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 Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 4:29 pm
This morning was like all the others, except that it wasn't.
Opportunities for excuses disguised as delays were all exhausted. Lengi's mouth had run dry listing the sensible reasons she would go to the Firekin tomorrow, not today. Then there were rumors -- she wagered spread by Ulaka -- that Lengi didn't want her new task, that she wasn't suited for it. It was the nudge she needed to finally get her paws moving. As it turned out, hers would not be the only prints left in the sand.
"My mother told me once that lighter coats don't attract the sun as much. It might be helpful out here."
Something she noticed about Nomsindo was that she tended to observe from the corner of her eye. This askance look was all the effort she had to spare when presented with Lengi's thinly-veiled attempt at comfort. The Cabanga preferred to steer clear of the grape vine given the gossip passed along was always of questionable origin and the roots rarely grounded in fact, but. It was common knowledge many mother's would have preferred darker manes for all their children, and it was plain as day neither Nomsindo or her twin were so blessed.
Lengi had been born outside the migrant pride and was accustomed to the bounty of colors their kith had to offer -- purples and oranges; blues and greens. Lions bright as the sun soon to rise overhead that managed to survive through various means. This discrimination so many of them had was not ingrained in her. When she understood the situation a bit better, she came to feel some sympathy for the unfortunate pair.
Part of her, hidden from the others and denied by her own self, was thankful the typically reserved youngster had asked to come along -- soon followed by her brother. Lengi would not be alone in this foreign territory surrounded by strangers with whom she was personally appointed to keep the peace.
Impoqo walked two bodies over, the second half of the adult barrier that kept a pair of unpredictable juveniles from wandering. Lengi wished she would talk this once. Bringing cheer to the sulking was not her forte.
"We should be there soon," she tried.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 4:56 pm
But perhaps her mind was active like Sitheka's. The juvenille's eyes were up, though his tail remained down. His gaze jumped from a rock, a distance bush, the sillouette of a tree, and finally, with great diliberation, to Lengi's concerned face.
Sitheka stumbled, his still delicate paws of youth clumsily making their way over a mound of dirt. Ears back, he rebalanced himself and resumed walking as though nothing had happened at all. Sitheka's eyes, however, lingered on the large forepaws on the other side of Nomsindo. His own pace began to match Lengi's.
"Do they really make the male's hunt?" The juvenille asked, perhaps wise to Lengi's plight or because he simply wished to hear her speak.
In truth, the orange male had and was nervous head to toe about meeting the monster-lions. The females were rumored to rival Gakere in size. They were said to be strong, but maybe lacking the sharp side of a stick. Certainly, risking a male's well-being to potentially injurious hunting day was a problem of safety for the whole pride.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 5:20 pm
Speak she did. Her voice was smooth, never too high or too low. "Males hunt most places," Lengi replied. "--All the places I've been." A tally not as impressive as she'd once assumed. The entire desert was uncharted territory beyond where the pride had taken her, and the longer they walked through it, the more she wondered if there was call for concern. It had been said the Firekin were a straight line from where they started, that if she kept going she would find them, but there was only sand so far.
Nomsindo's mind wandered far beyond the grains of it, perhaps far beyond that. Bright eyes like hers didn't hide much, including an absence of attention. Lengi wouldn't pry or disrupt the silence set to surround them unless Sitheka took the liberty of piping up a second time.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 5:50 pm
"Hm."
Sitheka was left with an itch at the back of his ear and two more questions.He paused to take care of the first, shaking out his mane. When he stood up, the fur at the back of his legs itched, and Sitheka's nose wrinkled.
The more they walked, the thicker the invasive grains got. In the distance, the beginnings of tall dunes swept across their landscape.
The group made their almost unnoticeable ascent until voices began to replace silence. Impoqo's lumbering stance tightened and she pinched the juveniles between herself and Lengi.
Sitheka caught flash of red, white, and the occasional black along a ridgeline.
"They're not that big," he blurted out, as if he could tell from such a distance.
Only a few minutes later, one of the moving bodies had spotted them and the sillouette had paused in what Sitheka could only assume was their direction. Two more joined it shortly thereafter; likely to stare at the incoming strange-pelted lions.
Sitheka squished closer to his sister.
