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Gaved knew that Dalla disliked his dear sweet mother Runa, but didn't all daughters-in-law have some kind of beef with the mothers of their beloveds? It was some kind of female thing, well known. Biological, probably. Just another one of the peculiarities of their kind. So he hadn't given much weight to Dalla's opinion when inviting Runa over to spend the evening with them. Dalla could just suck it up. He had to put up with her annoying female friends day in and day out -- she was a terribly gabby, airheaded thing, was his wife -- so she could mind herself and remain civil with family.

"Mother," Gaved said pleasantly when Runa appeared at the entrance of their den. "Come in. Dalla will fetch you some refreshments."

Runa was gratified to be invited to her only son's den. She had been meaning to talk with Dalla for a while, actually, but never gotten around to it. This would be the perfect time to talk to Dalla. The perfect time to express her loving concern for her daughter-in-law and her tragic fertility problems.

"Thank you, Gaved," Runa said, smiling fondly at her son before stepping into the den. "You should have your thrall serve me instead of your wife," she chided gently. "Dalla, you really should let that silly lisping thrall stay in your den overnight to attend your needs. There's no reason to be jealous of her, even if she does have a rather gorgeous pelt."

Gaved narrowed his eyes at Dalla. Of course. His horrible wife couldn't bear to pleasant for even a single minute. No. That would be too much to ask of here.

Gods, he couldn't stand her. If she wasn't moping she was bitching. Bitching and moping. Moping and bitching. He didn't know how anyone could stand her.

"Dalla," Gaved rumbled, a warning tone in his voice. "That's family you're speaking of." How dare she try to pick a fight with his -- their -- mother? He wanted to lash out and smack her in the face, but he had obeyed Thorgrim's advice not to strike her thus far and now would be a poor time to start. Although he couldn't imagine how beating her could possibly make her worse.

Ah, that tongue of Dalla's. Runa sniffed in distaste at Dalla's statement. She didn't know why Thorgrim had stuck Gaved with such an ill-tempered little slut of a lioness, but she wouldn't blame her son if he decided to take Dalla to task one of these days. Really. You would think Dalla was raised by warthogs.

"It's fine, Gaved. Dalla, dear, you have such strange sensitivities. You're a married lioness. You should know that all lions have their needs." Besides being married to Gaved, Runa had seen Dalla sloping around making eyes at all sorts of lions, so it could hardly be that Dalla was unaware. "Speaking of lions -- I do hope everything is going well? I don't see any cubs yet."

Oh heeeeeeelllll no.

Gaved stared at Dalla, his eyes bulging slightly. She was impugning his manhood in front of his mother? This was it. This was the last straw.

He loomed over her, spitting mad and ready to thrash her like a disobedient thrall. "You will NOT speak of me like that, wife. I will not tolerate it!" He dug his claws into the ground, shaking with the effort it took to restrain himself.

Just say one more word, you b***h.

Well, this seemed to be heading south in a hurry. As much as Dalla deserved a beating, Runa would rather not see her son tear the lioness to ribbons. It was unseeming.

"Gaved, Dalla, calm yourselves," Runa said. "Gaved, she's surely frustrated that she hasn't been able to bear your cubs yet. She knows that thrall is infertile. Thorgrim was sure of it." Honestly, she thought Dalla was just being bitchy, but the explanation would likely soothe her furious son somewhat. "Dalla, you make little trinkets now and then. Maybe you can make yourself a fertility charm. Or you can give that plain, grey thrall Badoura to Gaved as a saltwife. She looks rather like you. They would almost be like your own cubs!"

It was a good explanation, if one ignored the fact that Dalla hated him. Gaved stared at the lioness, his anger subsiding a bit. She was dutiful, wasn't she? Somewhat dutiful, at least. She probably ... she probably felt that she had failed in her duty as a wife by not producing cubs yet. She might feel that even though she loathed her husband.

At least he had intimidated her enough to shut her up. That was satisfying, although with his head a bit cooler he knew he wouldn't be able to do it often. Dalla would only be frightened for so long before he had to resort to hitting her to keep her in line, and although it was a terrible temptation he knew it was also a terrible idea.

How did anyone deal with such a quarrelsome wife? She baffled him.

Since she had backed down, Gaved was slightly more willing to see things from her point of view. Slightly. He could tell that, well-intentioned as they obviously were, Runa's suggestions might just might irritate an unreasonable lioness like Dalla. So he didn't shout at her again, but instead attempted to make some peace between them.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk of cubs tonight," Gaved suggested. What else did Freeborn females like to talk about? He racked his brain. Cubs, obviously. That was out. Cleaning dens? Pampering husbands? "Look at this clean den, Mother. Dalla has been a very good den-cleaner. Maybe you could share den-cleaning methods."

