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 Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 6:25 pm
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The Naming of an Heiress
Yesterday at dawn, the announcement was made. After so many years, Nawiri'chiwa was finally naming an Heiress. Some had thought Eione, the Queen's adopted daughter, might fill that role, but it had become clear that yellow and brown lioness did not suffer from the pride's disease in any way.
Finally, someone had been chosen who would suit the role.
The Scouts and Hunters had been out all yesterday to ensure that there would be a feast, while the children and Nannies crafted decorations in an air of growing excitement. The Secret Keepers were also missing yesterday, doing a duty of their own that, as usual, is a mystery to the rest of the pride.
Now, the pride has come together and, though dusk, and the official Naming, is some time off, it is a time to socialize, and to guess which lioness will become the Heiress.
OOC Information:
This is a momentous and wonderful celebration, the naming of the Queen's Heiress! Every member of the pride is invited to come and join in the fun! At dusk will come the official announcement, followed by the feast!
The Queen, Nawiri'chiwa, has been seen less often of late and it seems as if she may be getting sicker. It's possible that she's naming an Heiress now because she feels she may not live much longer. |
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 6:27 pm
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It was a momentous day, and Saskiranel was glad to see it come at last. The last time the pride had had such a celebration had been when she had been young. A fact which was driven home by the presence of grandcubs around her. Again. It was still something of a marvel that she had grandcubs, considering that her own children were leopons, but the lioness wasn't about to turn them away. Besides, it was good for the younglings to be a part of happy events like this.
Life in the Kitwana'antara was too often filled with sadness.
Take the cubs that she was helping Adivyta out with. Their father, her son, had died all too recently, and far too young, in the Guard's opinion. But, Pestilence had called and Hashiel had answered. At least he'd given Adivyta a second litter to remember him by, though she doubted any of these cubs would even remember him.
"Oh! Look at all the people here!" Haskaka ran excitedly around and through his grandmother's legs. He'd never seen so many in one place at one time before and was alternately curious to go up and meet them and afraid enough to hide behind a friendly striped leg.
"Why are there so many?" the young leopard asked.
"What, did you think the whole pride was just our family?" Mstari answered her obnoxious younger brother haughtily. "This is the pride. Most of it, at least." She didn't bother explaining that even during a celebration there'd still be Guards and Scouts and such performing duties elsewhere, though on a somewhat shorter schedule so that everyone would be able to enjoy the celebration. Hmph. You'd think that if the Queen was going to choose an Heiress, she'd have better taste than whomever she had chosen. But, that was apparently what you got when you worshipped the Goddess of Pestilence. Not Mstari's favorite deity, to say the least. |
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 8:31 pm
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Eione had long since made peace with the her 'demotion' from heiress, she was completely content in her role as a healer- a duty she didn't truly need to take on but felt was the least she could do for her pride. She was over it, but to look at her today, anybody would know she was not happy. She wasn't really the chatty type but she always looked cheerful enough, now she looked positively sour. In truth, she was worried sick about her mother, exhausted by the whole situation.. and it just put the wrong look on her face, and she couldn't control it like she knew she ought to.
She had stationed herself towards the edge of the crowd, nearer the weaker members who might be more easily overwhelmed by the crowd as they fought their ailing to be where the action was.
Not far from Eione was another healer. He was far less diligent about his work, he just happened to be lingering in this part of the crowd as he was having a particularly bad day himself. Ua was pretty well-practiced at shaking off his symptoms but it was becoming harder and the line between early and intermediate stages was beginning to blur (at best). Bad days came more often and it was just a shame that today happened to be one of them. He was working his way- slowly- through the crowd, spying familiar faces along the way but not pausing until he caught sight of Saskiranel and her family.
He knew of their loss, and the tragic timing- his eyes lingered on the cubs.. but he would up staring at Mstari. He actually knew her, though they were more acquaintances than friends. It would be a minute before he'd realize he was staring, both actions a side effect of his current condition.
Two other figures lingered near the edge of the crowd, one looking interested and the other looking sullen. Neither seemed interested in seeking out a friend to chat with. Pingana was watching, and doing it more openly than he usually did. Shulinav was only there because he knew he had to be; he had barely gotten used to the loss of his twin brother to a mate and family, now he was really gone. |
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 7:44 am
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Ua was looking at her. She hadn't spoken to him in a while, but he was an adult and that little fiend Haskaka was just a cub. The lioness knew which she was going to spend time with. Thank the Goddess that it wasn't her legs the leopard was twining around. She removed herself from her grandmother's presence and drifted over to the pink male.
"Better than living with your parents, right?" she asked him by way of greeting, picking up on the last conversation they'd had. Not that she really cared that much, but at least she was being social and polite and nothing for anyone to complain about. Today.
"This is the whole pride?" the young leopard asked his grandmother has his Big Sister pulled a vanishing. He turned around and around so that his green eyes could take in all the people everywhere. But it made him dizzy and Haskaka fell down on his tail from looking all around.
"That's a lot of people," he confirmed. Then he caught sight of someone familiar.
"Uncle Shulinav! Look at all the people!"
"Not everyone's here yet," Saskiranel replied gently to her grandson. "But yes, it is a great many people. Stay close to me, okay?" If he was going to be as silly as that, she didn't want him wandering where he might accidentally get someone to step on him. And, frankly, she'd seen enough of cubs over the years to know how possible that really was.
At Haskaka's call, she looked up to see that one of her other sons had arrived. Saskiranel made a small gesture, welcoming Shulinav to come stand with his family. She hadn't seen or heard from him much since Hashiel...since the cubs had been born. She desperately wished he would come speak to her, that they could mourn together.
