C H I A R A
kind | humble | merciful
born during february's aphrodisia of 2018
blessed mother, queen of king meraiuk, consort to mother mesi madourine
- died november 30th, 2018
- technically a wife of meraiuk, but was famously known for her relationship with mesi madourine, another lioness who she loved and raised her children with
- outlived her lover by a number of years, and almost lived in her crypt for all that time.
- grew close to meraiuk later in her life, and they often kept each other company
- interred in meraiuk's tomb, besides mesi
- - -
By all rights, Chiara should have belonged to King Avernaught.
She did, in the beginning. Chiara first heard of the Atlas Wardens in the mouths of her birthking's wives, when they spoke of their king treating one of the rulers to a feast.
They had only spoke to complain of hunting boar for the visitor, but Chiara had heard enough to become enamored with the very idea of these foreign lions.
Chiara counted the days on a stick until the pride would arrive. She hunted and cleaned and cooked without complaining, and did her best to get into her birthking's favor.
She wanted, desperately, to be presented to the storied lions.
With all the work she did, she got her wish. Her sire told her a week before the wet season, so that she could do her best to look presentable; they wanted the King to take one of their daughters to wife.
- - -
When the day came, all her emotions blurred together into an indescribable heap.
King Avernaught, not quite the leader of the Atlas Wardens but still close. He still commanded thrice the territory her sire did. He was still the most impressive lion Chiara had ever seen.
Avernaught was a primalborn - like her sire, but much larger. He was gorgeous and graceful and she loved every bit about him, from how polite he was to her pridemates to the way he teased the young lionesses seeking his attention.
He did not come alone - he did not bring his entire pride (he trusted his lionesses to be left alone!) but he did bring a pair of his queens - Khiala and Mesi Madourine.
She and her sisters fought for the right to lead the visitors around the territory and to help groom the queens. They'd been told to, after all. Chiara was selected by Queen Mesi to be her personal companion.
Queen Mesi was scary looking. Her pelt was bone-white, and you couldn't tell where she ended and the albino hyena skin began. At first, Chiara thought that she'd rather help the beautiful Khiala, who was dressed in more tasteful strips of fur.
She learned, fast, that befriending Mesi was the best thing she could do.
- - -
Queen Khiala was Avernaught's favorite in the entire pride. He loved her more than the rest of the lionesses combined. Queen Mesi told her so during one of the many nights Chiara spent at her side.
He'd only taken Mesi, her two sisters, and her mother, because they belonged to her father once.
Chiara didn't quite like Avernaught as so much as before. She saw that he only had eyes for his favorite, he didn't care which one of her sisters served him.
She and Mesi also saw that Khiala did not particularly enjoy the company of the sister that served as her companion. She'd shoo her away and insist that she could clean her own fur, and walk to the watering hole herself.
That meant, they realized, giggling in the hidden hollow they would sneak off to to be alone, that the choice of what daughter would go home with them, would be left entirely to Mesi.
- - -
The whole pride gathered to say their goodbyes to the guests.
Chiara and her sisters had been sleepless, teasing each other and wondering what it would be like up in the Mountains. One sister declared that she'd be sure to topple Avernaught's chief wife right away, while others were concerned only with what they'd bring with them on their journey.
When the farewells finally came, they waited in silence. Begging the gods to let them leave their birthpride at the side of such a noble king. Chiara shared a look with Mesi as her sire asked the long-awaited question.
"My dearest Avernaught, we have enjoyed you and your wives's companies greatly, but you know as well as I that you must have enjoyed one of my daughters more than the rest. Pray tell, which one?"
Chiara was looking for it, and she saw it. The nervousness flitting across his face for a second before it was hidden again by politeness. Did he even remember any of their names? The thought of the big noble lion being stumped almost made her laugh.
"Ah, Clementine, I enjoyed all of your daughters equally. All of them are worthy of bearing princes, I'd say, but I wouldn't deprive you so cruelly. Hmm, Queen Mesi, which of our host's daughters would you like most to be your sister?"
- - -
The journey to the Mountains was long, but it was the happiest Chiara had ever been.
King Avernaught was polite to her, made sure she was comfortable, and left her alone. He still only had eyes for Khiala, and she was free to spend her days and nights with Mesi.
Then, the closer they got to Mountains, a noticeable shift happened in the mood of the party.
