Miira padded along the grassland, eyes intense. Most animals had left the lioness alone, but her svelt form testified her capacity to hunt when she wanted. The adolescent flexed her claws, remembering her last meal, and licked her chops. Yes, she did rather like Antelope.
Humming happily, Kohpi padded back into the Matembezi lands. With the sun on her back, she was pleasantly warmed, though not too much. White did well to reflect heat, which it had proven to do her whole life. As she walked past a familiar rock grouping, she spotted another white form. At first considering it to be her sister from a distance, she soon ascertained that it was, in fact, her daughter. The brown hair was unmistakeable, for one thing... Pausing in her walking, she let out a roar of greeting.
Miira rose her head. Who in the name of the gods was out this far? The lioness rose, looking towards the source, and her ears pricked. At this distance, she was thankfully spared seeing into their eyes, stirring a vision, and she returned the call, standing stock still.
Heading over, Kohpi smiled to her daughter. "Miira!" There was no hesitation as she went up, grooming the younger lioness' ears. "Look at how big you've gotten... My little angel..." Though she called Miira an angel, smiling at such a nickname, she knew her daughter wasn't nearly as sugary-sweet as Kohpi herself was. She could see it in the way her daughter stood.
Miira blinked, letting her mother goom her, and smiled a bit, careful to avoid her eyes. Best not trouble her mother with visions of hell, after all. The lioness purred, rubbing against her mother warmly, happily. She missed her.
When she'd finished grooming Miira's ears, Kohpi sat back a bit. "Shotonin's told me about your visions, both the bad ones and the singing..." Tilting her head, the lioness tried to look her daughter eye-to-eye. "Come on, look me in the eye, Miira. Wether it's good or bad... Everything that's going to happen is nothing I can help..." She offered a smile. "If it's bad, well... Everybody will die at some point..."
Miira tensed, shaking her head.
"I can't, Mama. Everything I see is bad. I don't want to see more pain." She shivered. "I've seen enough in my life."
Her aunt's near-death.... The loss of Shupavu's love..... All ill, she'd seen. And it took a toll on her mental stability.
Giving her daughter a hug, Kohpi purred in her ear. "Miira... You live in fear of your own gift... If you fear it, you will only see the bad... Embrace it, accept it..." She smiled, giving her daughter a kiss-lick.
Miira leaned into her mother, shivering, terrified.
"It's all I've seen since I was born, Mama. Death, pain, and sorrow..." She whimpered. "It's not a gift, I'm cursed."
"And yet you dream of singing?" Gently, she prodded Miira with a paw. "That doesn't sound bad to ME. Besides, sometimes death is a good thing. If it's an evil lion, their death can be considered a blessing to all." Not that she believed anybody was evil, though.
Miira was quiet, whimpering.
"I don;t see it. Just hear it. Everything else- I see. I can't look at others. I can't." Miira shivered, laying down to huddle.
Letting out a rumble, Kohpi licked her daughter's ears. "Would you feel better, if you heard the singing? Not as something only you hear, but... Real singing..." She glanced to a spot in the distance, ears up. Even from there... She heard the light singing.
Miira's ears pricked, and she nodded slowly. "May I, Mama?"
That WAS what she was looking for....
"Of course!" Nudging Miira, Kohpi sat back to watch her daughter persue what she sought, what she heard. It made her heart swell with pride that Miira was looking beyond her bad visions.
Miira got up slowly, moving towards the direction her mother pushed her in. She hoped it was the end of her journey. She hadn't shown it, but she was weary. Homesick... And just plain lonely. A deep sigh, and the lioness moved toward the noise. If it was true... She could go home.
