Falae

"~Falae~ watches you approach and sighs a little. She licks her paw and pretends to ignore you."

Falae (Fay-lay) Is the storyteller of the pride. She was a forbidden child of a Healer, and the daughter of a great, well known king. When she was first born, she was blessed with the ability of divine sight- to see the past, present and Future. When she was first born, she was disgraced. Her mother, who was supposed to never have cubs, had given birth to a lioness with witchcraft at her paws. Her mother was punished by having Falae sent away to a place where she would be frozen in time-like a fly in amber. Falae lived in her frozen state for many years. Moon after moon, she slept- never growing older, never aging, never changing. Finally, her sleep was interrupted. A great king, old but obviously powerful, had a paw on her shoulder, rousing her from her many year slumber. His eyes, so much like her own, gazed upon her with a look of love and pity. He explained to her he was Canicus- the successor of the king who had sent her there. And so, he brought her home. When he set foot back on camp, Falae saw her cubhood friends- cubs she had known before her exile- as adults with grandcubs her age. She saw gravestones marking the deaths of her aunts, her cousins, and so many others she had known. And finally, she saw an ancient healer. Old with bones that shook with arthritis, and with blind, glassy eyes . It was her mother- who had been a young, spritly lioness when Falae had last seen her. She turned, her sleek head, dark as cocoa, shining softly. Her foggy eyes glittered with recognition of her time-lost daughter. She ran forth, taking Falae and wrapping her whole body around her, enveloping her with warmth. And with that, her mother, a Lioness named Infura, whispered a single word. A single word, a name, that she had decided on during those almost ten years of being apart from her. A name she had loved with all of her heart. She whispered Falae- An ancient word that meant Fairy. To Infura, a fairy was mythic, beautiful, and most of all, unreachable. To her, Falae was her fairy. Falae grew up with Infura from there on out. She raised her to know herbs and ailments, and to be able to see signs of stress or suffering. To Falae, those were the golden years. For three blissful years, Falae lived with and adored her mother, hanging onto every story and word she ever said. And then, at the end of three years, Infura turned fifteen years old, and passed away from old age. Falae, who had seen Infura's end coming in her divine sight, weeped only briefly, before moving on to a life as a storyteller, using her sight to see the stories lost by time.


~ F a l a e ' s P r o p h e c y ~

When Falae turned 2 years old, she issued a prophecy that one day two lions would be born- one male and one female- and bring the pride out of a dark age into a new golden age.

Far in time the angels sleep,
Where endless peace will be theirs to keep.
Twins of not blood, but heart,
one with wings of light, one of dark.
One shall rule, take down the king
The other shall guide, by gentle wing.
Their mission of peace will keep the pride free,
But to do that, faith is key.

However, she did not issue that to the pride. She instead told a altered version of it, telling the main idea but not the whole thing. She said to the pride:

Far in the future peace is to keep
Two lions, twins with wings sleep.
Together they Keep the peace of the Pride,
Ruling strong with little pride.

As you can see, very different. It did give them the main idea though- and true prophecies are almost always better left unsaid.

The Angels have been shown to be Nero and Tamna- who lead the pride out of the dark, hungry, overcrowded days of Canicus into the bright, wealthy, happy days of King Nero

*~~~~~* The Stories Of Falae *~~~~~*

~The Greed Of Envy~

Long ago when the world was new, the first lions walked the earth as a single pride. This pride was called First Pride. First Pride was ruled by a kind and gentle king named Kindness. Kindness ruled Happily, with none interfering with his reign. After a couple of years ruling, Kindness took a mate. This mate looked like heaven on earth. She was a pale beauty, filled with marks of celestial, skyward, and a base of hallowed. Her name was Elegance. Elegance and Kindness had two cubs, one female, one male. The male cub was named Perfection, and the Female named Envy. Envy was ambitious and cruel, wanting to take over the pride, something a female wasn't be able to do. Perfection on the other hand, was silly and kind, innocent and oblivious. He was heaven to Kindness and Elegance, and the heir to the pride. Envy, on the other hand, was ignored. This ignoring turned her more cold than she already was. She grew up in the shadow of her brother- everything she did, no matter how grand, always being usurped by something her brother did. However she did not hate Perfection. He was her brother after all- and she adored and respected him. One day, she was out walking amid the savannah, when a vulture flew up to her, his ugly bald head glinting in the sunshine. He came up to her, spreading his ragged wings. He told her that he was a god, and he could help her rule the pride. Immediately, Envy was listening. He offered her a deal- if she could kill her brother, he would grant her with the power and respect she needed to become queen. Envy, no matter how much she loved her brother, wanted to become queen over everything else. And so, Envy thought about it. And to her, it seemed reasonable. She would do it. That night, she snuck over to where Perfection was sleeping. She came over, and began tearing into her brother's neck. His screams of pain filled the air, awakening the entire pride. They saw envy doing the final break on her brother's neck, and they were horrified. Envy's greed to rule had brought her to killing her own brother. She stepped back, admiring her work. Her brother was twisted at an impossible angle, and his head was almost completely torn off his body. At that, Kindness took the moment. He lunged forth, doing something he never wanted to do. He sunk his fangs into Envy's neck, killing her quickly. Kindness, overwhelmed by sadness about what had just happened, spent many days in his den grieving, asking the ancestors to forgive his crime and bring his son back to life. The ancestors forgave his crime, but couldn't give Perfection life. For by making the deal with the vulture, whom was the god of greed, Envy had damned her brother to having to serve the Vulture.

