|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 5:12 pm
 Afsar awoke with a slight start. It had been a while since she'd had a bad dream like this, and she prayed it wasn't a vision. She looked around the den and noticed it was fairly empty, which meant she'd overslept again. It didn't matter. Her future Pad was off on his quest for another Banu, which meant she had nothing to do right now but wait for him. Despite what her mother tried to teach her, Afsar had a strong will and a powerful opinion. Walking out of the den, she stretched herself out and squinted in the high sun. Maybe she'd find one of her siblings and play with them. Or something. First thing first, she needed to go bathe! So, the light colored lioness took off toward the watering hole, green eyes looking left and right.Down at the watering hole, her dark body obscured by the shadows of an umbrella tree hanging over the shallows, Afsar’s little sister Zarha stood stone still, her fiery eyes fixed on the shimmering fish flitting through the water, unaware of the danger lurking overhead. Zarha knew that banus had many ways of being useful to their pads. Some pleasured their pad with their beauty. For Zarha this was not an option, at least not as far as she was concerned. Others were talented huntresses. Zarha saw nothing special in that, since every female needed to learn how to hunt. She vowed to do better.
The fish swam round and round in wide circles, pausing to nibble at the plants growing at the bottom of the lake. Zarha waited. She held her tail above the water, staying perfectly still so as not to cause ripples. One of the fish started to drift closer. Zarha took a slow, deep breath and – SPLASH! – lunged for the kill. She shook the water from her face and grinned, a silver fish flapping uselessly in her jaws.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 5:14 pm
A splash made her ears swivel and those green eyes caught the sight of her sister's coat and smirked a bit. How did she not see herself as pretty? She had mother's dark colors and father's splotches. She had father's eyes, to boot! Afsar knew of her sisters belittlements to herself and thought her sister a fool. But then Afsar noticed that her sister had a silver fish clasped in her jaws and grinned. She might get food out of this, yet! Slinking up to her, she greeted her sister with a happy little voice. "Zarha~ Morning!" She stopped a little distance from her and dipped her head to lap at the water.
Zarha arched a brow at her sister with the fish still wriggling in her mouth. Leaving the shallows, Zarha dropped her catch on dry land and held it down with her paws. She licked the fishy taste from her lips and turned to her sister. “Morning Afsar. You’re up early today.”
Zarha had been waking up early for the past week to practice her fishing. It was hard work learning to catch a fish, which made Zarha proud of her accomplishments, and in fact she had started to enjoy waking up to quiet misty mornings. The sky looked beautiful at this time of day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 5:39 pm
She tossed her orange mane out of her eyes and nodded, licking water from her muzzle and whiskers. She was up early, for her, anyway. It was almost as if she acted like she was a queen. Or a princess. Either way, she watched her sister and puffed her chest out a bit, seeming proud. "I am, aren't I? I had a dream," she whispered softly, "A dream of more siblings and another Banu. She'll have swirls on her.... But I don't know if she's going to stay a while. I didn't even catch a name." As she talked, she reached out for the fish, attempting to hook a claw between scales and yank it out to eat quickly.
Zarha flicked her tail. She disliked the way Afsar presented herself, as if her special powers made her sultana. As a cub she felt jealous that Afsar had a gift. Now that she was older she was quite happy whenever Afsar went on about her dreams. They often contained useful information. Now whenever Afsar told her about her dreams Zarha pretended to be annoyed so her sister would tell her more. “That so? Well I hope they’re all girls.”
She swatted Afsar’s paw away while keeping her other foot on the fish. She titled her head and gave her a cockeyed smirk. “Oh, you want this? Fine. I can always catch another one.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 5:59 pm
Why was she so annoyed? Afsar huffd at her tone and the swipe to her paw and gave her a wrinkled nosed look. "I saw at least one boy cub there. So ha. Foiled again, hm, sister?" It was friendly competition; nothing their mother or father would disapprove of. "I could catch one, too. I need a bath anyway." She stuck her tongue out and laughed a little bit.
"Why would you want all girls anyway? Surly you want another brother other than Harb. Not that there's anything wrong with him. But..." She motioned with her paw and shrugged. "I want another brother. I want the biggest family in our pride!" With that, she moved to walk in the shallow end of the water, getting her paws wet and feeling the temperature. Despite how hot it has been lately, the reminates of winter lingered in the water.
“Oh drat! Blast and damn it all, I’ve been had!” Zarha raved in monotone, rolling her eyes. As her sister went down to the shallows she smiled privately and sat down to eat her catch. She knew that would work.
“Harb is too bossy. He always worries about me and ruins my fun. I wish he would save it for his banu. Besides if mama has more girls I can pass my secrets onto them and they’ll all grow up to be better banu than you,” she teased. Her rivalry with Afsar wasn’t always serious. Sometimes she just liked to tease her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 6:15 pm
Afsar snorted and sighed at her sister's antics and laid belly down in the chilled water, rubbing herself against ther rocks there. She knew her sister all to well; the teasing, the baits dangling in front of her. But she would bite in a way not expected.
