“Where have you been?” The lioness asked as her son entered the den. She was mad, more than mad, she was furious!
There had been a strange lion in the lands, one that Otea definitely didn’t trust. And yet, here Soren was, entering the den near morning. The boy would one day give her a heart attack if he kept it up. Otea didn’t like that fact. She glared at her son at him entered. If she could sit up and cross her paws she would. How would she make her son understand?
“I was just roaming.” Soren told her, looking away. He didn’t like when his mom got all uptight with him. She needed to loosen up a bit.
“Roaming where? And in the middle of the night? Really Soren, haven’t I brought you up better than that?”
“Better than what mom? I was in the Pridelands, why should it matter where I go?”
“Because danger may lurk even in the Pridelands. You may not realize it, but you need to keep your eyes peeled for any danger.”
“Danger…right?” Soren scoffed, plopping down in the den. He wondered why he stayed. All his other siblings had left upon reaching an age to fend for themselves. He didn’t blame them, but he couldn’t leave his mother just yet. She needed someone right now. She seemed to be going crazier as she aged. It could’ve been from the fact that her children were leaving her, Soren didn’t know.
“Don’t give me that tone, Soren. You know what danger I speak of.” Otea didn’t forget the day her cousin had attacked her, leaving her to die just by the borders. That was when she was younger, stupider. She couldn’t trust anyone really unless they won her over.
She only had a few friends do that. Some she questioned, others proved themselves to her.
“I don’t get it mother, you say there is danger, yet didn’t you leave when you were younger?” Soren countered. “I am just like you when you were a kid. You learned your lesson on your own, why can’t I learn mine?” He asked, turning towards his mother.
“You don’t want to learn the lessons I learned on my own. You want to die out there?”
“No but---“
“No buts, Soren. You cannot trust what people say. It is all about roughing it, surviving, and I fear pride life has left that instinct out of the gene pool.”
“If I can’t trust what people say, then what about you? Why should I trust you?”
“I’m your mother! That’s why! Family sticks by each other!”
Soren shook his head. “Didn’t you say that it was your cousin that injured you in the first place?” He asked quietly, looking at his feet. He knew he brought upon a sore subject with his mother.
Otea glared at her son, hmphing a bit.
She remember the day that she saw Suoh out in the roguelands. She didn’t think her cousin would wander out the lands by himself, he was such a good boy. But seeing him out there sparked something in Otea. He was different. He was no longer the scrawny lion she knew growing up, but something else. Something darker. It surprised her when she was attacked, leaving her for dead near the pridelands border. That wasn’t the cousin she knew.
“It doesn’t matter. Just stay away from the borders, Soren.”
“But---“
Otea glared at him, making her son quiet in an instant.
Sighing he shook his head. She just didn’t understand. Or maybe she did, and just didn’t want to hear it.
“What if you came out to the borders with me? It could be like a family adventure together?” He offered.
Otea shook her head. “I will not go out there.”
“Why? For me?”
“No Soren. I cannot!”
“Cannot, or will not?” Soren challenged.
“You know full well what I mean.” She huffed, beginning to fume.
“Well while you ‘cannot’ I will! I don’t care what kind of dangers you say are other there. It is my life to do with as I must. If it involves getting maimed, then so be it. You learned the lessons on your own, it is time that I do that too!”
“Then leave now!” She hissed. She couldn’t take it anymore. The talk of venturing in to the roguelands was causing more heartache. If her son didn’t want to believe it to be bad, then so be it. She couldn’t keep arguing with her son about the subject.
But, the lioness was finding herself regretting the words.
“Wait…Soren…”
“No mother, I understand.” The adolescent said softly, rising to his feet. If his mother wanted to leave, then he would leave. Just like she couldn’t take it anymore, neither could he. He slowly moved towards the entrance of the den, not bothering to look back at his mother. “I know you use to understand one day…maybe soon you will realize it again.” And then he was gone. There was no goodbye, no nothing. The lanky male drifted out into the morning air, leaving his mother alone where she had been all night.
Otea stared at the fleeting form, the tears beginning to well up in her eyes. What had happened to her? She use to be such an adventurous soul, but now she wasn’t. She stayed cooped up in the den for the most part, or was out with Ohtli at the waterhole. There was nothing more she did.
Part of her wanted to be like her old self. She wanted to have the itchy feet to roam like her son had. She couldn’t blame her son for his wanderlust. He had got it from her. Hell, he ahd likely got it from his father too. The large black rogue lion…a charmer he was… probably one of the only males Otea wanted to think she could trust.
She sighed, glancing back from the entrance. She hoped her son would return. She couldn’t live with the fact of knowing the last words she might have every said to him were not ‘I love you’.
[word count - 1021]
