M E I A
skittish | humble | quiet
born during february's aphrodisia of 2018
blessed mother, queen of king artemine, dowager of king tizeru, daughter of king meraiuk
- died november 18th, 2018
- a (short-lived) queen of artemine, the first interred in his tomb
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The birth of a blessed cub in the Atlas Warden's pride is a celebrated one.
Meia knew well, as she had three blessed siblings.
Her dear mother Mesi was a favorite vessel of the gods, to grant these gifts to the world. Two primalborn sisters and a brother with ears that couldn't stay up. Their birth proved that Meraiuk, their father, was worthy of being king, and that the kin of Madour was deserving of remaining in the pride.
Meia was younger than the litter, and her earliest memories lie in watching her blessed siblings rise high in society.
The flop-eared boy was to become a king someday - that was certain, though the news never reached the Mountains if he did.
The prettier of her sisters, with a cream-rosette pelt and stars for eyes, was collected by a King Nzuri, who named her Doa and his queen, above all other lionesses in his land.
Even her other sister, who was grey-and-brown and not as regal, found her place as a huntress for a king fond of collecting blessed lionesses.
But Meia, she was not born blessed. She was still a Madourine, though, descended from the King Madour, and her bloodline was favored. For this, she was allowed to stay in the pride.
Meia wandered freely through the territory, as she was not a wife, a huntress, or a caretaker. Her few duties centered around the mending of clothes and the tanning of hides, so she had plenty of time for herself.
- - -
She had cubs - Meraiuk allowed his daughters to lay with anyone they pleased, as long as they did not try to bring them home or try to leave themselves - and those few cubs kept her in pride, even if her skills or beauty didn't warrant it.
In one litter, she bore two primalborns. A female and a male. The blessed nature of her mother was in her blood, even if it did not warp her own flesh.
Meia skinned the other lioness's kills without remark for years, and suddenly, clothing made of the hides she'd flayed came into demand. Her father told her to weave spells and charms into the leather, to pass on her blessed nature.
- - -
She did not feel particularly blessed.
Her cubs grew up and were dowered off to other prides, instead of disappearing to find their own ways. Her daughter became a queen in another pride, and mothered a blessed cub as well. And her son, as all blessed sons are wont to do, became a king and the father of a score of blessed cubs.
Before she could make up her mind to leave the pride, to go and find somewhere where the sacred nature of one's womb did not control one's life, Meraiuk died.
- - -
When a king, especially the leader-king, dies, by tradition, all of his wives and daughters and lands are inherited by the new king.
Meia - or rather - Dowager-Mother Meia Madourine - was quite a treasure, even if all she did was bear a single blessed litter then spend the rest of her life tanning hides.
Apolladine was obsessed with ideas of clean bloodlines and blessed cubs, that was why Meraiuk had chosen them to inherit, and why Apolladine took all of the proven lionesses to wife as soon as they were crowned.
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