It was so quiet. All he knew was that the sun was rising, leaving the land bathed in dawn's light, soft and warm. The silver-maned son of Telemakhos basked in it for a moment, closing periwinkle eyes..until the warmth was replaced with a coolness. That gaze shot open, and he noticed that dusk spread over the land. The biggest problem was that it was so...quiet. Too quiet. He would have say that he felt peaceful....but the silence was...so TERRIFYING. His eyes watered, and his claws dug into the earth, and he tried to scream, to at least instil some sound into the silence. After all, despite being a mediator, he was used to at least the sound of other creatures. The scream brought about a sense of struggle, something the lion knew all too well, and with that, his eyes shot open...
To the world into which he was born. Kusimamia'Utulivu shot awake with a loud cry of pain. He was at a mix between terrified and confused,those eyes staring at the wall of their cave. His body pressed against Tavar's as he shook, quivering beneath his pelt, a strange tension singing through him as he tried to grasp his vision....What had that been?
Tavar startled awake at the scream. He'd come in from a particularly long, and rogue-filled shift on the borders, and had just wanted a nice, peaceful sleep for two nights next to his mates. Of course, he knew they wouldn't always be there (Aisling especially, since she had to be up and about with little ones), but...he hadn't expected Tuli screaming.
"Tuli? Tuli, what's wrong? What is it?" His words were muddled with exhaustion, but his worry for the other male was clear through it.
The younger pressed into his flank, shaking, those full eyes still watering, "A vision....It was so quiet...and the sky....The feeling....I...I don't know what that means..." He barely whispered, "I don't know what that means..." He was repeating himself at this point, shaken by the uncertainty. A lot of what he Saw was usually so clear, and often in the evening times, which was why the Mediator was often awake during the dawn and dusk hours himself. Slowly, his paws moved him closer to his lover's side, nose gently pressing against his neck, "...That Vision..."
Tuli didn't know what a vision was? That...that was rare. And strange. Tavar frowned, forcing the exhaustion away. He needed to be there for Tuli. With Tuli and Aisling and the cubs, he'd learned how to be there for someone else. "I'm here. Everything's okay. You're safe, I'm safe, despite the new scars that'll form, and Aisling and the cubs are safe." Even if they weren't cubs anymore, Tavar would always see them as his little hellraisers.
He nodded sighed heavily, "There was so little. No noise. The sky kept changing....Dusk and Dawn....And then...I feel like there was....something....coming. I can't say for sure wha-" He was interrupted by the noise of someone coming into the den. Thinking it was Aisling, he glanced up, surprised to see their daughter. She'd changed so much. Her mane...the new scars...."Siochana."
The female was distraught. She'd seen her grandmother talking to one of her cubs...Her GRANDMOTHER. How was she supposed to take the way that Hakuna had reacted? Was she supposed to be glad she was alive, or hurt that seeing her had caused the elder female so much pain? "Father...Papa..." She'd put the cubs to sleep, and come to see her family almost immediately, "Can I....talk with you about something?" She seemed so nervous and upset...unusual for serious Sio.
Tavar nuzzled Tuli, trying to think of what it might mean. When he heard someone coming in, he'd expected their shared female mate as well, and was surprised to see Sio. A distraught Sio. Sio was NEVER distraught. "Of course, kiddo. You know we won't turn you away if you need an ear." Though they didn't share blood, Siochana was just as much his baby as she was Tuli and Aisling's. He'd helped raise her, helped teach her after Hakuna had...had passed. "What's wrong?"
Her body quivered, and she slowly lay herself down, her throat tense as her fur stood on end slightly, "I saw...." How to phrase this, "Narakera had wandered off again. I went to find her...and I saw a female with her....She was a Goddess....and...then...I realized....who she was. She....Father...Papa Tavar..." She felt her throat nearly close as she finally managed to speak up, "It was Grandmother."
