Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been a long, long day for Nyunya, but she found little reason to complain. Her lover was back, as was at least one of her sons. Taabu had been accepting of how situations had changed in their home since he had been absent. How Nyunya had adopted her half-sisters as her own and raised them as her daughters. By that simple extension, they were Taabu's, as well. She knew he was confused about the whole scenario, however, and knew that she would have to explain. But in front of the girls was not an option. Another time, a time when they were alone, that was when she would have the chance to tell him what had happened. She was just immensely thankful he had handled it so flawlessly.

Thinking about this, as well as so many other things that were always hiding just beneath the surface of her idle thoughts, robbed Nyunya of sleep. She had hoped the comfort of being able to lay side-by-side with her love after so long would ease her into slumber, but that had proved to be a vain hope. No matter how long she laid here, listening to the soothing sounds of breathing and soft snores of all those in the den, she couldn't get her eyes to close and stay that way. Finding that she needed to walk, she rose as quietly as she could and padded from the den, hoping she didn't disturb Taabu (they had been pressed quite closely together). He deserved a good night's sleep after travelling, and the peace that came with sleeping in the company of family. On silent, pale paws, Nyunya padded from the den and out into the moonlight.

She didn't stray far, ending up perched on a fallen log within sight of the mouth of the den, and let out a long sigh.

As Taabu came toward her, Nyunya's head turned at the soft sound of his movements through the grass. Despite what was going through her mind, it still made her happy to see him. She'd been without him for so long, that even though she'd spent this whole day with him, it still seemed surreal that he was actually here. Just yesterday, she'd been nursing the ache caused by missing him. Now she felt lighter than she could remember feeling before.

She shifted down the log until she could sit directly beside him, leaning her smaller body against her mate's, feeling mildly appreciate of the fact that, like this, for the first time in all the time she'd know him, she was taller than he was. She took advantage of that by leaning her head against his and nuzzling into his mane.

"I'm sorry... did I wake you?" Her voice was soft and quiet, barely more than a whisper, as though they were still in the den and she was trying not to disturb the others.

Having Taabu with her was soothing to the petite little lioness. It made the worries circling her mind like vultures seem a little easier to face. He gave her strength; knowing he was standing beside her to catch her when she fell gave her strength to carry on. With a smile, she nuzzled into the thick fullness of his dark mane, breathing heavily in his deep, familiar scent, letting it fill her head as she closed her eyes against the tickling of his fur. She wouldn't sleep, but she would let her eyes rest with him here.

She shook her head minutely, not wanting Taabu to worry much and ruin this special little private moment; they'd had few and far between today, with all their children clamouring to share the reunion with them. "It's nothing, Taabu. I've just had a few things to think about since you've been gone, that's all. Sometimes they keep me up for a while.

Nyunya chuckled softly. She's almost forgotten this way of Taabu's, his unfailing, perfect logic, the way he said exactly what needed to be said to get another to agree with him. Normally, out of sheer principal and stubbornness, she would have fired back with her own logic, trying to hold off giving in if only for a little while, but tonight was not the night for such things. With a tiny nod, she murmured, "All right, love. I'll tell you."

She shifted her head slightly so she could open her eyes and gaze unseeing at the stars. "Well... where to start? I suppose you want to know about the girls I've been taking care of, hm? It's all connected." She imagined he must very much want to know what was going on. It must've been a shock to come home and suddenly find you had three more 'daughters' waiting for you.

Nyunya took a deep, shaky breath, closing her eyes tightly. Just thinking about what she was going to say right now, she could feel the stinging sensation that heralded the threat of tears. It had been the same as when she had talked to her sister, Ash, and with that encounter being not so long ago, the grief that conversation had caused her to feel was still lingering close to the surface of her heart. But with Taabu here to be there for her, to support her through the harsh memories, she knew she could be strong enough to relive them again.

"Well..." she began, her voice carrying a heaviness it never usually had, "you know my mother is called Denge. And you know I have a foster mother, Ithibati. A little while after you left, Ithi came here, heavily pregnant. About ready to pop, actually. She'd been travelling hard, and she was half-starved. I wondered where my mother was... but I soon found out why she wasn't with Ithibati. She's dead, Taabu. She's gone. I never got to see her again after I left the Umande'mfuni. She never got to see the cubs..."

