Tuesday, May 18, 2021

No Power in the ‘Verse Can Stop this Leo, Part 2

Part 1

“Tara?”

She heard the old pride mistress call her name. But when she searched for the lioness, her eyes only found an intensely bright light. “They’ve killed me.”

“No, Tara, this isn’t the end of your hunt. Just an in-between moment. You can choose to go back. Or you can choose differently.”

“Your voice, Mistress,” Tara said, wondering why she couldn’t figure out where the old pride mistress’s voice was coming from. “Your voice is—”

“My voice sounds different, distant, disembodied. You see, Tara, survival—true survival—often requires sacrifice and change.”

“We are dying out, Mistress, the land too. I don’t know if we can survive for much longer. Not all of us.” Tara told the old pride mistress of the shortage of food and water, of cubs that weren’t more than pelt and bone, of their growling guts, of the two-legged taking and taking while giving back nothing but pain. Everyone said that the old pride mistress let herself die, so that her cubs could eat. “If I could change like you did, Mistress, I would do it. I want to do it. For them.”

“So be it,” the old pride mistress said, the power of her pronouncement lingering, even after the light began to wane.

“So be it,” Tara echoed, closing her eyes slowly, slipping willingly into the dark, hoping her flesh would nourish cubs, and her bones would enrich soil.  

Part 3



detail from a photo by David Law, on Unsplash

 - the title echoes a favorite quote from Firefly: “No power in the ‘verse can stop me!”
- for Poets and Storytellers United--Weekly Scribblings #70: Listmania
and Writers’ Pantry #71: The Turtle Moves.

33 comments:

  1. Powerful! My favourite bits of writing -- the term "pride mistress," these two sentences: "survival—true survival—often requires sacrifice and change” and "the two-legged taking and taking while giving back nothing but pain."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Debra. So glad you like it.

      Delete
    2. Also, you quoted some of my favorite bits to write.

      Delete
  2. Ohhhh, I cried! One of the reasons I became a vegetarian when my last child was one, is because we had another mouth to feed and wanted I everyone to get there meat fill and boy he turned into quite a carnivore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a true motherly thing for you to do. You rock, Holly.

      Delete
  3. Part One was so tragic, I'm vastly relieved that Tara has survived in this way.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The wisdom of self sacrifice often goes unseen XXX

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is so touching, Magaly. We all need an old pride mistress to help us through the in-between moments.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The idea of it being her choice was profoundly beautiful to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is a lot of beauty (and power) in choice.

      Delete
  7. Humanity should be totally ashamed in allowing so much wildlife to suffer and be eliminated because we want to make a profit from digging, felling trees and harvesting the land and sea where wild animals live. Humans see nothing but ourselves on the plant

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are right, Robin. We need to do better. Or we won't be.

      Delete
  8. Oops! Planet instread of plant.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is wonderfully poignant, Magaly. I agree with Kim, we all need an old pride mistress in our lives!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know if she could have escaped from the net, survived the "stone". I wanted her to fight. I wanted her to tear the two legged ones to pieces, and let her cubs feed on them instead. Sigh. Life is not fair at times. But the love of mother/child, even in nature, is ever strong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I started writing this story after I saw one of those horrible images of a "hunter" posing with his foot on top of a lioness he murdered. I was so angry. I wanted the same things you wanted. Heck, I wanted to help her tear him to pieces. And I almost wrote that story. Then I looked at that picture for a very long time, and I wanted the lioness to have a better ending. And I wanted the end of the story to do something better. Instincts to be--and to write--are very strong, but nurture--like mothers--can be so much stronger.

      Still, one of these days, I will probably stick that worthless hunter in a story where he can feel tooth and claw.

      Delete
  11. This produced chills that will last a while, a tear or two as well. Magaly, this is simply beautiful writing. Never stop.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sometimes change is scary but necessary. A movement in many forms. I was also hit by the pride of mothers that give up all of themselves to nourish the next generation. But it is a choice, a sacrifice, they willing make for themselves. It isn't forced but granted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When choice is taken away and force comes into the life equation, everything good gets bastardized.

      Delete
  13. I could see these scenes scroll by as I read. Very powerful, Magaly

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is so moving and so powerful! I want her to fight and have her cubs feed on the two legged ones!!!
    Big Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Leaving yet giving BRAVO. That's what good poets do

    Happy Sunday Magaly

    (✿◠‿◠)

    much love...

    ReplyDelete
  16. A new savoir myth? Feels appropriate that it is a mother.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know? I did not think about it when I wrote it. But now that you've said it, I can totally see it.

      Delete

I love reading your insights, so share them with me; and if Blogger is acting foolish, and labels you Anonymous, please add your name at the end of your comment. đŸ˜˜