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 Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 1:46 pm
 Endesha had spent the last few days aiding with hunts and keeping an eye out for her siblings in case they were soon to return. She missed them dearly, perhaps having been closer to them because the litter had been small compared to others. Besides, being grown up and responsible didn't make for much fun and she didn't like to go out of the lands so soon after what had happened.
She had acquired a taste for travelling during her pilgrimage and often found it hard to settle, though she had to admit there was no where else she would rather call home. Some lions might have scoffed at the idea of living in swampland but to Endesha it had been a place of adventure and fun and love and there was no place quite like it.
A part of her wished that her grandfather had been able to come to visit before he had passed on. To see how they lived and learn what they believed in. But the journey had been too much to ask of him. Maybe when he returned as a spirit, he'd be able to come here and see it with his new eyes.
In any case, her hunt that day had been successful and she was now headed homewards - towards her parents den - to see if either of them were home. If they were not she'd decided she would leave the food there for when they returned. She'd eaten herself that morning and had no want to be greedy.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 1:55 pm
Kimya was hanging around near the den, having just returned from a visit with her sister. They had been discussing the kids, of course, and now that was what was on her mind. She had been expecting to find Tetu at home but she wasn't terribly surprised he was out and about. Humming quietly, she settled in to wait for him to return, content to think about her discussions with Ahli. The family seemed filled with slow returns, they each only had one cub who had come home with a new name.. and they both had reassured each other that the others would follow eventually.
The more she thought about family, though, the more she wondered just what Amali and Sawa were up to outside of the pride. At least she knew Amali had been to the Pridelands, she had no idea where Sawa had gotten to.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 2:00 pm
Striding up towards the den, Endesha's dark eyes brightened to see the pale gold form of her mother nearby. Perhaps she had just returned, too? "Hey there, Mum!" She called through her teeth - where she still gripped her prey - flicking the hair out of her eyes as she drew up closer.
A moment later and she dropped the meal - a rather scraggly looking hare - at her paws and threw her mother a smile. "I brought you a present! We had a good hunt this morning so I thought I'd bring something back for you or dad." She cast a quick look around and that was enough to confirm that her father was still out and about.
She seated herself with a sigh. "I feel exhausted, though I'm not really sure why. Have you had a busy day?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 2:09 pm
Kimya heard a muffled voice call out to her and she looked up to find the source. When she spotted Endesha headed her way with something, she got up to her feet politely.
"Thank you, Endesha," she said brightly, glancing down to the hare before sitting back down as Endesha made herself more comfortable, "It looks like you've earned yourself a break." Exhaustion like this wasn't necessarily a bad thing and Endesha looked perfectly well or Kimya might have made more of a fuss.
"It's been a very quiet day, I was just visiting with Ahli," she said.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 2:13 pm
"You're welcome!" Endesha replied, glad to hear her mother's cheerful voice. It was a pleasant thing. "And yes, I think I have. I was never the most talented huntress but it makes it all the more exciting when a hunt goes well and the plan comes together." Team work was especially gratifying.
"Oh? How is she doing? Everything okay, I take it?"
It reminded her, really, that she ought to catch up with her own extended family to see how things were going and to see if anyone else had returned back yet. She had thought it would be good to be the first to return but being first meant a somewhat agonising wait for the others.
"I really should go and say hello. Something always seems to crop up to steal my time away from me."
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 2:21 pm
Kimya nodded when Endesha asked about her aunt, smiling. Ahli would certainly have liked a visit, just as Jua would have. Perhaps more than Ahli, since she didn't have a mate or family of her own.. but that made it harder to gossip about their cubs, which was part of why she had chosen to visit with Ahli today.
"I'm sure she would like a visit," she said, "Chasasa is still the only one returned of her cubs- we were talking about you lot, you know. Did you hear that Chasasa actually has cubs?"
It was evident she wanted to talk about this a little bit.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 2:25 pm
"I'll make sure to do that as soon as possible, then. It'll be nice to catch up." And to make the most of the time they had together. Before she knew it, everyone would be old and she'd regret the missed chances and all the lost time. Perhaps she'd file that as her first objective of tomorrow.
"Chasasa has cubs?" She couldn't mask her surprise at that - even if she had tried. "That's wonderful news! The mother...was a rogue or someone I know?"
Endesha, herself, had not found something even akin to romance. She had a group of good friends but that was just it. She'd really only considered her current male friends to be nothing more than friends. Fortunately, romance had never been something that Endesha had desperately wanted and the lioness was quite content to let it happen when it happened.
Even still, cubs in the family was an exciting thing. "How old are they?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 2:35 pm
"A Pridelander, actually," she explained with a small smile, sorry she had missed the opportunity to meet her nephew's cubs when they were there last- and that her parents had never mentioned it, but so much else had been on their mind, "I don't know much about the mother, but they aren't a couple and it wasn't an accident."
It was hard to figure out what to make of that description, but it seemed to be all the information she could get. Ahli spoke highly of the cubs, of course, and it took away from trying to figure out what to make of the mother. Especially since they lived so far apart. At least they were still family, and they were included with their half of the family in the Pridelands, too.
