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 Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 1:32 pm
"Are you certain we're headed the right way?" -She whispered softly to her coconspirator as they drew further into their old homeland. True.. noone had stopped them yet.. far more interested in the more visibly dangerous interlopers. But she was a worrier... Even if the plan the two had plotted appeared less dangerous then their fellow Dhati members tasks... it wasn't unlikely one or both of the lioness would end up with their blood coating the ground they'd once called home.
What they were doing... it was an act of war and strategy, logical and devious. And yet.. in her mind she twisted the tendrils to something else. To her.. she'd call it an act of mercy. A way to strengthen their side AND protect the young that were caught up in a battle they did not deserve.
Paws only a step or two behind the old minder, her friend and compatriot, she moved along in quiet determination.-
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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:42 pm
 Vunjika knew she wasn't a fighter. She was old, much older than those young Warriors of the Mizimu'Tungika. She knew she wasn't capable enough to fight them, for she had tended to some of them when they were young. They had been trained by Sakata, and while she did not think highly of him, she knew his prowess as the Warleader was not to be underestimated.
Priyasha and her knew this, and they had sat together and talked, planning their next move. They were no warriors. And so, there was another way to help the Dhati.
The both of them had saw, with their very own eyes, the anger that had flashed through Sakata's as his cub was put into danger. His royal cub. Vunjika had bit back a laugh as she saw this. Those were the only ones he cared about. He had never been as protective of his oldest daughter before. But they had also seen this as a weakness.
They could very well exploit this weakness, and protect the cubs of the Mizimu from the bloodshed. "Yes." She answered as they wove through the familiar lands of her old pride. Hopefully, this plan would work.
The dark lioness entered the Minder haven she was looking for, only glancing backwards once to make sure Priyasha was still following.
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:07 am
-The scents of a land once familar wafted through the lioness' senses with a wave of cold nostalgia, and she tried to brush away the memories that placed the two of them walking throughout these same lands, though much younger. Young paws going to meet with Vunjika in this very place.. Vunjika and her beautiful beautiful babies.... Warm tears touched the edge of the tender old lioness' eyes, but they were willed away long before they could trickle downward.
It was for her children that she'd left in the first place. For her sins against them and against the spirits. It was not a time to be distracted, not if they hoped to succeed.
Her paws drew her into the mostly secretive cavern, the one she was sure would be filled with Mimizu youth tucked away for their protection. She could only hope that they wouldn't be too well guarded... and that her and Vunjika's lies would be believable enough to the.. probably already on edge minder in charge. It was a good plan.. a good plan. Just get the children safely back to the Dhati.. and watch as the Mizimu fell when they realized their loss.-
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:25 am
Vunjika too, remembered this place. How could she not? She had not left for very long, and her memory did not fail her.
Her blue eyes sought out the Minder in charge. She knew most of them, and hopefully the one here was one whose name she knew, at least. It would make things easier, make the bluff easier. But then, it also came down to disposing of the Minder... but her jaw set. There had to be sacrifices. Wasn't that always how the Mizimu worked? Sacrifice the bright pelted so the spirits would be pleased with their pride and bless them? She was only learning from what the pride had taught her, what she had went on to teach the young cubs put under her care.
Perhaps she had taught them far too well. Some of them, at least. The stubborn ones, especially. It did not matter.
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 6:01 am
 Yuusa slowly lifted her head when the first faint echoes of paws against sand and stone reached her ears, but it was a half-hearted gesture. Ever since the stolen Royal Sacrifice had been returned, Yuusa had felt herself growing more and more distant in mind and heart.
Not that she wasn't infinitely glad to know that the precious little one was safe and unharmed back with it's family, but... it had also meant that her last chance, her very last opportunity to meet with her wayward sister had irrevocably been lost - and as the looming threat of war finally erupted, Yuusa had bit back everything. Her regret, her impotent rage, and her grief. None of it mattered anymore, and could make no difference.