"That's hard to do, seeing how I'm going to be in Faiz's family. Now, if they were to get into the Sultan's family, that would be better than me. But for now, I win." She knew she'd made her father proud, snagging a male so high up in the ranking, not like he actually cared about it, but she did. She felt powerful that he was making her Beybanu! "And I'm not just going to be his Banu. I've Seen it. I'm going to be his Beybanu, like momma is to daddy." That, above all else, made Afsar soar. She was going to be like mommy! Of course, she'd have to work hard to keep that position. Ilyas was a good looking male, and could have any pick of the females.
But Zarha was unfazed. While Afsar talked she calmly peeled the scales from her fish. She held the body between her paws and ate the flesh from the belly, hardly even paying attention to her sister. She mused, “Faiz seems like a nice male. I’m sure his son will treat you like a queen.”
Was she jealous? No, not in the slightest. She wondered if her sister would figure it out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 6:30 pm
She glanced over at that and frowned deeply. Zarha wasn't jealous? The heck was all that about? She flicked her tail in the water and stuck her tongue out. Something was up, she ust didn't know what it was. "Hm.... I bet he will. I bet I'll be happier than you." She wanted so desperately to get under her sister's skin. Afsar kept her head above the water as she flopped over one one side and scrubbed her fur clean that way..
Afsar’s words were answered with the crunching of little bones. “Hmm. Doubtful.”
On the outside Zarha seemed nonchalantly disinterested in Afsar’s bragging. Inside, Zarha was laughing. She loved how easy it was to get to her sister. Manipulation was her favorite game.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 6:42 pm
She quickly, but skillfully, washed the other side of her and then her head before getting out and shaking off. Screw the fish. Zarha had something big to say and she wanted to know what it was. She shook off twice more for good measure and stood in front of her sister, watching her with glaring green eyes.
"What makes ..." Her voice trailed off as she tried to make a vision come to her. Why would her sister be happier than herself? All that came to her, however, was a name. "Anwar...?"
By this time Zarha had stripped her fish down to the bone. Apart from the ribs, all that remained was the head and a piece of the tail. She pushed it away and looked up at Afsar with a cool smile. She stretched, dragging her claws across the dirt. Finally she stood and looked her sister in the eyes. “For a second there I thought you’d lost your powers. Yes, Anwar, son of Vizier Tariq’ra’d. He’s far more powerful than Vizier Faiz. People fear him.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 6:55 pm
"He's also got those dirty cubs. His reputation is tainted, you know." She snorted and rolled her eyes. He wasn't that great. With the Sultan unsure of what to do with the cubs and Tariq, her position wasn't as solid as she thought. It made Afsar worry, more than be envious. She looked at her sister with a look of concern and sighed slowly. "You can do better."
Zarha stuck her tail up in the air. “For your information, Anwar is a brilliant pad. We already make a great team. Besides it doesn’t matter what kind of reputation his father has because he’s feared. People take him seriously. Faiz is nice, sure, and he has influence, but do you think he’s as respected as Tariq’ra’d?”
Of course, Zarha wasn’t afraid of Tariq’ra’d. As long as she had Anwar for her pad she would never need to worry about his father. Anwar provided a direct line to the Vizier. Better yet, he had a seer brother who told him all his visions, giving him the upper paw over his brothers. But Zarha wouldn’t tell Afsar that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 7:07 pm
Afsar glared at her and snorted. This wasn't supposed to happen. Her blood line wasn't supposed to mingle anywhere near those of those ugly, dirty pink and yellow cubs. No where near them. Sure, the whispers had died down and there wasn't much talk, but she didn't know of one adult that accepted them. Maybe her mother, but she woudn't ask, so she didn't count it.
".....Whatever. It's your loss. I haven't seen a cub from him that was pretty, anyway. Ilyas comes from a beautiful bloodline. So our cubs will be wonderful. I've seen it already."
Zarha scoffed, “You think I care about beauty? You’re missing the point.”
Power. That was the point. Zarha disliked bright and colorful lions for their arrogance only, for she was long past feeling jealous about her sister’s golden coat. It was what that coat did to Afsar’s brain that bothered her. She hoped all her cubs would be brown and ugly like her so they would learn to be cunning and resourceful the way she had, while Afsar’s cubs grew up to be vain and harmless airheads. She shook her head in pity. “I’m going to look for Suha and Dareia. You want to come?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 7:18 pm
Suha. She knew that name. Her ears perked with interest and she nodded a bit more. "I suppose it could be fun! I know beauty isn't your thing, and it's not fully mine, either. I want to be like momma. That's my goal in life. Momma is the perfect example of a Beybanu and I want to follow it. Oh, sure, you're in it for.... something else, and that is good, too, but...." She shrugged a little more and butted her head against Zarha's own. "You know... I think you're prettier than me. I've always thought that. Know why? You've got momma's color..." That made her envious.
Zarha laughed and pawed playfully at Afsar’s face, their serious conversation suddenly forgotten. She thought their mama was a great baybanu, too. She also believed that one day she would be an even better baybanu. As her father often said, Zarha inherited her grandmother’s ambition. She ruffled Afsar’s golden mane. “So do you! Just less of it than me. Now come on, follow me…”
((Fin~))
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
