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Joyia is the eldest lioness in the pride. She is the only surviving daughter of the original queen and king, Beauty and Bricelyn. She has seen much, learned even more, and now passes her time watching the cubs. But she misses the simplicity of her father's smaller pride. She is grown, but still longs for her mother, and her father, both of whom have long since passed. Her only daughter, Kaloha, born from the Forgotten King Lycinae, is her greatest joy. She hopes for grand cubs before her Time of Eternal Rest comes.
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Tiagren watches as the old lioness grows more fragile by the day. Her sight is going. Her teeth have started falling out. Soon she will not be able to feed herself without the aid of her daughter Kaloha who has taken to chewing the meat for her, like a cub. As he watches her, Tiagren realizes that her mind also grows more cub-like.
It's a tragedy, what time takes away. The king sees that Joyia's time is coming when she will be reunited with her mother and father. He prays to Goddess that Kaloha will be able to survive without her mother.
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She gets to meet her first set of grandcubs, two beautiful male cubs that she knows she will see again sooner rather than later since they are both male. It's an unfortunate situation, but she will wait for them at the crossing. Her daughter is rather heartbroken at not having a daughter, and neither cub feeling the call to change, but it is what it is.
But Joyia does feel that call. She is old. She is tired. She desperately wants to see her mother again, and each day that goes by where she wakes up in the den, trapped in mortal flesh, is another she spends crying.
Kaloha comforts her mother the best she can, saying her grandsons will need their grandmother to walk them into adulthood. She hasn't faced the fact that her sons won't live to see 6 months unless their father offers sanctuary as a sub male, a highly unlikely fate as there is no more room for sub males and its been years since Tiagren has offered asylum to a male cub.
Joyia finds little joy in the cubs. She finds more peace in the quiet of the den, away from the pride. She no longer hungers, no matter what Kaloha offers. She no longer watches over cubs. She lays in the dark and waits to see her mother again.
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8-29-2022 Retired
Joyia closes her eyes in the dim, chill of the den, and opens them to a bright warmth that seeps into her bones and feels like pure energy. She glances around, confused for a moment, until she notices a pure white lioness with brilliant blue eyes standing nearby with a smile of pure joy on her face. She sniffs and gets a whiff of savanna grasses and something indescribable that smells like home.
"Can I help you?" She asks the lioness, her voice stronger and clearer than its been in years.
"You can," the lioness replies. Joyia knows this lioness, she knows she does. Or thinks she does, feels it down to her soul. "You can get up and hug your mother," she says teasingly.
Joyia jumps up with ease, no aches or pains, but she barely notices as she rushes over, tears of pure happiness and relief rolling down her face.
"Mama!" Joyia cries as they embrace. She's waited half her life to be reunited with the white lioness, then she realizes that she must be dead. Her own cub, Kaloha might not even know yet. Or maybe she's been dead for years and didn't realize it, but now, in this place of warmth and light, she's never felt more alive. She feels a pang of fear for her own daughter, but Kaloha has an inner strength she knew she herself had never had.
"You can't forget your old dad, too," a broad, gold pelted lion says. He'd appeared from nowhere. Joyia searched her mother's face, almost loath to let her go, but bouncing at the chance to see Bricelyn again.
"I'm not going anywhere," Beauty promises, but she nudges Joyia and together, they walk to Bricelyn. She hugs her father just as enthusiastically, like the young lioness she once was, and now looks like, again.
"I've missed you both so much," she says between sobs, but they're happy tears.
"Welcome home, my dear one," Beauty says And together, the family walk off into the light.
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As you two greet each other, Joyia moves away when you get too close. You try to approach her again, and she begrudgingly accepts the friendly nuzzle you offer her. She looks a bit bothered about it, though.
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