There was obviously more that she had to say, a lot more, but at that moment she broke off with her shoulders slumping, the build-up of tears pressing against her eyelids. It wouldn't be long before she would be crying openly, but it was in her nature to be independant and fight it every step of the way until she was forced to give in.

"I know," she said softly, with a melancholy sigh, leaning her face into his mane again. Of course she knew that there had been nothing she could do. She could never have predicted that her mother would be taken from her so soon. But she wondered if Denge had lived long enough to be a grandmother, even if she had never known about them or seen them. And she couldn't help but berate herself for waiting until it was too late to get a message to her somehow. "I know, Taabu. But.. it's hard not to think that I could have... gotten a message to her. About the cubs. And she wouldn't have been where she was when she died. And then maybe she wouldn't have died at all. I didn't even let her know I'd found a home here. I just... never expected her to be gone."

She nodded slowly, taking deep, even breaths filled with his scent for a few moments before she carried on speaking. "I never told you why I don't have a father, Taabu... but it's because he forced himself on my mother, and I came from that. Ithi's cubs... are also Nyekundu's. He did the same thing to her. Those three girls are my sisters, and Ithi was in no fit state to look after them herself. I couldn't say no when she asked me to raise them. Related by blood or not, they're my mother's cubs, so they were family either way. So that's why... they're here now. They don't know the truth. I don't think I really want them to know it. It's hard to learn that you're a product of such a heinous act... and it would be even harder for them, knowing their real mother left them behind."

She pulled back to look Taabu in the eyes, her cheeks wet with tears, like his mane, fluid making the crimson colour sparkle. "Thank you... for going along with it without questioning it, as though everything was exactly as you knew it would be. It means a lot to me that you kept it in the dark that you had no idea who they were, where they'd come from, or why they were here."

Even though she knew Taabu never directed it toward her, she still turned her head at that hissing tone. Oh, how ashamed she was that she shared blood with Nyekundu. She knew some of what he was like, and often thought, with a sickening feeling churning in her stomach, that maybe, just maybe, her snappish temper was something that came from him. It certainly wasn't from her mother; her darling, sweet, placid mother. It was bad enough to inherit some of his physical genes, but to have gained as well some of his personality traits was a thought that frightened her and left her feeling disgusted to the core.

"Yes," she said in reply, soft bitterness in her tone. "Nyekundu is my father." She used the present tense, of course, because news had never reached her ears that Nyekundu was dead and gone. She didn't know she was now technically an orphan. "I hate knowing that. I only met him once, when I wandered too far from home, but I never want to again." That one meeting had been enough to instil in her a fear of Nyekundu that hadn't really been shaken off with age. He had hurt her that day, physically, and mentally as well when he said terrible things about both her mothers. She never, ever wanted a repeat of meeting that monster.

She managed to pull a smile back on her face as she shifted her head once more to look at her mate, nodding her head. "They were," she affirmed. "They've waited to meet you for a long time. I told them that you had to leave when they were very small, so they wouldn't ask why they didn't remember you. But they've heard so much about you since they were old enough to ask." Still keeping that smile on her face, Nyunya glanced up at the stars. "I'm thinking of telling them the truth soon... They're old enough to know now. But... I have no idea how I should do that."

Nyunya froze, her eyes widening, as she heard that Nyekundu was dead. No news like that had ever reached her, and it was quite the shock. Even though she had known it was just impossible, she had somehow expected Nyekundu to be around forever, always there to cause her fear, always there to inflict that same fear upon others. The most she had been hoping for was to stay out of his reach for the rest of her life, and to keep her cubs away from him as well. She had simply hoped that he had no idea where she was. She had never dreamed... that he would be beyond being able to touch her or her loved ones again.

"Dead?" she whispered, leaning into Taabu, as though made weak by the news (weak with relief, obviously). "I'd had no idea... Are you sure? Completely sure?" Before she could relax and truly believe it, she had to know. She had to know if this was fact rather than rumour. She had to know he really wasn't out there somewhere, waiting for the right moment to come after her, like he'd said he would, for whatever evil purposes he'd had in mind.

She pulled a smile onto her face, pushing her face deep into his dark mane to nuzzle gently at his neck, sighing softly into the long fur. "Do you have any suggestions... about how I might tell them? I don't want them to be too angry with me. I know they will be... how could they not? But... I hope not too much."