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 Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:48 am
 "You will do this thing, Dalla. You will not enjoy this, and for that I am sorry."
"Does it have to be him, Thorgrim? Must it be Gaved? He is a brute."
"He is a brute, yes. I blame his mother, in truth. I have tried to control him, and it has been of moderate success."
"I assume this means you will expect grandcubs, Thorgrim? I will be expected to provide him with children?"
"You will. It will not be such a bad thing. He will not harm his wife - of that I am certain."
"Of course he won't harm his wife. He's got that poor stupid Thrall to beat on. The one you gave to him, Thorgrim. What were you thinking?"
"You will not speak to me like that, Dalla. I will not tolerate it. You will marry Gaved and act as you should. That is the end of our discussion. You may go. I will send Gaved to you shortly."Sometimes she hated that old lion. This was one of those times. She did not want to marry Gaved. It was not that she had other, better prospects. She did not. Dalla still had deep feelings for Uhtred, but he'd been so busy with Ragnhild that she'd had no time to speak with him. Not only that, but she never wanted to hurt her most beloved sister. Never. She made her way back to her den. Dalla did not enter; instead, she began a stiff-legged pacing session just outside of her home. Gaved would show soon, and she could only hope that he was respectful.
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:18 pm
 Although Gaved loved his father, there were times when he wished Thorgrim had stayed at that godsforsaken outpost instead of returning home to meddle in the lives of his offspring. The gift of Stygg was a welcome one, even when the thrall irritated him beyond measure. There was more fun in the chase, but there was something to be said for having a lioness around to amuse him when he was bored. She picked up after him as well. He couldn't tell whether he liked that or hated it. It looked nice, but Stygg had cleaned up his carefully and precisely arranged floor-heaps so that he never knew where to find anything anymore. A wife would be a whole new level of irritation added to his life. Gaved had rather sullenly accepted Thorgrim's offer -- or orders -- and gone to seek the lioness out. He wasn't happy about it. First off, it implied that he couldn't find a wife for himself (which he certainly could have if he had ever wanted one). More importantly, it would infringe on his freedoms. He would have Thorgrim, Lena and possibly even Runa harping all over him if he chose to sport with girls after a feast. No one could fault him for slaking his lust with Stygg, but to limit a lion to only one -- correction, two! -- lionesses was cruel! Unjust! Thinking these bitter thoughts, Gaved's features were etched in a deep frown when he finally spotted Dalla. She was really quite pretty and he wouldn't have minded having some fun with her, but she was to be a wife. A foreign, unwanted, mysterious and extremely untrustworthy beast. He approached her cautiously, like he might approach a rabid walrus washed up on the beach. "Dalla." No point in beating around the bush, was there? "When will you be moving into my den?" Gaved asked briskly. "I'll have to tell Stygg to make room for your odds and ends."
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:27 pm
Dalla's expression pinched when Gaved lumbered up. She could not stand the sight of him. She could not help but compare him to Uhtred. She could not help but compare him to Gunne, for what good it would do. And what good did it do?
None. Gunne had been stupidly in love with her sister; and while Dalla loved her sister, she was still hurt that Ragnhild had helped to cause Gunne's downfall - not only that, but she'd been given to Uhtred. Life was not fair. Dalla had been hoping for better when Thorgrim had returned to the pride. A better life for herself. Perhaps a chance to find a noble husband like Uhtred. A chance to have a family on her own terms, with a male that she adored.
It would not happen now.
Narrowing her pale eyes, Dalla fought the urge to bare her teeth at the stupid male. Instead, she gracefully dipped her head - albeit tensely - and calmly replied to his question.
"I will not be bringing my tools," Dalla replied softly, "as I will be keeping my own den as a workplace. There is too much to move, and I would not want to clutter up your - our - home, so there is no need to order Stygg to clear space."
She felt like she might vomit. Bile rose bitter in her throat. She forced it back down.
"Will there be a feast?" Her voice intoned that there would be a feast, that her question was not so much a question as it was a command. "I would think to move in after the feast."
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:35 pm
Gaved's eyes narrowed. A feast. Oh, good grief. It would be traditional, of course, but what good was a feast to him if he couldn't get righteously hopped up on mint and drag a nice little female back to his den? He supposed he would be dragging Dalla back to his den, but she didn't look like a nice little female now. She was making a face like a female with a mouth full of lemons, possibly lemons that were stuffed with bees.
