[PRP] Where do we go from here? (Aruná, Udongo)

[Annchen]

The trio of Mizimu lions were moving without much purpose through the roguelands after the destruction of their birthpride. Destruction was too strong a word perhaps, but there seemed to be little left when they fled the fights and disease. Something must have majorly pissed off the spirits, but Aruná left it at that. They all lived so it was probably nothing they had done.

She was fairly content to just wander for now, but she didn't know how her sister felt about life as a nomad. Udongo was the kindest lioness she knew and she wondered what she was thinking sometimes. None of the cubs her sister had minded were alive as far as she knew. Some had died from disease, some had been sacrificed in a last ditch attempt to please the spirits, and some were just lost. Just like they were she supposed. But unlike three fit adult lions, cubs would not survive very long on their own.

"What do you suppose happened to the others," she said to her sister, without defining what 'others' she meant.  

[Pearlyblue]

Walking was easy, Udongo thought. Just a matter of putting one big paw in front of another. Sometimes check to see you weren't going in circles. Sleeping when you got tired, drink when you got thirsty, hunt when you got hungry. In the pride she had rarely hunted herself, usually having had food distributed to her and the cubs she was minding. She still wasn't very good at it. Aruná was a lot better. Faster, more agile, able to keep up with the fleet-footed prey in their sudden turns and jumps.

She hoped she wasn't being a bother to her sister. Or to the fellow who had decided to come with them. He seemed nice.

No, walking wasn't a problem. Udongo was tough and strong and could keep going for a very long time before she felt the need to rest.

But she didn't like walking away from the ony home she'd ever known, and it bothered her a bit. She could very well understand the logic in doing so: Behind them was nothing but death and suffering, and if they had stayed as much as another day, the disease might have struck them down as well. And all the children were gone, anyway. There was a sharp, stinging pain somewhere just beneath her throat when she remembered her boisterous little ones, fading away, one after the other. And the haruspexes that had taken the rest. She had understood that too, they had explained it carefully and completely, but... it still hurt to think about it. And she felt a little ashamed at that.

Her sister's question snapped the bulky lioness out of her daze, and after shooting the bright-patterened Aruná a brief glance, she frowned down at the ground again as she pondered the question.

"Tzora and Shikisha left, I think..." she answered after a little while. "A whole lot of sacrifices just disappeared one day. I think they were there, too." She thought a little deeper about it, then added, "At least I don't think any Haruspex was involved..." surprised at the slight edge that crept into her voice, she cleared her throat and added, a bit more to the point: "A big offering like that would have been a huge deal, after all. Everyone who was healthy would have been there to watch." She was silent a little longer, then quietly added: "I think anyone who could, has left by now. Walking away, like us."  

[Annchen]

"I really thought they'd fixed it, you know?" Aruná said, amost pleadingly, "Some of the sick ones recovered after the first few Sacrifices. Do you remember that? Tua'nafsi in my hunting group was very sick but she made it."

She was sure that leaving had been the smart thing to do, but there was this nagging feeling that she was letting something down by giving up. What if her own siblings had been the last drop of blood needed to turn the tide? But by then everything was so disorganised so she wasn't sure a mass sacrifice would have been possible, even if there had been any left. The wrath of the spirits hadn't discriminated, it had affected lions of all ranks and there were few haruspexes left. High and low had suffered equally.

"An unwilling sacrifice is no good anyway," she said, repeating a truth she'd learned way before she could hunt. "It was probably better that they left if they had any doubts."  

[Pearlyblue]

Udongo's frown deepened a bit, more in discomfort at that pain that shot through her again than in any sort of disagreement of her sister's words, but she didn't answer right away.

"Yeah," she admitted after a while. Then, after another thoughtful pause: "They said it would fix the sickness. But then it didn't." Another pause, then, somewhat more seriously: "Maybe.. they were bad haruspexes? The children were so brave, even though they were scared... I don't think it was their fault the sacrifices didn't work as they should have."

