She felt like s**t. Utter and complete s**t. She probably looked like it too. Fur matted, eyes watery, coat unkempt. Ugh. Umthunzi groaned loudly as she attempted rolled onto her side with an amount of effort that seemed to get her nowhere as the desired result from her roll eluded her. The Busisa, rather Enkulu (though she hadn't taken the title), was pregnant and heavily so. Her belly has swelled regularly. At first she had thought perhaps it had just been something she ate forming gas, but then they kicked.
The memory of poor Tawa being the the one to take the brunt of her surprise in the form of her stepping on his paw, by accident, she reinforced upon the thought, came back to the forefront of the expecting mother's mind.
"I see you took my advice," the voice was a familiar one now. It belonged to one of Bangizwe's many daughters, but the one who had spurred the pale lioness on to actually confront Tawa, to be the first to have his children, to beat all of the other lionesses to the punch. Umthunzi could feel that smug look Gede was showering her with.
"Seems I did," Umthunzi's voice came sharply, annoyed.
"You did not need much to sway your decision then."
"Nah, I'd already been thinking 'bout it when you waltzed over here." She had been jealous, furious even at the prospect that someone else might have beaten her to...this. Whatever this truly was. Round, grumpy, upset, hungry, hurting, all of the above? Umthunzi voted for the last one as she threw herself upright.
"Careful. You would not want to hurt your cubs."
The chastisement was met with a glare, to which Gede simply chuckled.
"How any do you think you are having? By the look of you, I would say at least three, possibly four, but it is hard to tell."
"Two. They'll be large." Umthunzi rebuked.
The tone was deflected and easily ignored by Gede who simply nodded. "I suppose with that big red Inselelo as the father and both of your lineages, that makes perfect sense." There was a pause midsentence, a strange occurrence to say the least when it came to Gede and was quickly picked up by the paler lioness who questioned it silently with a quirk of her brow.
"Do you have a lioness chosen to aid you?"
"With...?"
"The birth of your cubs of course. It is your first pregnancy and if they grow to be smaller versions of you and Tawa'shilah, why I imagine you may need a fair bit of help." There was an upward quirk of her lips that formed into a sly grin.
In truth, Umthunzi hadn't given it any thought. 'There's time for that later,' she had told herself over and over during the early days of her pregnancy, but now as she neared the halfway point, the realization that she had nothing planned, nothing sorted out for their arrival and the fear began to seep in. They were in the middle of a drought and these cubs would be large. They would need the attention of more than just her and the amount of milk she would need to provide...Umthunzi shuddered. Her fat, what remained to fill and round her body outside of her belly, would not last as long as it needed.
With the stark realization of how underprepared she was, Umthunzi couldn't help it as her ears fell back.
"Let me help," Gede said, her tone stern as she bordered on demanding to aid her. "I have picked up on things and you seem to trust no one else. You barely even trust me, but you at least seem to tolerate my presence enough to hold a conversation with me."
"Alright," the agreement forced Gede's grin to mutate into a smile that quickly vanished the moment Umthunzi's mouth opened again and uttered "--but, you need to listen to me. I won't have you jeopardizing my cubs because you feel that you have something to prove or some stupid s**t like that."
"I would never--"
"Cut it. You want to help because you have some agenda. You don't know me, but you seem to want to. You're right that I didn't put much thought into it and that I don't have any helping me so...you can an--"
"Alright, alright," Gede interjected with a few soft stamps of her paws into the dust. "You are right to worry of my motives, you are a mother-to-be, but I wish no harm on them or you. I will help you and your cubs to the best of abilities."
Umthunzi's pale eyes stared back, searching the face that looked at her so earnestly for some kind of sign of ill-intent but found none. She wasn't sure if she should be happy that there wasn't any, or that she couldn't find it. She nodded. At least she could have help, however minimal it may end up being and that was enough to calm her racing heart.
Suddenly her face shifted, she grimaced but there was a smile underneath it all as her eyes trailed towards her distended belly.
"They kicked again?" Gede's question was met with a quick nod.
"They will be doing more of that as they grow larger. You and your blood is strong, but I cannot imagine it gets any easier from here on out."
It was the half-way point, another month to go and then she and Tawa would have their own little bundles to care for...
"Sleep now, I will try and find you something to eat." Gede's golden form vanished from her view quickly.
It was a strange feeling to be looked after, but Umthunzi welcomed it at this point and would not turn away the Umzingeli's earnest want to help her and her unborn cubs on their journey. Though she could not help but wonder what would motivate such a lioness to help another they hardly knew, one who had no blood in the pride. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that she was and that was the thought she fell asleep in the sun to.