[SRP] Big Girl Thoughts (Lailah K'chol & Caritas)

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Mommy was sleeping and Lailah was taking advantage of that to sneak out of the den and play in the bright sunshine. It was fun because it wasn't something she did as much as her younger siblings. She was the Shaman's Apprentice and though she was just a cub, Stellaluna was teaching her lots.

Lots more than her sibs were learning, at least. But it meant she didn't have as much time to play and be fun. Not that the lessons took all day. There was food time of course. And she had to have her own nap. It was still a lot of time for teaching though.

So it was something of a relief to just pounce on any bug that dared show it's face around Mommy's den.  

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It just so happened that Caritas was walking by Aysu's den that day. She remembered it well, and remembered the discussions with her fellow Midwife as to which of them would be near to Aysu and which would be by the Queen, ready to assist with the birthing. The black lioness had been with the monarchs the night both litters were born, and had been surprised when she'd heard that it was the Huntress' eldest who would be Stellaluna's apprentice. Not that there was anything wrong with that! In fact, Caritas greatly approved of it!

She just hadn't expected that outcome. And now, speaking of, there was the cub outside Aysu's den, playing. As little Lailah was oblivious, the older lioness took her time appraising the girl. With that coloration and those markings, it was little surprise that she belonged to this pride - both were common here. Actually, there were quite a few cousins in the Mwezi and given that, Caritas didn't blame the elders for wanting someone born in a different pride to be Selene's mate. She still thought they could have handled things better, but what was done was done. The Heiress was an adult now and capable of making her own decisions. And those choices were being faithful to Fuu.

Idly the black lioness supposed that she should be considering taking a mate of her own. But no, there just weren't any males in the pride that she liked that way. Certainly not enough to spend the rest of her life with.  

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Lailah was so close to catching the bug when she realized someone was watching her. She turned around to see a big black lioness who looked kind of like Stellaluna but wasn't.

It never occurred to the white cub that a stranger might be dangerous. That wasn't the kind of world she'd been born into. So she ran right up to the older lion and sat down in front of her.

"Hi! I'm Lailah K'chol but you can call me Lailah. Who're you?"  

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The black lioness' meandering thoughts came to an abrupt halt as a white and blue ball of fur ran out of nowhere to sit at her feet and began to talk rapidly. Did cubs always have such high-pitched voices? Or had she just not been around any in a long time? Aside from the Queen's labor, of course. But the newborns had mewled, not yet capable of real speech.

"I'm Caritas," she introduced herself to the child, still somewhat bemused. "Shouldn't you be with your mother?"  

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"That's a pretty name!" Lailah exclaimed excitedly. "It's like 'carry' and, um, 'this' put together...so do you carry stuff around?" She brushed off the question about her mother. "Mommy's sleeping and that's boring so I went outside to play and I found a bug but I couldn't catch it and then you came!" The cub had to pause to catch her breath after all that speech but who cared? She had someone new to play with now!

"You look like my teacher," she went on. "Do you know her? Her name's Stellaluna and she's the Shaman for the whole entire pride. Did you know that?" The white cub looked up expectantly at the black lioness.  

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Caritas blinked once. Then again. Well. She certainly hadn't expected the girl to be so...outgoing and energetic. It made her tired just listening to the little chatterbox! She felt a brief pang of pity for Stellaluna who had to work around this most days to teach little Lailah.

"I don't usually carry things, no," she replied slowly, as much to put her thoughts in order as to try to calm the cub down a little. "And yes, I do know the Shaman. She's one of my sisters," Caritas explained. Then she gave the matter a little more thought. "Actually, she's my youngest sister. Kind of like you're the oldest of your sisters." Well, of the silbings in Lailah's case. But it was just the girls they were talking about right now.

"And yes, I know that Stellaluna is the pride's Shaman. And one day, may the Great Lion make it a distant one, you will be," the black lioness pointed out, eyeing the cub to see how she would react.  

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Grownups were so slooooooow! Lailah fidgeted restless while Caritas was quiet for a long time, then took even longer to answer her questions. It was a shame that the black lioness didn't carry things, as the cub privately thought this would be much more fun than...than whatever it was she did do.

But... "She's your sister? Really? Your baby sister? That's so neat!" Also kind of weird. Shouldn't Stellaluna be the oldest then? Like Lailah herself? But no, Caritas was pretty sure that the Shaman was youngest. Oh well, the cub chalked that up to grownup stuff too.

"So what did you do when she was off being an Apprentice?" Lailah asked. She knew what her siblings did, mostly, but she wanted to know if there was anything they weren't telling her. And if Caritas' sister was Shaman, then Caritas would know what the others did when that cub wasn't around!

"But it'll be a long long long time that I'm an Apprentice," the cub finally remembered to answer the question asked of her. "I have to be a grownup first." It often seemed to Lailah that it would be forever and a day before she was grownup so she didn't usually think about it.  

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Great. How the heck was she supposed to answer that? She couldn't just tell a cub about the chaos that had beset the pride recently. And she certainly didn't want to explain what death was to such an innocent.

"Stellaluna only became Shaman a bit before you were born," Caritas replied carefully. "And I became a Midwife at the same time, so when she was learning her new job, I was doing the same thing." Best just stick to answering the literal question and leave the explanations to Aysu or Stellaluna herself. At least they couldn't be angry with her for not telling the kid about what had happened. She hoped.

"That's true," the black lioness agreed instead of pursuing the other line of thought. "And it will be some time before you're grown up. But there is something you should remember all that time," she cautioned the cub. "You've been blessed by the Great Lion. You're high rank, you're the Apprentice Shaman...it's a wonderful thing. But most of the pride aren't so lucky. They rely on you learning everything Stellaluna can teach you so that you can share those blessings with the entire pride." She hoped that it wasn't too abstract a thought for the cub to understand. She just couldn't stand the thought of yet another little of self-absorbed high-class prigs.  

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"Oh. I see. I guess," she didn't really understand it, but that was okay. She didn't understand everything Stellaluna tried to teach her either. It didn't make sense that Caritas and her sister hadn't been Apprentices as cubs the way Lailah was, but something about the older lioness' tone said "don't ask" so she didn't.

She did know what Midwives were though. Stellaluna had told her about them when she was talking about the other positoins that were almost as important as Shaman. Lailah didn't think she'd mentioned having a sister then though. She'd have to ask her teacher about that tomorrow.

The white cub had opened her mouth to ask more questions when Caritas started talking again. It took her a couple moments to realize that this was Something Important that the black lioness wanted her to know. It sounded reasonable and good, even if Lailah wasn't entirely certain what it all meant.

"Don't worry, I'll be a good Apprentice!" she told Caritas once she was sure the big liones had finished talking. "I'll make Mommy and Stellaluna and you and the whole pride proud! Just you wait and see!"  

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Caritas smiled at the girl. "I'm sure you will be," she agreed. She reached out one grey-and pink toed paw to ruffle Lailah's fur. "I wouldn't doubt it for the world." Okay, maybe she was a sucker for a cute cub like this one. But Lailah was so earnest and so energetic, it was hard not to believe she was capable of what she said.

"Keep out of trouble now," the black lioness told the girl and turned to go. Now all she had to do was wait and see how things turned out.  

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"I will!" Lailah called after Caritas. "I'll do it, and I'll stay out of trouble!" She decided she liked the black lioness. The cub hadn't been treated like she was a stupid baby, and she hadn't been told to run along and play. Caritas had treated her like she was young, yes, but still someone worthy of having Important Big Girl conversations with. That made Lailah really happy and she purred contentedly as she headed back to the den. Maybe Mommy and her brothers and sisters would be awake and ready to play!