Four girls. Four girls and no boys. Surely this was a dream!
Nkiru curled her tail around the four little bodies nestled against her side. She had already named them: Akane, Uzoma, Ojal, Aletheia. They were perfect, all of them perfect. Proper colors and everything – red, black and white. Ojal even had the same eyes as her. There was no denying that they were her cubs.
Nkiru did not know very much about gods, having never heard of them until she reached the Antianeira, but she still felt that some god somewhere must have been listening to her prayers. Not to have any sons, not to have any cubs to send away… she could stay here now, in the Antianeira, and so could her children.
A family. A family of her very own. Oh she shouldn’t have done the Bad Thing, it wasn’t proper, but she was very glad she had anyway. Glad and frightened half to death; her daughters were oh so very small and she didn’t know the first thing about raising them. She wasn’t herself anymore – she’d even growled at her darling Kio that very morning for getting too close to her little ones. Just imagine that! She was filled with the most terrible knowledge that she’d kill anyone who hurt her little ones. Wouldn’t even hesitate. The love she felt for her daughters was powerful and all consuming and scared her. But she wouldn’t have it any other way.
No, she wouldn’t change a thing. She had a great big family to replace the one she had lost: not just her daughters, but the entire pride. All those sisters! She had a place among them, a proper title and everything; Huntress. She wasn’t hunting now, wouldn’t hunt for a little while until she could leave her cubs with the nannies, but she itched to sink her teeth in a gazelle’s neck, to provide for her sisters in just the same way they provided for her. She felt warm and comfortable and welcome; she’d do just about anything for her sisters, just the same as she’d do anything for her cubs.
Her cubs. She smiled down at them, thinking of their father. Akane had his eyes and Ojal and Aletheia had his black, but they were still mostly her cubs. Her markings, her colors, her eyes. Her cubs were a present from the gods and Al-hattal was the bearer of that present. He had been a most kind male; she would tell her daughters his name and the little she knew about him. Maybe some day when they were grown they’d manage to find him, but maybe not. Azubuike was wrong – her cubs needed no father, for they had her.
But two parents… wouldn’t two parents be better for her cubs? She lay her head on her paws and pondered the matter. She couldn’t give them a father; it would be wrong to replace Al-hattal and no males were allowed in the pride anyway. But another parent – perhaps another mother? Was such a thing even possible? She thought over the females she had seen in the pride, how often times the females went around in pairs. The queen and her lady-friend were certainly raising cubs together; such a thing was hardly unusual.
Azubuike had said, “Cubs need two parents.” He hadn’t said they needed a father, just a second parent. So she would find them one – she’d find another mother for her cubs. She grimaced, nervous and uncertain. It wasn’t like she could just walk up to another female and ask, “will you mother my cubs?” She’d come to learn that doing the Bad Thing was accepted in the Antianeira, that all the girl-cubs were loved, but asking another female to be a mother to cubs that weren’t her own…
A mad thought came in. What about Urudja? The very first Amazon she had met, the one that had introduced her to the pride. She’d seemed nice enough, friendly and kind. It would be… awkward… to ask such a thing of her, but maybe she could phrase it right, ask if there were any females looking for a second mother? No. No no no; she didn’t want just anybody watching her cubs – it had to be somebody she knew! Oh, she trusted her sisters, she believed in the pride, but when it came to her cubs… her cubs were her entire world now and she had to treat them right. She had to look after them and she needed to find another mother that would look after them just as well as she did. Better, even. A lady-friend who would truly be a mother to her cubs, not just pretend. Someone who would love her cubs just the same way she loved them, and be gentle and kind and wonderful.
So… Urudja. She didn’t know her all that well, but of the lionesses she knew, she felt that Urudja would be the best mother for her cubs. She was all the proper colors too, such a bright red… she didn’t know why it even mattered, but somehow it did. It was reassuring to find another lion that looked so much like home. And Urudja was a pretty lioness, one she got along with well enough. It would be worth at least asking.
Tomorrow though. She would ask tomorrow or the next day. Hunting could wait, finding a second mother could wait. Everything could wait – all she wanted to do right then and there was curl up in a nice big ball around her four marvelous daughters and breath in their scent and whisper their names. Maybe croon a song or two, rasp her tongue over their heads. They were hers, all hers, and she wasn’t ready to share just yet. She closed her eyes and smiled, already dreaming big dreams for her daughters. Oh, nothing bold by most standards, just that they would grow big and strong. They would be quick and agile, able to take down any prey they liked. They’d be clever, kind, and bold. But she’d love them just the same if they were none of those things – such was the way of mothers. All that mattered was that they were her daughters and she’d never, ever give them away.
Akane, Uzoma, Ojal, Aletheia. The start of something new, something grand.
Word count: 1,064
