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 Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:27 pm
Ainra had been out hunting for the entire morning and had finally managed to land a catch. So, now she was returning to the den with a hare between her jaws. The hare was for her sister.
Ainra had adopted the role of caretaker of cubs and new mother ever since their birth, but this was the first time she had ever managed to catch something. So she walked proudly, head up and ears forward.
She reached the den's entrance and dropped the hare to the ground at her paws. "Sis! You awake?"
Shisi's head jerked slightly as she heard her sister's loud voice echo through the cave, the small bodies at her side squirming and pressing closer to her from the disturbance. She curled around them a bit protectively, but let a small smile spread across her face none-the-less. Ainra was being a big help, and she likely wouldn't be able to do much without her, not being on her own like this and still so young.
"Yes, Ainra, I'm awake," she called back more quietly, peering at her sister through the darker interior of the cave. At her side, Ihkti squirmed, yelping until he found his way back to her belly to feed,and once they had all quieted again she relaxed. She hadn't realized they were going to be quite this tiring.
"I brought you breakfast...well....lunch. Sorry I was gone so long!" She picked up the hare and lowered her head, crawling into the safety of the den. She liked the den. It smelt of Shisi and cubs. The smell of newborns was wonderful. She never thought she'd tire of it, though their pure fur was slowly being ruined in the earth at the base of the den. Soon, the newborn smell would fade. Ainra knew she would miss it.
"So eat up. You'll need your strength." Her eyes floated back to the cubs. "Look how big they're getting already! It's only a few days and they're looking nice and round. You're going to have some good strong cubs there."
She smiled. "I bet their father was very handsome." She paused, wondered if she should go on. "Shisi, would you be mad if I asked about him? You've never...well...you've never really mentioned anything about him."
She smiled pleasantly as her sister dropped the hare in front of her, shaking her head at the apologies. "It's quite alright, Ainra, I don't expect you to run yourself ragged taking care of me." She gave her a nod of her head, eyes shining as she leaned down to nose the hare, "thank you very much though, I am starving."
She listened idley while her sister began to talk about the cubs. She often did that, and Shisi saw no need to respond, she'd likely just keep talking. She tore at the meat of the hare, eating her fill, only half-listening. Well, of course, until Ainra began to ask her about the father of the cubs.
Licking some of the hare's juices from her jaw, she picked her head up and settled her eyes upon her sister. For along moment, she simply watched her, judging her, trying to decide whether or not she should truly tell her. With a soft nod and sigh, she decided that she might as well. Ainra's curiosity always did get the best of her, and it was best to cure it now.
"He looked like Tituba," she said softly, reaching out to stroke a paw along the tiny red fem's spine, "her colors and markings are almost identical to her father." Then, she paused, stared at them, and quietly said what she had been keeping from her sister. "Only, he had great black wings, marked like the ones on Ihkti's back, and a horn atop his head."
Ainra stared back at her sister, almost sheepishly. Her ears dipped apologetically and she finally averted her eyes, looking at the meal Shisi had momentarily abandoned. Ainra wasn't too smart, but like all creatures she had instincts. Somehow she had known that she shouldn't ask about the father. If her sister had wanted her to know then she would have told her by now.
And then she met her eyes again, determined to put things right, to discard her last question and carry on her blabbering about how healthy and cute the cubs were.
And then her sister began to talk. Her eyes flicked to the cub and tried to imagine a nice big male lion with her colours.
Then her eyes snapped back to Shisi. Did she say wings...horn? What? She tilted her head curiously. "What do you mean, wings and horn, sis? I don't think a normal male should have those sorts of things. Tiruan didn't!" She had never really indulged her sister on what Tiruan had meant to her either. That she'd decided to take him as an adopted father of sorts. "Tiruan was just fluffy all around his face. That's all." She continued.
Shisi stared at her cubs, at the colors that marked them, so few recognizeable from her own family and the markings just as mysterious. They were a window into another world, her children, and although she knew this she also knew that it would perhaps take more than simple details to make Ainra realize it.
"That would be because their father was not a normal male," she said softly, a smirk spreading across her face as she recalled their meeting. "Tiruan, I'm sure, is a very fine lion, but their father is a god."
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:38 pm
"A god...like...magic and stuff?" Ainra blinked, disbelieving - odd considering she was the most imaginative of the two. And then the idea seemed to hit home and she smiled, eyes glittering.
"You chose a god for your mate?" She whispered in awe. "Oh Shisi! A god!" Pride swelled in her chest and then when she looked at the children lying there, so close, she felt a whole new respect for them.
They were the children of a God! And her sister was mated to him!! "I'd love to meet him, Shisi! Where did he go? Does he know he has children? What sort of magic does he have? Can he fly? Could he carry me into the sky, do you think?" The questions flowed faster and faster. Yes, she was completely carried away.
"Yes, like magic stuff," she said amusedly, as she watched her sister try to come to terms with what was in her head. Of course, then she heard what her sister was starting to imply, and she simply shook her head once more.
"He's not my mate, Ainra," she said sternly, shifting slightly so she could look up at her sister better. "It was.. only a one time thing," she hesitated on it, although she didn't know how to explain it. "He doesn't know he has cubs, and it is better that way, as I plan on never seeing him again."
