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Kame'bufuu = Bold
Yessenia = Hot Pink
Yessenia picked at the scraps laid out in front of her with a disgruntled frown. Violet eyes didn’t miss the way that Mitra brushed up against her father before she left that morning for the hunt, or how her smile warmed when some of her stupider siblings told her goodbye. The whole thing made Yessenia sick. Couldn’t they see how stupid she was? How ugly and just…Yessenia tore into the meat bitterly. Already a juvenile and she still couldn’t stand the older female.
Kame had watched his children over the weeks since Mitra came to live with them. Some had grown accustomed to her presence, and had a small sense of fondness for her like Thamina, and than there were others who felt her an intruder. Like his little Yessenia.
Oh Yessenia. Kame sighed heavily as he watched his daughter rip into her food with fierceness. She was not a happy camper with the change that had happened in their family, and it vexed him quite a bit. He was sure she would have grown out of it to at least tolerate Mitra, but instead she seemed even more embittered by her presence. It broke his heart. He thought his older children would have more of an issue with Mitra's presence, but instead it seemed the younger ones were the ones who were upset.
He quietly made his way over to his daughter and sat down next to her without a word. He wanted to talk to her about her relationship with Mitra, but being the loving father he was he didn't want to force it out of her. He wanted her to feel like she could talk to him, because she could talk to him. She could always talk to him.
True to form, the chubbier banu finished her meal before even bothering to look at her father’s paw. She dared not look up at his face for fear of what her own might spell out. With an irritated sigh, Yessenia sat up and cleaned her maw while she thought. Was he going to be mad at her? No, father wouldn’t be mad at her yet, she hadn’t done anything. So then why was he waiting like that?
“Father?” Yessenia finally turned her head to look up at the larger lion, her chubby cheeks splintered by cracked markings.
"Hmnn?" He replied, looking down to her in acknowledgment. He gave her a small, albeit warm smile and waited for her to respond. He could already tell she knew he had come to her for a reason. There was always a reason as to why he would quietly interrupt his children when they wished to be alone. Mostly because he knew many of them really never wished to be left alone. So if they were, they were thinking about something and if they were thinking about something than they'd eventually want to talk about it. Selfishly, he always wanted to be the one they talked to.
"The kill was good today, wasn't it?" He remarked.
“It would have been better if she hadn’t been the one to kill it.” Yessenia grumbled, pushing the left over bones away from her. “Father, out of all the banu, why Mitra?” She turned back to give him her full, exasperate attention. “She’s mean, and ugly, and stupid and and…and ugly!” Yessenia shook her head. “I just don’t understand why out of all the pretty Banu, you had to take her in. She’s the Vizier’s daughter, right? Couldn’t she have gone to somebody else instead?”
Kame couldn't help but chuckle. It wasn't that he thought her feelings towards Mitra were laughable, but to be honest, he had never seen his children (or any child, really) say such things with such conviction. It was Yessenia's truth and she was sticking to it. It was endearing, really, even if he felt her words inappropriate.
"Now, Yessenia. You know that isn't nice to say," He chided softly, giving her a small sigh as he wracked his brain in attempts to answer her questions as fully as he could.
The reasons he chose Mitra were both practical, simple and genuine. She was the Vizier's daughter, which gave him some pull. She was of old blood, meaning she knew the stories and customs of the pride that he didn't; that would benefit the family as a whole. She brought a differing attitude and opinion to the family, which he valued. And her womanly charm and conversational skills managed to woo him, which had caught him off guard.
"A variety of reasons, really." He answered bluntly, " She is the Vizier's daughter, and had we not crossed paths she probably would have gone to someone of older blood and not the outsider."
He relaxed some, and slouched on the ground, leaning to the side. Sitting in such a proper position was uncomfortable for him after awhile. He wasn't his young sprouting self, after all. Giving his nose a wiggle to stifle a sneeze he returned his daughter's gaze, "Yessenia, some things are not always about looks. Yes. There are many pretty Banu in the pride, and there was another that caught my interest before I had met Mitra, but it's not Mitra's looks that I like. Although, I do find her pretty. Mitra's confidence, and her knowledge, and her spirit is what your father sees in her as appealing. She knows so much that I, nor your mother, nor Tai know. She has pride in herself, and in me, and in her pride. Even you."