Maybe she could have done things differently, tried harder to find and convince Skugga to come back. Or maybe she could have taken the opportunity to attack her dark sister the last time they met. It might have been an act fuelled by rage and despair, but at least, if the spirits had allowed her to prevail, she would not have had to worry about if Skugga would be killed in a manner that would damn her spirit forever.
But time was up now, and there was nothing more that she could do. Only pray, and she didn't even know what she truly wanted to pray for, anymore. She had swallowed back everything and told herself to entrust everything to the spirits, and meekly accepted to act as temporary Minder while everyone who had more combat experience than her were sent out to war.
Her heart hadn't been in it, though, and the children had felt it. They were restless and anxious, and quite a few of them, especially the slightly bigger juveniles, had been quite grumpy about not being allowed to go to war alongside the adults. The atmosphere in the cave had been edgy at best, but had finally quietened down to the mind-numbing lull that was the embodiment of boredom.
So when the two dark-pelted shapes entered the cavern, quite a few of the cubs jumped to their feet, eager for someone not quite as boring to play with, or possibly some news from the war, but Yuusa inhaled sharply and shot to her feet. The deadening mist inside her head dispersed in an instant, and she barked out a warning that halted the young ones in confusion.
"Stay back!"
She knew these lions. And what more, she knew that they had left the Mizimu. Every protective instinct that she thought she had suppressed came flooding back, and she quickly placed herself between the two newcomers and the children, tail swishing agitatedly, heart suddenly thrumming in her chest.
"Vunjika." She remembered the conversation she had had with the elderly Minder - no, ex-Minder now, wasn't it? - only weeks ago, and her brow creased in nervous anger. "What are you doing here?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 7:41 am
-Thing seemed well enough, no guards or warriors were seen outside or now even inside the cavern. Foolish.
This didn't stop the muscles in her shoulders tensing at the sudden rise and reaction of... what was this? Not a minder at all.. but a sacrifice? Well.. atleast she could give thanks that they hadn't murdered every sacrifice old enough to slaughter in hopes of a war advantage, something Priyasha had feared very heavily the closer the two prides drew to conflict.
She stopped in her spot, tail lounging gently beneath her legs, head bowed softly as a sound all too motherly croaned softly from her voice.- "Shhhh.... it's alright. We mean no harm at all."
-Her body stayed still, waiting, hoping the ivory lioness' own body would begin to calm. Adding in another soft hush.- "We wouldn't dare harm the children. We bring warning of those who would though." -He for one was unpleased to be cooped up this cavern for yet another day. He'd long ago began to ignore the soft twinges of hunger pains, but it was harder to ignore the boredom, the frusteration, and the complete helplessness that racked through his young body.
He'd failed to protect his sister... and now she would forever carry a mark to remind him of that fact. And now the whole pride was at stake too? He found it hard to swallow the few voices that tried to comfort him. Sure.. he couldn't do much.. but if it was his destiny to die anyway.. wouldn't the spirits have appreciated it in defense of their honor and pride?
Palak sighed, eyeing the other children, and the walls unhappily as the day passed. When the intrusion occured, he too lifted to his feet, ears and lips drawing back in what he only wished looked intimidating.
Wait a second.. he knew her. Knew them both. A minder and the nice lady he'd played with one time when he was a cub. W.. why was Yuusa so upset? He peered curiously at the whole situation from a few paces behind the large ivory lioness.-
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 6:52 pm
Something in the air stirred Ramla from her fitful sleep. The youth cracked open one of her dark teal eyes-- the right eye stayed partly shut, swollen and sewn together sickly by melded flesh and the ever faint remnants of scab. Her body faced the rocky wall, as she had intended when she'd gone to sleep. She didn't want anyone to see her face too much. If she faced the wall, they wouldn't see. They wouldn't see it....
