amber waves of grain
Avana sported a toothy grin as she watched her little niece wiggling those floppy ears. "Yeah, that one's all your own, sweetie. Just like Baka's short tail." Perhaps they were just distant genetic anomalies, just like Kito's mane popping up only sporadically. The strawberry lass seemed to be the only one of her sisters to sport the red locks, though of course she never knew of her mother's first litter not being biologically Hodari.
The aunt appreciated @Alvena using the affirmative words in seeing her grandmother again someday. Not an if, but a when. Avana wished she could be that hopeful. Perhaps for her mother, she was, being that Hanneth was just a bit younger than Dero, but she had already watched the ebony lion growing weaker even before Obsidian fell. His age was catching up to him, and losing yet another home likely hadn't helped him any, wherever he was. Wherever they were...
Another smirk found its way to the aunt's face. Only when Alvena mentioned it, did she truly realize that the younger girl was right. Though the pale lioness had a colored nose-bridge, like her father, she lacked the mask that went across the eyes. "Maybe that just means you're more Hodari than them," the maned woman teased. "It's a Tolkien trait, your father's mother's side, that gives them all the face mask. Like on Maia and her children. They all have the Tolkien blood," she explained, uncertain if the small girl knew all of her family connections. "Of course, it could also be your Vandiir side. Can't say I know as much about your mother's genetics, but there is still so much beauty in simplicity." And she truly believed it. In a world where one could find a lion of every size, shape, and color, it was hard to feel unique anymore. Something so pure as stark white fur almost seemed rare these days.
None
"They're both big families, aren't they," she said, more of a statement even though it was phrased like a question. Her mother's own sides of her family were entirely absent, a set of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that she would never meet due to tragic circumstances. Luckily, there were plenty on her father's side to make up for it. "It's kind of nice having family wherever you go, basically." You just didn't always know how they were related to you without trying to track things back through multiple generations.
"Mama said they were usually various shades of white or gray without many markings, but who knows. Maybe with me not just being pure white markings had a chance of actually showing up." She wouldn't say she had any idea about how things like that worked, or that she'd ever really thought about it.
@Avana
Avana chuckled lightly to herself, recalling how big her own family used to be, even if @Alvena seemed to think it was already big enough. "From what I've heard, the Tolkien certainly were, but that's pretty standard in a polygamous family. I hear your great-grandfather had at least three wives, so lots of children." Somehow, their concentration had moved away from watching the herd and onto the topic of their shared family tree, but the maned woman wasn't complaining the in the least. Though she didn't know much of the Tolkiens personally, she knew a lot about them thanks to her brother. "The Hodari, on the other paw, are usually monogamous, though my father still ended up with a dozen kids of his own," she chuckled fondly, thinking about all her siblings, wherever they might be. "More if you count Maia and her siblings, which he kinda helped raise when their parents left." Avana hadn't exactly been born yet at that point, though.
"That's a nice way to think about it. You're a perfect little blending of your parents," the aunt commented. Her own mother lacked in the marking department as well, but Hanneth had always still had a nice, bright bronze coat. Neither of her parents were really heavy in the marking department, if she really thought about. Dero just brought socks into the mix, strong trait, it would seem as the woman's mismatched gaze looked from her own light chocolate socks to her niece's dappled mauve stockings.
She thought of how many siblings she had and could see how one could end up with quite a few children even with only one partner. She wondered if one day she would have cubs herself. Maybe! She'd have to find a partner first, presumably. She'd only just turned old enough to be considering it anyway.
"Exactly," she agreed with her aunt with a little smile. "I wonder what my cubs will look like, if I ever have any," she mused. Did she even want any? She thought she did, but who knew. She hadn't exactly given it much thought before just now.
"I should probably be getting back home," she realized a bit later, noticing the time. Her parents would worry about her if she was gone for too long, and she didn't want to risk getting lost in unfamiliar terrain in the dark. If her auntie wanted to continue the conversation while they walked back then she'd welcome it, but she'd also understand if she needed to keep tracking the herds.
-exit alvena-
A bit of melancholy had settled into the aunt's bones as she recalled her vast array of siblings. She often wondered where they lived now, what their lives were like. Did they have children of their own by now? Did she have more nieces and nephews she didn't know about? More and more, Avana wondered if she might have children of her own someday, but that day just never seemed near enough to imagine. Though she wasn't particularly old in the grand scheme of things, it still felt disheartening to not even feel close to something like that. She would just have to eat up all the time she could spend with her niece and nephews.
"I'll bet they'll be just as cute as you," Avana teased with a little wink, trying not to put the question upon herself as well. Would she have children with her father's socks? Surely they wouldn't have the Tolkien mask unless their father had a similar marking. What about having daughters with a mane like her own? So many possibilities.
At the mention of getting back home, the strawberry aunt nodded in agreement. She'd gotten what she wanted in today's tracking of the herds, so it was a good time to start heading back to the Rainforest. "I'll come with you," she nodded before rising back to all fours. She was happy to keep answering questions about their family on the trip back.
exit Avana