|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 10:48 am
 Aesir looked up in some startlement when his golden-eyed daughter came pelting toward him as though she was being pursued by something large and fierce, her golden eyes wider than he had ever seen them, even after one of her nightmares. Then, all out of breath, she told him that there was some trouble at one of the forest entry points with a lioness who wanted in.
"And, Da, she's got cubs with her that she says are yours," she said in obvious wonderment. "They look like Calder."
Aesir was already on his feet, telling her to stay put and doubting very much that she would heed him, but hoping she might. This was going to be a spectacle. He just knew it. He had really, really hoped to keep his affair with Raven secret. True, stealing Calder might not have been the wisest course of action for that, but he hadn't actually claimed Calder as his kin. He'd just brought him back and tucked him into his den, and then dared anyone to say anything. They'd be saying things now, he had no doubt, and he didn't want that. Morrigan would be so pissed.
He made his way to the forest as quickly as he could without losing his dignity. He held few illusions about how this could possibly go well, and when he saw that there were already three Reavers gathered there he quietly despaired of this not reaching Morrigan's ears before he had time to prepare her for it. There were only supposed to be two Reavers, he couldn't help thinking. A friend must have joined them. Dammit.
He skidded to a stop a short distance away and strode forward and did his best impression of an "I am the Warlord, so this had better be good" expression.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 6:21 am
Raven was surrounded by three - four, counting Aesir - lions that could probably rip her apart. She was fierce, but she wasn't a warrior, and she certainly wasn't a match for the big bulky lions that were currently confronting her. Still, she was serene. She had come to fetch her Calder back, and fetch him she would.
"I came for Calder," she said simply, making eye contact with Aesir only. The other big lions were unimportant.
"You helped make the cubs, but they're mine," Raven continued. "Bring Calder out, and I'll go." It was unlike her to harangue a male. It was unlike her to care enough about a male to harangue him. But she was a mother now, and she had been wronged. It was making her do unnatural things.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:58 pm
If Aesir had not had an audience for this, things would have gone differently, but he had three Reavers standing around watching the exchange between him and Raven, and that meant he had to behave in a certain way, or else suffer their derision. A Warlord whose Reavers laughed at him when they were doing 'n** would not keep his position long, and there was no reason why he should. Unfortunately, that meant he couldn't just do as Raven asked, even though that would have been the neatest, simplest solution.
"As you say, I helped make them, and so I don't see why they should be any more yours than mine," Aesir said, resisting the urge to check his Reavers' reactions.
What he said next would be more problematic for everyone involved, and would create immeasurable amounts of trouble for him at home, he had no doubt, but it was a matter of saving face. The fact that he had taken Calder to begin with implied that he had wanted the cub, and so he could not now hand him over as if he did not. It would be seen as giving in to Raven's demands.
"I claim him as my son, and as such he is a Freeborn lion of the Myrsky Syntynyt, and he will remain with me."
A rustling sound behind him and a soft intake of breath told him that Kazul had decided not to heed his instructions, and wasn't that just peachy. He didn't turn around to look at her, but instead decided to make use of her appearance.
"Jormund, take Kazul back to the den and then stand guard there. Tell no one of this for the time being, but allow no one near my cubs except Morrigan." He didn't look at the Reaver either. He would be obeyed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 4:36 pm
The fox-pelted lioness didn't normally spend this much time talking. It seemed wasteful. It wearied her. She narrowed bright eyes at Aesir. She had known him well, out in the woods, but she did not know him now. Her instincts told him to leap at him, spitting and clawing, but motherhood made her wary. The lions that appeared to serve him would take offense.
"They are mine," Raven repeated, growling. "He is mine." She glared at the strange lions, daring them to attack her, daring them to stop her from taking what was hers. Her glare took in the golden-eyed cub that had crept up behind Aesir. She didn't share his color, but her markings were unmistakeable (and so similar to Ormarr's). Aesir's cub. Raven gestured at her. "Keep her and be happy with her. She is yours, that one--but Calder is mine."
