|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:26 pm
He spoke fondly to his nieces and nephews as they were ushered away with their father. Good night. Sweet dreams. Everything routine with an afterthought reminder he would see Kenna the next day. They were all too young to pick up the cues his sister surely did: the curl of his tail around his hind leg; the upward affliction of his tone, however slight.
The desert night was cold and Shunqa, lately, abhorred having to sleep in the lonely chill of it. Still he looked forward to it far more than what awaited him here. Always one among them to speak up, but always hesitating just long enough to see if someone else would do the honors. Gazing at his sister, he waited.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:48 pm
Moto'Seide was fortunately blessed with patience and not stubbornness. If she had been, they would have waited in the chill for hours on account of pride and weakness of character. The Firekin grew tired of the game the moment the cold air made the skin underneath her fur grow taught.
"I'm listening."
They had lived on the same shifting sands for years. Moto'Seide did not have to politely inquire if there was something wrong, nor did she like the idea of a long speech leading in to an otherwise immediately addressable problem.
The lioness' tail swayed and she looked back, expression neutral.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:47 pm
The Firekin were larger than life. It made sense the warm bodies that helped sustain the pride would be raised to observe the big picture. Seide always did them proud that way, among others. "Are you?" It didn't take Shunqa's eye for detail to see Huo was growing out of his coat, and by association, his acceptance. His birthright. Was Seide listening? Was she watching? Because for someone so eager to confront problems -- to confront her own brother -- a terrifying realization had been staring them in the face for weeks now, whispering in their ear, unheeded all the while. A threat so obvious the cubs too young to apprentice were noticing.
Shunqa breathed in, rolled his shoulders, and raised his head only to drop it back down. One unwavering gaze could trace a straight line to the next. "I know you haven't said anything to Huo about it." It. Hypocrisy was an ugly color on the both of them. "What are you going to do when he starts looking like Dad?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:58 pm
Moto'Seide felt the need to readjust her stance and take in a long, slow breath.
"Shunqa." Moto'Seide was uncertain if it was the beginning of a speech, a silent plea, or a warning. Perhaps it had been all three, but the Legate was unable to diverge towards them all at once. It had simply become exasperated.
"He'll be fine."
But, hypocrisy or not, he was not fine now. Moto'seide had convinced herself that leaving huria were normal, necessary. As much as someone could, she believed it was the Right thing and it did not deny one's Firekin roots. No matter how much Seide upheld her belief of strength in her son and that his color meant only where he would be living as a Firekin, her son clearly did not feel the same way.
"When he is old enough, he'll travel into the rogue lands, just like his Aunts and Uncle." That answer, she was certain, would not appease her restless kin.
"I will send for An now, so he will have family with him."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:17 am
Offer prey your reasoning for hunting it and expect it to be appeased. Shunqa had tried that once, during his apprenticeship. Never after that. He was a superb hunter now... and an even worse Firekin. "Yes, his uncle. It's Gepeto, if you've forgotten." Claws came out, each and every pointed edge on his right paw pressing into the sand and dragging it into his fur as they sheathed. An accident. Shunqa's eyes roamed a second's worth of uncertainty before returning to their post. "Do you know where he is? Have you heard from him? Do you --" He shook his head, swallowed. The conversational tone dissolved into one personal, one that could insult someone who cared enough.
But...
His eyes were skyward, then again back to her. "Do you even care if he dies out there, Seide?"
Have you ever cared?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:22 am
"I know his name," Moto'Seide replied, tone cool and even. If the tension had not started yet, it began the second Shunqa's claws unsheathed.
The hair on Moto'Seide's back raised into a fine line. Her tail grew rigid and still behind her.
"Are you questioning if I love my own son, Shunqa?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:33 am
Certain places, dark places, Shunqa didn't let his mind wander. When it was unnecessary. When it concerned ridiculous, hypothetical issues like, say, could he take down his sister if she were ever to strike him -- and would he?
The tremor down his back was not seen, but it was felt. Yet his voice and his gaze had never been so steady, so unabashed in her presence. I'm right, said his tone. I'm right and you're wrong. You're a bad sister. You're a bad mother. But you get to be a great Firekin. Is it worth it?
"Why would I ask that, Seide?"
The question was not rhetorical.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:39 am
Moto'Seide blinked once, slowly and her tail inched its way from one side of her body to the other. The Legate's jaw closed shut, like an iron trap.
"Come talk to me when you're calm enough to do so." Soldier.
As even-toned as Moto'Seide tried to be, and as carefully as she chose her words, the Legate let them slip around her brother. She inserted colloquialisms, her grammar faltered, and she thought for much less time before she spoke.
Tonight, Shunqa could have been a scolded apprentice and the tone would be no different.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:53 am
They had that in common. Shunqa didn't approach his apprentices with the same tactics, though. She was professional and curt, he was personal and dismissive. "You sleep well, Seide." If you can.
Shunqa lingered there, paws firmly rooted, blinking once and only once.
The air felt colder tonight.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:59 am
It ended the way it began - Shunqa's stubbornness.
The paws of the Legate did not move for a moment. The moon shadows grew by fractions before Moto'Seide decided that time was not to be wasted on stubbornness.
Without even a bop of her head, Moto'Seide moved towards she and Veru's den. He would be there waiting for her, warm, concerned if he was not already out cold, and she would think and address Shunqa in the coming days.
But not tonight.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
