The excitement was buzzing through the camp- at least among the pair. Inari was so proud. She had finally been given the chance to go on a viking- a captain had accepted her to come along with! Her life's ambition was fulfilled, and she could think of nobody to thank more than Ru, their new warlord. It was thanks to him that her potential could be used. How could she have ever been so foolish as to be neutral to who wins their Breytast Vindar? She would never be so nonchalant about it again. They had traveled a fair distance South and the lands had heated up, even though the sun was falling to the horizon in the West. She had picked out a spot for her and her daughter near a rock to watch the sunset.
Where was that daughter of hers? It had taken some mild coercion to convince her recently-fullgrown daughter to come along, Dagny. In a way, the younger lioness was content as a freeborn, but anyone who knew her knew that deep down she had a hunger for both glory and notoriety, even if it was just a small one. In one way or another, Dagny wanted to do two things with her life: create mint foods and drinks that her fellow Stormborn would fight over, and be well known as a lioness with iron in her blood. So, when her mother approached her den saying, "I've been accepted to go Viking- I asked the captain if you could come, if you wanted. He said it was ok, but we're leaving tomorrow. I need your answer." Dagny had not known right away what to say, but found out their meeting place for the next morning and slept on it. Were her fighting skills enough? Dagny was not a brute-strength-style fighter, like many of her pridemembers, nor like many of the Reavers. She was agile, with lighter but quicker hits, and she was hard to hit herself. If there was an altercation… Would she be ready? Would she be able to survive, to succeed, to make a good solid impression? Was she even ready to become a Reaver- who was expected to go on Vikings every so-often. Was she ready for that expectation from every member of the pride?
To Inari's beaming pride, the younger lioness had indeed showed up- fur freshly braided and a determined look on her face… With a pouch full of mint leaves. There was no way she was leaving the pride's lands to find exotic ingredients without being able to experiment in the field. They had then run South for a few days, Reavers splitting off from camp sometimes to go on raids.
It was the end of their third day this day, and they were waiting to see what the group that had split off today would bring back. Dagny in a different way than Inari- she was offering mint to some of the reavers present, sidling up to some of them provocatively then leaving them hanging- Inari watched bemused from afar. When the reavers who had been away all day appeared on the horizon, there was a loud chorus of shouts and roars, all sorts of growls and snarls; Inari abandoned her rock to join in. They had returned laden with furs, food, and treasures, almost all of it carried by strangers... Those strangers being the sorry souls who had been captured as thralls. Immediately put to work. They added these to their appropriate spots- a treasure heap guarded by the Captain, and the thralls to a place where the thralls that they had brought with them stood, guarded by a few reavers. These would carry all their stuff, and the newbies would be put to work immediately. After a while, Dagny and Inari padded towards the rock, determining that it was their pre-chosen sleeping spot. They had avoided watch duty tonight.
“Some party, huh?” Dagny chuckled, glancing from her mother to the freshly-”drunken” reavers.
“You seem to be enjoying yourself. It’s not too different from home this way, is it?” Inari asked. The only difference was that... Tollak and Stigtyr weren’t with them. She didn’t expect Stigtyr to be, anyway- he seemed to be well on his way to becoming a Lawspeaker. A little flowery of a path, perhaps, but she was proud of all of her cubs. Even a Lawspeaker’s apprentice was a worthwhile path, though not as strong as a Reaver’s. But Inari knew Stigtyr had struggled with what training she had given him- it was not his destiny perhaps. Not what the gods would want. Tollak was already a reaver- having beaten his own mother to it. Still, she was proud of him too.
And now Dagny was at her side, ready for the same victory as her- to prove useful, not flowery.
Dagny spoke again, her voice slightly hoarse from her earlier raucous laughter, “Yeah, not too different. Just hot- how did you ever deal with this?”
Inari chuckled, “You get used to it I suppose.”
There was silence for a few moments as the pair rested a little. “Mother, I was thinking... It’s been 3 days since we’ve left, some of the other reavers have brought back thralls and treasures already. Let’s let the Captain know that we’ll be taking tomorrow afternoon to go raid, and let’s let him know first thing in the morning. Nobody else will get the chance to ask first, we’ll definitely go and get our chance.” Dagny’s icy eyes were burning- while she did enjoy the fun of camp and their cursory help that they had provided on other raids so far, as well as the guard duty they had had for the camp, she had come out to be the star of the show, and to snag a thrall herself.
Inari gazed at her daughter thoughtfully- despite the younger lioness’ initial hesitation, she seemed much more engaged than Inari had anticipated. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. It’s a plan. You’ll have to wake me, though...” Inari was a heavy sleeper, and she tended to be snappy when woken too soon, regardless of who did the waking.
Dagny simply nodded and the two fell asleep.
((1043 words))
