She had been alone for days. The isolation was necessary; she did not want anyone to see the pain she endured. In the time it had taken for her to raise her children to adulthood, she had never once experienced a vision. The assumption was that her gift was weak and unpredictable, nothing like some of the stronger vessels. It took an immense toll on her physical health. A headache almost always preceded her visions, the first warning sign of the pain to come. Ruka would tolerate it for a time, endure it until the pain began to intensify.

To be away from the pride now was a risk, but she could not bear to let anyone see her when she was at her most vulnerable. Her sons and her mother's children believed that Ruka was engrossed in her duties as a Vessel. After all, the Queen had called upon them to search the future for some glimmer of hope in the weeks following the attack on the Ukuhlwa'Izwe. The truth, however, was that she needed to hide in the dark. The slightest bit of stimuli sent shockwaves of pain through her body.

She was far enough away from home that when she screamed, no one would hear her.

When the vision finally came to her, it was a sweet, euphoric release from pain. The images that whirled to the front of her mind were a distraction from all that she had endured to get to this point. The landscape changed rapidly from the towering termit lands of her home to the tall grass of the savannah, and finally to a place that filled her heart with dread. Bile filled her mouth, but she was in no state of mind to even notice the taste. Fear and pain slammed into her as ocean waves slammed into a cliffside. Rain purred down in a frenzy, covering the land in dark tones.

Through these lands her sight travelled. She would not have known where she was if she had not already been there and endured months of torment. Why, of all things, was this what she got to relive?

Finally she saw him, the one the entire clergy had so desperately wanted to see. He was stripped of his pride and left to endure the harsh winds, but he was alive, and for a moment when she could see his eyes she saw the spark of will alight in them. Then, like whiplash, she was pulled violently back from these lands, over the savannah to return home. She did not need to see next to know what it meant, but she saw regardless.

The Crown Prince was coming home. Khethiwe was alive despite the odds. Surely the Ancestors themselves were watching over him as they likely guided her own vision to him.

Ruka's eyes became her own again, and they focused on the dark stone wall in front of her. She had lost control of her body, her muscles shaking violently as if she were ill. She laid there for a long time, unable to muster the strength to move. The lioness had a very long way back to the Ukuhlwa'Izwe, and she was not sure she could make the journey now. But, she had to. Her Queen needed this news, and she could only hope that it would give Ashiki the will to press on and live.

She swallowed a cry as she stumbled up onto her feet. One step forward was nearly enough to do her in again, but she braced herself against the cold wall and forced herself on. It had only taken her a day to reach this place, but it took her twice as long to make it back to the pride. The first lion she met, a newcomer she had welcomed into the pride, looked a little distressed at the first sight of her. But, she ignored the reaction, instead fixing her dark eyes on the red male. "I need to get to Katiti'manina. Take me there, Akamu."