Maybe she should have let Gaved beat Dalla. The mouthy little b***h deserved it. Runa narrowed her eyes but kept her voice pleasant. "What a lovely thought, dear. Thank you. You should make one for your Stygg, too. I know you'd like a large family."

Gaved's idiotic remark, while stupid, was an interesting change of pace. Dalla reached out and ran a paw over a convenient surface and raised it to her face, inspecting it closely for dust. "Hm," she said noncommittally. "Really, she shouldn't be cleaning by herself. A strong Freeborn lioness should be able to get thralls to help her."

And she liked to hide his things too, just to piss him off. He was sure of it. Why else would she dismantle his heaps of stuff and separate everything and squirrel it all away in different locations? If he had a neatly arranged heap of a fur, a zebra bone, a looted bracelet, some mint and a couple of charms, then he knew where those things were. Dalla, by some wifely logic, couldn't seem to understand this and put things away where he couldn't find them.

"How interesting," Gaved said vaguely, not really responding to either one of them. Gods, they were probably going to start bitching about cleaning now. He was going to lose his mind. "So many ways to clean dens."

Runa hmphed loudly in disapproval. She supposed Dalla had a point, and it was rather nice that Dalla had such concern over their things, but still. Cleaning should be beneath her.

"Well, I hope you have the thralls do the hard work at least. You're the wife of a fine Reaver, Dalla, not some Freeborn male." Her nose wrinkled slightly at the very thought. "You should have thralls to help. Certainly when your cubs finally arrive."

Dalla seemed to be giving him a look for some reason, but as she gave him looks of varying degrees with great regularity he wasn't much bothered by it. He rolled his eyes when she turned away. It was nice to hear her thank him for Badoura. He hadn't even roughed up the thrall any in catching her, although he could have, and Dalla had never thanked him for that.

"Yes, they're very helpful," Gaved said. Okay. He had about reached his limit for pleasant conversation with Dalla. "As long as that thrall Badoura doesn't get herself knocked up too. I hear she's been slumming around with some of the male thralls." That splotchy sadsack of a thrall with a busted face, for one. "That's why I keep Stygg close to home," he finished. "I don't want her out enticing lowlifes."

"Oh dear," Runa said, shaking her head. "You'll definitely have to keep her in line, then. You know how these lioness thralls behave sometimes." She shared a dark look with Dalla and tsk-tsked. "Always sneaking around, always trying to find some Freeborn lion to seduce, hoping he'll claim them and their cubs. Disgraceful, really."

Gaved didn't know or care much about Badoura's temperament as long as she stayed out of his way and didn't give Dalla any problems. He did think Runa might be right about trying to seduce a Freeborn. Gaved had once had dark suspicions that Stygg wanted to find another lion. She had given him no cause to doubt her, though, and over time he had grudgingly relaxed his guard on her.

He agreed with Dalla on the coming changes. The idea of thrall cubs being born Freeborn had always grated on him. He grunted, not entirely pleased to find himself in agreement with his wife. "That is a good idea. Thralls for the cubs." And just so Dalla would not think he was completely on her side: "We should arrange for her to mate with one of those thralls, then. Don't want to risk a Freeborn mounting her and claiming her for a wife."

Like her son, Runa wasn't sure how she felt nodding to Dalla's words. Well. At least her daughter-in-law had some wits to her, even though her personality was horrid. Runa approved.

"The changes will be welcome," she said. "This pride has become entirely too ... modern." Runa shook her head. Dalla and Gaved certainly knew what she meant, there was no need to clarify. "Of course, my dear Kjar will be happy to provide suitable thralls when you have cubs. Family helps family." She gave a small yawn, politely lifting one paw to cover it. "Well, this has been nice, but it's growing late."

Dalla had a point about the thrall's cubs needing a thrall father (he would be sorely pissed if any freeborn male tried to claim away the female he had captured for a wedding gift) but he was still a bit disturbed by the idea of her slumming around with unclaimed male thralls. He shrugged, wrinkling his nose in a very Runa-like expression of distaste. "That will work. As long as she understands he'd best not be hanging around our den." Ugh. Gaved would not hesitate to beat some sense into the lion if he tried lurking around.

"Good night, mother. Thank you for visiting."

And thank the Gods Dalla had been slightly less horrible than usual.

"It's always a pleasure to see you, daughter," Runa said, her own voice just as sweet as Dalla's. "I'm sure the Gods will bless you with cubs soon enough." With a fond muzzle touch to Gaved, she turned to leave.

An amusing visit, and one that had given her something to think about. She really would ask Brynja to bless Dalla. It would be fabulous to see Dalla as fat as a wildebeest, waddling around stuffed to overflowing with cubs. She herself would be pleased with another single cub, so as to keep her figure.