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 Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:37 pm
 Aaliyah scented the breeze as she stood just outside of the den she and Kenan had been given. It smelled like rain, the monsoons were starting. She had always enjoyed the rain, enjoyed the thanks she and Liahu had prepared for their Pride...the lioness stopped her thoughts, best not to go there.
She let her violet eyes roam over the territory that her new clan claimed and tried not to let the tears fall. Aaliyah knew that Kenan had brought them here to be safe, to heal, but how could she heal when so many deaths weighed on her shoulders. She had been one of their Shamans, had lived for them, and their spiritual needs. She'd healed them, held them...buried them...
Who was she to live for now, what was she to do now that everything was different? Aaliyah had never felt so lost, or so alone. She'd always known every step of her path, and now that path was broken, and gone.
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 2:00 pm
 He had been watching her for a long time, since she had slipped form his side and gone to stand outside, head tossed back and noble features lifted to the grey skies above. He could see the pain in her, the way it tensed across her shoulders and kept her tail low. She never laughed any more and he missed the lovely, joyous sound dearly. He hoped that one day she could learn to laugh again.
Standing he padded silently out of their small den and glided up beside her, his tall bulk shadowing her small, light frame. Arching his neck he rubbed his cheek against her mane ruff, a deep rumble echoing in his thickly furred chest.
"Am I not enough?" He whispered softly, hating the fact that he was so helpless against her grief. He knew it would take time, but she seemed worse now they had time to rest and recover, and most of all.. think. He knew, it was the same for him. Now they were safe and not on the edge of death, his thoughts plagued him. What could he have done differently, how could he have foreseen what happened, could he had prevented the decimation of the pride... It was useless he knew, and his beloved Aaliyah was suffering even worse than he. She was too gentle of soul, too tender of spirit to be able to just forget. It tore his heart to see her so.
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Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:49 pm
Aaliyah leaned back against him, craning her neck back to meet his one good eye with a loving gaze, " You are enough beloved, you've always been enough. I had often wished that you and I could have just been like any other mated pair in the Pride. With nothing more on our shoulders than our love."
She turned her head to look down at her paws, tears catching in her lashes, " If I'd have known Kenan, that my wishes could ever have been granted like this, I'd have kept my dreams to myself. They are gone, all of them..." She felt her knees tremble, as the grief tried to overwhelm her again. Aaliyah could not continue like this, she was cast adrift, and it was slowly wearing on the fragile lioness.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 2:31 am
He smiled gently, his ow body relaxing as she leaned into him. He knew he was lucky, he still had his reason for living... it had always been Aaliyah.. ever since he had been given to her as her guard and consort he had wanted nothing else than to stay by her side. His body had grown big and strong and he had been able to use it to protect her but she... she had lost her way and he was not sure he alone was enough to bring her back.
Tenderly he licked her ruff before simply resting his cheek against her mane, drawing her closer against his warmth. "It was not such innocent wishing that brought this upon our pride, Aaliyah.... the gods would not punish you for your life's work. It was simply an accident, no one is to blame... who are we to think we have that much influence over our fate? The two-leggers were powerful and strange, and simply more cunning than us." His words were gentle and tender, filled with his worry for her and yet there was a certain strength and assuredness that he had always carried, that of doing his best with a situation and simply letting the rest go. He had always been a lion of the moment, with her security to watch out for it could have been no other way. He did not dwell on the past, he did not have that luxury.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 10:35 am
The lioness sat down, her head bowed in grief as a shudder slid through her, " My life's...work..." she whispered very softly, " No truer words could be spoken..." She didn't dare lift her head to look into his eye, to see the scars bared on his body from the two-legged monsters that had destroyed everything they had known and loved.
" I do not know how...to live...without them Kenan. I do not know how...to move past this grief. Everyone is gone. Our parents, your siblings...gods..little Liahu. Kenan, what of him? He was so gentle, so compassionate...what did he do to deserve such a death? Can you tell me?" Her voice was very soft, very low, but the emotion threaded into it was still easily heard.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 11:03 am
Kenan took a slow breath, her pain like a fresh wound on his body as he gently pulled her closer against him with a forelimb over her hunched shoulders. "It is alright to grieve, Aaliyah. What happened was terrible, and no, not one of them deserved what happened. As we did not deserve it." Gently he nuzzled her cheek, trying to get her to look at him. "We do not know if he is dead, beloved. Some survived, that I know. There were not enough...." Trailing off he closed his eye, feeling the pain in his chest. he could not say it, the word that reduced old friends to nothing more than carrion. There were not enough bodies to account for the whole pride...
"We will go on because there is no other choice. We still have each other and at least our pride's suffering is over... they are with the spirits now." Licking her ear tenderly he watched her with his single eye, expression deeply concerned, not for himself or those that had been lost, but for his mate, who was suffering so badly.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 11:20 am
There were not enough bodies...Kenan did not need to voice the words, Aaliyah had been his companion for enough years, since they were cubs, to know what it was he did not say. She couldn't hold it in any longer, so when his paw came around her to offer what comfort the living could for the dead, she began to sob.
They wracked her shoulders, and the keening that spilled from her throat was that of a wounded predator. It was filled with rage, and the inability to understand what had happened, or why.
" What did we do to them? What did we do to the two-legs that they extracted such horrible vengeance on us? Did we wander into their territory as we moved? I am sure if we had the Prideal leaders would have made amends...but they did not even speak...they..they just killed."
She sobbed again, turning into him, pressing against him as if he were all that held her to this world, and perhaps he was.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 11:33 am
He had no answers for her, as he himself had no idea why it had happened or what could have been done to prevent it. Shifting back on his haunches he wrapped both forelegs round her shaking body, pulling her close against the thick fur of his chest.
He was powerless against her anger and grief so he did the only thing he could do, held her as she cried and cursed. He couldn;t even offer any words of comfort, he had none, and things wouldn't 'be alright' ever again for the pride they had lost, many of whom were dead and the rest scattered to the four winds like so much dust.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 11:56 am
Aaliyah vented her grief and her rage, spilling it all into his fur as she let the stress of the past weeks go. They were safe now, Kenan had seen to that, seen that they would have nothing to worry about for their future or those of the unborn cubs they wished to have someday.
She should be thankful that they were alive, that Kenan had not lost his sight completely or his life. She had him, it was enough, it was enough. Now if only her mind would agree with her heart.
The fragile lioness clung to her mate, loving him with all her heart and hoping he could feel it through her grief.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 12:04 pm
Kenan held her close as she cried, wrapped up in the solid strength of his limbs and surrounded by his muscular warmth. He would always be there for her, no matter what happened to them or what troubles they faced. He had taken a solemn vow the day he had been given to her as her mate and it was as true now as it had been that day. The pride may have changed, their friends and family no longer beside them, but they had each other and to him, that was all that really mattered.
So he held her close, her tears wetting his fur as he whispered comforting sounds into her ear, giving of his body and his heart to the only lioness he had ever loved.
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