This is a telling of Kilio's early life.
From the chapter before this one, Kilio is very close to death while Jasiri fights on, losing; and as Kilio's body begins to shut down, memories of her past resurfaces, and it all just might be what she needs right now...
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In the Southern clan, there were two cubs born to the head hyenas. One was born strong and proud while the other was born weak and frail. The first born, the stronger cub, was favored by the entire clan while the smaller and weaker cub was seen as a curse, a manifestation of all things gone wrong for the clan. It was a toxic belief, one the clan still believed up to this day. They couldn't kill the second cub, for they believed that they might unleash the bad luck into the world, but in the future they'd harm her.
The second cub was ignored right after birth, and everyone from the clan who laid eyes on her were disgusted. The mother herself was disgusted by her daughter, going with the flow of what the clan believed. And while the first born was nurtured as soon as he was out of the womb, it took another hyena to force the mother to give the second born what she needed,
And that hyena was Aina, the lone hyena next to the northerns whose brown fur blended with the dry ground, whose rusty grey eyes pierced through everyone's soul with one glare, whose black wavy mane seem to rise when angered. Aina, the cubs' grandmother.
She came to see her daughter's cub or cubs, excited but most of all worried for she knew the southerns' ways but trusted that the mother, her daughter, will treat however many cubs she births with kindness. She trusted that after five years of being taught to care, that her daughter will heed her nurture and do the same for her own children.
But what she saw in the southerns' den enraged her.
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The entire clan was silent as Aina's glare sent them to death and back to the waking world, her teeth bared as she panted and snarled from anger while by her feet was the youngest child of the south cried and wailed both from hunger and the scent of an unfamiliar female. The cub squirmed and cried, a complete contrast to her brother who was still suckling on his mother. The mother.
She gave into their ways,
"Why is this little one shunned in the dark by her own clan, her own mother?! You sick, wet dogs left her starving like this soon after she was born? Unforgivable!" She fumed and turned to the mother of the cubs, glaring what could have been death's glare for all they knew, "And you, Nyekundu! She is your daughter, how could you?!"
Nyekundu's brow twitched. "Daughter?" She asked nonchalatnly, her rose-bleeding eyes glared at her mother's grey ones. "If she was meant to be my daughter then she would have been born first," She said before looking down at her son who was still nursing. Gently, she stroked the little one's grey ashen fur and the black tuft on his head before standing up when the cub fiished suckling, "This was the first one, and he is my little prince!"
Aina's grey eyes widened at the proclamation and her claws unsheathed from her rage. "You wicked child!"
"Old hag!"
"You truly are wicked, starving a child! A small cub who is feeble and weak! I raised you better than this!" The elder's voice then lowered to a growl as the wailing cub's cries resounded in the den, Aina's heart reached out for the young one but her body only expressed anger. "Your father would be writhing in the afterlife if he's still watching over you,"
Her daughter scoffed. "That's because he's a runt. He'd pity the weak like----"
Nyebuku could not even finish her sentence when Aina suddenly struck her across the face. It wasn't very strong, but it was enough to shock even the southerns who were present and began to whisper and growl among themselves. Aina kept her paw raised, silent tears pricking her eyes as she spoke;
"Your father was a humble male. He was weak but he was kind! Unlike you!" She suddenly grabbed her daughter's mane and yanked Nyebuku closer to her, causing the matriarch to yelp, not caring about the angry eyes from the clan,. She glared at her daughter, "If you do not let the runt nurse, then I swear by the spirits, I will make you!" She then turns to look at the stunned clan and said with the lowest voice an elder could muster, "Disgusting dogs, more callous than the roughest of stones."
"You will make me nurse the dirt?" Nyebuku said before she grabbed and yanked her mother's weak gripping paw away from her black mane. She too then turns to the clan who were all anticipating her command. "Leave me with my mother," She says.
The southerns looked at Aina then among themselves before mumbling incoherent words. Nyebuku's brows furrowed and her eyes widened.
"Go!" Nyebuku yelled. The southerns didn't flinch but they complied to her command, silently exiting the clan's den and leaving the two females and cubs.
The female cub's cries resound in the cave, her brother whined also but he wasn't as loud as his sister.
"You are weak, old hag. You come here alive at nine years of age and threaten me?" Nyebuku questioned, she then glared at the cub who was wailing under Aina. She scoffed, "She is a weak cost."
"She is a child." Aina's voice rose, "A child you birthed but too prideful to nurse.'' She then reached and started stroking the cub's tiny black tuft, but her eyes still glared blades at Nyebuku. "And I may be old but I'm not weak! I've fought jackals and other hyenas to keep my home, I fought off vultures and wild dogs and made it out unscathed, even at my age!"
"And I will do onto you what I have done to them! Feed this little one or I will kill you!"
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Nyebuku foolishly challenged her mother, and has lost.
Her son rested besides her as she licks her bleeding wounds. They've fought outside and infront of everyone... even her mate who she refused to let fight her battle, and she was wounded for it.
Meanwhile, the little girl of the south slept peacefully in her short-lived life, nestled between Aina's strong front legs while her looks down on her with deep sadness and pity.
"A rough life awaits you, little one." She says and sighs, "The light welcomes you into the world but you were born to the dark."
Dark thoughts raced through the elder hyena's mind as the cub continued to sleep.
A sad, ghost smile can be seen on Aina. "Welcome to the world, little Kilio."