This was no good. Thinking about those bright-eyed little cubs and their brave conviction only made the pain worse. She could hear her own voice begin to trembe a bit. Udongo cleared her throat again and took a deep breath.

"I think maybe the spirits went crazy." Oops. She stumbled over her own paws and shot her sister a worried look. She hadn't meant to say that - she'd thought it, for a while now, but she knew it was a pretty heretical thought so she had meant to keep it to herself, but now she had gone and blurted it out, because it was the only thing that popped into her head when she meant to change the subject.

Her ears flattened out a bit and she lowered her head submissively, hoping that Aruná wouldn't get angry at her for speaking so bluntly. "I- I mean... 'cause... you know... nothing seemed to help... you know.. nothing..."  

[Annchen]

"I never really got how that was supposed to work," she admitted, "It just did and then it didn't. I've never felt any attraction to the heart. We could all see the signs, but I don't think anyone really knew how to fix it."

The sacrifices were brought up to do their thing, and she never bothered with all that spiritual stuff. Maybe when she got too old to hunt, but death in battle seemed like a better choice if she could. Perhaps an elephant... She'd heard stories about warriors taking on an elephant bull when they felt their time come. It sounded glorious.

"So where do we go from here," she asked, not really expecting an answer, "I think I'd like to see elephants. And one of those really large watering holes that you can't see the other end of."

Aruná had loved stories as a cub, both hearing them from the minders and dreaming up her own. Part of that was still there, even if she had calmed down considerably and didn't let her imagination roam wild anymore. It had matured into a deep seated curiosity, and a newfound wanderlust. It was strange really, because she hadn't felt any desire to leave while Mizimu was still standing. But now... With no home to ground her she longed to see new things.  

[Pearlyblue]

The dark brown lioness visibly relaxed as her sister just shrugged off her heretical statement. Udongo's ears perked back up, and a relieved smile spread onto her features. She even forgot all about those brave little cubs for the moment. Feeling lighter, both at having said what had been on her mind for a good while now, and at finding that saying it wasn't as bad as she had thought, Udongo took a few more bouncy steps up to her sister's side.

Glancing over at the lither lioness, Udongo took a moment to ponder her sister's question. In the end, though, she found she could only shrug. She knew so little of the outside world - had never had any inclination nor reason to learn.

"I dunno. The really huge watering hole sounds like it could be interesting. There should be a lot of food around there, don't you think?"

And, after a few more moment's thought:

"Why would you want to see elephants? You can't eat those."  

[Annchen]

"Sure you can," Aruná said. "Why couldn't you?"

She'd never eaten elephant, but she was fairly sure it could be done. It would be very tricky to take one down, if they were as big as she'd heard. A greater spirit could surely eat an elephant if they wanted to. She suddenly felt a craving for elephant, and she didn't even know what it tasted like! But the challenge... The challenge would be tasty even if the meat was not. Perhaps another day.

"What would you like to see," she asked, "If you don't want to meet or eat elephants, then what?"

She was just being silly at this point, but it was in good fun. Sometimes it took Udongo a while to notice that she was in her silly mood, and that was quite honesty a big part of her fun.  

[Pearlyblue]

Aruna sounded so completely confident that Udongo had to mull over her statement again. Why couldn't you eat elephants? She supposed that they were made of meat, just like every other animal, so technically... Okay, maybe her approach had been in the wrong: While you could surely, technically, eat an elephant, they were too big, too dangerous and too tough to kill...

She was just about to rephrase and clarify her earlier statement when Aruna interrupted her thought process again. "Er, what?" Suddenly having another point to consider, and being asked to give an opinion on something she wasn't at all sure of made her falter. Had she somehow made Aruna upset now? "Oh, I don't know. I just... I don't..." she was almost about to begin stuttering, as her mind and her mouth moved at different speeds, so she fell silent for a while to think of a better reply for her sister, dark brow furrowing in concentration.