She thought, was it bad? Did it look bad? Did it look gross? What color was it? Ramla wanted to know. But she dared not look at herself. And she dared not question others about it. She'd rather stay away from everyone, hiding, wondering with sick curiosity all the while as to the fate of her badly damaged face.
The sudden tension in the air and the clambering of the others made Ramla peer hesitantly over her shoulder to see what was going on, flashes of the attack on her and her brother flitting through her mind. Her eye-and-a-half caught sight of two females. She listened to their words, heard the motherly murmuring of the familiar faces. Clearly something was wrong, because Yuusa looked scary. For an instant she tore her gaze away to seek out her brother. But no, she wouldn't...call him...how could she? What would he do? The gray juvenile looked away and licked the right side of her lips--tears of flesh missing by her fang, drying it out quickly all the time. She didn't like that. She didn't like the feeling. There was supposed to be skin there. And now it was going to get worse because of these bad ladies, she just knew it! She didn't want that, she didn't want that...!
Gone was the fearless heart of the young girl who was too naive or perhaps too distracted by her own imagination to pay attention to what was known as "reality." Bad things happened. And Ramla never wanted them to happen again.
With a soft groan, the little lioness rolled back over, cradling her ripped face with her slender arms in an attempt to hide from the situation.
Or perhaps it was to hide something else.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:49 am
"Yuusa." Vunjika spoke, her light blue eyes locked with the younger lioness's own darker ones. For a moment, she stepped forward as if to draw closer, and tell her that she had seen Skugga, seen her sister, and she was alive and well. Perhaps it would help to lower Yuusa's guard, but it would remind her that they were all of the Dhati now. Traitors. She decided against it and shook her head, remaining in the same position as she was. "We wouldn't dare harm the children, indeed." She repeated. "Perhaps I scolded them more harshly than they thought was acceptable before. You know I did all that for their own good." There was a pause, as if Vunjika was reluctant to admit what she was about to speak next. "I still care." It was blunt and short; Vunjika had never liked to be so affectionate.
"We know the Dhati are planning an attack. They want to kill everyone." She certainly wouldn't put it past the King to do so, to take out his rage that he had thought his Queen dead on the Mizimu'Tungika. "The children need to be safe, Yuusa. I cannot stand by the Dhati and see them slaughter the young ones." She barely glanced over the cubs behind Yuusa, only appraising them for a small while before her gaze flickered back to Yuusa.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 10:22 am
The soothing, hushing sounds that the older lioness made did indeed affect Yuusa, if only visible in the way that her tail slowed to a more contemplative pace. Her clear blue eyes, however, did not for a moment stop flicking between the two ex-Minders, even if they rested a little more often on Vunjika.
She listened carefully to the silver-patterned Lioness' words, her ears lowering uncertainly though her frown never faded.
"I know... that you left us," she carefully began, keeping one ear on the young behind her, alert for any sudden movement. "I know you joined... them. The rebels. The Dhati." She was so focused on the situation at hand, she didn't even notice how the mention of the rebel pride actually did not, for the first time, bring up the memories, the shame and worry about Skugga. All that mattered at this time were the cubs, the little lives that she had been entrusted with, and she found herself almost unwittingly measuring her own lithe form against the two older lionesses. Could she prevail, if they attacked her? The scratches that the spidery Dhati lion had carved on her might be all but healed now, but the memory of how close she had come to serious injury, or worse, was still very intimidating. She was not, and had never been, a fighter.
"Are you saying that you have returned to the Mizimu'Tungika again? That you have walked away from the Dhati?" Her ears lowered a little further as suspicion crept into her stance. "I'm not sure I believe that."
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:21 pm
-Perhaps another would have debated lying, perhaps even the lioness beside her, but Priyasha spoke up with.. truth. It was truth.. even if information was being omitted. They needed to be believed, to be convincing. And she hardly imagined them lying about switching sides again would be easily swallowed. Oh no.. better to keep it true.
