[PRP] In the Boughs of a Tree

[Amy D]

Ihlo had lots to be happy about. Her sisters were growing up very well, her father and step-mother were still blissfully together, and she herself had found her other half. The one soul that completed her. Yup, Ihlo was happy and it showed.

She chose not to wander by the river today, her usual 'bumping into' place to find Njozi. No, she felt like climbing today. Yes. Climbing. She found a perfect tree, one that had fairly low boughs so she could laze about in the shade of the leaves, the scent of the tiny blossoms and fruits.

And so there she was, sprawled along a low branch, tail swishing about, and a humming a soothing tune.
 

[Kaytla]

Cubs... were so exhausting. Especially when five out of six were boys. Njozi had been taken away by his father as a cub, for training purposes, so she had never got to experience early on what it meant to have more than one baby boy in the family. Now she knew, though. And how she managed not to thump some of them some of the time, she honestly did not know. Boys like her sedate and quiet Kiji were perfectly fine. Ruckus-makers like Kinya often made her feel like she needed a break for a few hours, letting Taabu handle looking after them for a little while.

But it wasn't just her younger boys who were causing little disturbances in her life. It seemed the older ones were reaching adulthood faster than she had expected, and families of their own seemed to be looming closer and closer by the day. Nothin' like the thought of grandcubs to make a girl feel old. Ironically, though, Nyunya currently had no idea that Njozi had found himself a lady friend. No, her thoughts were entirely focused around Rengo and the leopard female he seemed to have a thing for. She still didn't know what to make of it, really. The leopardess was older than he was, that was obvious, but Nyunya couldn't find it in herself to really disapprove of that to any real extent. After all, it would be hypocritical. Taabu was older than her, and she supposed she'd been around Rengo's age when she got pregnant the first time.

All right, so there was really nothing wrong with Rengo being with Nafsi and starting a family... other than having to accept he wasn't her baby any more. And accepting that the rest would soon follow his example, mostly likely. She suspected Njozi first... he was more outgoing than his sisters. If only she knew the truth of the matter.

Eventually, her strolling brought her right underneath Ihlo's trees, the swaying tail catching her attention and drawing her gaze up into the branches. Spying the lioness lounging on the branch, she quirked an eyebrow upwards in surprise and vague amusement. She was reminded of a story Buu had told her, of frightening Njozi out of a tree. It made her smile. Especially since this female's colours were mildly similar. Njozi also was mostly white with a little bit of red on him. Ah, really, if only she knew that Ihlo and Njozi had... met.

"Hello?" she called curiously, tilting her head up at Ihlo, listening to the humming.

 

[Amy D]

Such was her state of relaxation that Ihlo wasn't startled by Nyunya's sudden appearance and greeting. Ny could have been a frightening scary lion, come to take her away, and she wouldn't have batted an eyelid. She rolled about on her branch to better look at the new guest. Oooh, a white lioness. Aside from Njozi, Ihlo had met few other pale or white lions. It always felt strangely reassuring to see more.

"Hello," she returned the greeting and cast a smile to her. "Have you come to while away the time too?"

Ihlo carried such an innocence about her, matched her white pelt almost perfectly.
 

[Kaytla]

Nyunya was still thinking it was kinda weird for a lion to be in a tree, but she could already sense that Ihlo had a sort of... kindess, innocence perhaps, about her, and so the older female decided to just let the quirk go. With all the drama that had happened in her life recently and not-so-recently, it would always be pleasant to have a simple, easy conversation with someone laid back and kind. Something that wouldn't cause her stress, and might in fact temporarily ease what she felt now. She might have been being too hopeful about that last bit, but it was worth a try.

"Something like that," she replied, slowly sitting down. "It's time for a break from the family, a little alone time for a few hours. I need it every once in a while." A slight pause, during which her eyes scanned both the tree and Ihlo herself, before Nyunya continued, "But what about you? What takes you... up there?" Nyunya couldn't think of any reason to climb up into a tree, but to each their own, she supposed.

 

[Amy D]

"Alone time can be good. I have five roudy sisters to contend with and care for, and as much as my heart belongs to them all...sometimes, my heart needs some space too," she agreed with Nyunya, although she couldn't relate on the same level. Ihlo wasn't a mother. Yet.

Ihlo rolled around again on the branch and sighed happily, letting her tail sway and flick.

"Hrrmm...dreams have brought me here, dreams in russet eyes..." she blinked and realised she was talking jibberish. "Hehe, a boy has me up here."
 

[Kaytla]

Nyunya had to smile. Ihlo's words reminded her of her own siblings, and exactly why she used to run off and explore to get away from them. Especially Fedha. But even though she wouldn't be too disappointed if she never laid eyes on him again, she could still think almost fondly of him now. "It's much worse, and better, when it's your own cubs. It can be murder when five of the six are young boys with only girl to balance it out."

She had to tilt her head and raise an eyebrow at Ihlo's strange way of speaking about her infatuation. She'd never heard it phrased quite that way, but it all came down to the same thing. With a smile, she said, "He must be quite the boy."

 

[Amy D]

Ihlo had to chuckle.

"Hahah, five little boys. That poor girl, surrounded by so much masculinity. I suppose she's the jewel in your eye though," she commented. "I'm not sure what I'd want. At least one boy and one girl, one day."

This felt good. It was so nice to talk to another lioness who was older, more experienced and had life experience, but wasn't her mother. Amani was an angel but since accepting her as her new mother, Ihlo just felt embarrassed to talk to her about some things. Like any mother-daughter relationship she supposed.

"He is," she said simply. "So thoughtful, so romantic, so strong. He just makes me feel needed...and like I need him too."
 

