N Y A S I
she/her | the healer
”Grass” in Swahili
Nyasi is a compassionate healer, and a devoted mother. One of the most peaceful lions you could ever meet, her upbringing couldn’t be anything further from the fact. She was born into a pride riddled with plague, of which Nyasi was the sole survivor. The sickness caused lions to foam at the mouth and muscle spasms to wrack their body before leading to an agonising death, wiping out thousands of lions across the continent. It took her pridemates one-by-one, until it was only her mother and her left. Her mother forced Nyasi out of their home in search of a cure, but secretly to try and keep Nyasi safe from catching the disease which ailed her. Nyasi went from pride-to-pride in search of something, anything, to save the last of her family. She came across Sangoma Tefnut, a lioness blessed by the ancestors in the art of healing. Desperate, Nyasi begged the shaman for something to help her mother, to which Sangoma Tefnut replied, “sometimes death is the kindest cure you can offer a lion.” Nyasi’s search was futile, and she returned home. Upon entering her territory, Nyasi found her mother’s corpse, still warm and soft. She had missed her chance to say goodbye, and Nyasi felt a piece of her soul die with her mother that day.
Nyasi stayed at her homeland for many more months alone, plagued by grief and visions of dying lions. She was thin and weak, unable to sleep from nightmares and unable to hunt from exhaustion. She knew that the life of a loner was a dangerous one, and decided that she would not let this happen to anyone else when a particular vision showed herself dying the same gruesome way her mother did. Determined to save lions from losing their loved ones like she did, she embarked on another journey to find Sangoma Tefnut, yearning to be trained under her wise authority. Now a young lioness, Nyasi found the shamans in a land untouched by the sickness, and was offered sanctuary with them. Unbeknownst to Nyasi, the shamans knew she was coming, the ancestors sending them omens of a blessed lioness about to cross their path. Knowing her potential, it was a joint effort by the shamans to train Nyasi, teaching her old and new ways of healing, and guiding her through spiritual journeys that came with the title of healer. Sangoma Sphinx particularly helped Nyasi understand the visions she was experiencing, embracing them rather than running from them.
After months of tutoring, Nyasi was ready to become a shaman. Saying goodbye to her tutors, she was assigned to a pride in need of a healer. She adapted to her role and fit in perfectly, bonding with the pride's leader, Faven, and becoming a trusted friend and adviser.. Eventually, Nyasi fell pregnant. The father was unknown, Nyasi choosing to keep his identity hidden. The pregnancy went smoothly, and Nyasi birthed a strong female, Alala. Unlike Nyasi, her now adult daughter revels in bloodshed, earning the title barbarian. Extremely paranoid about losing her family again, Nyasi coddles her daughter and shelters her from her traumatic past, taking care of her every want and need in hopes of keeping her safe. Wherever one went, the other followed, their bond unbreakable. , and instead focused solely on her job as a healer and mother, protecting her daughter however she can. With whatever power Nyasi holds over life, her daughter holds over death. The duo are complete opposites, and yet so similar it is uncanny. Two sides of the same nacarat coin, they are each other’s salvation.
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