It was subtle. Khiala was still dismissive of the rest of them, but she began to push Avernaught away too. Avernaught turned his attentions to his newest wife, finally bothering to try and learn about her.
Mesi began to draw back from her when their king was around. She said that Khiala had gotten with cubs during the trip, and now she was too uncomfortable to bear their King's attentions. She wouldn't say why the King would only bother Chiara and not her.
When they were two days from where the rest of the pride awaited them, Mesi began her heat.
That was what drove Avernaught into being slightly off to a fully different lion then the one she had known.
He was bitter, he was agitated, he would not leave any of them alone for a single second.
Queen Mesi was, technically, supposed to be his wife, as Avernaught had claimed her when her father died, but she would only let Meraiuk father her cubs.
Avernaught was respectful of her wishes, and he tried very hard to repress himself for her, but when Khiala wouldn't let him take it out on her, it began to show. He focused all of his energy into trying to tend to Chiara, in his own funny way.
Chiara took care of him, for Mesi's sake. He was pitiful, the way he complained about being allowed less than a quarter of the wives Meraiuk took. He tried not to be jealous of his fellow King, but how lackadaisical he was about of wives was difficult even for Avernaught.
"He's hardly fond of them, and he treats lying with them like it's the greatest bother in the world. And I am not allowed to touch them, even after he lets them sit in their heat for days! I love Meraiuk, truly, but I cannot stand how he acts sometimes. At least let me take care of his poor wives!"
- - -
Chiara met the rest of Avernaught's queens, when they finally arrived to the core of the Warden's territory.
Their king went off to find the High King, and the rest of the queens descended on her like a bunch of gossipy vultures.
"Did he really? He acts like an overgrown cub sometimes, the way he thinks he deserves everything. You know Mesi is the only Madourine he's not allowed to have? He has her mother and both her sisters."
- - -
That wasn't all - it turns out, she wasn't even to be Avernaught's wife. He was just fetching her for their High King Meraiuk.
Avernaught was off pouting somewhere - ("I'd grown fond of her! I'd thought that you'd let me have one of them for once!") - when Meriauk came down from his cave to meet his newest wife.
He was another primalborn, smaller than his champion, but just as impressive. His pelt was a dark black speckled with rosettes and snow-flecks. He was polite, but distant. Uninterested even though Mesi was absolutely burning with heat besides them.
"Chiara, it is wonderful to have finally gotten to meet you, I regret not being able to meet with Clementine myself. I hope that our friend didn't give you too difficult of a time? Oh. That sounds like him. I apologize for his actions."
In the end, he welcomed her into his pride. Gave her leave to travel the inner sanctum freely, said that he would talk to the caregivers about letting her take care of cubs. As he was walking away, she asked if Mesi could stay with her, and he said yes without even thinking.
- - -
Meraiuk was as he was foretold - almost completely uninterested in tending to his lionesses.
She let him have her first heat, as that was what was expected. Mesi was there with her ("We will raise our cubs together!") and she did not take any of the hundred opportunities Meraiuk gave her to leave. It was okay, she guessed.
Their king told them both that he didn't mind them seeing someone outside the pride, as long as they did not run or try to bring them here.
- - -
Chiara and Mesi nested together. They made a bed of lichen and moss in a private den, away from the others, and waited for their cubs to be born.
They promised each other that they'd raise their cubs for however long they'd live in the pride, and love them unconditionally. They spoke of names and wondered if they'd grow up to be kings and queens, and how many.
- - -
They thought of the idea of their cubs for so long, that it was almost a surprise that they would actually come.
Mesi had a few litters before, Chiara had none, so it was no wonder that Mesi would have her cubs first. When Chiara woke up to her beloved in that state, she got so flustered that she went into labour as well.
- - -
The gods had gotten into their nest.
They had five cubs - two of them Chiara's, three Mesi's. Four of them were blessed.
Mesi had a pair of primalborn cubs, twice the size of their brother with ears that just couldn't seem to stay up.
Chiara's cubs were both small, but one of them had the same primalborn traits as his half-siblings. He was not only primalborn, he was smilus. Like his father.
- - -
The cubs were presented to the pride, presented to the birds, presented to the sky. They were blessed. The gods saw it fit to change the vessels their life's water was poured into.
And the mothers, they were greater now, that they had held the blessed cubs unknowingly. The gods saw it fit to give the blessed cubs, so certainly they had to be?
They were both given the title of Mother.
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