Dawn (In the Beginning)

Oasis

Nala struggles with her load as she walks behind her mate. The time to move has come and it won't wait for her impending child to make an appearance. She still has a few months to go, but her back aches constantly and she walks hunched over without even having to try.

Nala carries a secret. One she has protected and kept safe for her entire life. A secret her mother shared with her when she had only seen 8 season cycles. Her mother made very clear the importance of keeping the secret safe and secure inside her heart, never to share it with another.

Nala's mother gave birth to her while the hunters of the clan were away, including Nala's mother's mate. Her mother had not been expecting to give birth until the weather turned cold and the warm days had passed. Nala wouldn't wait until she was expected, though, and she sprang from her mother's womb like a slippery seed squeezed from the finger tips. She was born amongst the trees, her mother feeling like she had to expel her waste. When she had squatted in a secluded place away from her friends, instead of waste, she'd expelled her daughter.

Nala's mother told her how frightened and full of sorrow she had been when she held her tiny infant in her arms. She told her how very fragile she had been, her head flopping around as though it might fall off of her neck at any moment. The baby was much paler than the babies she had witnessed being born to her clan-mates. As she held her miniature infant close to her and bit through the cord that was the physical bond they shared, her heart swelled with adoration and she found it impossible not to place the newborn to her full breast to nurse.

As she fed her daughter, she realized with finality that she could not allow her child to die. She glanced around warily, assuring herself that no other women had witnessed the unexpected birth and then she crept farther out into the trees, searching.

By a small spring, a ways up from where the clan gathered water, she discovered a small enclave in the cliff next to the water. She wrapped her tiny, sleeping bundle tightly in her furs and placed her in the little cave-like area, safe from prying eyes, yet not so far away from camp that she couldn't hear her cry.

She’d left the baby there, leaving it up to the powers that be to keep her safe from harm. She returned to her work, listening for the cry of her child as she gathered plants and roots with the others. As the days passed, she’d run back and forth to nurse her daughter and change her little waste fur, so much smaller than the ones other women dressed their infants with. She had nearly been discovered several times, but Nala's mother was quick and sharp. She covered her tracks and easily fooled anyone who questioned her behavior.

Nala grew strong quickly and before long, her mother returned from gathering with her arms full of baby girl instead of the plants and roots she’d set off to find. She explained that the birth had happened suddenly while she was too far away to call for help. She told the others that it was a remarkably easy birth and she had managed it alone.

The baby girl, now big enough and strong enough to be out of danger, had integrated into the clan with ease. Nala's mother was strict in forcing her daughter to hunch her shoulders and drag her arms the way other clan members did. She had far less hair than the other women and her beautiful eyes exuded intelligence and beauty. Her skin darkened to the same rich brown of her clan-mates, but her face was smooth and hairless. Her breasts were bare and plump, rather than hanging down the way other women's tended to do, usually with a patch of hair between them or sprouting from the areolas. She was, by far, the most beautiful and desirable female born to their modest group.

Her mother hid her pride and satisfaction as her daughter exceeded and outdid her peers at games and lessons. She shrugged off the praise from passing clans at the exceptional beauty of her child. Her mate grew fond of the girl as well. He wasted no time in breaking her in sexually. The day her first bleeding was over, he scurried away with her into their shelter. He pushed her to the ground, nearly bruising her forehead in his haste to take her from behind.