"Why do you have to come here, Lengi?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 6:16 pm
One absent-minded remark from Sitheka was all it took to quell Lengi's desire to travel great distances in the blink of an eye, as she'd heard the Gods could. The Firekin may have caught wind of it had they been closer. She tried to be open-minded, but she had assumptions of her own. They wouldn't take kindly to being insulted based on what she'd been told.
"Because it's my duty," Lengi replied. Looking at each of the juveniles, she noted they seemed at ease compared to their guardians. Her muscles were tense like Impoqo's. Then they were still. "Stop," she instructed, having already done so herself. Perhaps the Firekin could be convinced to approach first? "We'll let them welcome us when they're ready."
Obediently, Nomsindo stopped. She didn't glance at the strangers in her usual way, but turned her head toward them, then up at their guides, then back to the brutes. Why did they have to wait if it was Lengi's job to be here?
"Relax, Impoqo." Lengi's encouragement sounded sincere for being so many shades of hypocritical. She'd expected a guard or two. It was... There were just so many of them.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 6:37 pm
'My duty' was accepted as an answer without another peep. Duty was a synonym for the word job which also meant the same as commitment and purpose. While Nomsindo and her twin were pitied, Sitheka and Lindani were less than subtly pushed.
While still small, and blaringly orange, Sitheka had great, world-ending plans for his adulthood. He would daydream his way to being the Umholi of a new pride if nothing else would get him there.
In the mean time, he took his orders from Lengi like this was his duty. Certainly, between him and his sister, the obedience would make any Firekin heart flutter.
Impoqo's head dipped and her tail curled over on itself once before being forced into a rigid-state of 'relaxation' that Lengi had asked for. The female took a few inching steps forwards and turned her shoulders in so that the youth were just shielded.
And, Sitheka's mind pouring over the fact his mouth was terribly dry, they waited.
-
Maipe was driving him nuts.
They had been at been at the outpost for less than half a day, having arrived the night previous under the guidance of Shunqa. It was with excellent faith that Seide had let her brother take all five of her offspring to the outpost. No back-breaker, but certainly no easy feat for an average youth.
In the main Firekin lands, Moto'Seide was no doubt making her mate sick with the emphasis she stared at an empty cavern entrance at night. Her children, no doubt, were oblivious to their plight.
"Stop that." Maipe wasn't doing anything. Not really. Just looking his direction was enough. Huo had been trying, timelessly, to get his footing right for an attack position, and he could feel her judging him.
Jozi'Kenna still flicked an ear whenever her siblings fought. It surprised her, and she had glued herself to Shunqa while at the outpost. For now, they were being allowed to adjust themselves to the outpost, but it was only a matter of time before an agenda presented itself.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 7:10 pm
The way Shunqa saw things, he was not a bad lion. For that, he was a bad Firekin. As of late the matter of huria had slipped his mind more days in a row than it had in his entire adult life combined. He was blessed with nieces and nephews permitted to stay. When his free time was not invested in their well-being, he found any reason he could to accompany Asami for even the most trivial of chores. It was fair to say he was the happiest he'd ever been, and yet he felt every reason to celebrate doubled as one of the things making him complacent. Was he already too old to change anything? Was he damned to become his father after all, to disregard the reality around him as long as he was well-to-do?
It was taboo to speak of faith here, he informed Asami. She'd been raised with much of it, and she told him of spirits. Shunqa prayed to them when he needed to pray to someone. For guidance. For a sign.
His pleas were not unheard.
The newcomers had gained enough ground to be noticed and then some. It wasn't so late in the morning waves in the air obstructed them. He could see their shapes and their colors -- the wrong colors. That's what the others were thinking.
Shunqa was a good uncle. Amazing, really. He went above and beyond what was asked of him. This, like his happiness, was a double-edged sword. These were Seide's cubs to raise, not his, but he never once squandered an opportunity to infringe on teaching them vital life lessons. He was right about this. They deserved exposure to common sense, to be freed from the hypocrisy their family lived under with these cub's oddly-colored grandfather parading around. In honor of the uncle and aunts that had been cast out. The relatives they would never know.
"Wait here." Shunqa had barely moved before a protest bellowed from Maipe. She waddled her round self over to him and announced quite loudly that she wanted to go. This would trigger an argument if he didn't beat them to it. And so... "Alright, Maipe and Huo will go with me."
