Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tarnished golden eyes stared out at the sea, almost hauntingly as she remembered the good and bad about her life all in one go. It was hard to believe that she was here, standing by the sea with all of her children ready to become adults in the eyes of the pride. It was what every parent wanted to see their children do in their lives.

With how her life had been going before she came back to Kota, Khepri was suprised that she was even able to see this. It felt as if her heart would swell up and break at the thought of not having been allowed to see it. However Khepri had been brought up on harsher sands than any of the lions around her and her feelings didn't reach her gruff features until Kota nuzzled the side of her head.

A soft smile spread over Khepri's muzzle and she licked the side of Kota's ear. He was the only lion she'd met that was about her size and she was still a little taller than her coal black mate.

As red as his mother and as black as his father, Isitini was sitting a little further distance away from the rather large grouping of his family. It felt odd to imagine that all of them were members of the pride who's lands they were standing on except for him. The feeling made the heart in his big red chest tighten down just a bit. But he soothed it a tad when he thought of Sioda. It took him a second to hide the grin from his face, but the silent lion watched as his younger siblings proved themselves in the eyes of the pride. It almost made him want to grin with pride for how young they were.

Probably the most boistrous of all the young females ready to run into the waves, Artemis was bouncing on her red paws, excited and wiggling with the opportunity to find fish or maybe more in the water. She was always hunting and her father and mother often treated their smallest daughter as if she were so breakable that she wouldn't be able to hunt in the waters that called to her bones. Her red toes curled in the water and the bright coal eyes sparkled as she saw what looked like the tail of a fish splash in the water not too far off. She could have swam out that far if her parents had believed in her, if Poseidon had believed in her.

Artemis jittered for the chance to prove that she was a good hunter, that she was just as strong as anyone in her family was.

Tyche was one of the first out by the water with Poseidon. This was so exciting! They finally got to prove themselves to the world (or their world, really, in the pride of the Bahari) by this act. She had, many times, been in the water when the waves began to get a bit violent. That gave her an advantage, such as it was.

But she glanced at her sister Aphrodite, and knew her brown sibling's fears at once. The other was not so keen on the water. That was a bit of a curse to be afraid of water in a water-based pride. If she could, Tyche would help her sister. Even if they entwined their tails together once under the water, perhaps knowing that she and their other siblings were here with her would help Aphrodite.

So she gently nudged her sister when she came up beside them, smiling in reassurance.

Poseidon moved up to Aphrodite and nudged her gently, leaning his shoulder against his chocolate and pink sister he gives a wink "Jus' stay by me lassy" He whispers, fixing his paws to the sands and using himself as a bollard almost, something that his sister could use as a float even if she was too frightened. The water washed up around his legs and he took a deep breath, he was excited, nervous, joyful, this was his rites and as the water washed around his legs, he knew soon he would be a guard just like his dad and brothers. It was a proud moment and he smiled broadly to each of his siblings without glancing back at their parents, the future was before him, the future was the sea coming towards them.

The big black lion on the beach tenses slightly, he hoped each of his children would be okay, they would look out for one another but even though this was one of his proudest times, he was afraid. He was ready to run to the waters and save any of his cubs from the waves if the sea should try and sweep them away. He chuckles slightly, they weren't cubs any more, they had grown up so fast he almost forgot they were about to become adults in the eyes of the pride.

Watching his younger smaller siblings as the waves started to hurl at their bodies, the big black and red male gave a sigh. It was good to see them all together, taking the journey to adulthood as one. His little brother and sisters weren't so little any more.

All this attention from her family made Aphrodite feel very, very small. She didn't it, she didn't need to go into the water. Pink orbs glanced at each member, knowing that their concerns were well-founded, but she had hoped that this day would never come. Silently wishing that this was all just a bad dream, she gave her family members a small, nervous smile as she watched them go closer to the shoreline while she stayed put.

