[PRP] Welcome Home

[mouselet]

It was so good to be home. The air was humid, the swamp was watery and to be able to introduce herself by her true name...oh it had been wonderful. But Tseva hadn't seen the most important lioness in the entire pride there when she returned, and so had escaped the greetings and welcome homes to go find said lioness.

The black female knew where her target tended to go when she was worried, stressed or just generally unhappy. And there, pacing along a fallen log, was the purple lioness she'd sought.

"Mother!" the younger lioness called out. "I'm back!"  

[mouselet]

The black lioness laughed at her mother who had already forgotten that the name S'chor was a thing of the past and nuzzled her in return. Her mother's voice, scent...it was all just as she'd remembered. Her brown eyes were damp when she pulled back to look at the older lioness.

"You really shouldn't," she chided lovingly. "I am Tseva Reygehl now," the younger lioness announced proudly.  

[mouselet]

There was an odd note to her mother's voice, but Tseva couldn't put a paw on what it was. Perhaps Kianira was just worried about her brothers. It didn't seem to the black lioness that any of her siblings had made it home yet which meant that, until then, she'd have the novelty of being an only child - not just the only daughter.

"Thanks mom," she replied softly. "It was...well, it was very different from the swamps. But I'm so glad to be home." The younger lioness smiled at her mother, somewhat surprised to realize that the purple lioness wasn't nearly as big as she remembered. Growing up had a way of doing that, but being gone for so long had made the realization rather abrupt.  

[mouselet]

The black lioness blanched as her mother joked about the fact that she hadn't brought a mate back with her. "Moooooom!" she groaned. "I haven't even been back half a day and you're already on me about that?"

Yes she had met a nice lion on her journeys, but she was hardly ready to settle down and have cubs, no matter how much Kianira would like to be a grandmother! Not that she had any intention of telling her mother about Avahk. He was something she'd like to keep to herself, at least for now.  

[mouselet]

Tseva joined her mother, laughing weakly. But seriously. Did all mothers have a sixth sense for when you'd met a boy? Not that she was going to ask or even come close to admitting it.

She did manage to keep from rolling her eyes as Kianira reminisced about how she and Jitokeza had met. It wasn't as if Tseva had never heard the story before, it just hadn't been anywhere in recent months.

"No, I haven't done that specifically, but I think he was around when I was formally welcomed back," the black lioness offered a bit sheepishly. It was a perfectly good reason for her to seek out her mother, who hadn't attended at all, first.  

[mouselet]

"It's okay Mom," the black lioness assured the purple. She knew that as a cub she hadn't exactly been where she was supposed to be all of the time and that tendency must have come from somewhere! Not that she'd ever hold it against Kianira.

"That sounds like a great idea," Tseva told her mother. "I'm looking forward to spending some time with both of you after being gone for so long!" She'd missed them both terribly and they were, in many ways, what she'd come home for.