Kahlama was desperately excited to find out who the Heiress was. It was the first big event in the pride in her lifetime, and the young Healer was determined to enjoy every minute of it. She couldn't see any of her family yet - which meant they clearly hadn't arrived, because they were very hard to miss when present - so she drifted over towards a lioness around her own age with a mess of cubs around her feet.
"Anything interesting happen yet?" she asked the black and white and green lioness.
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:12 am
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Being the son of the prolific Sliabh, a lion who had single-pawedly breathed life into their sickly pride with his offspring, Athair was certain he was looking at faces he was related to and yet had never met in his life. Half siblings. Cousins. Nephews. Nieces. It gave him some modicum of enjoyment to examine markings and colors and try to pin point exactly who might belong to his family line—and enjoyment was not something that came easily these days.
As a Matchmaker it was his duty to assist the pride in making sensible pairs to help keep the pride alive, it was his own way of assisting his brethren, while not being nearly so self-involved as his father. Lately though, his mind had been elsewhere and he found concentrating on his job, an honor though it was that the task should be entrusted to him, difficult with the loss of two of his littermates.
Death was a part of the Kitwana, but to be hit so close to home pained him deeper than he realized.
Even Sorcha had decided to return home for the momentous occasion. One of the pride's messenger birds had brought word of the crowning of a new heiress and though she had little interest in politics or royalty she missed her brother. One of the few members of her family she was truly close to considering she spent so much of her time trying to escape the life she had been born to.
Having followed the growing noise and gathering bodies her golden orange eyes, same as Athair's, same as Sliabh's slid over the group until she found the lion she was searching for. He was set off to one side, carefully distanced from the rest of the group, watching over them like a flock of sheep. Funny, for as much as she had always been at odds with her father she loved his son who was nearly a mirror image of him. He looked more weary than Sorcha last remembered as she drew up beside him, brushing her shoulder against his as she sat on her haunches. Did I miss anything?
[I'd like to be excluded from the raffle, please! Just here for the rp! x3] |
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 5:57 pm
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Ua was caught off guard when Mstari approached him, realizing just too late that he had been staring like an idiot. He shook it off, though with an obvious caution so he didn't throw off his balance or something even more foolish, and offered her a smile. He remembered well how they met, and he was still grateful.
"Of course," he said.
Unfortunately for Ua, he didn't get a chance to say anything else before a white lioness was upon them. She walked with her head high and she was heading straight for the Ua and Mstari.
"There you are, Ua!" she said, "You can't keep avoiding me."
Aella glared at him.
Ua sighed.
"Mstari, this is my aunt Aella."
Aella was quite a bit younger than him but they were both old enough now that it was harder to tell, they looked about the same age-- but that's as far as their physical likeness went. There was no way to avoid running into family in a crowd like this, Ua realized. How he'd gotten this far without running into his grandmother or aunts and uncles (or his brother) was a mystery of its own.
Shulinav was startled wen a small voice called out his name, turning his attention to the family he had been so steadfastly avoiding. Despite himself, he put on a smile for Haskaka, and got himself up to go join them.
"It's pretty exciting, huh?" he said to the little leopard, "I don't know the last time I saw this many of us altogether like this."
He glanced up and nodded politely to his mother, taking a seat a carefully calculated distance away from her. Not at her side but not so far as to be rude or evasive. She was the next best thing he had to following around his brother, even if he hadn't been quite as obvious about it.
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 6:31 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 6:42 pm
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Chimvi was moving slowly. Very slowly. His body was giving in slowly - the herbs becoming less effective against the battle with his illness, but he was nothing if not stubborn. Not to mention his current company, which was enough to make the male want to die out of sheer annoyance, but he resisted the urge.
Hatua walked alongside Chimvi, keeping an eye on the older male who had been his mentor while an apprentice. He had a supply of herbs with him, in case Chimvi took a turn.
"Keep going, old man," Hatua said cheerfully. "Metea will kill me if you keel over before we even make it to the festivities."
Chimvi's expression promised death to the younger male, but it was a fairly weak glare, considering his own lack of energy. Sometimes he wished he was healthy, simply so he could throttle the male.
However, they had arrived at the gathering, and the tan male's eyes were already scanning for a familiar face in the group. He ignored the grin on the younger male's face. |
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 6:51 pm
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Mstari was about to reply to Ua, probably something that was just this side of scathing, when another lioness came up to them. Even without Ua's introduction of his aunt, the Priestess would've recognized one of Mittere's brood easily. Not just the pink, but the entire attitude screamed her lineage.
"Nice to meet you too. I don't see your mother around though," she observed coolly.
"Really? You don't remember?" Haskaka gaped at his uncle who was so much older. He looked around - it seemed like there were even more people here than before! Then he looked back to his grandmother.
"What about you, Grandma Sas? When was the last time you saw this many people?" Eager to know, the leopard ran back to the lioness, bouncing up and down at her paws.
Saskiranel smiled indulgently at her grandchild. Neither he, nor her son, truly understood how rare a celebration like this was for the pride. Even once she told them, she doubted they would be able to appreciate the rarity.
"Well, it was probably when Queen Surya'nontle died, and Nawiri became Queen. Which was, as you know, quite some time ago." Years. Many of them. It was quite remarkable how many lions did remember those days, given how cruel Pestilence could be.
"I'm Kahlama!" the red lioness replied cheerfully. "I'm glad I haven't missed too much!" She'd been down with the sick - those who wouldn't be able to physically come to the celebration. It was a shame, but there you had it. She had offered to get some big strong males to help move them, but most of the lions had refused, on the basis of how much it would hurt to be moved, rather than simply lying where they were. It was very sad though. |
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