Maipe was sure she could walk and stare at Huo at the same time. (His pouncing stances were awful, for the record.)
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 7:26 pm
Whether by Seide's paw or a stroke of great luck, three of the five Firekin had been born with manners. How bitterly ironic, then, that the loudest, most spoiled, and in essence least deserving, was the first to be taken to all the interesting places.
It was only natural that Huo would have to go to manage Maipe. What if she tripped on a rock and fell onto her back and couldn't get up? Or couldn't run fast enough from a rogue lion and got eaten? Huo never said these delightful insults, but he thought them. The brooding juvenille felt they made him feel better, but it only furthered the simmering disaste in his mouth.
If it was a staring contest she was after, Maipe would certainly have it. Never had two cubs been so adept at walking without looking at the ground; Sitheka would have liked to take lessons.
When Huo grew sick of it, he would pounce Maipe and wail upon her with all the power he could muster--claws sheathed, of course! In the mean time, he followed Shunqa only by shadow and the black color in the corner of his eye. Huo was much more concerned with laying his ears flat.
I dare you, his expression challenged.
-
Their pride's children sandwiched between them, Impoqo cast a look towards Lengi as a shape crossed an imaginary line the other Firekin had seemed unwilling to step over until present.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 7:48 pm
Maipe had her share of insults for Huo. The difference was she often said them. Seide punished her, where as Shunqa had no reason to: She bit her tongue around him and grandpa, driven by a need she was too young and not near reflective enough to understand. The best way to get mom's attention was misbehaving, but somehow it would be different being scolded by her more soft-hearted relatives. She'd feel the same sting as when she picked on Kenna. Maipe tried not to do that, especially when harassing Huo was more fun anyway.
A lot of the adults agreed. Maipe heard them saying things about him. --Well, one thing. But it was The Worst Possible Thing. She didn't dare utter the word with Shunqa right there; instead, she mouthed it to her brother, smug as she'd ever been.
Huria.
Oblivious to the bickering, Shunqa kept his eyes ahead of him and noted the position and stance of each rogue. Two females on either side of two cubs, both around Maipe and Huo's age. The female of the pair stepped farther back and wouldn't meet his gaze. She did, however, look straight at the siblings.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 8:07 pm
Huo remained oblivious to Lengi's gaze.
The fur all along his golden-speckled back had risen and his chest began to expand. A wheezing, snarling growl leapt out of his throat. With it, came the cub.
"Maipe!" he screeched. Unlike in legends and stories, Huo did not have the perfect witty response. He didn't think to challenge Maipe to an honorable duel, or make a remark that kept her off his tail for weeks.
His little paw-pads swung erratically, for all they were worth, at his sister's stupid, mean face. And a word he wasn't allowed to repeat but definitely slipped into his head.
-
Among the natural-pelts, Impoqo's head began to tilt to the side. A hoarse chirping sound escaped her throat, and had she been able to speak, she might have asked Shunqa if he were trying to abandon un-ruly cubs with them.
The comparatively angelic piece of one sibling pair shifted his green eyes towards Lengi. Sitheka's mouth had parted slightly. An unspoken question flapped over his dry tongue--Is that normal? Should we intervene?
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Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 10:11 pm
Normal? Yes. Intervene? Absolutely not. Lengi wouldn't be there to encroach on this Firekin's authority if she hadn't proven herself a capable peacemaker. If things progressed poorly, she would reconsider, but for now, letting their... father? handle things seemed all around the best choice. He didn't take long, grabbing the male cub by the scruff of the neck and swinging him away from his sibling, plopping him in the sand.
If asked, Shunqa would say it had been because Huo started it. The truth was he didn't want to break his neck trying to haul a fat, flailing Maipe around. She had her uncle's paw pin her instead.
They're brutes, Nomsindo thought. If the males in her pride did something like that... Her eyes trailed to Huo and lingered there. If the males in her pride did something like that, they'd find themselves in trouble, that was for certain.
"What brings you out here?" Trying to sound official while dealing with unruly nieces and nephews? Challenge accepted. Shunqa cleared his throat and added, "You're nearing Firekin territory."
"They're here for Huo," Maipe spat.
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Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 10:25 pm
Huo would never forget the taste and feel of sand. It shoved up his nose, stung his eyes, and speckled his teeth which now tasted gritty on his tongue. Water began to trickle into his eyes, and Huo began trying to blink this away before he even thought to get back onto his feet--boys didn't cry!