[Kaytla]

Nyunya laughed softly. "Well, there are two older boys and two older girls, so I try not to let anyone be the jewel in my eye. Or I suppose I should say... they're all jewels in my eye, not one of them outshining the others." It was practically impossible for her to pick a favourite from any of her ten children. Whenever she thought she might have seen a shining quality in one, another showed her something just as wonderful, and so it went around.

At Ihlo's description of her man, she couldn't help but smile. "You're describing the way I feel about my mate." Oh, if only she knew that was because they were father and son. "I feel loved for every moment of every day, and even every night. He is thoughtful as well, and romantic, and very strong. He's also loving and caring, and a wonderful father. He's everything I could have asked for and more. And we both know we love and need each other, because we always say so." There was a fond look in her eyes by now. "I hope this boy you're head over tail for will do the same."

 

[Amy D]

"Ah, quite a diverse family. Mine is a bit like that. I'm from my father's first litter, and my sisters are all much younger than me. Its strange, I felt like the odd one out at first, being the only girl. Now, I'm one of 6 daughters," she smiled and giggled softly.

Ihlo was quite rapt with Ny's description of her mate, and she couldn't help feeling even closer to the older lioness. Ihlo was never sure what love was supposed to feel like - she'd tried to pick her parent's brains discreetly, but that never satisfied her. But now, hearing Ny reel off everything Ihlo felt about Njozi, well...she felt more sure. She felt certain things were just right with the world.

"I hope so too," she murmured with a girlish grin. "You might have seen him around, you tend to bump into everyone in the Kusini at some point."
 

[Kaytla]

Nyunya smiled. "Diverse, maybe, but I love them all dearly nonetheless." She chuckled gently. "My little Tapanga must feel the same as you did when you were young. She's the only girl from this newest litter, with five brothers her age. I can't imagine it. I was the oldest in my family... my two brothers and sister came after me. We were a small family, for which I'm glad. I see what these lot are like with each other." She shook her head slowly, but she was still smiling. Sure, they could be monsters sometimes... but they were her monsters, and that made it ok.

Nyunya seemed rather interested at the thought of meeting this mystery male of Ihlo's. In truth, she was wondering vaguely if he was somehow related to her own mate (oh, the irony of such thinking!), because with the sheer amount of family members Taabu had in these lands, it was highly likely (damn right). "Maybe one day I will," she replied with a nod. "Or maybe we can catch up with each other soon and you can introduce us."

 

[Amy D]

Ihlo chuckled, she could relate. She was in a small family until arriving here, where it seemed to explode on both sides. She yawned and stretched a bit and wriggled about on the branch, disturbing all the leaves and causing them to descend about Ny below.

"Oh that'd be lovely, although I've yet to introduce him to my mother or father," she laughed a bit awkwardly.

She wasn't necessarily afraid to have them meet, but she was just so nervous. Ihlo wanted everything to go smoothly and for everyone get along. She couldn't imagine having to choose between her love and her family. If she only knew she'd just met Njozi's mother...
 

[Kaytla]

Nyunya's eyes flicked briefly away from Ihlo as the leaves rustled, watching them fall gracefully down to the ground all around her. One of them fell to land on her head, covering one of her eyes, and she quickly blew the thing away, ruffling some of the salmon on top of her head. She then reached up a paw to pat her fur down again, just in case it had ended up sticking up unattractively. Gods forbid she ended up looking stupid in front of a new acquaintance.

The older female smiled at Ihlo encouragingly, shrugging her shoulders a little bit. "I think... sooner, rather than later, you're just going to have to grit your teeth and bear it. Hope for the best. My oldest son was brave enough to show me the girl he liked, after all." That wasn't exactly how it had happened, but Ihlo didn't need to know that. "And he knew I was angry with him at the time, so I wasn't in a very receptive mood. But even I had to admit that she was very, very nice. Polite and courteous, very well spoken. A lovely girl, even though I was a little bit iffy about her being a leopard at first." She smiled gently. "But who am I to stand in the way of love? If someone makes your child happy, that's good enough for any parent. Trust me. Your family might not take an instant shine to this mate of yours, but I'm sure they'll come around. Especially if he's as charming as you say he is."

 

[Amy D]

Ihlo watched Ny as she made sure she looked presentable and smiled. It was sort of reassuring to see the mother act so much like herself, that even after taking that next step into adulthood, she was still the same.

After listening intently, her heart seizing in her chest as Ihlo described her dislike of her son's mate, she released a long sigh. But she was smiling.

"Thank you. That makes me feel a lot better actually. He must be as nervous to introduce me to his family as well, but all we can both do is just be ourselves. All that matters is our love for each other," she propped herself up a bit on the branch.  

[Kaytla]

Nyunya was just too stubborn to change herself much. Sure, she had adapted herself as was necessary to, made herself into a comptent and caring mother, but there would always be part of her that would still be the arrogant little Mistweaver cub who had been intimidated by Taabu's position as a prince and named herself a princess instead, and the lioness who would never take any crap from anyone, despite her small size. Nyunya loves her kids more than her own life, and would sacrifice it for any one of them without a second thought, but she had never wanted to let them change and control it too much.

The older lioness smiled and nodded. "That's exactly right. It might take a little bit of time, but eventually, I'm sure both your parents will come around. They're realise you're happy together, and that's all that will matter to them. I promise."

 

[Amy D]

Ihlo smiled at Nyunya, admiring her experience of life and she could only hope to have just half of what she knew. A glance t the skyline though showed a moving sun, and she knew what that meant. Time to check up on her sisters, maybe go hunting for the family. It was a chore, but a necessary one.

She stretched one last time and then shambled down the tree, a little ungracefully, but she managed.

"It was an enlightening pleasure to meet you, but I'm afraid a big sister's duty is calling."