"A feast. Yes, fine. We'll have a feast," Gaved said, struggling to keep his voice even and somewhat pleasant. It was best to start things off on the right paw with one's wife-to-be. He didn't want to her her nagging and whining about her precious feast right off the bat.
"I don't know if I like you keeping your own den." He didn't like her moving her tawdry feathers and beads and garbage into his den either, but something about the idea of his wife keeping a den away from him just rankled. "If you're to be my wife, you should be in my den." He sniffed. "It would hardly look right, you scuttling off to your little hidey-hole in the mornings."
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:50 pm
Dalla clenched her teeth. She was a lady. A proper lady of old blood. She was not simply a possession to be kept wherever Gaved wanted to keep her. This was going to be horrible, and Dalla fought the urge to either cry or yell or both. Blast Thorgrim and his meddling - she was doing just fine before he showed up, wasn't she? Now he was here and dipping his paws into situations that did not need assisting.
Dalla exhaled carefully. She needed to keep her cool. To act like a respectable female of her standing should. A well-respected crafter of the pride would not throw herself down upon the ground and screech like a spoiled child.
"I simply did not want to clutter up our future den," she responded evenly, "but if you think you have space, I have many things that need moved. My shells of sand, my special woods, my leathers, feathers and beads. It is not so much a hidey-hole as it is practical, husband-to-be."
No, it was a hidey-hole, and she hated the fact that he recognized it for what it was. She despised Gaved. Hated him, even. Why could she not have this one thing? She would do everything else that he asked of her.
"If you do not wish for a feast, that is fine, Gaved. When would you like for me to move in to your den? Your father expects cubs immediately. Shall I move in tonight?" Her voice was a little too sweet, a little too saccharine. She didn't care. She was bitter, angry.
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 4:09 pm
Woods, leathers, feathers, beads. And shells -- full of sand? Why, by all the gods, would Dalla want to dump a bunch of godsdamned sand in his den? And just when Stygg had finished cleaning it, too! His earlier annoyance with Stygg for ruining his floor-heaps vanished, replaced by a newer and much stronger aggravation with Dalla. As aghast as he was that she wanted to bring her worthless crap into his den, he recognized that she was trying to wheedle her way into keeping her workspace. He wouldn't have his wife-to-be manipulating him, not so soon.
Gaved ground his teeth.
Trying to keep himself from snapping at her, Gaved was quiet until she made that sly little remark about cubs. His eyes widened slightly. He had known females to be bold before, but Dalla didn't seem the type. An interesting range of expressions passed over his face. Surprise. Lust.
Anger.
It had taken him a moment to register the unnatural sweetness in her voice for what it was. Gaved bared his teeth at her in a silent snarl. He was enraged, but he had never struck a true Freeborn female and now wasn't the time to start. "Listen, crafter," Gaved growled. "I'm no more thrilled about this than you. This is our duty, you understand? You'll be a proper wife to me, no sarcasm, no backtalk. I'll give you your damned feast, and I'll find us a bigger den for your trinkets. But I won't have you slinking off to hide from me, and I won't have you trying to manipulate me!" His voice rose until he was nearly shouting. He wanted to hit Dalla badly, but the little Thorgrim on his shoulder stilled his paws.
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:01 am
Dalla's ears immediately pinned back. She would not be bullied. She would not be disrespected, no matter who's son Gaved was. With a dangerous narrowing of her pale eyes, Dalla pressed forward. Gone was the graceful, lithe and ladylike lioness. She was replaced with a seething, bristling female. Her muscles writhed beneath her pelt as she dug her unsheathed claws into the dirt beneath her.
"Listen, Reaver," Dalla hissed, teeth clicking. She wanted to bite down on his throat, to crush his windpipe. All the stress she'd felt ever since Thorgrim had first talked with her about his plans to wed her off to Gaved was unleashed.
"You will respect me as your future wife. You will respect me for who I am. My family - as small as it is now - is just as old as yours. I am a highly respected crafter of this pride. And if you think," she snarled harshly, "that for one minute," Dalla leaned closer, her voice low and cold; a contrast to his own volume, "that you will ever yell at me again, Gaved," his name was spat out, a disgusted hiss.
"You are very wrong, future husband. I will not tolerate abuse from you. Your father has ordered me to do this think to preserve the old blood of the pride. I will bear your cubs," Dalla sounded ill at the prospect, "and I will be your wife, but you will not dictate orders like you are my Warlord."