Yessenia’s ears lay flat against her head. She slouched where she sat, which gave girth to her already pudgy frame, but she knew this was going to be a long conversation, and like her father, wanted to be more comfortable. “She doesn’t have pride in me,” she snapped. “She’s always making fun of me by showing me off to her friends. And she doesn’t hug, cuddle….anything that a real mom is supposed to do.” Even if Mitra had her own reasons for being so distant, Yessenia didn’t care much for them. “When momma or Tai try to cuddle us, Mitra just stands there, like she doesn’t want to be around us. She gives us this face.” Yessenia mimicked Mitra’s uncomfortable frown. “Like she’s holding it in, but she doesn’t really have to go.”
"How does Mitra show you off to her friends?" Kame asked.
Kame was not always around and it did bother him. As a male, he needed to patrol for long hours and often times he felt that things could go unnoticed. Not that he thought Mitra would intentionally mock his children, but knowing Yessenia was not fond of her and that Mitra was raised very differently from how Kame, Kinaya, and Tai were raised, it could be that what Mitra sees as a normal action may be seen as hurtful by Yessenia. He was quite aware that instances like this could occur, miscommunications and differences in how children should be raised would be brought up and he, or Kinaya, may be forced to play mediator.
Kame smiled a little at Yessenia's impression of Mitra's face. She was so observant and critical of poor Mitra. He would need to talk to her later and see how she was feeling. He could only imagine having a little girl watch everything you do so critically was upsetting at times. Kame could relate, knowing that some disapproved of how he and his family raised their children, but it was their family and they would do how they saw fit.
"You know, Mitra being the Vizier's daughter, that she was raised differently than me, or Mommy, or Tai, right?" He asked rhetorically, feeling Yessenia was old enough to grasp this concept on her own, "She was raised much different than your big brothers and sisters, too. Maybe, just maybe, she doesn't feel it's her place to hug and cuddle you like Mommy and Tai do."
“She takes me with her to meet her friends all the time so they can ‘Oooh’ and ‘Aaah’ over me.” She rolled her eyes. “Mitra tells me it’s so she can make a better Banu out of me, but I know it’s a lie. They don’t even really like her. It’s just that important people talk.” Yessenia waved her paw in the air.
“They always sound so boring, too. Like, this one time, we met her cousin and she actually acted nice, but the rest of the time she’s just…stuffy.” In later years, the young Banu would come to see that as part of Mitra’s upbringing, and a result of the standards she held herself to. In her own way, the young blue Banu was trying to introduce Yessenia as her daughter to society, but Yessenia was having none of it.
“You, mommy, and Tai are from the rogue lands, right?” She questioned. “I remember hearing something about it a long time ago. Why would that make her not want to hug and cuddle? She’s just like Tai, and we cuddle.”
"Maybe they think you're pretty?" Kame suggested, knowing that his daughter was a little concerned with her physical appearance. Pad Vu's son, Gubari, was much like Yessenia growing up. He was a chubby cub, and was also very concerned about his weight and disliked being made fun of it for it. "Everyone should think you're pretty, you have your Mommy's gorgeous pink color, after all."
Kame chuckled again. He didn't blame Yessenia for thinking they sounded boring. She was a young Banu, and very different than a lot of the other young ladies. He did know that Mitra was rather proper when it came to interacting with the pride, being a Vizier's daughter and having such a structured upbringing, so he could see why Yessenia felt her stuffy. He could not see Yessenia being like that, or like her sister, Thamina. He felt she would not doubt take after her mother.
"Yes we are. Well, you see," He paused for a moment, trying to think of a way to explain to her how things were in the Rogue Lands without giving her unwanted or wrong ideas. "In the Rogue Lands, there are no rules. There is no Sultan. There are no Banu or Pesars or Pads. There's no being proper. You love and you act and raise children however you please."
