Welcome to Gaia! ::

Grovar was relaxing in her mistress's absence. Unless she was given a specific duty to perform, that was usually what she did whenever Kazul left her alone in the den. She used to go out into the pride and take a certain smug satisfaction in watching leonine thralls work while she sat idle, but that pleasure had been spoiled for her by a spotted lion who thought he was a bard. So now she simply lazed in solitude and reflected on how very pleasant it was to know that her mistress had gone out and gotten herself pregnant by some random lion and was now regretting her choices deeply.

Kazul more or less strode into her den wearing an unusual expression that resembled a smile in much the same way a shark resembles a guppy. In other words the shape was roughly the same but there were a hell of a lot more teeth in the former than the latter could ever hope to lay claim to. When she wore that expression it was wiser not to mention the fact that her gait was more like waddling than striding at this point in her pregnancy.

"Grovar," Kazul sang in a voice that oozed saccharine. A smart person would worry.

Grovar was a smart person. Sometimes she made bad decisions, but that didn't mean she wasn't smart. It just meant that she sometimes made bad decisions. And Grovar was definitely smart enough to recognize that Kazul's tone heralded trouble. Sensing this, Grovar kept to the shadows and slunk toward the back of the den, where there was a secret exit that she had seen Kazul use to leave the den on occasions when she did not want to deal with whatever people had come to visit, leaving Grovar to cover for her. Now Grovar was using it to make her escape.

Kazul heard the scraping of claws scrabbling over the hard-packed earth and her expression shifted from a smile to a snarl. A part of her was sort of delighted by this opportunity to hunt the hyena down before punishing her for the lies she had told her. Kazul really didn't know why Grovar had told those lies, but right now she didn't care. she assumed that information would come to light when the beating started. Probably a whole lot of things would come out at that point. Kazul trotted through the den and followed Grovar out the back way.

Unlike her mistress, Grovar was not moving at a leisurely pace. She was not one hundred percent certain, but she had a fairly good idea why her mistress had come back in such a dangerous mood. It would have been too much to hope that Kazul and her captain would not figure out that Kazul's pregnancy was not timed in such a way for the captain to be the father of the litter. Really, Grovar was amazed by how accurate her lies had turned out to be, but now that accuracy would not matter at all. Her mistress was going to kill her.

Once Kazul emerged from the back way out of her den she picked up her pace. In a pride made up nearly completely of lions it was no difficult task to spot a single hyena fleeing at top speed. The queer gait Grovar moved with made her stand out in a way that almost took all the fun out of pursuit. But it wasn't just the pursuit Kazul was taking pleasure in. She was enjoying the prospect of inflicting a well-deserved punishment on Grovar, and this chase would just add savor to the affair by giving Grovar more time to be afraid.

Grovar's flight was hindered by larger creatures, all of whom seemed to have received some sort of message to be in her way without looking like they were doing so on purpose. It didn't help that Grovar had no idea where she could go to be safe. Hiding was out of the question, since there was no place or person she could hope to turn to and find succor, but she couldn't run forever. The only other option that remained was to turn and fight. Ordinarily Grovar would never consider fighting a lioness, but Kazul was pregnant, and that might slow her down, make her cautious.

At last Kazul began to give chase in earnest. Her thoughts and those of her hapless thrall were actually running along parallel lines, and while Kazul was not overly concerned about her odds in a fight against a hyena, she did not wish to fight Grovar. She wanted to have the hyena helpless and begging for forgiveness. No. Not just forgiveness. Mercy. She wanted Grovar begging for her very life. And holding that very pleasant thought in mind she anticipated where Grovar would want to make her stand and abandoned her pursuit to lay an ambush instead. Let Grovar be surprised.

Grovar reached a promising looking place where she could turn around and fight. If she were being logical she would know better than to think much of her chances in combat against a lioness, let alone a lioness who had been brought up as Kazul had been, but in this moment Grovar was still a little too panicked for that. Besides, negative thoughts could not help her in this unfortunate situation. She needed to be confident and on the top of her game. Alas, all of Grovar's confidence and bravery failed her when she heard a low growl from above and her mistress's voice crooning softly, "Grovar."

Kazul dropped down from her perch and padded softly toward her thrall. Grovar backed up and backed up until eventually she ran out of places to put her paws before her rump struck a stone too high for her to climb.

"Oops. Looks like you're in trouble with nowhere else to run. Let's not waste time with recriminations. You know what you've done."

Kazul certainly didn't want to talk about it. She just wanted to get rid of her anger and her shame and make sure that Grovar suffered for her part in all this. A growl rumbled in her chest.

To her eternal shame, Grovar did not growl back, but whimpered instead. "Please. Don't do this. You don't have to do this."

Words were always her first resort. Violence was the last refuge of the terminally incompetent and stupid. That had always been how she felt about things. Kazul was stupid, of course. At least she had been stupid enough to fall for Grovar's lie earlier, but not so stupid that she hadn't figured things out. More's the pity.

"You have no right to be angry with me for hating you. Do you have any idea what it is to go from freedom to slavery? Of course you haven't. And I hope you do know what it is to have your children ripped from you and given to others to raise as slaves."

"You're trying to make me feel sorry for you? You're quite the little idiot, aren't you?" Kazul sneered.

She lunged with her claws bared and felt the satisfying sensation of them snagging flesh and tearing as she dragged Grovar back toward her. It didn't make any difference how the hyena struggled, Kazul's claws were well and thoroughly hooked into her and she wasn't letting go. With her free forepaw Kazul tore into Grovar, slashing at her face and neck until her paws were stained with blood.

At that point Kazul flung the hyena against the rock she'd run up against before and watched with satisfaction as her victim slumped to the ground limply and looked at her with glassy eyes.

Like father like daughter. The pair of lions knew what they were about when it came to beating a person. Faintly these thoughts passed loopily through Grovar's mind as she stared at Kazul and wondered if she was going to die today. It wasn't as if she hadn't provoked Kazul into this, but at the same time she hadn't expected it. She had never seen Kazul violent before. She had even wondered from time to time if she was capable of the sort of violence other Stormborn evinced. Her grip on consciousness was weakening, but before she blacked out she heard Kazul say, "I hereby disown you, Grovarbetare. You will be given to Kjar to do with as he sees fit."