Just for a little while Kivi wanted to get away from the enormous tangle of lions and one hyena that her family was comprised of.There had been a huge to-do a few days back that had nearly been ruined by some sort of feud between a cub from the Warlord's b*****d line and a cub from an outlander-born family that had sort of migrated to the Stormborn en masse, and ever since then Kivi had felt a little sick to her stomach, as if that rivalry was somehow portentous.
Without any real idea of where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do other than be away from crowds and boisterous people for a while, Kivi began unconsciously to make her way to one of the promontories where a number of adolescent freeborn would lounge when they weren't otherwise occupied. She was a little young to be accepted by all of them, perhaps, but she hoped that one or two might be willing to let her sit and relax nearby at least.
There were not a lot of people there, which Kivi decided was both good and bad. It was good because with a smaller group it was possible the adolescent Stormborn would allow her to stay just so that they could have more company. It was bad because with a smaller group it was more likely that her presence would be noticed and if she wasn't welcome she would be informed of that much more quickly.
She recognized some of the other girls there, but they did not do any more than glance at her upon her arrival. Of course, there weren't any boys present. They were all off sparring and training for the day when they would go on their first viking. Kivi supposed some of the females might be doing that, too, since Aesir seemed to be a fairly open-minded Warlord when it came to female reavers. It wasn't a course of action she, herself, planned to pursue.
"It's a good day to die," she greeted the four others who were present. Eight eyes turned toward her, but none of their owners spoke a word.
Kivi was beginning to feel distinctly unwelcome. This was even worse than being at home! At least at home they didn't mind her being there. Nevertheless, Kivi could recognize a power play and she wasn't going to be bullied just because she was younger. She was a freeborn lioness and had every bit as much right to be here as any other freeborn did.
She lifted her chin and stared back at the lionesses. They weren't all that much older than she was, even if they were bigger, and she could remember a time not too long ago when they had all played together contentedly. Then they had crossed an arbitrary and invisible date line and suddenly they were too old for her games anymore and Kivi was left to entertain herself or play with her sibs.
Kivi had found a good playmate in Bren, who was the son of two outlanders who had fought their way into the pride and lived in a constant state of disharmony, to hear Bren describe his home life. Kivi had visited Bren's home, but she had never been around when Bren's mother and father fought, and Bren said this was a very good thing.
Sometimes she wondered if Bren was just stretching the truth to make himself seem more interesting. She had noticed that he tended to do that, and usually she didn't mind, just as she didn't usually mind that he was younger than she was, but sometimes Kivi just wanted to spend time with girls her own age who weren't related to her. Even if those girls didn't seem to want to spend time with her.
"What?" she said challengingly. "If you don't want me here, say so, but don't think you can scare me away just by looking at me. And for that matter, don't think that just because you say you don't want me here, I'll go. I have as much right to be here as you do, and I'll defend it with teeth and claw if I must
At first her challenge was met with silence, but eventually one of the older lionesses stood up and walked over to Kivi, planting herself just a few inches away from her and looking down her nose at her, literally and figuratively. Kivi remembered that she had always been a snippy little so-and-so, and that she hadn't liked the older girl much.
She didn't particularly like her now, as she smiled at Kivi in a smug way that showed no teeth but was somehow still a challenge and said, "My dear, fighting with teeth and claw is something that males do. When females fight we are subtler and more deadly. I don't doubt you could get a claw or two in one of us fighting like a boy, but if you want to fight for a space here, on our turf, you'll have to fight by our rules, and by our rules you would be eviscerated."
"I'm not afraid of you, even if you're too much of a coward to take me on by yourself," Kivi declared.
"Oh, this is embarrassing. You still think I'm talking about a physical fight. Keev, grown-up lionesses fight with our wits, and to such a battle you, my dear, would always come unarmed. Do you understand?"
She sounded sweet, but what she was saying wasn't. Kivi did, indeed, begin to understand. Kivi made herself smile in exactly the same way and nod. Then, when she saw her enemy begin to turn away she launched herself at her, slashing her rump. Let her try to explain that in a way that made her look good. The marks were too close together to have come from an aggressive male trying to force himself on her, and being on her rear, they had obviously come while she was fleeing.
"I understand. b***h."
Kivi waited for some form of retaliation when the other three lionesses converged on their friend, but none of them said anything to her. They just cooed over their injured companion and helped her home, shooting dirty looks at Kivi over their shoulders.
Kivi sighed and helped herself to the nicest rock.
WC: 1,057