Her fury rising, Raven curled her lips back in a silent snarl. She took a step towards Aesir. If only those lions would all go, and leave Aesir alone to face her wrath.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 7:00 am
Aesir was on the horns of an unpleasant set of choices. On one side, he could dismiss the two remaining reavers and deal with this privately, but that would open everything that went on to speculation and interpretation. That wasn't something Aesir wanted. On the other side, if they remained they would be witnesses to whatever happened, and if things did not go his way that might be worse than speculation.
"I am happy with her. There is nothing lacking in her litter or their mother," the warlord said. He was treading so carefully here. To say the wrong thing would be to insult Morrigan, and that was not his intent either. "Just the same, I am of the Stormborn and it is my nature to lay claim to all that may become mine."
How to proceed now? It would be simpler if he could just respond to her snarl by striking her and reminding her of their respective stations. She was a fun lay, but he had finished with her. He did not know what impulse had driven him to take Calder in the first place, but her contention in the matter made him more determined to hold onto the cub. It made him greedier for more, too.
"I am in no danger here," he told the two reavers who remained. "You may go. I will deal with this."
He waited until they had gone and should have passed beyond hearing range before he said anything else. At that point he returned Raven's furious glare and warned her, "Don't do anything you'll regret. I do not think my mate would be willing to raise your cubs as well, and so if you force me to kill you those other cubs will be orphaned."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:30 pm
Rav listened to his pretty little speech, digesting his words in silence as he dismissed his cronies. That pleased her. Without the others for backup, the odds would be more even if she had to fight him.
To a point, at least. Aesir was massive, strong and fierce, and while Rav was fierce enough, she was no warrior.
The lioness regarded him coldly, sneering at his threats. He could likely carry them out, but she was not a creature that bothered much with fear. Either she would get her cub back, or she would die.
"You have the right to lay claim to my cub, Stormborn?" Rav asked, baring her teeth at Aesir. She took a step towards him, snarling. Stormborn. His pride, likely. She had never had much use for prides, but there were more important things at stake than her freedom. "Then I will be Stormborn, and take back my own."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:20 pm
Oh, Stormlords' balls. Why couldn't women just be sensible?
"I liked you better when you were carefree and I was screwing you," he told her, feeling childish and petty as soon as the words left his mouth, but he couldn't stop himself. "This new maternal streak does not flatter you."
He sighed and shook his head. "Look, it doesn't work like that. You can't just decide you're going to be a Stormborn and then -boom!- be one of us. You either have to defeat one of our warriors in battle or be claimed as kin by a freeborn lion."
As he spoke his mind began to turn over the problem. There was a way to do this without fighting, if he could just bend his brain around it in the right way. He knew much of the pride's history and many of its customs, but he did not know all of the details of its laws. A lawspeaker would have been useful here, but he did not want this encounter committed to memory and later recited to people who had no business hearing about it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:54 pm
Rav's opinion of Aesir was diminishing with every foolish word that fell out of his blethering mouth. She had no use for insults, and no use for Aesir's customs. She would take advantage of them if they served her purpose, but they were meaningless to her.
Defeating a Stormborn warrior seemed unlikely, if the lions she had seen with Aesir were anything to judge by. She was willing to give up her life if it would get her cub free of this lion, but she wouldn't break her body in some senseless battle to satisfy Stormborn customs.
"Kin, then," Raven sniffed. "You stole Calder to your pride. He is my kin."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:12 pm
Aesir winced visibly. The solution seemed painfully obvious now that Raven had spoken it, and his mind had been dancing around it, but there was no way he could make that claim without sounding even more foolish than he already did. He hated when things didn't go his way!
"That would work," he growled grudgingly.
He ought to be pleased, and he knew that. Matters could be settled without resorting to killing the mother of his cubs. That was definitely a good thing, for she was right in a way. Even if he didn't claim her as mate or even salt wife, they were bound by ties of kinship through their cubs and it was an ill thing to kill one's own kin. Unless they deserved it, but even then it was better not to kill. Families seemed made to torment each other anyway, so why not use that to best advantage?
