There was only one soul that was out of place, a pale figure whose demeanor was not in line with the slow, easy predictability of a pride accustomed to tradition and routine. Frantic paws beat the packed clay earth beneath them from the low dens and through the tunnels, all the way up to the overlook that had once been the seat of the strong, domineering female that led their pride. The news trapped on her tongue could wait for no one and as she came into view, a guard roused himself from where he sat, quiet and stoic.
Azzan, the ever loyal nephew of the Queen, set a pair of mismatched eyes upon the Vessel he knew all too well. From the look on her face to the buzz in her muscles, he knew what she was going to say before her maw gaped and she spoke the words they had been waiting for months to finally hear. Then, with a dismissive (but not unappreciative) nod, he turned and stepped into the darkness of the den that had become his Aunt’s deathbed.
For months she had resisted the call of the ancestors out of what the old Claw could only assume was stubbornness. The females of his family had come together to raise her litter, the newly trained healers had been on call twenty-four seven, and somehow she had held onto her last thread of mortality throughout it all. She was asleep more often than she was not and her skin hung loose on her bones, void of the proud, thick muscle that she had once wielded with cold precision. She was a ghost in the shell of a lioness and though Azzan knew it would break his heart to see her go, he could not deny that even he felt the cries of the ancestors whenever he was in her presence.
They were begging and Ashiki, the great Queen that she was, continually whispered, “not yet”.
The pair of acidic green eyes that opened to look up at him did not belong to his Queen; though eerily familiar, it was her daughter that stirred first. Sibona, the youngest and last cub of Ashiki’s legacy, had scarcely left her mother’s side since she had been old enough to decide for herself. It was a strange juxtaposition. Her mother’s face stared up at him but in her eyes there was none of that familiar, cold calculation. Though she did not lack the perception gifted to the royal line, it was warmth that emanated from her small form. He had always thought she was the last gift the ancestors had sent to Ashiki - a gentle, loving soul to ease her from this Earth.
“Mother,” she whispered gently as her head butted with care against the female’s shoulder. They were curled around one another, mostly so that Sibona could keep her mother warm. It took several minutes for the older female to rouse herself from the depths of her medicinal slumber but when she did, her eyes opened at first with a confused, cloudy haze. Her face had grayed in the months she had hidden herself away and the once stark mask was speckled with her age. Sibona said somewhat more to her and at last Azzan saw the older female come around to herself; eyes that matched her daughter’s swiveled up to settle on his own and a familiar chill that even the grip of death could not dampen in her sprung to her stare.
“Is there news?”
Azzan frowned at the quiet in her voice, the way it lacked all of the sharpness that stared out from her eyes. It was low and gravelly and as she drew breath to replace what she had expelled, he couldn’t miss the wet, painful rattle of her lungs. Despite his worry, he nodded and dipped his head low in the proper greeting. She would be his Queen until her last, hard breath stilled within her.
“The vessels have seen Kethiwe, my Queen. It will be some weeks yet, but he is alive and he will come home to us.”
Next to his aunt, Sibona stirred. Awe and concern made a mix of emotions in her eyes but when she spoke, it was with all the pride that marked her lineage.
“Mother, did you hear-”
“I heard him, Sibona.”
It was not cold or cruel, but the Queen cut her daughter off nonetheless. For a time it was all she said and the three of them sat in silence. The quiet was not lacking, though. Azzan’s eyes rose back up to meet his Aunt’s and as he watched her, he could see the stress and weight that had been upon her shoulders slowly, little by little, begin to recede. For the first time in his life, he watched her as she closed her eyes and whispered a quiet prayer and promise to their ancestors, too low even for him to hear.
At last, bright eyes opened and with them, conviction poured across the older female’s face.
“Help me out of the den.”
Sibona’s jaws cracked to object but Azzan shook his head swiftly to deter her. The younger lioness had enjoyed a life of doting and adoration with her mother because the Queen had been weak but Azzan knew that look, he felt the fire of the Queen’s soul as it blazed with a new purpose. What is was, he couldn’t say, but he would be damned if he stood in the path to try and block it.
“Sibona, stand and support her side. My Queen, please lean into me.”
As Azzan and Sibona took their places at her sides, Ashiki concentrated every ounce of her remaining strength into pushing herself up onto legs that scarcely held the strength to support her any longer. A long, low hiss whistled between clenched teeth but she said naught aloud about the pain and effort it must have put upon her to do something so simple as rise to her feet. Azzan felt her lean into him in seconds and then she was moving, setting one paw in front of the other like they were stones weighing her down. He couldn’t have said how long it took them to get the few paces from the back of her den to the overlook she had once sat upon proudly, only that they did in time and once they had, she collapsed in a worn, tired heap upon herself.
Sibona fretted instantly, as was her nature, and Azzan waited while the Queen’s heavy, labored breaths began to subside.
“Spread… the word, Azzan. Ask the family and the viziers to meet me here.”
Azzan nodded and without hesitation, left her in the care of her youngest.
The old Claw had watched as the weight of worry was lifted from her shoulders but in the moment that she collapsed to the ground between them, he saw, too, that she had lost the tether that had bound her here. The pride would live on, Kethiwe would take his rightful place as King, and Ashiki was resigned, at last, to assuming her place among the stars.
One by one, Azzan found the family, the viziers and spread the word. By Midday, the pride was abuzz with the good news of Kethiwe’s return while those closest to Ashiki wore solemn, concerned masks. No one dared say it aloud but it was hard to miss once their eyes were upon her. The light was low on the horizon when she stirred from a half sleep and stared up at those gathered around her. Bright stars were beginning to shine through the streaks of sunset that painted the sky with twilight purples and golds and for a moment her eyes rested upon those, wistful and distant. Then, with a look that was unmistakably their Queen, she looked out at her family and the viziers that had taken their place around her.
When she spoke, it was quiet and strained.
“Do not forget… who we are.” A ragged, labored breath punctuated the end of her sentence, but she was not finished. “Do not… let this world forget who we are.”
Ashiki’s strength was slipping by the moment and every second that she held on, that she spoke, was a struggle to maintain her consciousness.
“And tell… your King that his mother is… watching.”
Impossibly, she smiled weakly at her own dying humor and settled her head down upon her paws one last time. Silence settled over them all as she stared up at the stars and waited, looking at visions and faces that only she could see among the twinkling lights. As the minutes ticked by and the world grew darker, her eyes closed. It seemed like no time at all before one of the healers at her side leaned forward to listen to her ribcage. When her eyes rose, they all knew without a word needing to be spoken.
It was Azzan whose roar broke through the silence, pouring his pain out into the dim twilight shrouding their pride. Tiny Sibona at his side echoed him without thought and one by one, those gathered around the Queen let their voices rise in a farewell to the spirit they sent up to the stars.
Ashiki, Scion of Taka, Daughter of Tiah, She of the Eternal Faith, Binder of Oaths, left her world and her legacy behind.
The Queen was dead.
Krysin
Z o m b i k ii
Pandorus Sphinx
KasaiLoki
Anderleit
MangoMew
Safaia
Ctrl F Greenie
Alpaca Chobi
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I think that is everyone with a direct family member, please forgive me if I forgot someone. <3