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Calypso x Kryptix
Birth Stats: 342
Fertility: 85%
Companion: Neidr "Snake"
When little Keerva's mother, Queen Calypso, died, Keerva went with her. This little cub's soul is able to wander the stars, with the pridemembers of the past, and the snake, Neidr, is the link. Neidr is the way home for the cub, but as a result of her link, she has gone blind.
As Queen, Keerva is loyal to the bone to her pride. Her King is very tolerable of her blindness, and the newer members of the pride are beginning to come to her for advice, somehow sensing that she has knowledge of the Otherworld, knowledge that others couldn't know.
When the young male, Madigan, arrived, Keerva was initially wary. Because she is blind, it takes her time to know the other lions, and to trust them, and she is still not sure of the boycub. However, she knows that when her King dies, Madigan is the one most likely to succeed him, and so she is prepared to be tolerant, to begin with.
As Reale ages, Keerva becomes closer to him. She feels a close bond to him, although she knows that he is yearning to join his Queen in the Otherworld, but things are still unfinished down here. She does her best to help the transition from him to Madigan, although she is still not sure whether she trusts him or not, but it is what her King has decided.
She keeps her distance from the younger male, making him work for her affections. If he wants her cubs, he will have to work, and work hard. She doesn't trust just anyone. Even still, there are some in the pride she doesn't trust.
As the last litter of Reale's, Keerva is understandably protective of the twins. They are her first cubs, and she lets them run riot, not constantly worrying about them, but still always knowing where they are. Although a prince has now been born, Madigan will still become the next king, and he will train the young prince in the ways of the world.
Despite the good news, Keerva knows what is going to happen. Her King has been too quiet the past few months, both of them knowing that he will leave them, to join his Calypso once more. Even though Keerva was his Queen for most of his ruling life, Cally always was, and always will be his one love.
Keerva was the first to know that her King had died. She felt the instant his life force left the pride, leaving them for the Otherworld, where his only love waited for him. As much as she tried to suppress it, she felt the tiniest twinge of jealousy - she knew that she would receive nothing like that love. She didn't deserve it. Neither did she think she needed it. She had her pride, her family, and needed nothing else.
When Madigan came to find her, only moments before his crowning, she felt a faint link to him, forged in the comforting and mutual grooming that they shared. Perhaps he was trustworthy. Perhaps she could trust him with her secret.
Time has passed, enough time for her to feel a bond of trust towards the now competent King. She knows that Reale made the right choice in choosing Madigan, and they have grown close now that she has allowed him to. However, her secret is still hers alone, although Neidr knows of it, and she cannot decide when the time is right to share it. So much rides on the King's reaction.
A dark shadow passed over the pride when Phoibe's boycub was born. Keerva felt it, a cold shiver run down her spine. Neidr sensed her anxiety and curled tighter around her, attempting to comfort her. It didn't work, and when the King came to tell her, she refused to talk to him at first, not wanting to burden him with the knowledge that she had. However, she had to. She knew that it was only when his blood and Reale's blood joined that a male cub would survive.
As she had known, he was stunned at her revelation. She couldn't bear to feel his hurt any longer, and left him, retreating to her hidden place above their shared den. Thankfully, Neidr stayed silent, not disrupting her sought-after peace. She didn't know how to comfort the king. He had waited so long for a boycub to inherit the throne, and now that one had come along, he was not going to survive.
She is old. She knows that she has at most, 4 years left. For the most of the king's reign, she has kept her feelings deeply buried. She had seen how her mother's passing has cut through the old king, and wanted no such thing to happen to the new one. She couldn't risk putting her heart on the line. But ti's been no use. She knows how he feels for her, and now, in the last years of her life, she feels herself mellowing. She could feel herself longing for his gentle touch, for his warmth next to her when they slept.
Her feelings have changed enough that she welcomes his tentative advances. She led him far from the den, no one but themselves around, and let him give her cubs. She had seen, as she was wont to, that she would only have two more litters. One from the king, and one for the future queen.
With the birth of her litter, she knows that the future queen has come. In her mind's eye, she can see her cubs, see each of them now, and as they are grown. Keerva knows that, as a legacy to her mother, the littlest cub, the youngest cub, will stay. She is an almost exact copy of the old Queen Calypso. The two older girls will be sent to other prides, the widen the area of allies, and the male will find his own pride, to forge his own way in life.
But the littlest, the youngest. She will stay at home. She will carry on the proud blood of all the queens, all the way from Nala, the founding queen. Because of this, because of her colour, and her legacy, she has the name of Hynafiad. Ancestor. She belongs here.
As do they all.
However, because she is of Madigan's blood, she cannot be queen. instead, she will inherit her mother's farseeing gaze, the precious, yet terrifying link with the Otherworld.
The knowledge of an heir was too much for the old queen. She fled the pride's den, refusing to take even the snake with her. She needed to be alone. She'd borne a daughter for the pride who could be queen after her, and there was an heir of the old blood. There was no need for her to stay around any longer. She could die in peace, alone. As she deserved.
She never expected the king to come after her, or to say what he did. She is old, nearly ready to die. There is no reason for her to be wanted in the pride any more. A few more months, and she won't even be able to hunt. She'll become useless, taking the precious food that the pride needs. She doesn't want to do that. It goes against her ingrained sense of loyalty to take from the pride. She has always put the pride first, and now her king is asking her to put the pride second.
She's not sure she knows how to.
With her last litter on the way, she has finally retired from hunting. However, now that she has, she has no idea what to do with herself. In that regard, she's begun to spend more time with her king, finding that she enjoys his company. Sometimes, she thinks back to her youth wistfully, wishing that she was still young enough to play with the cubs, instead of having to lie and listen to their games. She still allows them to climb over her, only snapping at them when they become too rough for her old bones. They love her, and she is rarely alone.
She has been granted the title of storyteller, and finds great satisfaction in listening to the pride's future listen to the pride's past. Because she was alive when Reale was alive, and helped him run the pride, she knows firsthand the deeds that he did, and the work that he put into the pride.
Her last litter is only one cub. A girl. In her is the blood of Keerva, of Calypso, of Nala. The blood of every queen since the founding of the pride. Rightly so, she has been given the name of Gyfrinach, 'secret', because she is a different cub. Much unlike the rest of the pride, she doesn't think. Always rushing into things, the younger females of the pride always seem to be running after her, making sure that she's not getting into too much trouble.
Keerva only laughs, surprising the pride.
Now that her cub is grown, and no longer needs her as much, Keerva stays on her ledge above the den more and more, unwilling to move from her shade. The heat is becoming hard for her to bear, and she is reluctant to spend more energy than she must. Her time with Madi is precious to her, and she refuses to let any of the pride come between them, frequently snarling at them to keep them away. The pride bow to her wishes, for they love their queen, and wish to make her last twilight years as easy and peaceful for her as they can.
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