Word Count = 1,164
Darkness swept through her vision, dust filled her nostrils, and thick black air dried her throat. The savannah, bathed red by the bloody sunset, was inhabited by hyenas and lions alike; claws flashing, blood spilling, roaring, hissing, spitting. The Pridelands had invaded. Under normal circumstances, Kelello would applaud the Pridelands’ efforts to overthrow a gruesome pack and its less than forgiving leader, Masuko. If the Mava’Bunda fell… freedom. Freedom for her, but moreover, freedom for her pups, who had grown knowing nothing but cruelty and oppression in their young lives. But something about this was wrong, very very wrong.
Lions leaped, clashing paws and scarring faces, hyenas yowling and storming, snapping giant jaws. Kelello was bound to one place, unable to move. Her paws sunk into the stony earth, as though they were sealed to the very spot. Afraid for her life and for that of her adult pups, Kelello struggled against whatever evil force held her, to no avail. And then, that’s when she saw her. Mafa, her fallen leader, risen like a horrid phoenix. That was the moment she knew: this was a dream, a vision; one of these mystic things she had been plagued with as a young pup… she knew that she would have to divulge what she had seen to Masuko, as was one of her duties as a “seer” and matron of the Graveyard slaves. Even in her dream, Kelello shuddered at the title bestowed upon her by Mafa, long ago.
The battle was not going well, and from her perspective, that meant that the lions – who held her freedom in their paws – were losing. Pitifully so. Soot filled the air, thick. The sky bled onto the earth; Kelello could feel the heat on her fur, the grit in her eyes. She blinked rapidly, trying to see through the dust and muck, but the lions were gone. There stood a triumphant Mafa in the distance, Masuko at her heels – neither scarred nor blemished in the slightest. The young wild dog’s heart sank to her paws and below. This vision – this was not a happy thing, not a happy thing at all. As though transported through the lands by the Gods, she stood now beneath Pride Rock, a shadow falling over her once golden frame. A hyena made its way up the neck of the rock; it reached the pinnacle. Mafa. And then the dust filled her vision, and all was black.
Light then filled Kelello’s eyes, and she sighed in relief. At last, she thought, she was once again in her small bony den in the elephant graveyard. It was hardly a place to call home, but it did its job. To her disdain, however, it was yet another vision: it grew bright, then brighter, then almost white. Newborn puppies yipped and cried. The smell of newborns filled her nostrils, instead of soot. She smiled, lifting her head in pride. Her pups. Her pups! But where, where was Kutu? If this was a dream… But before her eyes, the puppies grew; they transformed into adult wild dogs, some smiling and drifting away, others sad-eyed, sinking into the earth. Kelello howled in grief. What sorcery must the Gods inflict on her, to tease her like this? First a gruesome dream, and then to show Kelello her children, only to take them away? What did it mean? Why have these dreams, if not to understand them?
Kelello blinked as the bright light faded and a natural glow filled her gaze. The world, once spinning, came to an ever-steady halt, and Kelello was able to focus her gaze on the creature facing her. It looked like one of the newborn puppies, only all grown up. Kelello smiled stupidly at the figure that looked so like her.
The figure shuffled its paws; looked up, looked down, and altogether looked at once frantic and awkward.
“M-mother?”
Kelello’s smile slowly faded; her face morphed into a stare of disbelief. Dreams didn’t usually talk to her.
The figure shuffled a few more times and smiled weakly. “Y-you must be… Are you?” The wild dog’s matching green eyes were begging now. “Are you Kelello?”
Again, Kelello felt like the earth had molded around her paws, and she was again immobile, staring towards something she could not influence nor change. Yet this, she was certain, was not a message from the Gods. This was reality.
“My daughter,” she breathed, her green eyes fogging up. It really was, it was her! It was… goodness, Kelello realized, she didn’t even know the girl’s name.
Kelello’s daughter suddenly burst into tears and rushed towards her with happy laughter. “Mother! My Gods, I have searched for you – Papa, Papa, he wouldn’t, he couldn’t –“
“Oh, Kutu,” Kelello breathed. She sighed, rubbing her head against the other’s head in maternal greeting. “Tell me, child, what is your name?”
“Chiyo,” the younger one barked, still tearfully holding the embrace. “Chiyo,” Kelello tasted the name. Chiyo, her daughter. Kutu had named her well.
Kutu. Suddenly, it all came flashing forward. The newborns. The rush in the middle of the night, desperate to save them… and the two who were left behind, with eyes dead to match their mother’s – the mother they would never know. Chiyo had presumably gone against her father’s will to come here, to be the first child to present itself to its mother – the matron slave.
There was a reason she wasn’t here. “Chiyo,” Kelello said tearfully, “you must leave here.”
“No!” yelled Chiyo, digging her head into her mother’s fur – a child-like action, although Chiyo was a fully developed adult female. “Why,” she gasped, “why did you leave us?”
At this, Chiyo pulled away from her mother, anger hanging dangerously in her eyes. Now Kelello understood the message behind her vision: With pleasure came responsibility. Darkness, with light. She had done the right thing, when she was very young and discovered to be pregnant. She chose to leave her pups so that they may be free; she could not endanger Chiyo now, now that she had ascertained that her plan had worked! But Chiyo would never understand; Kelello had to make peace with that. It was a mother’s duty to do the very best by her puppies, despite their objections. Looking Chiyo up and down, it was no lie that the girl was hers. In fact, she looked like Kelello, had Kelello been a normal, healthy and free wild dog, but such was not the case.
“I had to,” Kelello sobbed, “I promise, I did it with you in mind, with you in my heart!”
“How could you?” Chiyo backed away from Kelello, her eyes wild.
All Kelello could say, defeated, was: “I love you.”
Chiyo held her gaze: green to green. Finally, Chiyo dipped her head, her ears held back submissively. It was the first time Kelello had ever been bowed to, and it seemed strange and unnatural.
“I love you, too,” said Chiyo.
Mother and daughter touched noses.
