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 Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 8:16 am
 It was a calm and quiet day, just bleeding into night, and Morrigan had finally found her way home from the area that the priestesses used for their practice. The den was empty and cold, as usual. Her dear mate had gone off viking, probably, and her cubs, now grown, had taken to sleeping in other dens, rarely visiting. That was fine by her. It didn't make her feel that old, but occasionally it was somewhat lonely. Not that she'd ever admit it.
She'd thought of trying for more children, but each time the thought left bile in her mouth. Aesir had done nothing wrong, she told herself. He hadn't meant to, that immoral female of the forest had tricked him. And he hadn't taken her as a second wife. He was still all Morrigan's. But the thought of his actions hurt her heart more than she was prepared to face, and so she had denied any advances from him, or the urges to advance on him from herself.
A sigh escaped her. She really wasn't happy with just one litter. Obviously Aesir hadn't been either.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 11:21 am
 He was different. Very different. The older he became, the more striking his difference became. As if that wasn't troubling enough, he also had the distinct impression his father was disappointed in him somehow, possibly even disgusted at his apparent weakness. But to Hroarr, it had little to do with strength and more to do with what was right.
He'd been struggling with it ever since his first viking. The memory of that distressed female was burned upon his memory. He couldn't shake the feeling that doing such things was wrong. That taking saltwives was wrong. But this did not mesh with the pride's beliefs, beliefs he felt honor-bound to uphold. It left him hugely conflicted, frustrated, and confused.
So as night lowered and he could not find rest, he did something he'd never done before. Rising to his paws, he sought out his mother. She was the original reason he felt as he did. It never had felt right, what their father had done to her. Perhaps he would find clarification as to the justification for the pride's traditions by talking to her. Could she explain it to him? Could she possibly dismiss his worries as unfounded? Uncertain, he set paw into his cubhood den and called softly, so as not to wake her if she slept. "Mother?"
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 12:11 pm
Ahhh. And just as she'd been feeling so lonely. "Come in, Hroarr. I'm not asleep yet. The gods kept me in thrall quite late. They are perturbed." That much was true. From what she could read of bird trails and tossed bones, the world was about to be turned on its ear. Of course, the gods weren't telling how. Probably her son wouldn't care to hear about her work, but more importantly, she wouldn't be bothered if he didn't show interest. Males were never really as fit for the topic as other females.
"What's troubling you that you've sought your mother out after so long, hmm?" She turned how she was laying to face him, making ample room for him to lie down. For a moment she felt choked up. How recently he'd been a tiny squirming thing upon the stone floor here. No sign of the emotion slipped past her years-crafted guard though. As was her custom while she talked, she began to weave together odds and ends into a charm with her long thin claws. The den was hung from end to end with them, the most complex web of wards and protective symbols inside the pride. Aesir said they made him uncomfortable. They should have made him feel safe, silly male.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 12:22 pm
He settled into the space she'd made, feeling odd. The den seemed so much smaller now. He took up more space, leaving less space around himself as he remembered. He floated in a moment of disorientation and memory before focusing again on his mother. He watched her for a moment silently, watching her weave a charm. It was a familiar sight, but despite the calm appearance, some tiny nuance or intangible wave of emotion told him she wasn't happy. He had yet to realize how sensitive he was to others' emotions, most particularly his mother's, but it was something he possessed nonetheless. He debated whether to bring up his own concerns or inquire after hers. In the end, he decided that she would tell him if she felt comfortable, and that it wasn't his place to pry them out of her.
"I need help understanding something," he replied softly, his deepened adult voice reverberating in his chest. He dropped his eyes to his grey toes, then let his eyes travel up the fiery markings on his right foreleg. "Something that father seems to think should come natural to me, but doesn't." In fact, he'd had difficulty stomaching most of his vikings. The brutality and cruelty shown to the females they'd encountered bothered him more than he'd ever have let anyone know. Even now, he was planning on cautiously choosing his words, bracing for the awful truth of needing to change to become like the others.
"I thought, perhaps, you could help me understand." Unspoken was the thought that she could explain to him how she endured or accepted it. He took a breath and gulped in preparation for broaching the subject. "Understand why father chose another female for his second litter." After the words came out, he gritted his teeth against the rise of outrage and betrayal the concept always caused him. The never-expressed anguish, the wondering why he and his siblings, not to mention his mother, had not been enough for the great lion.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 12:53 pm
Her son it seemed had an unfortunate lack of ability to cut to the chase. She'd hoped he'd at least inherited her silver tongue. Alas, Aesir's genes won out again. She continued to knit at the charm, letting him work himself around and around in decreasing circles. Sooner or later he'd broach the issue. And if she could answer, she would.
When he finally did ask, it surprised her. She continued to knit the charm together, not even pausing. It took her a mere moment to gather her thoughts. Her voice was strong, but unemotional when she spoke. "Some males are weak, and apt to be preyed upon by wicked females. I believe it was a test that he failed. And he was within his rights to cover her, even having myself waiting with newborns for his return. He did not know you had been born at that time, and it is possible he feared he could not get cubs on me, and it was an act of desperation. Given that he made no plans to revisit that fox, however, that is unlikely." Still she knit the charm, tucking in a feather here, a bit of wood there. Her eyes never raised from it.
"It is the duty of the female to keep the home appealing to the male. The male by rights may cover a female while out viking, with no penalty. It is considered another aspect of conquest." Her claws moved patiently, lovingly over the charm. More berries. Another feather. "Not all males feel so, and not all partake in that type of behavior. But it is your right as a male to do so." More string, twisted from the hair of a viking now dead. A third feather. "And it is not your or my place to question his actions. Even if you happen to disagree. After all, he has not taken her as saltwife. We are still his only true family." Still weaving, still twisting, nearly done now, just one more bit of bone...
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 1:36 pm
He frowned as he listened, drawing invisible patterns on the floor with one pad. Her prim tone neither advocated nor disapproved of what she said, but unto itself that could have been indicative of her own thoughts. Regardless of her feelings, though, she was at least clarifying some of the 'whys' of the situation. The cub in him wanted to cry out "But why?" in great distress and pain, but he had long ago learned to mask that side of himself from the naked eye. He kept drawing patterns, eyes downcast and hiding his inner workings as he considered her words.
Duty. Rights. One word applied to females, and the other to males. Why was that? Should females not have rights, and males have no duties? Oh, he knew it wasn't that simple. Clearly males had military duties, and females did have certain rights, though generally not specifically due to being females. It was still rather confusing, and left other questions. His eyes flashed to her when she stated it wasn't their right to question him. Wasn't it? Part of what she said confused him further though, and he finally gave voice to the thoughts and questions whirling in his head.
"But saltwives are also a right... thus he'd have been within the pride's traditions. So how would it have been worse if he'd taken her as his saltwife?" Why did they even have saltwives, he wanted to add, but did not. He sounded like such a child, but these were things he'd been chewing over and trying to muddle out on his own, and had had no success. "Why should or shouldn't he, or anyone, take a saltwife?" He left his own feelings on such an act out of it, figuring his mother probably could figure them out herself.
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