He didn't have to have done anything impressive or distinguished himself in any way. He just had to have gone on a single viking. Though there were lions who were never chosen for that task. Aesir remembered a singer named Solvtorn who was in that predicament. At least he could see to it that none of his sons found themselves in a similar position, though he could do little to help Broni in achieving her goals.
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 7:12 am
"Susu did say I have the makings of a good priest," Broni offered, pleased that her plans wouldn't be interrupted before they started. "Although I have no idea how long my apprenticeship will last before I become a full priestess. It is good to look forward to though."
Broni really appreciated her father for the lion he was, not just warlord. She had heard a little bit of his history, how he had been a thrall before rising up to warlord, and he was clever and strong, and seemed pleased that she wasn't trying to ride his tail, but working for something on her own.
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:30 pm
"I'm sure you have," Aesir told his daughter. "And I will look forward to seeing you anointed whenever that day comes. Just don't take too long about it, or I promise to be one of those elders who demands to have everything described to him and complains that nothing's loud enough to hear, and things were better in my day."
Unfortunately, Aesir had to put up with more of that now as a Warlord than he had been made to do as a Captain. Captains, as long as they didn't engage in treason, could do more or less what they wished, and ignore anyone who annoyed them. In fact, most lions would look the other way if a Captain decided to shut up a querulous elder such as Aesir had threatened to be by snarling at them or even striking them. Aesir had done it once or twice himself before Gunne demoted him to a Thrall's status.
"So your training is going well, you seem to be in good health...Is there anything else I can do for you, Broni?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:59 pm
Broni laughed a little. Although it was hard to picture Aesir ever really being old. His cub felt that he would either go on forever, just as he was, or fall in battle. A old and weak Aesir was not something she could really comprehend.
"No, I just wanted to speak to you, Father. I saw you when you were free and thought it would be nice to talk."
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:50 am
That was actually kind of adorable, Aesir though. He didn't often get to have those thoughts any more about his cubs, and he'd rarely gotten to have them at all about his viking-born brood, having missed most of their cubhood through sheer ignorance of their existence. He didn't regret it, regret not being one of those emotions he was familiar with, but he appreciated having the opportunity to see them now.
Seeing as Broni didn't seem to be so bad. He should probably make more of an effort to get to know the others, now that the furor over their arrival and existence had passed. He saw Odd pretty regularly, and while he found his son to be a bit, well, odd, he liked him, and he'd had Calder living with him for a while. Probably the others from that litter were just as interesting. How could they not be, considering their parents?
"It was good to talk to you," he said. "You and your sibs shouldn't stay away so much."
He probably should be going, but he didn't quite feel he could treat Broni as he would Kazul or Badb had they come up to talk to him. They saw him far more frequently and he could simply tell them they'd talk later if he had other things to do. Or he would invite them to come along as he went about his day, but he couldn't tell if that would be the right thing to do with his viking-born daughter. Theirs was not the same sort of relationship, after all, despite her being his daughter as well.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 8:07 am
"I will let you know about my progress in training," Broni promised. "Goodbye, father."
Broni gave her father's leg a brief nuzzle, just a touch really, and trotted off toward the fjord's rocky beach where she was supposed to meet Susu for some training. It was good to have confirmation that the Warlord cared about the offspring that came out of the forest, and maybe she would send her sisters his way, just to see him. They were his children; they shouldn't hide in the forest.
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