[FIN] I See Sorrow (Mtima & Sedare)

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The lioness sat upright, heart pounding, blue eyes wide in the darkness of her den. The night was quiet, everything peaceful, yet she was wide awake.

It had been a dream.

Another dream, but there was something about it that reminded her of the last time she'd had such a night vision. That time, she'd seen a lion whom she now understood to be her uncle fighting with her mother. Both parties were now dead, one mourned and one not, but the dream had shaken her deeply at the time.

Now she'd had another, but she knew it was not her family this time.

Again Sedare had seen two lions fighting. This time, one had been brown and one had been white. Big males, too. She'd been watching with...sorrow? Pain? The she in the dream had loved them and watched them take the other's life in mutual destruction. But...the dream had been different in some ways. More...fogged. Clouded. As if whatever had given her these dreams had had to reach further to find this scene.

Shaking her head to try clearing it, Sedare stood and left her den. Sleep would be a long time returning and perhaps running through the pride's lands would help calm her mind once more.  

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Sedare's headlong rush stopped abruptly as she saw the strange white form that had been seen around the pride of late, especially at night. Rumor said it was a goddess - especially if you were listening to Mstari, who'd declared herself the High Priestess of the Goddess of Souls. When the acknowledged High Priestess had complained, the Queen had pointed out that it would be respectful for each god worshipped to have their own personal High Priestess, particularly if a given pridemember wished to take on the role. Na'al had very carefully avoided any discussion of a god actually within the pride lands though.

All of this rushed through the lioness' head as she now headed for the white figure. It was difficult to make out all details in the darkness, and there were small movements around the being that might have been other creatures or might have been something else. But of all the things Sedare could imagine saying to a supposed goddess, what came out was not at all what she'd intended.

"Not enough yellow."  

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"I..."

...what did she mean? Sedare had no idea what had prompted her to say such a thing - now that she was close she could see the figure was both white and yellow. It just...wasn't as much yellow as...as what? The lioness was certain it had to do with her dream, but she couldn't quite grasp it.

"I'm not sure," she admitted at last. "But I just woke up and I suppose I should be happy I can tell up from down."  

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"I'm fine!" the lioness snapped, an old response to an old question. Mother would never have wanted her children to be anything less. But, that wasn't the way this conversation should go. The pink and white female took a couple deep breaths to visibly calm herself after her nigh-involuntary reaction.

"My name is Sedare," she answered finally, looking up to meet the other's eyes in the darkness. It was hard to tell what color they were by starlight. "What about you?"  

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Blue eyes grew wide as Sedare stared at the self-proclaimed Goddess. The thing was...she had absolutely no doubts whatsoever that this lioness, this creature, this god was telling the truth. So many questions ran through her mind, as well as other commentary. One of the latter was the thought that perhaps Mstari wasn't quite as crazy as she'd thought. Another was why on earth any god or goddess would come here. A last was why she would just...hang around at night and not demand worship or sacrifice or anything like that.

Sedare opened her mouth to respond, but before she could formulate a response, she frowned and closed her mouth once more. "You were more yellow, before," the Seer said at last, only half seeing the figure before her, and half remembering her dream.  

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“I....have I?” the lioness stumbled, unsure how to react to the goddess’ calm response. She was unused to the idea that not only should such strange things as these dreams happen to her, but that others would take those occurrences in stride. Hell, she wasn’t even certain what she had seen. At least the first time it had been clearer. Sedare had clearly seen her mother as one of the two combatant lions. The other’s identity had been shrouded in mystery that was partially explained by Eione, partially by the crazy ambush the family had pulled off. She’d been...utterly terrified and pissed off at the same time. But in the end, her strange dream had made sense and given them a warning they might not have otherwise had.

She understood far less about this new dream, especially because the two fighters here, the white male and the brown male, had been blurry in such a way that she couldn’t clearly make out many features. And...

And in the dream, she’d been somebody. Somebody...yellow.

Mtima’safi.

“I...was you,” she whispered, the words slipping out with the realization. “In my dream, I was you, watching two lions fight to the death. I loved them, and I was sad for them. For...the loss of what they meant to me.”  

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The lioness was silent as she contemplated what the goddess had said. Of all of the words, the fact that two brothers could destroy each other instead of working together made the most sense to Sedare.

“I...my...uncle...wanted to destroy my mother. I saw them, when they were young. She beat him. He came...two years ago. He came here. But Mother...was already dead and I...” Sedare’s words trailed off as emotions chased themselves across her face. Then she swallowed. “I killed him.”  

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"No!" the lioness exclaimed, frustration clear in her voice. "I never had any dreams like that before the first one, and now the one with you, and I don't know why these things should happen to me!" Sedare's voice was climbing in tone and volume as she went on. "I just want it to stop!" she wailed, tears of frustration gathering at the corners of her eyes.

For the moment, she'd forgotten she was supposed to present a firm, unyielding facade as a Warrior. There was something so comforting and helpful about the goddess, as well as the fact that she'd somehow been the goddess in her dream...it was all too much to handle.