Vellamo had been rather productive yesterday. She had accepted three Kaless, each bringing her a nice little shell which she had promptly taken and added to her den. If you could call it that. Her den had been made by digging in the side of a hill that brushed right along the beach. She preferred not to spend her time in the sea caves, but much preferred awaking to the alluring caw of gulls as they scavenged the beach for food. Here, her den was half buried under the sand and Vellamo each morning would rise and shaking vigorously to free herself from the gains that clung to her fur. This particular morning she did not rise, but remained laying on the sandy ground to look out at the sea as it moved.Her mother had been a Kukoa, and her father a mortal rogue.
Try as she might Vellamo could not shake the disappointment of knowing that very fact. She could not grasp that she, in theory was Kaless-born and a lesser species than the Kukoa she had been raised knowing to be. 'Impossible.' she had thought to herself. There was no way! She was Vellamo, born to the great and ocean stirring Euanthe. But was mom even all that great? She had lowered herself from being with a rogue. She had succumbed to what no monster should and gave birth to forbidden Halflings. (Though they weren't truly forbidden, in Vellamo's mind they were!)
Well, mom! Mom had gone and informed Vellamo when she asked about her heritage the it was true! That Vellamo was no better then that good-for-nothing idiot Nuru she had met! That Eua, her mom, allowed her children to be stuck with a wretched title! Allow... She had admitted to Vellamo that at that point in time Euanthe had not felt as happy or confident that she'd survive than she did now. If that was the case Vellamo could forgive mom. It would take some weeks of snarling and being bitter over being lied to her whole life, but she could forgive her. After all, mom simply wanted to let her genes carry on and with no other choice forced a rogue to sire her young.
But was she really half? Was she not... Full blooded monster? It hurt to know that she wasn't as good as she had believed herself to be. It hurt to know that any pups she raised would be forced to live with the label of having Halfling blood run in their veins. It hurt most of all to know that up until now she had been living a lie. That mom wasn't who she said she was and that her father was just some guy her mother had been with for a short time of her life.
Gracious, she was starting to sound like Kaveh.
Because of their father having officially been anonymous her brother Kaveh had transferred over at a young age to the Ghadhabu district. He wanted to be raised a fighter, and no better place in the monster lands to do so then at Hanma's volcano. He was often dramatic though and had taken many things out of context. To think she was beginning to sound like her overdramatic brother, peh!
Shaking her fur Vellamo stood and walked out of her den into the sunlight. She stretched briefly and observed as other Kukoa emerged from their own homes to see the day rise. She was a Kukoa. A full blood. Mother had brought her and Kaveh here because they were lucky, unlike their other brother; to be full blooded. There were no questions to be answered. There was only the truth. And the truth, however obscure said she was a monster.
Yes, she reminded herself while pacing along the sands. Her head was held high, her mane of fur dancing in the wind behind her. She was a monster. A real monster. Not a halfing. No, she had overtaken the halfing blood and was a full blood. "I am a monster." Saying it felt more believable. As if by hiding it she was not accepting her full-bloodied potential. "I am a monster!" She said it more loudly this time. Proudly, with a snarl underway. She repeated herself, this time it earned the attention of some Kukoa in the distance, and some gulls who circled the ocean sky. "I. AM. A. MONSTER!"
A grin of satisfaction of the birds fleeing from her voice allowed Vellamo a moment to relax. Yes. The truth could not be denied, there was mortal in her blood. But that of the Ghadhabu and those of the Kukoa also ran through her veins. She was a monster. Maybe not fully, maybe not even quarterly. But the part that was monster overtook the softness of the mortal nature.
She might have been a halfing. A Kaless-born who proved to be more Kukoa like in nature. But the children who squirmed around her belly from a fun night she had endured were only quarter mortal. Their children eighth mortal, and so on and so fourth until any traces of mortal blood had vanished.
So she accepted her fate. Much like she had told the clients she dealt with commonly. They often didn't like what was in stow for their future and would ask Vellamo with hopeful eyes how to change their fate. In turn she would reply "You can't change ta fates. Ya just gotta live with it! Accepted it already!" The best advice she had given her clients: "Accept it." There was nothing to be done. What had happened, happened. What was to happen would also happen. Maybe a few details were off, Vellamo's visions weren't perfect... But fate had a certain way of doing things. She wasn't going to just change her route because someone didn't like it. Vellamo knew this. So she accepted the facts that she knew.
She was kaless-born, but she was a monster. Her children were to be monster born, and stay as monsters. They didn't need to know about their mortal heritage. It wasn't relevant. No need sharing the secret... As for how Vellamo knew her children wouldn't, well... She just wouldn't tell them!
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