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:16 am
Gaved didn't spend much time with Freeborn females. That was, he didn't spend much time with Freeborn females that weren't either related to him or drunkenly coupling with him. He didn't expect Dalla's sudden explosion of ferocity. His immediate reaction was to roar at her, directly in her face, both outraged and delighted at the chance to hurt her in relatiation...
But no, no. She was Freeborn, and she was his future wife. He couldn't beat the fire out of her. Gaved's claws flexed, digging into the earth just as Dalla's were. His desires had never been frustrated so often as they had been these last few months. Never!
He realized two things:
He had no idea how to handle Dalla.
Her ferocity and refusal to be dominated reminded him eerily of his own mother.
For a moment Gaved looked utterly baffled. It was not an expression at home on his face, which was more suited to snarling and sneering. Then he wrenched his features into a scowl, glaring down at the lioness. "I will respect you, wife," Gaved said grudgingly. "But you will respect me." He took a step towards the lioness. "I have ... duties to you." He shuddered, revolted by the thought. "I will have to provide for you, fight for you, die for you." Ugh. "And you -- you must listen to my wishes, or at least pretend to." Despite his horror at the whole situation, Gaved couldn't help half-smiling as he said that last. Was this how his father had dealt with Runa? He needed to pick Thorgrim's brain, urgently.
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:03 pm
And just like that, Dalla was once more the composed, ladylike lioness that Gaved was more familiar with. Claws retracted, posture relaxed.
"I will respect you," she purred easily, ears perking. "In public, I will treat you as a proper wife should. I will bear your cubs, I will tend to my duties as a wife. If it pleases you, I will have your Thrall move my supplies to a new, larger den and work from there. I simply thought that you might not want strange lions showing up throughout the day with their requests."
Dalla sniffed softly.
"I also ask that you do not beat your Thrall before me. I find it distasteful how you treat that little beast, and I'll not be privy to it. I care not if you slake your lusts on the poor creature."
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 2:32 pm
This female was too confusing. She shifted gears more quickly than Gaved was able to. She left him floundering after her, trying to catch up.
She gave him a headache.
The crafter might think him stupid, but Gaved wasn't nearly as cheerfully oblivious as his idiot brother. In a kinder pride, Gaved might have been known for his wisdom. Molded as he had been, the reaver had developed a deep cunning. He didn't miss that 'in public'. And would she respect him in private? If she wouldn't, he would have to teach her to.
Gaved curled his lip in annoyance at her request not to beat Stygg. He did what he damned well pleased with Stygg. She was his, his in a way a Freeborn wife never would be. "I thought I would be slaking my lusts with you," Gaved said coldly. "You're a tough enough little thing, you'll bear up well."
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 2:52 pm
Dalla narrowed her eyes at Gaved, her chin lifting with cool haughtiness. So this was how it would be?
Suddenly a hot rage burned in her chest; why was she to be played as some simple pawn? Some insignificant female who didn't deserve to make her own life choices? Who she would love, who she would marry?
She lifted her chin even higher.
"I'll not lower myself to your brutish ways. Should you think to abuse me, Gaved, I know where you rest at night. I am friends with your cousin, Brynja. It would not be so difficult to procure an incantation to leave you riddled with cramps in a puddle of your own waste simply to prove a point."
She sniffed again.
"I'll plan for a small feast. Your family. Perhaps my sister." Another sniff. "Be sure to bathe."
Dalla waved a paw dismissively.
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 3:02 pm
His brutish ways. Huh! Perhaps he was remembering wrong, but Dalla was the one who had shocked him in the first place by suggesting she move in and get a head start on the cub-making! Well, to hell with her. Maybe he wouldn't touch her at all, and see how she liked that! Gaved drew himself up, full of a prissy self-righteousness that was very unlike him.
"Yes. I'll be resting next to you, my dear cuddlesome sweetling." He turned on his heel and stomped away, resolutely not looking back as he called his goodbyes. "I'll be bathing in flower-water and plaiting roses in my mane if you need me, my love!" If Dalla missed the sarcasm dripping from his words, she must be deaf.
Dalla was a wretched lioness. Why had Thorgrim insisted he marry her? She was going to make his life miserable.
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"You will do this thing, Dalla. You will not enjoy this, and for that I am sorry."
