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 Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:37 pm
It was the job of a leader to walk her lands and check up on everyone within it, which was exactly what Senatla set out to do. Her cubs, to her knowledge, were safe in the den or spending time with either their Aunts or father, so she was taking her time. It was a secret shame, but it was also relaxing to be away for a while. Ziba unnerved her to no end with the strange things she says, feeling like a bad mother, Sen took the time she could away from the cubs to keep her mind together.
Right now, she was standing in the jungle, ears up and eyes sharply forward as she watched the roguelands just beyond the broader. It wasn't threats that she was looking for, but new lions to befriend and the past. She was remembering what her life was when she traveled as a rogue lioness. All the places she had seen on and the trouble she had gone through.
There was more, she was missing her sons and daughters from her first litter. They were all out seeking besides Hadaya, even with a full den again, she still felt the worry and longing for her other cubs as well.
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:56 am
Where did momma go when they napped? That was the current mystery wandering through Saharan's young mind. Was it some special place she couldn't take them to? Maybe she went out into that tall grass she'd seen before...or maybe past the big rocks on the beach! The little cub watched from the back of the den as her mother left, and then waited. When she assumed it was safe, she wriggled free of her snoozing siblings and crept out of the hole. Which way had momma gone? She sniffed at the sand, frowning when some of the grains stuck to her nose. But she got a bit of an idea where to go.
'I knew it,' she thought to herself. 'Momma's going out in that long grass I bet!' She waddled into the jungle, not too concerned about hiding herself, her small stature and the large plants handling that for her. Of course the plants also rustled about...she made sure to do her best to be quiet. At least until she saw where momma was, she didn't want to get caught.
At last she spotted her mom, staring out at those grasses. Was there something there? She tried to get around to be looking from the angle mom was looking from, but she still couldn't see. Maybe if she got closer....Eventually the little cub ended up smacks between her mother's front paws. "What are we looking at, Mom?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:59 pm
Picturing the land beyond the borders, she was deep in thought. It didn’t excuse her for not noticing her young cub had followed her. Perhaps to make it better or worse, her guard had dropped a lot as she became accustom to this safer life, not a good thing by a long shot. For whatever reason, it still happened. Tensing a moment, the startled huntress looked down at the form of her little red and white cub. Rather then be angry that she was followed, reflection did her no good, she just leaned her head down to nuzzle the little girl a bit and then looked back, her head still low near her daughter’s level. “We are looking at the rogue lands; this is the border between our pride lands, and the beyond.” It was a great teaching opportunity and she planned to take advantage of it. Raising her head to spare her shoulders and neck the pain, she thought of the figures she was looking for.
She and Thili spoke often of her first litter, thought her sons and daughters of that litter were referred to as simply big brothers and sisters, no half was used. Same with Hadaya, he was their brother, not adopted brother but the same as a full blooded member of the family. “I come here to keep watch for your big brothers and sisters, they will return with great stories and knowledge that they have gathered from their journey.” A journey that little Saharan and her litter mates will one day undertake themselves, though she worried more than normal about Ziba, everyone else she was confident would be ready. It was hers and Thili’s job as well as the whole prides to make sure they were ready.
A word of warning, now that the line they couldn’t cross was laying just feet from them as illustration, “The rogueland has many wonders, Saharan, but many dangers. Until you are older, this is as far as close as you can get to the roguelands outside of stories.” There will always be a part of her that will want to stick them in a whole in the ground and care for them there where they couldn’t leave and would always be safe from harm. It wasn’t a fair thought, just her being selfish and just a hair controlling. It never gets easy, but at least she knew this litter would have an easier time, hopefully never running into hyena. That was another unfair thought that she guarded closely as to no prejudice her cubs based on her own bad experience.
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:01 pm
Saharan stretched up the tiniest bit to meet her mother's nuzzle, her ears perking in pleasure though her stoic look didn't change. Eager to learn, she sat at attention, looking up when Mother spoke, and out again to think. The rogue lands. Given the name, she assumed it was where those creatures with no pride lived. She felt a twinge for them, having no place to call home, but didn't let herself linger much on the thought. If she'd been born there, she likely wouldn't miss anything. You couldn't miss what you'd never had.
She often wished she could learn more about her otehr siblings. Never having seen them, she often imagined to herself. Hadaya was one, of course, and she'd never imagined he was anything but her true brother. Given his color, she usually thougth her other siblings would look like him, more yellow and orange than red or black. Nevermind that those colros wouldn't make sense if they were really her parents' children.
She nodded understandingly at her mother's warning. She did want to see those lands...but not yet. This place was still too new, too ful of interesting things. "Have you seen many wonders, Mom?" She culdn't imagine what might be out there. More oceans? Bigger trees?
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Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:09 pm
Remembering her cubhood, she thought about the wonders she had seen. There were a lot of good times, and a lot of bad. Focusing on what she wanted to teach her daughter, she had to go over what she was going to say ahead of time. Prejudges could not be passed on; she'd work her hardest to keep her mistrust to herself.
"I have, darling." Soft violet eyes dropped down to her precious daughter and she completed her thought, "I was born there. I lost my mother and aunt out there, wondered away and never found my way back to them. I have lost what little I could catch to..scavengers." Live was not easy out there, her personal experiences might serve to help keep her point in, no going until you are ready.