She shrugged her shoulders, as if it were no big deal, and looked upon the little bundles of fur at her side. "I wanted cubs, strong cubs, smart cubs, and he had the means to give them to me."
Not her mate? So then that was why he wasn't here and that was why she had never mentioned him. And the poor god didn't even realise he had cubs.
It was so sad.
"But Tiruan said...he said that a male had to be the best he can be so that he can beat all the other males at winning a girl's heart..." This wasn't the way it was supposed to be was it? After a girl chose a boy, weren't they supposed to stay together forever and be happy families?
"Why did you want cubs with a male you didn't love, Sissy?" She asked curiously.
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:52 pm
"Sometimes females choose mates, sometimes they don't, Ainra. Mother never had a male, did she? We never had a father." It was really not something she was unfamiliar with, and the concept was not strange at all to her. It never had been. Families could have two parents or they could have one. Simple as that.
She shrugged at her sister's questions, although she was beginning to look vaguely irritable with them. "I wanted cubs, Ainra, not a mate. I wanted cubs, not a male, cubs that will grow up to be big and strong and help me when I need them."
"I know but..." Daddy. Her own father. What was he like? Did she look like him? Would he recognise her if she saw him? Probably not. But that didn't bother her. She did have a daddy. Maybe not a true one, as she would have preferred, but Tiruan had taught her things and she had taught him in return.
He had taught her that everyone grew up eventually.
And she had taught him to play.
"Help you? Like the way I help you now?" She gestured towards the food. "Are you going to start your own pride, Sis?"
She was pleased that Ainra changed the line of questions she was using and stopped talking to her abou tthe father, about Dath. She busied herself, for the moment, with cleaning her cubs and let a silence fall over them until her sister spoke once more.
"Sort of," she said softly, smiling at her sister, again, though she was more or less trying to figure out how to approach explaining it to her. "I want to help people, and I need a lot of strong lions to do that."
The silence gave Ainra time to digest all this information. On one paw, it was sad, sad that Shisi hadn't found love in the God. However, on the other paw, there certainly was some good come out of the short lived relationship. The cubs.
It also gave her time to consider the facts about gods and the fact that they really did exist outside of her dreams.
She also thought about Tiruan and how she wished he was with them right now.
And then Shisi spoke again and she lifted her ears, somewhat cautious of what she would hear next. But her sister's words were good ones and they brought a wide smile on Ainra's maw.
"I want to help people too!" She squeaked. "And if the cubs can help you help people then that makes them even more special! Can I help you help people too, sissy?" She curled her toes excitedly. "I'd do anything to help. I'll help hunt and feed the cubs and if I find a nice male and maybe have cubs of my own, they can help too!" She was buzzing again.
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:10 pm
She turned her face farther towards her cubs, unable to hide the amused smile from her sister any longer. The female truly was adorable. She knew very little of what her sister wanted to do, and yet she was willing to follow her to the end of the world. Blood was thicker than water.
"I need help raising the cubs, and I know you will always be there to help me with them, and help me hunt when I'm too busy," she said with a little purr on her voice. Then, with a little smirk and a quirk of her brow, "although a few cousins for them would not hurt anything of course." She made it a half-joke, a tease, but there was a fire in her eyes.
Ainra did adore her sister. She would have stepped off the edge of the world if she thought it would make her happy. Yes, blood was thicker than water. She'd protect her sister and her nieces and nephews in every way possible. Yes, she wasn't a fighter, but who knows what might happen if someone threatened the ones she loved.
She continued smiling, nodding in complete agreement, glad that she'd been accepted to help in raising the children.
She giggled then at her suggestive comment. "Then I'll keep my eye out for a male too." She chirped merrily. Then our little helper pride can grow and grow!" She didn't ask what they'd be helping with, or anything like that. Help was generally a good word so the details mattered little to Ainra.
"Maybe I can choose a God too! But if not, I'll try and pick the biggest, strongest male! Then the cubs would grow to be big and strong too!" She purred then yawned.
"Do you mind if I take a nap?" She blinked. "Hunting and thinking makes me tired." She laughed.
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 12:00 pm
"Indeed it can," she said pleasantly at her sister's enthusiasm over their growing pride. She glanced to the den entrance once, wondering where their leopardess companion had wandered off to, but quickly let her attention fall back upon her sister as she mentioned finding a god too. A slow smile curled her maw at this and she couldn't help her own amusement. "Indeed, and then our helper pride would be very strong." Her sister did have wonderful ideas, even if it seemed she came upon them more accidentally than on purpose.
At Ainra's suggestion, she simply nodded, laying her own head down upon the earth of the den floor. "I think a nap sounds delightful. The cubs tire me out too." She let her smile fade slightly until it was just a glimmer, then allowed her eyes to drift closed. It was peaceful, for now.
Not realising the extent of her idea, or even thinking that it might happen, Ainra smiled and lay her head on her paws, glancing her sister through closing eyelids. Then with a deep, long sigh she let her eyes fall closed, trying to turn her mind to other things.
To home...to pastures familiar and comforting.
"Goodnight Sis." She whispered and within moments she was off in dream land.
fin~
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