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 Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:05 pm
Three, two, one.
Three gone, two left, but soon there would be only one, and then none at all. All five of her children would be gone, carried away from their home and from her for what could be weeks, months, forever.
Asali'jua had never imagined it would be so hard to just turn and walk away, and leave them to their fate. That maternal part of her stabbed with ache each time, straight to her heart. But they would go, and she would send them, because it was the way of things; the right way of things.
And this time, it was Johari's turn to go her way, and so Asali sought her dreaming daughter out.
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Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:27 pm
The swamp holds many secrets, and to say that Johari's were any less important or less secret than the others would not be accurate. Though she didn't know it quite yet, the little dreamer's first chapter of life was about to close, only to open yet another one that would define her for the rest of her life.
The creamy female sat at the edge of a bog, staring into a reflection of herself. Slowly, like the swamp around her as it began to lose parts of itself, she'd begun to change. Always one to look on the bright side of things, Johari was having trouble deciding how to approach these changes just yet. She knew that, like herself, her siblings would be experiencing these changes as well, and that the time would come to do what they must. But concern for her brother, Mng'aro, etched more worry upon her face than anything. She hoped, beyond all hope, that he would be watched over, and that she would see him again one day. But these fears remained unvoiced. They were hers, and hers alone.
Eyes closed, head bowed low, Asali's daughter sat in her favorite spot, awaiting her mother, knowing the time had come. She needed the answers to unvoiced questions that swam around her mind constantly. And somehow, she knew if she believed enough, the answers would come to her soon. For better or worse, those answers were what would lead her to herself.
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Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 6:59 pm
It would be over soon, done. That was what Asali kept telling herself, that soon enough they would all be gone, and she wouldn't have to do this again...until Kinamasi grew, and Matope and Sehani's children...but these were hers, her first, and whether they knew it or not they were all taking pieces of her with them.
As she approached her daughter, the queen gave an inward sigh before straightening her graceful length. Any turmoil remained solely within her.
"Johari."
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:32 am
Slowly, Johari turned to greet her mother, her form held reserved, unlike the other times she greeted her mother with a nuzzle. Her evergreen eyes searched her mother's face, trying to figure out what she should say, if there was anything to say.
The adolescent lioness bowed her head, finding only one word she could force her lips to form that would make any sense. "Mother..." She awaited what Asali would say next, unsure of herself at this point.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 1:42 pm
Asali could see the searching, the uncertainty. Surely Johari had some inkling of what was about to happen, having had warning in the departures of all her brothers; only to Nyoe had it come truly unheralded, and perhaps he was lucky in that. "It is time, child. Time for you to leave here and learn; your body grows, but so too must your mind, or else you will never truly be grown, no matter how lithe you become."
"I gave you a name, once. I called you Johari; Johari is a child's name, and as long as you bear it, you will be a child in the eyes of the spirits, in the eyes of the Mother, and in my eyes as well." The words changed only a little, from child to child, but it was just as hard to get them out the fourth time as it had been the first.
"You must find a new name, your true name, and be child no more."
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:34 pm
While it was painful to be leaving the only home she'd ever known for her entire life, Asali's words to Johari were like the releasing of a dove. The young lioness had been waiting for the moment that she would be set free, to be allowed to strike out on her own and find out just how to attain her true dream.
Johari's eyes were saddened as her mother spoke, but behind them a strength began to unfurl, to grow within her. Standing up, the buttercream lioness nodded to the Queen, her emerald eyes taking in her mother's form for what could be the last time.
Glancing back towards where her father and final sibling resided, Johari let out a soft sigh. Which direction should she take, and how would she find the answers to the questions in her mind? "How will I know when I have found my true name?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:46 pm
"You will know it," she assured her daughter, reaching out one paw to tap her on her chest before withdrawing the touch after a mere moment.
"But you must leave here, now. Leave these lands without delay - do not turn to bid your brother and sisters goodbye, nor your father nor anyone else. Go, travel as your paws take you, as the spirits and fate take you. Go and find your name."
"When you have found your name, and only when, return here, to your home. Return to your pride and speak your name before us all." This would be good for her dreamer, she had been reminding herself...and as her daughter stood, Asali knew that it would be so. If she survived.
"If, after one year and one moon, you have not returned, know that we will say the rites for you, so that you will not roam as a ghost forever."
And that was the end. With one last look at Johari, the first of her daughters to leave, Asali'jua turned and walked away - not towards the island den, but further off into the swamp, where she would be alone.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 5:49 pm
Johari's eyes widened at the fact that she couldn't bid anyone goodbye. Her father... her dear father, oh how she wanted to nuzzle him one last time. But no, she had to obey her mother and do as she must.
"I will return with my name, mother, this I promise you." Standing firm, the young lioness nodded in acceptance to the Queen's words, knowing that this must be so for her to know who she was to become. As her mother turned and walked away, Johari glanced after her, standing still for a few moments before she too, turned her own way.
Paws struck the ground in perfect harmony, the buttercream lioness flew through the swamp, ducking under and leaping gracefully over the obstacles in her path. Away from her family, away from her life and childhood Johari ran. If she'd paused to look, it'd almost seemed like the swamp was opening a path for her to follow, letting her out as easily as it could.
The swamp was setting it's little jeweled dove free, in hopes that she would return to it once more...
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