Her head shoke, her eyes sincere, insisting softly.- "I have not left, I doubt I would be accepted back anyway. But just as I left the Mizimu because I could no longer stand for certain things.. I now as well will not stand for things I do not agree with in the Dhati."
"The slaughter of innocent children is clearly as wrong as the slaughter of innocent sacrifices" -She added, softer, but still quite purposefully loud enough for atleast some of the children to hear. Perhaps if they were frightened.. perhaps that would help sway their babysitter.
When she finally changed her position, she shifted upwards slightly, chest puffing out gently.- "I'm willing to take the punishment should the Dhati find out of my betrayal, but I cannot stand idlely by and watch them hurt the young." -There.. her plea of passion. If it did not work.. well then she pray Vunjika's sensibilities might.-
-DHATI! His ears drew back again, listening to the flood of words from all sides. His eyes sought out the bodies of his siblings. He wasn't sure what he was hearing.. but he one thing. He didn't like the sounds of it at all. Leave or die? Go with traitors? If only he was bigger... stronger...-
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:37 pm
...Slaughter?
Ramla turned her head once again, seeming more frightened than before. Dhati or the two faces she knew, someone was going to hurt them. She had been trying so hard to smother the idea of potential conflict, but she couldn't ignore her fear anymore. The hair on her back bristled and she coiled up against the wall of the cavern. Her claws stretched out, stomach turning at the memory of the sharp, tiny things ripping through the flesh of the dark male who attacked her. She would use them again if she had to, pathetically weak as she was. She wouldn't let them make her face worse. It was bad, she knew it was bad. She wanted to hide it, hide others from it. She was tired of feeling sick and her face hurting and having to lick her lips all the time and not being able to open her eye good, and seeing her brother look at her like...he was sad...she didn't want any more of it. And if those two lionesses were going to make things really bad, she would fight with what little strength she had.
It was then with horrified gape that Ramla realized she had just thought, maybe they'd kill her quick so she wouldn't feel any pain?
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:36 pm
"I have not returned to the Mizimu'Tungika." Vunjika said, head held high. "It was always my choice to leave, though my reason is perhaps much different than the others. You know who I tire of." This was true, for it also was the main argument that Shinda had brought up when they were discussing about this, why leave to join the traitors when she was not as against to how the Mizimu treated Sacrifices, which was what they only cared about. "But I am, and always will be, a Minder. I know I am not one to serve the Dhati as a hunter or warrior. I tolerate their plans to battle with the Mizimu. But I do not tolerate the killing of innocent lives."
She then lowered her head again, ears twitching at the sound of the cubs' movements. "Will you stay or die, little ones?" She asked, now addressing the cubs. Perhaps they knew her only by catching glimpses of her minding other cubs, or perhaps they had been taught by her before. Either way, they would know that she had been one strict Minder, and not one to trifle with.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:10 am
Yuusa's tail began swishing again as the two ex-Minders openly admitted their allegiance. Her posture straightened from half-crouched confusion to head-held-high ire, and she gave Priyasha an insulted scowl.
"Innocent sacrifices? You say that as if we were some sort of victims." Now, finally, thoughts of her sister begun stirring in her again, but they were distant, as if seen through mist or water. Skugga had also spoken like that. That she wanted Yuusa to come to the Dhati, so that she wouldn't have to die. Remembering what she had tried to tell Skugga, and her frustration at her sister's inability to understand, brought a cold, clear fire to Yuusa's heart, and it shone in her eyes. Even her voice seemed clearer to her - deeper, somehow.
"I am no victim. My blood is sacred, and when the spirits call for it, I will spill it with joy, knowing that my sacrifice will bring fortune and the spirits' blessing to my pride."
And there it was. Ringing through her soul like a single clear note, scattering all the remaining doubts, pain and confusion. How simple it was. How could she have suffered so, until now? There was one thing that she loved more, even than her own twin sister. One thing that she had refused to give up, no matter what. Only now, after all that she had lost and all that she had had to give up, was she finally able to really see what was truly important. Her faith, and her pride.
