No matter how she thought about, something still bugged her about the incident they'd had with the priestess Thokk. Apparently, and in Thokk's words, her thrall had been clumsy enough to shred and tear apart the trinkets they'd lent her. Was Raki that careless of a thrall? But then again, Gala shouldn't mistrust a word of a priestess... they did speak for the gods. Nonetheless Gala had been extremely upset over the course of the few days prior the incident, and though Magnus had been angry he'd ebbed it off more or less with some mint and rather than letting it stew. Try as she might though, Gala could not bring herself to 'let it go' or 'forget it'. Those items had been too precious, and now they were gone, destroyed.
Oh, he'd been pissed alright. Given the chance he'd have skinned that clumsy leopard and turned her into a pelt for Gala to shred in turn. However, that suggestion had not gone over well with the priestess, and so he had to think of some other way to help his wife through her grief. Unbeknownst to her, he'd gotten considerably drunk yesterday and happened to stumble his way into one of the pride's flyting's. Even more astonishingly, he'd won! Now he didn't really remember what he'd said, as he'd blacked out after the congratulations, but this morning he'd woken to quite the surprise. A thrall! And he'd won her! She was a little thing smaller than his wife but boy was he proud. He looked back at the girl with a smile on his face despite the heavy limp that encumbered him. "Hurry up girl, my wife'll want to see ya!" Quite pleased with himself indeed, this'll be sure to cheer up Gala!
Oh dear. She'd been trying to walk slowly and match his pace, even while being a little ways behind him, but his gait was so awkward it was difficult to tell if he was going to speed up or slow down. "Yes", was all she managed to breathe out in a whisper, doing her best to keep her calm about her. On the inside? She was swirling with questions and worries, wishing her sisters were with her. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear this was terrible!To make matters worse? Magnus hadn't come home last night and now she was worried her dismal mood had driven him away. It was a ridiculous thought, but it plagued the back of her mind like nothing else. They'd just gotten together again, gotten married, so it should have been thoughts of cubs that were floating around distracting her, not these horrible nightmares. Gala sighed, feeling much more depressed without her husband there to comfort her, and slowly she slipped down to her belly, curling her tail and her legs around her. She just wanted her husband home.
He snorted at her for that, watching the little thing catch up to him in no time. At least she was fitter than he was! Gala would be happy to have someone help around the den, he was sure of it. "'Yes.' What kind of answer is that, girl?" he chuckled, bemused whilst in his good mood. Before he knew it they'd arrived at the mouth of their den, and Magnus was all too happy to shout, "Gala! Come on out here, I got a present for ya!" Oh boy, was he happy! His wife was going to be happy, he was going to be happy, and this whole 'sulking in the den with woman feelings' would be put to an end. It was perfect.
Halda didn't know what quite to say to that, but knew he expected an answer, so it a timid, "Sorry", was all he got. He seemed happy enough, and it made her hopeful to know that he had a wife to... take comfort with at home. She'd been a thrall all her life, she'd certainly seen what single (and sometimes married) males would do to their thralls, and it had always worried her. As luck would have it, she'd not been subjected to such things by always keeping her head down and constantly staying busy with work. When he stopped in front of what she presumed to be his den, she did as well, anxious to get the meeting over with. Would his wife like her? Halda hoped so, she just wanted to bury her nose in work and not be a bother.
She would have drifted off like that had she not have heard her husband's booming voice from the mouth of the den. A present? Was she hearing correctly? "I'll be right there", she called back, gently. She was both relieved and anxious that her husband had returned, wondering about what mischief he'd gotten into this time. Nothing prepared her for the sight of another female at his heels, which stopped Gala cold in her tracks. With all the thoughts that been swirling around in her head she instantly though the worst. "Magnus", she said sternly, "Who is this?" Had he gone and found himself a younger wife? Someone more capable of bearing cubs? These ideas nearly pushed her to the brink of tears!
"Hmm? Oh!" Err, what was her name again? He gave a quizzical look back at the little lioness, lifting one of his massive paws to rub at his forehead. "Uhh, Halda? I think?" That was her name, right? No matter, even if it hadn't been her name, it was now. He returned to smile proudly at his wife, only to see her burst into tears right in front of him. Dumbfounded, he sat back on his rump with a thud, wondering just how exactly he had managed to mess this up. She was suppose to be happy, dang it. "I, uh, won her in a flyting", he went on, unsure of how this had gone wrong.
That was it. Her life was over. His wife didn't like her and they were going to fight and bicker and she'd somehow get blamed for it. That's how this usually went, right? Halda absolutely dreaded what would happen next, and sank down into a crouching position, wrapping her tail around her tightly. She didn't dare speak either, afraid that doing so might anger them both.
From tears to a relieved sigh Gala rushed to her husband, nearly knocking the giant over in a happy embrace. "I thought- oh, never mind what I thought. I'm just glad it's not true", she told him tiredly, as if all the energy in her body had been sucked out in that instant. Goodness, she really was feeling weak. She probably should have eaten something, but she just couldn't bring herself to do so without Magnus to share in the meal during her despair. Enough of that though, he'd mentioned something curious. "A flything? You?" she teased, reaching up to bat at his chin before removing herself from his grasp and going to inspect his prize. "So, she's a thrall named Halda", she reiterated. "Poor thing looks frightened to death", Gala remarked with an ounce of pity. Just how young was she?
He swore this woman was going to be the death of him, and vaguely wondered if death by wife was considered honorable enough for a stormborn. Heh, probably not. Magnus relaxed when she seemed to calm down, going from one mood to another for seemingly no reason at all. He cleared his throat, thankful for the uncomfortableness to be over. "Yah, the girl's pretty quiet, but I figure you'd be happy for the help", he told her, paying no mind to Halda's current scaredy-cat act. She'd learn to deal with their quirks, as was a thrall's responsibility. Picking himself up off his rump the old lion nudged at his wife's hip before padding into their den. "I dun know about you, lass, but I'm starved", he laughed, his troubles quickly forgotten at the thought of food.
She could breathe again, thankfully. Were these two always like this? Constantly teetering between anger, sadness, and joy? She felt feint. How was she going to deal with it? Regardless, Halda held perfectly still, as if moving would trigger one of them to simply explode with rage. Not even when they talked about her. Not a single, little bit.
Gala purred at her husband, feeling some of her tension ease away. "She is a thoughtful gift, Husband, thank you," she told him as he retreated into the den. Indeed, she did need help taking care of things around the den. Gala was not as young as she use to be, and Magnus too injured for heavy lifting, so a thrall was perfect. With a soft smile Gala spoke quietly to the frightened girl, like one would a scared pup, "Halda, go on and catch something nice for us to eat, but don't be too long." There was no need to shout or hit a thrall to get them to do what you wanted in Gala's opinion, so long as they had a clear idea of what was expected of them. With that she turned her attention to her husband and quietly strode after him into the den.
Despite the rocky start his Gala seemed plenty happy with the gift. Good. It made Magnus happy to know he'd done right by his wife, and even happier to hear her paws softly padding after him. He glanced back to look at her and the girl gave him a raise of her eyebrow, something that made him chuckle. How on earth had he lived without her for so long?
Halda did not hesitate when given the order. Like a bolt she was out of there, ready to please her new masters and spare herself any ill-will that might have befallen her otherwise. She was use to serving the pride as a whole, and there were some members that were nastier than others, she just hoped Magnus and his wife weren't counted among them. She also hoped that she'd be able to see her sisters soon. She really, really missed them and the day had just begun!
((Word Count: 1,694))
