Hona looked over the edge of the rocky outcropping, towards the marching line of white huts that loomed through the treeline.
"It won't be long now, will it?" Vialese, her sister, asked from behind her.
Hona and Shiena looked towards her with heavy half lidded eyes.
"What... do you mean?" Shiena queried slowly.
"The humans," Vialese snapped, irritated "They'll come soon, won't they? They've been pushing closer and closer for so long now. They saw us, three suns ago. They won't tolerate our presence any longer, now that they know."
"Why would they bother us?" Hona asked, lifting her head with difficultly "We haven't done anything. They have nothing to fear from us."
"They are not creatures of nature," Vialese snarled "Everyone else is content with the way they live, they only kill what they eat, but humans drive off our prey and kill our land."
"Sister, that is their nature," Shiena said softly "That is the way they live."
"Well, it is wrong."
Hona hefted herself to her feet, ancient aching bones protesting, and leveled with her younger sister "Vialese, they are not like us. You would not ask the elephant to live as the gazelle, or the baboon to imitate the giraffe, or the secretary bird to become the honey badger; why do you say the humans ought to be like the lions?"
Vialese snarled "They'll come for us! They will come and enslave us, sisters, put us on display for them to gawk at like hyenas laughing at the dying zebras."
"They will come, for this is their land now and we are too old to leave it," Shiena said softly, lying her head down on the rock "I am content, to live whatever life I have left in whatever way is allotted to me."
Vialese gurgled back a sound of disgust "I never believed I'd see the sun rise on the day when my brave sisters gave into despair and I am ashamed to have lived to now. I am going," she arched her back and turned "To the savannas, where they will not follow and the sun is still warm on my back."
Hona shared a sad look with Shiena "You are not as young as you think you are, sister, you will not make it. Even if you do, you will not be accepted into a pride."\
"I am stronger than either of you and I will not be made a mockery of," Vialese stalked away without another word, storming down the rocky outcropping and disappearing into the tangle of foliage, out of her sisters' sight.
"It won't be long now, will it?" Vialese, her sister, asked from behind her.
Hona and Shiena looked towards her with heavy half lidded eyes.
"What... do you mean?" Shiena queried slowly.
"The humans," Vialese snapped, irritated "They'll come soon, won't they? They've been pushing closer and closer for so long now. They saw us, three suns ago. They won't tolerate our presence any longer, now that they know."
"Why would they bother us?" Hona asked, lifting her head with difficultly "We haven't done anything. They have nothing to fear from us."
"They are not creatures of nature," Vialese snarled "Everyone else is content with the way they live, they only kill what they eat, but humans drive off our prey and kill our land."
"Sister, that is their nature," Shiena said softly "That is the way they live."
"Well, it is wrong."
Hona hefted herself to her feet, ancient aching bones protesting, and leveled with her younger sister "Vialese, they are not like us. You would not ask the elephant to live as the gazelle, or the baboon to imitate the giraffe, or the secretary bird to become the honey badger; why do you say the humans ought to be like the lions?"
Vialese snarled "They'll come for us! They will come and enslave us, sisters, put us on display for them to gawk at like hyenas laughing at the dying zebras."
"They will come, for this is their land now and we are too old to leave it," Shiena said softly, lying her head down on the rock "I am content, to live whatever life I have left in whatever way is allotted to me."
Vialese gurgled back a sound of disgust "I never believed I'd see the sun rise on the day when my brave sisters gave into despair and I am ashamed to have lived to now. I am going," she arched her back and turned "To the savannas, where they will not follow and the sun is still warm on my back."
Hona shared a sad look with Shiena "You are not as young as you think you are, sister, you will not make it. Even if you do, you will not be accepted into a pride."\
"I am stronger than either of you and I will not be made a mockery of," Vialese stalked away without another word, storming down the rocky outcropping and disappearing into the tangle of foliage, out of her sisters' sight.