Moral: Show everyone respect, for without love, the bitterness within everyone grows, causing them to do things they never want to do.

Place in Pride Folktale: This story is a treasured story among the pride. A classic, its one cubs grow up hearing, but slightly altered. In the 'cub version' instead of brutally killing her brother, she gives him poppy petal tea, causing him to fall into a deep sleep, where she took him out in the middle of the desert. Kindness banishes Envy instead of killing her, and when Kindness finds Perfection, is unable to wake him up. The Ancestors woke him up, but he left his mortal body behind when he woken up, causing him to wanter as a lost whisper for the rest of time. This version is more commonly known, and the true version of this story (where Envy kills her brother, and then Kindness kills Envy) is often scorned and was originally lost in time before the days of Falae. Falae brought the true version back to modern times, and some still try to get rid of this gorier version of their beloved childhood tale.



~The Tale of the Three Sisters~


Once, a very long, long time ago, the ancestors created three lioness sisters. They were each the incarnation of a certain emotion. There was Ernarif, the incarnation of Rage, Sernas, the incarnation of kindness, and Lilani, the incarnation of patience. The three, when they were brought into the world, were promised a male would come forth to claim them as mates. Lilani granted them the patience to wait this time, Sernas granted them the kindness to love each other, and Ernarif granted the rage to drive them forward. For 3 millennia, they waited, hoping for him to come soon. Finally, he came, and the three lionesses ran to greet him. He said he would take 2 mates, and kill the other. He took Sernas as his queen, and Ernarif for his other mate. He said that if patience was dead, they would be no need for the emotion and things would come quickly and easily. So, he killed Lilani and went with his mates to start a pride. They started a pride, and he mated to Sernas. Sernas, when her labor came, had troubles was taking a rather long time. The male, Morko, without Lilani's patience but filled with Ernarif's rage, killed Sernas out of frustration with her long labor. With only Ernarif left, he mated to her. However, he was just like Ernarif now- nothing but rage. They got into a minor fight, over a small carcass, and the male, in a blind rage, killed her. He out of grief, killed himself, and the Liogods of above blessed the world with three more lionesses- Lilani, Ernarif, and Sernas, all reincarnated and waiting once again for a king. The next male came, and this time, he killed Ernarif. Sernas, Lilani, and the male lived happily to the end of their lives, without rage or hate.

Moral: Display patience in long situations, and extinguish hate and rage.
Place in Pride Folktale: The discussion of this story is in little agreement. While some live by this tale, others argue that rage drives you to protect the ones you love, and a little anger isn't all that bad once in a while. Still, this story was hard for Falae to recover, for since it was only told for a short period of time, it was hard to find the proper telling of the story, as well as the full telling of it.

**~~Minli's Wish~~**

Once, not to long ago, there was a lioness. This lioness had a beautiful voice that could charm any lion, eyes that one could stare at for ages, and Shining coat. Her name was Minli. Minli, however, was not pretty. She was ugly. Her coat was of light golden, her head was oddly formed, and her tail was too short. Her king, a handsome king with strength and smarts, had yet to choose a mate. She begged the ancestors to make her beautiful so he would love her, and they told her 'Minli, you have a shining coat, beautiful eyes, and a lovely voice. You do not need beauty.' Minli, however, was stubborn. She insisted. She promised them anything they wanted, she just wanted to be beautiful, so the king would love her. Agreeing to her terms, the ancestors made her beautiful. Mottled rosette now dappled her coat, and her belly turned pure white. Her once light golden coat shimmered a new color- a beautiful shining silver, like the stars of the night. With her new beauty, she won the male with little difficulty. She bore three litters to him, and one cub in particular she loved the most. It was a little male, with his father's strength and smarts and his mother beauty. She loved him with all her heart, and would to anything for him. Once day, the Lion Gods came forth. 'Give us your favorite son.', they commanded. Minli, in fear of loosing her son, gave them her second favorite son. Upon seeing him, the Lion Gods killed him. They repeated their command. 'Give us your favorite son.' Minli got her first-born son, and brang him forth. She hoped they would assume her favorite was her first born. Again, they killed the cub and commanded her favorite son. She wept, begging forgiveness and pleading with them for them not to do this, and they simply responded 'you promised'. Upon saying that, the ripped Minli's new beauty from her, as well as taking her favorite son away from her. Upon seeing his mate so ugly, Minli's mate killed her, accusing her of witchcraft and trickery. Minli, in her death, was sent to the Namibian Medows- where the lost souls of the dead go. She was cursed with remembering her past in death, and would spend her days weeping among the flowers. Legend says if you go under the willow tree on the eastern edge of the meadows, you can see her soul, weeping ghostly tears for her lost sons.

Moral: Have honesty- it will always turn out better

Place in Pride Folktale: It's the root of many deep conversations in the pride. A common question when a lion is trying to get to know another is 'Would you of done what Minli did to get a mate, or would you stick with what you have?' Same as many of the other stories, this story has a changed ending so it's able to be told around cubs. Instead of the cubs dying and Minli being left cursed and sad in the end, the lion gods simply reject the other males, but Minli still looses her beauty. Alongside that, the male accepts her even with her ugly appearance and she lives out her days, before dying and forgetting her life, like all other spirits.