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 Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 9:12 pm
Hai caught herself before she fell again for the umpteenth time. Sometimes, she felt like she was going to float away, she was so light-headed, but she always came crashing down to earth instead. And today was Kijani's first official solo-hunt.
Solo-hunt. Hai, even beneath the crushing torrent of Hunger, couldn't help but feel proud of her cubs, no, her almost full-grown children for having made it this far. Hai knew by all rights she should have been dead many, many months ago from the curse laid upon her. Somehow, she'd managed to maintain her footing along the razor's edge of keeping her cubs fed, and keeping herself alive.
Though looking at Hai these days, it was hard to tell. The natural, decayed flesh green of her pelt almost seemed lively up against her emaciated frame. Each rib stood out in stark relief from her sides, and her fur hung from her with alarming slackness.
It was a little easier, dealing with the curse, now that they were older. Hai simply had to make sure they all had caught and eaten their fill before daring a few mouthfuls for herself. The sudden scarcity of prey was always shocking. But, as long as Hai maintained her near starvation, it returned, just as He had promised.
Hai slowed to a stop, feeling a need to rest again, which was very often whenever she attempted prolonged physical activity. Slowly lowering her protesting bones to the ground, she attempted to smile reassuringly at her daughter.
"Almost there, Kijani." she said, talking about the herd of zebra they'd been following for the duration of the morning.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:07 am
Kijani stalked through the fading dusk, tail tuft twitching with grim anticipation. Next to the bony lioness, the adolescent looked even more of a stocky green thundercloud than usual - but her expression was oddly relaxed, as if she'd resolved to appear calm and confident and simply forgotten to worry about anything below the neck. She was always careful to mask her expression around Hai.
Especially since with every healthy breath, every smooth stride, Kijani was all the more painfully aware of Hai's shallow, ragged breathing and staggering steps, of the death that hung over her like a much too early dusk.
And of the cause of it.
It took all her willpower to keep from slinking along at Hai's heels as if hunched shoulders could hide her guilt for being healthy, but she managed it. Kijani was alive, for better or for worse, and she would not let her mother see that her sacrifice had been for nothing. She would not make any mistakes today.
At the sound of Hai's voice, Kijani jerked back to attention, brow furrowing with rediscovered worry. Anyone who had met her when her mother wasn't around would have been surprised to see the tenderness in the green adolescent's eyes, the protectiveness mingled with shame and a desperate hunger. Who was reassuring who? She wanted to laugh, or maybe cry, at the absurdity of it - but instead she merely nodded, settling against her mother's side as if some of Kijani's own strength could pass from daughter to mother.
"Any last words of advice for me, then?" she asked when she was sure Hai had her breath back, a tentative ghost of a smile passing across her face.
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