Now with the heavier stuff out of the way, she looked back up picturing what she had seen, "I have seen endless flat plane with golden grass that after a rainstorm seems to turn green overnight. I saw snow once; it is white fluffy stuff that is colder than anything you could imagine." That wasn't a hit on her imagination, just speaking of experience. "There is enough beach from here onward, that it takes three days to walk through the three prides nearer, including the Bahari'mtoto, the pride your big brothers and sisters spent a good amount of their cubhood there before we moved as a family."
Looking back, she thought about the journey, and about the life her cubs knew, "There is no body of water bigger than the Great Ocean behind us, but there are large bodies of water, none of it is salty out there. There are elephants, giants whose gray trunks could touch all of the tall trees here mid way. Giraffes can reach the top of every tree here. There is so much more I haven't seen." What would her daughter find? What information would she and her siblings bring back when they go Seeking. Story telling was a bit more difficult when you are jumping around to avoid statments that didn't need to be heard by innoncent ears.
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:09 pm
Saharan listened well to her mother's words. She knew one day she would have to go out there. For a quest for the pride, and for her own desire to learn and see beyond her pride's boundaries. She was glad, in a way, that her mother was honest with her about her losses to the wilds, though some part of her wanted it to stay as her childish mind had imagined-a place only for fun and discovery. Better to be disappointed now than hurt later.
"What are they like? My siblings, I mean. I'd like to meet them..." She thought of Hadaya then. In her mind he was fully her big brother. What else would he have been? "Will they come back soon?" She also had begun to wonder why Hadaya hadn't gone. Maybe he had, and had already made it back..."Where do you think they went, mother?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 9:07 am
Her first born pride gave her such pleasure to raise and she thought very fondly on them. It was a shame they were gone right now, but she knew in her heart they would be back. "Your big brothers and sisters were all very good cubs, each unique in their own ways. Kanji wanted to go off on his own almost immediately after he was born. Blind and hungry the silly little one was off." It happened in the roguelands of all places and understandably drove her mad. Now, time had eased her fears and she could at least talk about it easier.
"Asphamet, the only one to have spot markings like your aunt," its no wonder where the cubs got that Hadaya was their brother through and through, she was the same way with Kamara even if they were not of blood. "He was always mature beyond his years, miss out on a lot of playing because of it, and a very late waker. But he is a strong thinker, and one to stay around family." Kanji she wasn't so sure he'd come back, well, at least not any time soon. Asphamet on the other paw, there was more hope that he'd find his way home.
There was one she knew without a shadow of a doubt that would come back, was the one that never had any doubts himself. "Sewelo is a big cub at heart, fierce as can be even when he was tiny. As a cub just a bit bigger then yourself, Saharan, he tried to not only attack your father, but Uncle Jethro as well." The grin could not stop, remembering that event just made her laugh, it was adorable. "They let him win; it was all in play after all. He has a very unique way of looking at the world but even grown up, I know he'll still be the same, a true playmate for his little siblings when he comes back." She knew this because she knew how he was, if he had changed at all, she'd be shocked out of her fur.
Motsu had both been the sweetest cub, and the most troublesome one of them all. That fight with Sewelo aged her two years at the least! "Motsu is a little creator, crafting was his ambition when he left. I think he'll find someone to study under then come back when he has learned enough. He was certainly one to do things to make others smile, and very gentle." After the fight that was, that was something she never wanted her cubs to know, ever. Brought her to worrying about Ziba again, the cub seemed to know things, things she shouldn't be able to know. It was freaky and a cause for concern should she actually see the past.
Now for the sadder side of things, "Your big sister, Sare'nafsi, is a free spirit completely, always happy so long as she was up a tree. Her talent for climbing surpassed what I can do and even what all of your other big siblings could. That would likely be because she just practiced more, spent a lot of time with leopards to learn." Eventually she might have to explain that they were half leopards themselves, but thinking of their big siblings as half siblings wasn't what she thought to be a good thing for the young cubs of hers, "Your other sister, Khozama, well that red rose was a romantic, if she doesn't come back it would because she found someone that she fell in love with and chose to stay with them." It could be the same for her other daughter, she wasn't sure but thinking on it too much would only bring her pain.
Now the return, it was something she was anxious about as well, "They'll come back when they are ready; each went out to explore and to learn to do what they want to do for the pride. I think they will be back soon though, at least Sewelo and Asphamet, Motsu not too long after. They already knew what they wanted to do for the pride, the others will discover themselves and their goals then come home." Her confidence on it was a little shaky, especially with her daughters and third son.
Tilting her head and looking out to the roguelands, she wondered, "I am sure they each went their own way, likely Sewelo stayed closer to the pride lands then the others. Your father's stories of the jungles where he grew up fascinated them. While we live in a jungle like area, it’s not the same. Perhaps they went to search out places we told them about, learning more about other prides and making friends. I know they didn't go too far north, we told them explicitly to avoid the red sands." The firekin, a name she was taught to fear and avoid. It was an old lesson, but one that had stuck with her. In the same token, she wondered if they were really that bad or just a failed horror made up by her mother and aunt to keep her from running away. Back in those days she had wanted to turn back, her daddy was back there but they told her the red sands killed him, the firekin did. Thank the Oceans her own cubs never had to deal with that. They'd never know their grandparents and great aunt, but she didn't expect that to be any sort of burden on them.
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