Ili'ella had always been a happy, reasonably well adjusted female, for a travelling gypsy that is, but there was a couple of occasions when even she would lose her temper. The most common of these occurrences was anything that involved her flaky, reasonably self-obsessed mother.
"Mother, would you just listen!" She snapped, following after the cheerfully wandering female before her.
"Oh settle down," Lari responded, exhasperated at her over dramatic, worry-wart of a daughter. "I heard you! Neculai and Hiana are unhappy with how I raised them, big surprise there!" She rolled her eyes in frustration.
"You children are always complaining about how I raise you! I should have done better! We should have had a home!" She huffed. "I did the best that I could, given the circumstances!"
Nisija, who was followed her half sister and her mother at a slightly slower, far more skittish pace into the rougelands surrounding their home pride, she wished she could call out to them, and tell them to stop, but her voice was hiding in her throat and she couldn't make a sound. All she could do was speed up her pace to catch up with her mother.
She really didn't think they should be walking along the cliff tops of the beach, but that was because monsters lurked in the caves there. Lari just liked finding trinkets inside the caves, things to wear and adorn her daughters with.
"That's not the point, Mother!" Ili'ella groaned. "Everyone knows that they are unhappy, what is making a difference is that Neculai is looking to actually confront you!"
"He won't do that," Lari scoffed. "He is like his father, non-confrontative and simple. He will sulk, and complain, and possibly hurt himself in frustration, but he won't confront me. He'll settle down, you'll see." Lari smiled. She knew her children well.
A glimmer in the distance, along the cliff tops, caught Nisija's eyes. For a moment, she froze, fearing a monster had spotted them. Until the figure moved closer and Nisija's eyes adjusted. She knew that figure.
"Hiana!" The words burst from her mouth without her say so, but those words alone startled both Ili'ella and Lari from their conversation.
Uzi'hiana was following her brother, Neculai'oua, closely. Almost stuck to his side, for fear of what was about to happen, and also for fear of the water which raged down below them on the cliffs. The cliffs weren't that high, one would survive a fall, even onto the sands below, but it would hurt. A lot. Not to mention the water that would surely swallow her whole if she fell.
The sound of her sister's cry drew her attention though, and she bit her tongue to hold back from calling out. She had missed Nisija, even though she was absolutely crazy.
Neculai didn't falter at the sound of his sister's cry. Though to be fair, she was calling out to Hiana, not to him. So, it really shouldn't have affected him.
The one who caught his attention was his mother, who was being flanked by his two pale sisters. Had she always looked this old?
It had been many months since he had seen her but he seemed to remember a spritely, bouncy female. Not the tired female before him.
It didn't take them long to cross the distance between the two groups.
"Mother," he greeted, quite coldly. Though she looked old, the inner frustrations built up quickly in him, spilling out like poison through his veins once again.
”Turn and walk away, Neculai,” Ili’ella begged, before Lari could respond. “Please.”
"Don’t be silly, Ili’ella,” Lari huffed, scowling at her daughter, before turning to Neculai. “I understand you are angry at me. I thought you would have out-grown that by now.”
It was a simple sentence. It should not have created the reaction that it did – but the frustrations were building endlessly inside Neculai and that nonchalance, that ‘how immature are you to still hold a grudge’ attitude was the last straw. Neculai growled, low in his chest.
“You are saying that I am immature? you?” He demanded, furious.
Nisija flinched at the anger in her brother’s face, and the growl that shook. The monsters dancing at her corner of her eyes grew more rapid, flying towards her and away from her at dizzying speeds. It was terrifying. More terrifying in combination with her brother’s anger. Why did she come with them?
Unconsciously she took a step backwards, to flee the anger but did not run just yet.
Hiana stared at Neculai, shocked at the anger. Sure, she knew her brother was angry at their mother, but she thought his anger matched hers. She was angry, but she was mostly hurt, feeling as if her mother didn’t even try to understand.
“Neculai,” she tried to reason with him, but he shot her a dark look and she fell silent. For a moment, she felt afraid of him, a feeling she had never experienced. She took a step back, unconsciously stepping closer to the edge of the cliff, closer to her fear, but at that moment, Neculai was scarier than the ocean which raged below.
Lari looked startled at the rage which he was showing. Perhaps he was not as passive as the former Neculai had been. Perhaps he was angrier than she imagined. There was a look of hatred in those eyes, and that worried her. She took a step back, unconsciously mimicking what Nisija and Hiana had done earlier.
Ili’ella, unlike her siblings and parent, did not step back from Neculai. Instead, she stepped forward, standing in front of the woman who had raised her. She was the shield for the moment. “I’m asking you for the last time, Neculai, please, just walk away,” she begged.
Though the females standing around him were afraid, none expected what he did next. With a snarl, he threw himself forward. His paws, larger than his siblings, struck Ili’ella in the side of her head, throwing her to the side as if she was a rag-doll that he had gotten bored with.
She flew to the side, revealing his mother. The force of the blow rendered her unconscious for the moment, and she hit the ground hard, on the side facing away from the cliff edge, saving her for the moment.
Hiana and Nisija screamed. Nisija, terrified, turned to flee back to the pride.
“Don’t go! Help me!” Hiana begged her, throwing her weight onto her brother who had gone for Lari in that time.
Nisija froze in fear, staring at the scene before her. Tears slipped down her cheeks and she sobbed. “I can’t…” she gasped, as the monsters crept closer. She let out a mournful yowl, as she fled back to the pride, tears streaming down her cheeks as she fled.
Neculai had dealt two strong blows to the elder female by the time that Hiana had thrown herself forward. Her small weight on his back was hardly a deterant, and he threw her off easily, her falling close to the edge of the cliff. She screamed again.
Lari yelled out as her son hit her, first in the leg and then near the face. She slid closer to the cliff.
“Neculai,” she yelled. “Please, don’t do this!” She was terrified. How had she done this to him? How could his hatred have grown so much? Did she deserve this?
“You did this to us, to us all.” Neculai snarled. “You broke us.” He launched himself at her again, this time it was not intended to hurt. Instead, it was a push. It was then that Lari noticed that she was standing so close to the cliff. Her back paw slipped, and her weight did the rest.
She screamed as she fell. She hit the sand below hard, knocking her out.
From the cliff top, Neculai watched her fall. Hiana, who was near the edge as well, saw her mother plummet, and the tears blurred her vision.
“What did you do?” Hiana whispered, horrified. “Neculai, WHAT DID YOU DO?”
Neculai tore his eyes from his mother’s figure, and glanced at his sister. “What I had to do,” he spat. “You will thank me someday.” He turned from the cliff with one last, disgusted look down at his mother’s figure on the sand.
“Are you with me, sister?” Neculai demanded.
Hiana, unable to speak, simply sobbed and shook her head. How could she have been so wrong?
Forgive me, mother! Forgive me!
- F I N -
(1,425 words)