Tuli felt as though he'd been punched in the chest...eyes going wide as she told him his mother....had become a Goddess. Could it truly be? Could Hakuna'jina have become one with the Gods after her deat? Was she...Was she back....?
Tavar could only stare wide-eyed for the moment. Hakuna'jina. As a goddess. Like Morifaer. Like Sparda. How...that couldn't be possible. Could it? But...Sio didn't joke. She didn't pull tails. "You're absolutely certain you saw your grandmother?" Hakuna'jina, the lioness that had trained a good chunk of the pride at that point. Who had borne more than her share of cubs. Who had died protecting two of her line.
She nodded, laying her head on her paws, trying to think about this, "I am...positive that it was grandmother. But....She reacted in such pain. She let out a cry and took off. The fact that she did not...even say hello...I think something is quite different for her now..." She was concerned. If her Grandmother didn't remember her...didn't remember her Pride, her family...
Tuli looked wounded...sad..."Mother..." He missed his mother dearly...The fact that she was alive was amazing. He looked to the cieling of the cave, lost in thought. Would he get to see her again?
Tavar looked between the two, trying to figure out what to say, what to do. Two of the people closest to him were hurting so badly...He sighed and pulled them both as close as her could manage. "Well...she was like us. And if she's a goddess now...Well, maybe something got all jumbled up in the process? I mean...she did die. We all saw it."
"I said myself that the Gods would keep her...i suppose....my hope as a Cub was correct." Nuzzling into her papa's fur, the lioness sighed quietly, "I miss her so...I hope we will see here again soon, Papa..." She let her gaze drift to the mouth of the Cave, "Narakera keeps asking after her, and I know not what to tell her...It's...terrifying...not knowing that I can speak to my daughter about who that Goddess was..."
Tuli accepted the closeness, licking Tavar's cheek warmly, and purring deep in his chest as he got himself close to his lover, "She will return to us when she is ready...." He was beginning to get weary, those beautiful eyes shutting slowly, "Things will be well.....I hope..."
Tavar nuzzled both in turn, nodding. "It seems so, Sio." It seemed fitting that Hakuna'jina, of all of them, would find a way to beat death. He'd heard her joke more than a few times about once being the No-named Death. "I'm sure you'll both see her soon. She can't forget about her family for too long." She just couldn't. Tavar didn't want to see his dearest ones in pain for too long. "Just tell Nara she's someone important. And that soon enough, you'll tell her why." That gave them time to see what would happen.
And maybe, just maybe, see if it had anything to do with Tuli's strange vision.
Siochana sighed contentedly, glad she'd come to see her family, paws slowly pulling her to her feet. Her claws stretched out, and slowly buried into the earth floor as she looked around, "I suppose you're right Papa." Moving over to him, she licked Tavar's ear, purring warmly, and then licked her father's, "You two should come visit the cubs one of these days, They miss their grandfathers." She enjoyed teasing Tavar about being a grandfather. He seemed to object so, while Tuli enjoyed the thought of being able to spoil his grandcubs. It was a pasttime that the lioness was beginning to find amusing, "The small ones miss you. I've made it a point to realize that you are indeed 'GRANDPA Tavar'."
Tuli couldn't help the amusement in his eyes as she pointed out the 'grandfather thing. It was so amusing, knowing that she did this to irritate him. Teasing his mate was always one of Siochana's pasttimes after she'd grown up. Those blue eyes turned out to the rays of daylight that filtered into the cave's open mouth, and he sighed happily. The thought of seeing his mother again....was....very good.
Tavar cringed, making a face of annoyance. "I still can't believe I'm a grandfather." He wrinkled his nose. "Still hard to believe you had cubs. My little hellraiser." He finally sighed, shaking his head. "But of course I'll come visit, after I've had a good sleep. I miss them, too." For all his moaning and groaning...being a grandfather wasn't so bad. "Now...why don't you get going, before Nara decides to wander off again."