She felt as though up until now she had been trying to walk on water, but now, finally, suddenly, learned to swim.
This insight flashed through Yuusa in but an instant, and she blinked once, like a cub who steps out of a cave and into the sun. Her tail twitched once more, and then stoppped completely, and she felt calm. Coolly, she spoke to the two ex-Minders again, meaning to pull Vunjika's attention back onto herself again.
"And why would they be safer to leave this place? Hm? Between us and those bloodthirsty Dhati warriors of which you speak are the entire force of the Mizimu army - warriors that your cowardly pride were so fearful of that they needed to try to weaken them before they attacked." Her voice hardened accusingly. "You rebels killed all the prey, to starve our warriors so that you wouldn't have to fight them at their best. But did you think the warriors would be the only ones to starve?" She shook her head, a grimace of disdain curling onto her muzzle. "No, I think we innocents are better off precisely where we are. Your pride of self-righteous cowards have alreadly proven how much they care for innocent cubs."
She planted her paws firmly on the ground and lowered her head, a threatening growl rumbling in her bright throat. She was not afraid anymore.
"If you want to take these children, you will have to go through me."
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 6:58 am
-The lioness' sudden realization and shift in confidence did little to the elder lioness, the once proud haruspex. She took the berating with just as much contempt as Yuusa had apparently taken to her words, eyes narrowing softly when she once again spoke. Priyasha wasn't the sort to anger, but it was obvious in the scolding tone that arose, that she had not the time or energy to debate with a bullheaded and stubborn 'child'.- "Little girl. I've spilled the blood of more sacrifices then can count on your toes. I've spoken with the spirits for far longer then you've even walked the earth"
"Perhaps you are pleased with your position, and want to throw your life away at the will of the queen. And if so that is fine, it is your life to do it with. But I know for a fact that there are those among who do not feel the same. I have heard them speak of it in life, I have seen them defy their place by coming to the Dhati. I have even heard some confess such regrets in the last words before their sacrifice."
"Everyone is special and sacred in their own way. And everyone should be allowed to choose what it is they want to do with their life."
-She shifted once more, eyeing the ivory lioness. Just a sacrifice.. just one lioness. They'd planned on killing her anyway. It didn't really matter if it were here or later. Her eyes turned to the children, voice falling once more to it's usual softness.- "It is up to you children. Me and my friend have come here to protect you. To take you someplace safe. Free of hunger and danger. Free to play and be yourselves, whatever you want to be."
"If you want to come.." -Her eyes turned back to the children's minder eyes fierce.- "Then we will lead you there. We will not let this woman stand in your way. Death awaits for you and her if you stay here. Let us save you."
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 10:48 pm
"I have taught you well." Vunjika murmured, with a shake of the head. "Too well, in fact." Oh, if only the other Sacrifices had been put under strict teachings of honoring the pride too, but then again, if then that had happened, the Dhati would have never been formed and she would probably have not dared to leave the pride. "You are right in honoring your pride. She did too, and that was why she refused to come with me." The 'she' Vunjika was referring to was Shinda, of course. Yuusa being stubborn like this reminded the ex-Minder of the Warrior.
"Perhaps you need to remember when I joined the Dhati." Vunjika snapped at Yuusa, hackles rising. She did not like being accused for what she did not do. "I was still a Minder when they were carrying out there little plan of starving the Warriors, I was aware of how skinny the cubs were getting! I am not blind, Yuusa, do you know that we Minders had to ration the food, to make sure a cub wouldn't steal away the portion delegated to another? I may be a part of them now, but this does not mean I approve of every single thing the Dhati does." In all honesty, Vunjika was hesitant to kill, especially when faced with someone she had brought up. She was a Minder, and that fact had been deeply ingrained in her mind. Perhaps it would be easier for Priyasha, an ex-Haruspex.
You cannot escape. Shinda had told her. You are a Minder and you always will be. And she was right.
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