A shout lingered in his throat, ready and aimed for both Shunqa and Maipe. He hated them both. Shunqa hadn't tossed Maipe. No, he was picking on Huo. The body of the small, pale-pelted huria (no he wasn't!) shook.
He was going to barrel into Maipe's side, knock her off the cliff above the stream. Her fat body would sink really well in the stupid, clear water of the stupid, dirty-pelted, tiny bone-face lions.
His lower jaw jutted out as he glared after Maipe, hissing in air as the sand reminded him that he needed to blink.
And out of the corner of his eye, he saw a grey cub's gaze on him.
Huo turned his glare in that direction only to feel the wind suddenly knocked out of him. Had he said those words out loud? His ears went forwards and then back. Well, it was true!
Swallowing down his embarrassment, he shuffled to Shunqa's left hind foot and sulked there. He made a very distinct effort not to make eye contact with any of the Itharblurfsfd--who cared!
"My family and I are here to see the outpost," Sitheka stood and began to speak, with the sort of eloquence only a cub who practiced constantly would have mastered. Was he trying to impress Lengi? Maybe a little. Okay, a lot.
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Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 3:00 pm
Upon retreating, Huo was no longer forced to wither under the judgmental gaze of this new found peer. Nomsindo saw these lions as a group, no different than watching a herd of zebra or pressing her paw against countless grains of sand. Just one among many. Even her siblings weren't spared this detached perspective; Nomsindo barely knew most of them. Yet it was only because of her Sitheka's genteel good manners weren't all for naught. She had underestimated her brother if only by never assuming anything of him at all. He was doing them proud by presenting himself respectably.
"We're from Ithambo'hlabathi," Lengi provided. She seemed almost dismissive of the cubs by then. Not ignoring them, but not focusing on them either. "I come as the ambassador."
"Oh, you're -- Okay, right." Shunqa hadn't known to expect someone so official, but he was "just" a hunter... They didn't tell him anything. The chip on his shoulder didn't weigh him down any, not his steps or his voice. He nodded toward the outpost and beyond, smiling. "Let me take you the rest of the way. I'm Shunqa. This is my nephew, Huo, and my niece, Maipe."
Maipe had wiggled free and was leering up at her uncle. Then she stared at -- or perhaps, stared down -- the other youngsters.
"I'm Hlengiwe. This is Impoqo. And this is Nomsindo and her brother Sitheka."
"Do you have water?" Nomsindo asked. They were going to get a drink soon, right? It had been a long time since they had water...
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Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 3:42 pm
Huo's ears twitched toward's Lengi's voice. His eyebrows furrowed and he had to job to catch up to Shunqa's strides. Didn't they already have an ambassador?
Unlike his distant relative, Sitheka bobbed his head when he was introduced. His yellow-stained eyes traveled after Lengi and then immediately shifted to his younger sister.
The question hung in the air, informally waiting for someone to spur into a response. There was, of course, water. And Huo found himself wondering if they required history lessons in the Bonelands, because surely every cub should know that the entire outpost was sprung from the need for water.
Naturally, Huo said nothing of the sort out loud, instead creeping up to Maipe's side. As awful as his sister was, her company was still better than the small, strange animals they were leading back to the outpost. Though there was plenty of room to move around her if he wanted, Huo instead ran up Maipe's backside so she'd have to trip over her own toes on the compact earth.
"You're always in the way."
Beside the cubs, Impoqo remained so motionless that she could easily be mistaken for a rock.
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 6:49 pm
Shunqa smiled at the inquisitive little one. He could tell just by looking at her she was clever. "Of course we do. Just up there. Follow me and you can drink all you want."
They started walking. Lengi nodding to Impoqo before going first, Nomsindo staying by her brother's side as if to demonstrate the way siblings should act. She watched the red cub scramble back to her paws and swat at the male. Those barbarians.
Shunqa decided he would let the antics of Seide's children slide this time with nothing more than a look of disapproval he doubted either had paid attention to.
Leave it to Maipe to take it too far. It started when she glanced over her shoulder at Sitheka. Her feelings on him aside, the obvious intent was to get under her brother's skin, and this was a roundabout way of doing it. "You better stay at the outpost. Never know if they'll start makin' slaves out of the huria again."
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