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Daughter of Dark Waters
Sister of Mist, Dawn of the Darkness, Dusk Flower, and New Dawn.
Aunt of Tullia, Caeoimhin, Flame of Dreams, Gweneth, Fallon,
Mother of Gone Before Dusk, Cathal, Closer to the Edge, and Made of Stone
Royal. Former lead huntress.
Known as Dark for short.
Dark, although has the fierceness of her mother, is a kind and caring lioness. She loves her pride and would never wish to harm any of her pridesisters' feelings. Dark rather dislikes the typical attitude of the high ranked lionesses like herself, particularly those who pride themselves in being "pride born".
"I hate those words," she once told her niece Flame after she was teasing Saoirse about not being pride born. "My mother, your grandmother, was not born in this pride, nor was her cousin Eye of the Sun, and yet they are treated as goddesses to this pride. I despise the very notion that you would think that you are any better than her, and for this you are not," she scolded her niece.
Although young, only months after she started hunting, Dark became 6th highest ranked lion in the Dark Marsh. Of course, this made little Saoirse very confused once she became old enough to join the hunts.
"Why are you higher ranked than me?! I'm the future queen!" She hissed at Dark.
"Because you are younger and experienced, and I'm your future mate's aunt. My sisters and I will always be higher ranked than you dear," Dark replied. "I don't want to sound mean or anything, but it's just the facts. My family, not to mention Whitethorn and Breezethorn's descendants, are the royalty around here, you are just an interloper. You come from no where and no one knows who your father is or even who your mother's parents are. It's hard not being pride born dear, but it's something you'll have to learn to deal with once you are queen. When you are queen, they will doubt your decisions, but my sisters and I will always stand by you and support you. If they see that, they will accept you fully."
When Saoirse came forward about Caeoimhin and Sive's sister, and that she did not wish to be queen herself, Dark still promised to always be at her side. Although not related by blood, Saoirse and Dark were like sisters from that point on.
Rumors later spread that Dark wanted to undermine the king and Saoirse's son, Prince Aodhfin, and have a son of her own on the throne, but everyone who knew Dark closely assured these were just myths. However, Dark's son becoming a lord did not help to calm to the rumors.
Dark lived a life very much like her mother's. She was head of the hunting parties, respected by all, and a trusted adviser to her nephew the king. When it come time, she also passed everything she had down to her oldest daughter in the pride, Dusk. Dark retired from hunting early to raise her youngest two daughters, and to teach Cathal the ways of a healer, as she should have done when he was younger, she just never had the time then. Like many lionesses who realize time is running out for them, she settled down, finally, and focused on family rather than duty.
Within those last years, she increasingly noticed Cathal and Aodhfin's relationship strengthening, but she also noticed that their attraction to Lady Sileas, was also, frighteningly, growing. She feared the worse, for Caeoimhin allowed Aodhfin to choose his own queen, and Cathal was merely a subordinate. She knew that Cathal knew he was never to take a mate, but she noticed it was Sileas chasing him, not the other way around. The new comer had both males wrapped around her finger, and no one, but Dark, knew it. The two males' love of Sileas could destroy the pride.
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