She was silently combating with herself. Ashamed, she thought of what Kiburi would say if she saw her best friend scared stiff? Embarrassment flushed across her face as she tentatively took one step forward and then another. Each step towards the shoreline and where her siblings were made her heart beat faster and faster. If she wasn't going to die of a heart attack she was going to die drowning! All the worst things that could possibly happen were floating through her mind at this very moment.

It was all just making her more nervous as she was close enough to the shoreline that the water was almost touching her toes. She was going to die. She was going to die. She IS going to die! She cried out silently inside her head as her fear was starting to take over.

She was practically wriggling to jump into the water, but knew that they as a family had to convince Aphrodite that everything would be okay. The sea was a family friend and protector, but though being dangerous, the sea was ever present and would never betray them. Eurydice was a strong believer that their sea-faring family would never be betrayed by the sea, and it saddened her to know that one of her sisters were frightened of it.

Turning, she smiled at her sister. "Aphrodite, don' ye worry aught! The sea, it be our friend! Ye know that us'n will be in eet wit' ye. Come now, it canna 'urt ye while Pa and Ma are 'ere, and ye got us'n wit' ye, too, o' course!" She tried her best to encourage her worried sister, since Aphrodite's fear was becoming ever present.

Eurydice herself could be said to be in love with the sea, much like her sister Artemis. However, her family always came first, and now she wished with all her might that she could do something to ease Aphrodite's fear. She didn't like the fact that her sister was so scared, and she wanted to do something to help... but what?

Her eyebrows pulled together, but Khepri nodded her head at her large mate and slumped her shoulders slightly. Of course she knew that her babies had to become adults in the eyes of the pride, but it still hurt to see Aphrodite so afraid of the water when she understood how she felt and it hurt to know that they wouldn't be her babies anymore. They'd be adults.

It left a lump in her throat and a tiny hole in her heart that her children would be all grown up and running around on their own without their parents help. Without her. It was the way things were though, all her babies had to grow up and learn that their mother was just their mother. Khepri couldn't keep her large paws on them forever, it would crush her little ones. Sighing heavily she flopped on Kota's paws and curled her toes in the sand as she watched them.


Dark eyes glanced at the sudden appearance of his littermate. Isitini turned his head to glance at the larger lion and chuckled in his dark chest. His ebony mane fluffed out around his head and the lion nodded his head. "Ah'm proud of 'em. Ah'll tell stories for 'em for years."

Another chuckle pulled from him at the mention of swimming. He loved to swim. Loved it as much as he loved his family, but he wasn't that much of one for crowds or demonstrative gestures. Isitini was more of one to roll on his back and stare at the waves all day long to learn stories. Like the waves whispered to him.

"Ah'll go swimmin' wi'h ye if ye wan'." Isitini grinned almost wickedly at his larger brother.

Anchor? What anchor? There were only bouyes! Artemis flung herself at the waves up to her elbows, her tail thrashing out behind her and her eyes dancing like the waves themselves. She was dying to float, to swim, to dive. TO FISH!

A fish darted by her in the undertow and her paw struck out playfully, a bubbly giggle flying from her muzzle and flitting across the distance. Her whole tiny body was writhing with utter joy for the ocean and she couldn't get in fast enough for her heart to be happy, her siblings were almost holding her back at this point. Artemis would be over her ears now in the water, in fact she was dying to be.

She wasn't sure if she should continue to help her sister. Of course, the entire family was offering their support and while she knew that Aphrodite appreciated all the concern and encouragement, Tyche couldn't help but think that it still wasn't doing much. In her ways, her pink sister could be mighty stubborn.

"Remembah when I tricked you into comin' into the water to save me?" She asked her frightened sister. That had been so long ago, hadn't it? When they had been cubs? The sudden realization that they were now going to be considered adults almost made Tyche stop in her tracks, even though the rising waters were floating her closer and closer to the open sea and farther away from shore.

The red and black lioness swam eagerly towards her other siblings, the girls and the one brother, in order to not be left behind and to fully enjoy being in the salty waters. Through danger and peace, this ocean was always there for their pride.