“Do you really think so?” Yessenia questioned, having never thought of it that way before. She’d been so quick to judge Mitra’s actions that she had given little thought to the feelings behind them. It calmed her somewhat.
Then her father began talking about the rogue lands, and she was moderately distracted. “That sounds…really nice, actually. If I lived in the rogue lands, I wouldn’t come here.” She scrunched up her nose. “I could run around, and do what I wanted to all day, without anyone telling me what to do! And I wouldn’t need a Pad to protect me, would I, father? I could protect myself, right?”
Kame was quiet for a moment at Yessenia's words. It wasn't that he thought her words inappropriate, but he felt he had not explained the Rogue Lands properly to Yessenia as he spoke. He didn't mean for it to sounds like a sort of paradise, because he knew it wasn't. The Rogue Lands, despite meaning total freedom, was not generally a pleasant place.
"Not exactly...," Kame said with a small sigh, "It is true that you could do what you wanted when you wanted, but so could others. This means that... if they wanted to hurt you, they will try and hurt you. You have to fight in the Rogue Lands. Every day. Meals are not guaranteed, you may lose yours to someone else. You may... you may even lose your children to someone else."
If only Kame knew the truth of that last matter. That his own sister wondered the Rogue Lands lost in madness, stealing other females children. He'd be haunted by it. He sighed heavily, "You know your mother and Tai came from the Rogue Lands with me, but before I became a Pad and they became my wives, my Banu, we were just a group of lions who struck a deal. I protected Tai and Kinaya, and in return they helped feed me and give me you. We were not a family till we came here..."
Her father’s words killed her fire, and it showed. Yessenia was no Pesar, so fighting was something she practiced often, if ever. However, there was one thing that struck out as more distressing than total anarchy. “They take your food? But…but that’s not fair! What if you’ve worked all day to get it, and they just come take it from you? And then you don’t find anymore? Do you just…not eat?” Yessenia bit her bottom lip, an unconscious paw pressed against her full stomach.
“So you weren’t in love until you came here? But why? What if you left? What if they left? What would have happened then?” So much information was trying to process itself in Yessenia’s mind that she felt herself getting riled up again. One moment, the rogue lands sounded wonderful, and the next, as frightening as a fierce Kajira.
"We had an agreement," Kame said with a small, but sad smile. His agreement was a simple one, but he did leave in a clause that if they ever wanted to leave, he would let them go. He feared that sometimes. In his old age he didn't think he was very desirable to many and was pretty thankful for Kinaya, Tai and Mitra. But he still feared he would be left because of his age. Because he was no spring hare.
"If... If your mother, or Tai ever wanted to leave... They would be allowed to leave. If I need to, I will help them leave," He said quietly to his daughter, obviously distressed at the thought. He shook his head to her, "I appreciated what they did for me, for I was an old man with no children. But I was not in love with them... Obviously that has changed."
He cuddled his baby girl and licked her head lovingly to attempt to ease her distress. He didn't mean to make her this upset, but she needed to know the reality that was the Rogue Lands, "You go hungry if they take your food. Or you look to take someone else's. The Rogue Lands is freedom, but it is also unfairness. It houses everyone. The good and the evil. The gentle and the fierce. That is why it is so dangerous."
Seeing the look of distress on Kame’s face made Yessenia regret asking that particular question. Well, almost. She didn’t like seeing him this way, but if this was the only way to get the answers to her questions, then so be it. Yessenia brushed up against her father, smiling lovingly up at him after he’d licked her. She stayed there, by his side, to comfort him as much as herself.
“And that’s why only Pesars and Pads get to go, right father? Because they’ve been trained to do so?” Yessenia paused, and then shook her head. “I’m fine with it being like that. If what you say is true, I would much rather stay where I’m safe,…and where the food is.” She grinned. “Would you mind taking me to the lake? I want to go, but I…” Even though his words had soothed some part of her, Yessenia was still terrified to walk on her own in public. With an adult, or one of her siblings at her side, it didn’t feel as bad when others look at her funny. And by now she made pleasant company, what with having forgotten why she was mad in the first place.
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