The girl was hard at work. This work consisted of watching the large crocodile eat its babies. Or at least that was how it appeared to Bijoux. The cub had been working on her mud coat when a shrill sound had reached her ears and caused her to shrink away from the water's edge. Good thing too for a mother crocodile answered the sound.

Bijoux stood still as the mother dug up the buried eggs and looked to eat them. Or at least they were in her mouth and then suddenly there were baby crocodiles in her mouth. Why was she eating the babies? Stop it! You stop eating babies! The girl yelled out at the reptile as if it might listen to her.

@Maia

art by shark, code by corvus

Maia hadn't been able to settle since Jafar had injured himself. She had regretted even suggesting going out on a hunt. Why had they thought it was a good idea to go as a pair? Questions, thoughts and very few answers scattered around her brain as she walked through the Mire. She would, as best as she could, look after the Sovereignty of the Mire whilst Jafar healed, and that included watching over @Bijoux.

It was the quiet shouts of the child that caught her attention as she waded through the mud that seemed to have gotten thicker in the winter months. Maia wasn't sure if it was the snow that had contributed to this, or the early morning frost, but whatever it was, Maia was not a fan. So when she spotted her daughter, Maia made her way carefully across to her. It appeared as though she was watching a crocodile eat, which made the lioness a little on edge. “Hey, Bijoux,” She whispered, carefully taking steps closer to the child. “Be careful, you don't want to upset her.” Maia suggested, orange eyes studying the prehistoric creature carefully.

code / artwork

But she is eating babies! Bijoux whined out the words. How could Maia not want to save the babies!? She puts eggs in her mouth and babies come out! Of course Bijoux had no clue that the crocodile mother was actually helping the eggs to hatch. She only knew that you put things in your mouth to eat them. So of course she thought the big crocodile was going to consume all the little ones.

You got to stop her eating babies! Babies not supposed to be eated! There was a demanding whine to the girl's voice. Maia was an adult and adults were listened to. At least she assumed that was how it would work since the crocodile wasn't paying the vitiligo laced child any attention at all.

art by shark, code by corvus

Maia listens quietly to the complaints that @Bijoux was making against the actions of the prehistoric creature that lay before them. The Queen smiles. “She isn’t eating her babies,” Maia whispers as she lay down next to her daughter. “She’s putting each egg into her mouth, biting down enough so that it cracks, and then spits the baby out. She’s simply helping them into the world,” The ashen Tolkien explains, fiery eyes flitting between the child and the crocodile, acutely aware of the danger that it posed. “Besides, if she was eating them, the babies wouldn’t come out again.” Maia couldn’t imagine what it would be like to put her own child in her mouth and crack it’s protective shell before spitting it back out again. A look of concern mixed with disgust laced her features. For once, she was glad that lionesses gave birth the way that they did.

code / artwork

Despite what Mama Maia said it still looked a lot like eating to the young girl. Why her bite egg? She didn't understand why she had to put them in her mouth to begin with. Couldn't the mother crocodile help in some other fashion? She just didn't get it.

Bijoux watched the mother crocodile coax the babies into the water, once all of them has hatched, and disappeared beneath the surface. The girl waited for the return of the crocodile but it didn't happen. So that left her to turn to Maia instead.

I big girl. I need big girl jobs. Queen jobs. What sort of jobs those were the girl didn't know. She knew she had to take part somehow. She had to pick out her trades but she didn't even know what trades there were or where she would do best.

@Maia

art by shark, code by corvus

@Bijoux continued to say how she didn't understand why the crocodile bit the eggs. Maia would gladly explain. “She does it to help them hatch, because they're not strong enough to do it themselves.” The ashen lioness had never given the crocodile species much thought, despite living in a swamp. They were so prehistoric, yet she knew little about them. Orange ablaze eyes watch as the mother coaxed her children into the water and then disappeared into the safety that the body of water gave.

Before the Sovereign could suggest that they leave the area and into land that gave some more safety, Bijoux spoke about being a big girl and needing big girl jobs. She wasn't wrong - she was a few months shy of her first birthday, and it had felt only like minutes since she had first found the child in the depths of the Pit.

“What sort of things would you like to do?” Maia asked, curious as to where the child's interests lied. “You could help me patrol the border, or visit other prides to form friendships. Or you could focus on your trades. They're things that you like doing. For example, I like hunting, so one of my trades is being a ranger. There are lots to choose from, though,” Maia explains, looking to Bijoux, ready to accept whatever questions she would have.

code / artwork

What things did she like? That really was the question. She spent all of her time looking for a cure that she hadn't really considered anything else. Of course she still hadn't found that cure either. She didn't exactly like having to look for a cure though.

I like being Queen. I good Queen. I tell frogs they sing nice song. Because clearly the most important thing about being a Queen is being nice and bestowing praise. Beyond that she really wasn't sure. What are good big girl jobs? She wasn't sure what all of the trades were or what might fit her best. She hadn't yet begun to experiment with those sorts of things yet. It was high time that she began though.

@Maia

art by shark, code by corvus

@Bijoux reveals that she likes being Queen, and Maia smiles. Perhaps she could, if Jafar would allow it, put her through training to become the Mire's Heiress in the future. She seemed to be drawn to actively doing things, and this was something that could be easily manipulated into the right area.

The child asks what might be good 'big girl' jobs, and Maia ponders for a moment. “I think, since you like animals so much, you could become a pathfinder.” Maia begins, taking a seat if she had not done so already. “You can have two trades, two things that you are really interested in. A pathfinder is interested in the land and nature, and they look out for other animals too.” The Sovereign explains, trying to choose her works carefully. “What else do you like doing, besides telling frogs that they sing nice songs?” Maia asked these questions in a bid to find out what the girl was interested in: perhaps she could become a Ranger, or a Medic?

code / artwork

Before the girl could ask what a pathfinder was it was explained to her. That sounded easy enough to her. Plus it let her keep her friends. It fell in line with things that she was already doing. So that was one job down and she still had another to choose. And again she was asked what she liked to do.

I like curse cover? Did that count? It was fun to play in the mud. I like talk. Make new friends. But then the girl considered pretty much everyone and everything to be a potential new friend. She mostly had experience with the animals of the Mire but she had met with a few outsiders as well.

@Maia

art by shark, code by corvus