"I really don't know where I'd like to go," she began, bobbing her head slightly as she counted off the points she should make. "But I guess I'd like to go somewhere where there's cubs... Maybe. I don't know. I think I'd like to see the big water, and I don't mind seeing elephants." She turned her black eyes on her sister with a serious frown. "But I don't want to try to eat them, because they are really big and really heavy, and if you try to kill them, I think they could stomp you and you would get hurt. I think. And their skin looks really tough, I'm not sure you can even bite through that."  

[Annchen]

"Fine," she said, pouting like a little cub but with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "No elephant hunting, or biting, or eating."

She was feeling relaxed now and it showed in the way she walked, and in the small smile on her muzzle. It would be all right. Perhaps they didn't have to know where they were going, or what they would see. They were together, and Aruná was confident that the three of them could tackle whatever this strange new land would throw at them. Three large and reasonably fit predators shouldn't really have to worry (as long as they weren't tripped up by hostile spirits).

"The big water then," she said, "And possibly elephants." She paused and walked in silence for a few heartbeats, "I suppose the spirits will try to lead us on this journey. Did you see the birds earlier today, that had to be a good sign, right?"  

[Pearlyblue]

Udongo smiled with relief when her sister agreed not to hunt elephants. She recognized the pout and knew that it did not mean Aruná was angry or anything, and it soon gave way to a smile, anyway.

It felt good. Udongo felt her own spirits rise, walking next to her sister like this. Going to see the big water... and elephants... and who knew what else. She looked out at the big, open savannah before her, all the way to the blue mountains that touched the sky far off in the distance, and it was as though the world opened up before her. Suddenly the sky, the swaying grass, even the distant mountains seemed to smile at her, almost as if the wide world was actually just the face of a cub, and it was right now turned to her, asking her to come play with it.

Her smile widened into a huge grin and she took a few small jumpy-steps as the sensation flowed over her. Then she shook her head so that her ears flapped, and looked up at the endless sky as she answered her sister:

"Probably, yeah. I think so. It had to be." The feeling of playfulness lingered in her body, made her knees itch. She sidled up to Aruná and gently butted her forehead against her lither sister's side. "Y'know, I feel like running for a bit. You wanna?"  

[Annchen]

Udongo was relaxing now too, Aruná could feel it and almost smell it, even before her sister started acting like a little cub. She laughed at the ear flapping shake, and then copied her to find out if it felt as good as it looked. It looked very silly when Udongo did it at least, and she wondered what Janja'nafsi would think about their antics but then decided that she didn't care right now. It did feel good, and the shake dispersed every last hint of worry she might have felt about the future. Flying birds were a good sign, everyone knew that. They would be fine. She turned her head as Udungo touched her.

"Oh, it's on," she said and grinned, "But you know I'm going to beat you."

They were actually quite evenly matched when it came to speed, but you had to tease your opponent a little, even if it was just some running for fun. She crouched down playfully with her rear end in the air like a cub before trying to pounce on a bug. But instead of pouncing she gave her sister a friendly head butt in return.

"Tag," she shouted and started running, "You're it."  

[Pearlyblue]

"We'll see," she replied with a grin that matched her sister's. She knew that as long as she could just keep from tripping over something (or her own paws...) she stood a good chance against Aruna. Especially since the wide open plain offered very little that invited to sudden turns. She wasn't very good with those, either.

Then Aruna headbutted her and burst into speed, and Udongo started running after her even before she caught her sister's words and realised what the headbutt had actually meant.

"Wha-? Oh, just you wait...!"

She knew she would probably fail at actually catching her much more nimble sister. She had never won against Aruna in a game of tag, and probably never would, but that wasn't the point - not by a long shot. She felt her blood begin to surge as her muscles stretched and tensed, her strides lengthened and her speed increased, and a giddy laughter escaped from her just before her breathing got too strained to support it.

This was freedom. Freedom and family. And at the end of the day, what more did one need?