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 Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 8:19 am
Matters were becoming unpleasant in the pride. Uruloke could not help noticing that, any more than he could help predicting that things would only get worse if water was not soon discovered. As a guard for the pride, Loke had seen more lions than usual pushing outward from the borders of the pride in search of water. Many were water-seekers, but more were not. They were all hopeful, but their hope seemed to be waning.
Off-duty for the time being, Loke curled up in the shade of his den and tried not to notice how dry his mouth and throat were. He was thirsty, just like everyone, and yet he was a warrior of the pride and he would not give in to his body's desires. This would strengthen him, he told himself. It would increase his stamina while decreasing his reliance on water. He wasn't fooling anyone. Not even himself.
Outside the sky was darkening, so at least there would soon be a respite from the day's scorching heat. It was easier to bear the privation when the sun wasn't beating down relentlessly on his dark fur.
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:50 am
Kuza had been unable to rest of late, and despite the searing heat and the burn of thirst in her throat she had been up, walking the lands until her paws were blistered and only the fact that all four hurt as bad as each other prevented her from limping visibly. Yet her wanderings were not driven by the search for water, though she had indeed been looking, it had been driven by her inability to sit still. Her mind was a wirlwind of tumbled, fractured thoughts that drove her muscles into relentless action as if, should she stand still, her body could not hope to contain the storm within.
Her excursion into the desert wastes had, predictably, proven fruitless. Every waterhole and stream had dried up, offering little more than dust. Exhausted and in pain she had finally turned for home, hoping that, at the very least, her screaming muscles would force her mind to think on other things than the struggle of decision within her. As a warrior, she knew that the pride's defense force had to remain strong. The rumors of a pride on their boards, waiting to attack, was never far from her mind. But by that same token, another part of her could not come to terms with sacrificing the very pride she strove to protect. It went against the very ideals she believed in, that her strength was a gift to protect those less strong, her body a weapon to shelter those weaker than her. Who was she if there was no pride left to fight for....
All these thoughts and more circled round her mind relentlessly, jumbling together until she could barely tell right from wrong or up from down. Suddenly she spotted the form of her brother, curled up by his den. Unsure how she had got there but grateful for the comforting sight of family, she altered her direction and padded over to him, pale eyes worn."Greetings brother." She gasped hoarsely, her voice scratchy from the sand dust in her throat. "How are you holding out?" Kuza looked like a shadow of her former, vibrant self, just like most of the pride. Even her bright red coat was dulled by sand and dust.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 6:30 am
Loke, ever an easy-going lion among the generally jingoistic Firekin, opened one blue eye and then the other when he recognized the speaker. He had not been able to identify Kuza by her voice, which had been altered by thirst and a dry throat he guessed. Things were bad, he thought, if the drought was making it so he couldn't even recognize his siblings' voices.
"Better than you are, I suspect," he answered. Like Kuza his voice was a little hoarse, but as a male it was probably less jarring to hear.
He shifted, retreating into the shade of his den. There wasn't a whole lot of shade to be had, given that it was the desert and dens had to be dug into the sand, which was a lot of work. He was proud of his den, but it wasn't very large. Just the same, he turned back to his sister and invited her to share the shade. It wasn't as though the sun would be out too much longer, and at that point it would become colder and her body heat would be welcome.
"Have you been out seeking water with the rest of them?" he asked.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 12:21 pm
His reply brought a wane smile to her muzzle and a dry chuckle from her lips which promptly turned into a dry cough. Clearing her throat and licking her maw with a furry-feeling tongue, she sighed softly. "Don't be silly.." Her smile turned momentarily playful as she parroted the answer she had given all throughout their childhood. "I'm a big girl."
Giving her brother a grateful look as he made room for her in his den, she slipped in and curled up next to him, surprised to find the press of his flank against her own an immeasurable comfort. Letting a deep sigh escape she lowered her head to rest against Loke's shoulder, pale eyes closing as the familiar scent and feel of her brother surrounded her. There were precious few times when Kuzaliwa'Jpi, dedicated soldier of the Firekin, allowed herself to be just a female, to need comfort and support when her own strength ran dry. But with Loke curled up at her flank, the familiar press of him invoking the feeling of safety and security of their cubhood, she allowed herself to simply be Kuza.
"I was.... there is nothing out there any more, the sand has taken over. No water, no plants, its all dead." Lifting her head she looked at her brother, allowing herself to show her concern in her expression for the first time, as there was no one else close by to see the true fear in her eyes. She could be Kuza for a little while, rather than a Firekin Soldier.
"I have no idea what is going to happen now... we can't go on like this."
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 7:25 pm
"Who, me? Silly? Perish the thought. I'm the sleepy one, remember?" Loke said as his sister made herself comfortable alongside him.
For most of his cubhood Loke had been convinced that in a litter of thirteen the only thing most people remembered about him was that he spent a lot of time sleeping. It did no good to try to explain that he'd simply been cold and trying to conserve heat. Who got cold in the middle of the day, right? It was still an issue for Loke, and so he was more than happy to have his sister's body heat to steal.
The news Kuza brought of her unsuccessful search for water was not heartening. It was no different from anything else he had heard from any other lion he'd asked, but she just seemed so worried, almost hopeless. He felt bad for her, just as he did for the rest of the pride, himself included. Theirs was a large pride, and the drought would soon prove deadly due to their sheer numbers. That was what was going to happen.
"They'll probably start rationing what water remains," Loke said, not jumping immediately to the worst possible scenario. He could try to spare his sister, whether or not she was a big girl. "But that's likely going to raise problems of its own as people bicker over who deserves the water more."
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