It was one of those times when you could find Amala without Asita. Though they were very close twins and so often kept in each others company, they could function just fine apart, thank you very much. They had different aspirations in life for example – Asita to be in charge, a captain perhaps, while Amala wished to learn the healer’s secrets. Because of these dreams her sister was studying as a soldier with aspiration to gain a higher rank, Amala was a waterseeker and studied the plants that grew wherever water was found. There was a difference between a partnership between siblings and co-dependency. While they liked to be together when possible, they didn’t groan too much about being apprenticed apart.
Never let anyone say that Ilahle’Wamuhu was getting soft with age. She only hoped her cubs had inherited her stealth and picked up her hunting skills. She’d caught the scent of the antelope and tracked it far from the den area until she’d found them. She’d ambushed a wary but plump mother. The fawn lay dead across the belly of it’s elder as she dragged them both back to the dens. It’d been joined by a hare leveret that had crouched stone still in it’s hide right up until Ilahle took it – staying stone still didn’t work when you were bright hot pink on sand.
Right now, Asita was off being busy while Amala didn’t have any training to attend to. And she was fine with that. Besides, it looked like her mother Ilahle wasn’t busy either, unless you counted bringing in a kill! Amala leapt down from the rock she’d been resting on and from where she’d spied a distant slow-moving black shadow. She set out to meet her.
The dens were small in the distance and Ilahle was finding this hauling back of the body more tiring and definitely more tedious than the hunt itself. The careful stalking and swift brutal kill had been a joy. This was the real hard work.
Luckily though, she spotted a distant white figure, that flashed every stripe or so in the sunlight. It was one of her children loping out to meet her, Amara, from the looks of it. Her teeth were clamped down on a hindleg but her lips curled up into the semblance of a smile. She kept on dragging.
As she neared her mother, Amala scented the air. The smell of the fresh kill reminded her of when her last meal had been. The kill, naturally, was for any who were hungry. She wasn't too hungry herself, though she was undoubtedly. Maybe a snack after they got this back to the pride-at-large. She was not a shirker and without a word she took up the other hindleg after the fashion of her mother and they dragged together.
She wasn’t surprised at the way they were using it to sledge another couple of kills on top was an old habit of Ilahle’s. But she felt somewhat proud. Her mother was a good huntress. Let no one deny that. Amala and Ilahle together were faster than Ilahle alone, though she was still so much smaller than her mother. As they walked, they naturally couldn’t converse aloud, with their jaws clamped and pulling. But in a way they did.
Her mother’s ears flicked up and their eyes met for a moment – thankyou for coming to help.
Amala dropped both ears very briefly – no problem.
Ilahle help her head high as her burden would allow gesturing towards the den – the others?
A half shrug during that haul – don’t know, busy.
Brief close of both brown eyes – ah – then a flick of her tail – no matter.
A low purr in her throat, content to be helping her mother.
A corresponding purr, content to spend time with her daughter.
They ‘chatted’ in this way all the way back to the dens. Asita was best at reading Amala’s (quite literal) body language. But it was only natural that her mother, who’d nursed her and raised her up, could too. As they (again, literally!) pulled in to the centre of the Firekin dens, they dropped the legs of the antelope almost in sinc.
Mother and daughter regarded each other with satisfied smiles. There was nothing else left to say, they’d already said it all. Ilahle moved forward to bridge the distance and rubbed her black cheek with it’s red dots against her daughter’s white cheek with it’s gold dots.
Amala returned the affectionate touch before turning to survey the kills. She and Asita had caught themselves some hares lately so the unfortunate – and hideously coloured – leveret could stay where it was. And she was not hungry enough to dig in to the adult with the few lions who were gathering. Even the fawn in her current state...really she needed to do some more strenous activity to work up an appetite.
She picked up the leveret after all and flung it to some waiting cubs, who would both eat it and play with it. They began a little tug-of-war the second it was caught. Then she looked to Ilahle.
She gestured towards the desert. She'd brought in one medium kill and two small. Time to head out once more and Amala seemed to be along for the ride. Time to see if her daughter, apprenticed to a waterseeker and with dreams of being a healer, had indeed picked up Ilahle's own trade too.
The two huntresses set out together after more game.
END