"They were born shortly after Chasasa returned to the swamps, if that tells you anything," she said thoughtfully, trying to imagine how big they must be, "But cubs grow so fast, it'd be hard to guess without seeing them."
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 2:41 pm
Endesha could not help but laugh at that. The Pridelanders and the Jini-Msemi certainly seemed to have and retain that close bond through family lines and romance. In any case, the news was heartening. "Not an accident, either?" She tilted her head, curiously. "Sounds like there might be a story behind that one. Perhaps I should go seek him out and pry it out of him."
Her tail curled as she plotted ways to interrogate him - in the nicest of ways, of course!!
"I expect so. They'll probably be so big already. I wonder if he plans to return and visit them at some point. Perhaps I'll see if I can go with him to meet them and catch up with the rest of the family whilst I'm there."
She grinned. "Who knows! Perhaps Amali or Sawa might return with a budding romance and cubs of their own, too." The thought made her laugh. "Stranger things have happened! Although I do wish they'd hurry up. I thought they might have been more competitive than this..."
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 2:52 pm
"He might be more keen to tell you than to tell his mother or aunt," Kimya said with a quiet laugh. He knew they would gossip about it one way or another, Endesha might seem a more empathetic ear that was less likely to doubt his decision-making. Maybe.
"They've all been to visit," she said brightly when Endesha wondered about Chasasa's plans to visit, "Whatever the situation was, Chasasa apparently didn't want to be unknown to his cubs. And honestly, they have so much family in the Pridelands anyway, it'd be hard to hide them from grandma or grandpa. In fact, I was told one little lady had grandpa's forehead mark."
She smiled at the idea of Amali and Sawa returning with a mate and cubs. It wasn't uncommon for any swampy, Kimya had returned with a mate herself. She wouldn't have been surprised either way when her babies returned.
"What about you?" she asked, her tone more joking than serious, "Why don't you have a mate or cubs yet?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 3:00 pm
"Don't worry." Endesha winked. "If he tells me I'll be sure to share." As far as she was concerned, there would be no secrets between family and they certainly weren't about to judge him.
"It's nice that he's not going to be a stranger! I love having family in another pride. It gives me a good excuse to get out and about for a bit without feeling too guilty." And she did love it. The spread of their family and how they all stayed in contact even if they didn't share the same homeland. "Yes. The family is quite widespread there and with our distinctive family markings, it'd be impossible to not recognise them." Another thing she adored about her family. They were all linked by colours and markings that were notably distinctive.
At her mother's joking tone, she made a mock-disgusted face, curling a lip up over her teeth. "Aw, muuum." She waved a paw as if to bat away the subject. "I don't think I'll find anyone who'd be willing to put up with me, do you? I'd probably scare most of the boys away." She made a face, remembering times in her youth when she'd rough-housed and raced and tried her damned best to beat the boys in every game they had played.
"Besides, do you really want to be called 'grandma' when you're still so young?" She teased back, her eyes bright with amusement.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 3:09 pm
Kimya beamed as Endesha brushed off the question and joked about finding a boy to put up with her. She remembered well enough when the cubs were small. Amali had been the only boy in their little family but he wasn't the only one in the larger family or in the pride- and she remembered the girls doing their best to keep up with (and get ahead of) Amali and his little friends.
"Of course I want to be called grandma," she replied brightly when Endesha tried to tease her, "It could still happen if Sawa or Amali do indeed come home with cubs, after all. You're just the only one here I can bother about it."
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 3:16 pm
"Okay, future grandma!" Endesha replied, leaping back to her paws and moving so she could settle more comfortably in the shade, close to her mother's side. She crossed her forepaws and beamed across at her with a wide smile. "Feel free to bother away!"
She grinned. "And don't worry, I don't think you'll have too long to wait. Remember! You did have three incredibly cute children. Amali with his pretty baby face is bound to woo the ladies and Sawa with all that golden fur." She laughed, feeling in a good mood for the first time in a while. "And then me with my rather splendid markings..." She trailed, grinning still.
"I think I'm just going to wait for fate to intervene, just like it did with you and dad."
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 3:50 pm
It was hard to imagine being a grandmother, mostly because it meant one of her babies would have babies.. but it was a real possibility now and she was truthfully looking forward to it. She was glad that Endesha was so good-natured about it.
"Don't let fate do all the work," she said, "Waiting around doesn't get you very far."
In a weird way, she suspected that was the problem with her siblings. Their name quests had started out so slowly and they had all been delayed in the Pridelands when they met Wahabu. It had worked out for Kimya but everybody else had slowly dispersed.. and now that left two siblings unaccounted for.
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 8:24 am
She gave a low purr and shook the hair out of her eyes again, mildly frustrated how it kept flopping back in the way. "I'll keep an eye out from now on in that case. And if I do see someone interesting I'll just make sure he won't get away."
She eyed her mother with mock-suspicion - the smile still on her face. "And don't go getting any ideas about playing matchmaker, Mum. I'll be able to tell if you're up to something, I'm sure."
Her ears fell back against her head as she yawned and then she shifted again. "When are you expecting dad back?"
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