Aysu was angry. She felt so much anger at so many things and yet, for some reason, she was only left sobbing. She'd stormed away from her suddenly apologetic brother, angry at him- for his attitude up to now, for saying such mean things and for being right about at least some of it. It wouldn't have stung so much if there were no truth to it, she told herself.. but it didn't help her calm down.
She'd refused to go to her own den, figuring it would be the first place someone would go looking for her. Instead, she'd gone off to her father's den, undecided as to if she would talk to him if he was there. Conveniently, he was not there, apparently off to an early morning, and she didn't have to decide.
So she lay herself down in the grass by her father's den to sulk.
Wambazi had been near the waterhole when the argument and scene involving Aysu, Yareha, Mazin and a stranger had taken place.. and she had been one of the shameless onlookers. She had been doing her very best to stay out of all the on-going problems involving Mazin and Selene- it was another match of both sides of her family. She had thought it was sweet, rather like the story of her parents, only more extreme. But both Mazin and Aysu were first cousins who had been shoved into the spotlight lately and after seeing that argument she decided it was time to step in, even if it might look like taking sides. And if anything, it was the losing side, by how things had been going.
She followed Aysu all the way to her father's den, Wambazi's uncle's den. She hesitated after she saw lay down, sobbing, but she hadn't followed her all this way to chicken out here. So she stepped forward, clearing her throat quietly.
Aysu froze when she first heard Wambazi clear her throat—it took a minute to realize it couldn't be Yareha, it was definitely a girl. That meant it wasn't Mazin either, and she had half expected him to follow. She lifted and turned her head and set eyes on a cousin she hadn't spoken much, if at all, recently.
"Wambazi," she said, clearing her own throat but she couldn't help but sounding like she'd been crying, "What are you doing here?"
Wambazi smiled sadly at Aysu when she looked over at her and tried to get her voice to sound normal again. She didn't like seeing anybody upset, and she knew Aysu wasn't having an easy time. Yareha was really being an idiot.
"I saw what happened at the waterhole," she said, taking a couple steps closer, "I wanted to make sure you were OK."
After a short pause, she walked in closer and took a seat beside Aysu.
"I- I'm fine."
Aysu didn't know what else to tell her cousin. There was quite the age gap between her and Wambazi, and quite the class gap.. not to mention it was kind of awkward around her and her siblings. Uncle Fafnir wasn't very much fun, but Aysu and her siblings had been born shortly before the death of Queen Alcmene. They didn't know any different.
"Really."
"OK."
Wambazi didn't know if she should push Aysu where she was very pregnant and very upset.. but she definitely needed a friend, and if Wambazi was going to try to be her friend, that required a little bit of pushing, right? And that was what she was here for. She didn't come to sit awkwardly while Aysu sulked, though it would have been more typical of Wambazi. This was far more out-going than she normally was.
"I know we're not very close, but you can talk to me, if you want," she said, speaking in an almost hushed tone, like she were trying to reveal a well-kept secret, "I know boys- brothers- I know they can all be idiots."
Aysu looked up at her cousin thoughtfully and, for the most part, silently. She sniffed a couple times and thought about it. Wambazi was older than her, but she wasn't married and she had never had cubs.. but she was still trying to be nice and it seemed more reasonable to expect another girl to be understanding on the topic of everything that she had been going through lately.
"I just-" she stammered, pushing herself up into a seated position, "Yareha can't be supportive of me until a pretty stranger tells him to stop being such a jerk."
She almost growled.
"N-not everything he said was wrong, but that doesn't mean he should say it!"
Wambazi could almost see the mental conversation Aysu was having with herself, and she knew part of it had to be about the fact that she never had any obvious connection to any males outside of her family.. but that was only because she was fairly sheltered.. and then very private. Perhaps it was her worries about her life mirroring Aysu's that made her reach out now.
"Give yourself a little more credit than that," she said, "The only one who has the right to be upset about any of this is you, and you have been handling it so well."
If Aysu could be so easy-going about her situation, why should her brother get to yell at her about it?
Aysu strangled another sob when Wambazi made a very good point that she really wanted and needed to hear. She wasn't necessarily happy with all aspects of the situation she was in, but she had come to terms with the consequences of her actions and she had even let herself begin to feel excited about it. She was going to have cubs whether or not anybody else approved of it.
"I'm not upset," she said through a sob, not sounding very convincing at all, "Or I wouldn't be if Yareha wasn't such a jerk."
No, she couldn't say that enough right now.
"Or if it were easy to stop crying," she added, managing a small smile.
Wambazi smiled back at Aysu, inching herself a little closer and putting a paw onto Aysu's. She seemed to be calming down, though Wambazi doubted she was done calling Yareha names. But this was good, it was important she calm down. Stress couldn't be very good for her cubs.
"Good, that's what really matters," she said, deciding to push them away from the topic now, "Have you thought about names for your cubs?"
"Badiri, of course."
And then Aysu was laughing. She was related to every single Badiri in the pride but even she found it funny they all used that name. Uncle Fafnir had named a son after Uncle Badiri, so of course Uncle Badiri had to name one of his cubs Badiri.. Mazin's sister Didi.
Wambazi chuckled along with Aysu, pleased to have her laughing. She would have to visit with Aysu more, perhaps she'd even help out with the cubs.
"Of course."
Fin!