"We'll say he claimed you as kin. This means he claims both of us as parents, you know, which means I do have a legitimate claim to all of our cubs. Not that I didn't before. But the pride will recognize my claim as much as yours. I won't try to take any more of them into my den, but I do plan to be part of their lives."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:23 pm
She had won, but what had she gained? The fox-pelted lioness's mouth twisted as though she had bit into something sour. She didn't want Aesir meddling in her life or her cubs' lives, but that would be the price of reclaiming Calder.
For a fleeting moment, she wondered whether getting Calder back would be worth it.
Raven shook off the dark thoughts, focusing on the facts. For better or worse, she had decided her course. She would have her cubs, all of them, even if she had to tolerate the presence of Aesir and the rest of his lions. "A part of their lives. Fine." She glared at Aesir, laying her ears flat against her skull. "But I will be a part of your lives. I will be a part of this ... pride." She spat the word, disgusted that it had come to this. A pride! She had never been tied down, never! And she would not become some drudging female of the Stormborn, breeding cubs and obeying the whims of Aesir and his warriors. "I will be respected. If you or your warriors touch me, or try to take my cubs, I will see the spirits rend your soul to tatters." She was snarling, furious. It might sound like a foolish threat, but she believed the words she spoke with every fiber of her being. Her cubs and her were part of the forest and its spirits, and the spirits would not allow them to come to harm at the claws of the Stormborn.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:36 pm
"Cubs and gods and spirits. All the women in my life ever talk about are cubs and gods and spirits," Aesir grumbled. Now he had gotten himself into a situation where he had two families to look after.
"Look, I certainly don't intend to touch you. That's over and done with. But any respect you have in this pride you will have to earn for yourself. You are not exactly entitled to a great deal of respect just for being some lioness I covered who followed me home."
He glanced over his shoulder, hoping that Kazul really had been taken home and that his dragon child had not made her way back. He needed time to figure out what he would say to Morrigan about all this, and how he would explain it. Morrigan was a very intelligent lioness, much like Raven, but disciplined in ways Raven was not. Probably she would draw her own conclusions.
"You'll be relieved to learn that you'll be coming into the pride freeborn, which means there are unpleasant consequences for lions who try to take what is yours or have you unwillingly. Even females are protected under our laws." At least that was how he had been pushing to have them interpreted.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:43 pm
Reigning in her anger, Rav looked at Aesir coolly as he spoke to her. She had never much cared what others thought of her, but she certainly did not care for the way he was speaking to her now. In the wild, she was her own being, but in his pride, she would be one of many. Not one to be abused, if she understood him correctly, but not one to be respected either.
Although she had never been ambitious, there was a first time for everything. She resolved that she would gain respect in Aesir's pride, would gain power of a sort.
"There will be unpleasant consequences. I will eat their entrails," she said, with some relish. She wasn't thrilled at the idea of some brute of a lion overpowering her, but vengeance would be wonderfully gratifying if that did happen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:51 pm
Despite himself and the general awfulness of the whole situation, Aesir found himself laughing at Raven's vehemence.
"That, or something like it, would be within your rights under such circumstances," he allowed once his laughter subsided enough to allow him to speak. He had no difficulty imagining Raven eating with relish the entrails of whatever fool crossed her.
He didn't know about the streak of ambition that had unexpectedly flared in Raven, but if he had the warlord would have been utterly horrified. The last thing he needed would be for Raven and Morrigan to have any reason to meet and exchange words. That could not be anything but unutterably bad for everyone.
Aesir composed himself into a more serious demeanor once more. "If you truly wish to avoid my company and the influences of my pride on your family, there is a wooded area that is technically within the pride's lands that is not inhabited or even patrolled frequently. You might see if they are to your liking. I'll increase patrols in the area, but their task will be to keep threats to my cubs out, and not to pen you in."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
