Chapter 13: Greet Other One (Patreon)

Sekhmet’s blurring was the longest yet – all the others were done before her, even those who had started later. Though the lionesses which had finished inspected their own changes first – mostly either size, or claws, or teeth from what Dominic could see as Leo looked around – they all ended up staring at the still-blurred lioness. 

Finally, it finished. The ‘picture’ sharpened and all the details became evident. 

‘She’s beautiful,’ breathed Leo admiringly, sounding like it had slipped out unintentionally. Dominic couldn’t disagree.

For a moment, they all just stared at her. Dominic remembered what had happened to him when he tiered up – everything he had enhanced up to that point had been enhanced even more. Certainly, that seemed to be the case here. 

Sekhmet was bigger. Not by a huge amount, but it was noticeable. Her teeth and claws were both sharper and longer. As she twisted to inspect herself, she looked even more flexible than before, though her coat didn’t look any thicker – maybe she hadn’t put anything into defence? 

Turning back to face them, Dominic noted something else, something he’d been hoping for – the clarity and focus in her gaze had increased even more. She seemed to be evaluating everything she looked at with new eyes, curious and interested. 

Her movements broke the spell they were all under and the lionesses surged forwards to rub against her. Even they seemed to have picked up that something important had happened. 

Sekhmet rubbed back against them eagerly – however much her intelligence had increased, it was clear that she was still affectionate towards her pride-sisters. The two lionesses from the other pride were hesitant, obviously unsure as to whether they should come close. Sekhmet solved the issue: after considering them for a moment, she padded forwards lightly to greet them too. 

She wasn’t as enthusiastic in her greeting as she was with her pride-sisters, but Dominic had to feel that it was a deliberate inclusion of the new lionesses into the group. Why, though? Was it just because they had hunted with her, so she was accepting them? Or did her new intelligence mean that she recognised the benefits of cooperation? 

Finally, she approached Leo. Rubbing happily against him, she paused and looked at him with her head tilted slightly. 

‘Greet other one.’ The words came into Leo and Dominic’s shared mind-space unbidden, and shock rocked through them. They hadn’t connected to her mind first – did this mean…?

Dominic quickly pulled up the information about his Pride and immediately looked at Sekhmet’s entry. 

Sekhmet (T2, L10)  : (Health: 450/450, Abilities: Pounce, Sharp Mind, Telepathy)

‘How is that fair,’ Dominic complained to Leo. ‘I had to almost die to get Telepathy. Sekhmet only needs to tier up.’ 

‘I don’t think we should be complaining about fairness,’ Leo pointed out. ‘How many Abilities do we have, exactly?’ Dominic refused to admit to him that it was a good point. ‘She has Telepathy, then?’ Leo asked for confirmation.

‘Yes,’ Dominic verified. ‘And more health than before – three quarters of ours, even.’

‘Not bad,’ Leo replied to him, sounding impressed. ‘It will help keep her alive.’

Dominic was about to agree, but the lighter voice of the lioness suddenly broke into his thoughts again. 

‘Greet other one!’ she demanded, this time sounding a bit irritated. Probably because we accidentally ignored her, Dominic thought guiltily. Then he actually paid attention to what she’d said. 

‘Hang on, is she…?’ he asked his companion in disbelief. 

‘It seems like it,’ replied Leo, sounding just baffled. ‘Well, shall we…?’ Dominic assented and they changed places, their minds rubbing past each other’s as usual, though the exchange was getting quicker and easier every time they did it. 

Opening his eyes from where he’d inadvertently closed them, Dominic gazed at Sekhmet. For a moment, they just met each other’s gaze, and then pleasure flashed up in the lioness’s expression. She came forwards once more to greet Dominic too, a pleased rumble in her chest. Actually, if Dominic had to compare – which he did – he rather thought that she was greeting him with more enthusiasm than she’d greeted Leo. 

‘She likes me better,’ he commented gleefully to his companion. 

‘No she doesn’t,’ grumbled Leo. 

‘Yes, she does – she even asked for me!’

‘That’s only because you weren’t in control at the time!’ objected the lion. Dominic considered teasing him further, but Sekhmet was pulling away from the greeting, and he was far more interested in discovering exactly where her new intelligence put her. 

‘So, you can talk?’ he started, projecting the words at her. It wasn’t the best beginning, but he had to start somewhere. 

‘Yes,’ she responded, her voice unmistakable. It was lighter and…brighter than Leo’s. There was also…something about it. A scent? A feeling? A combination of the two? It was something which just simply said ‘Sekhmet’ to him. But not the name – the personality; the being behind the name. 

‘How?’ he asked, even while knowing it was probably a stupid question. How was she going to be able to suddenly explain talking?

Sure enough, a sense of uncertainty came from the lioness before him, visible in her body language as much as in her mental connection. 

‘I don’t know. I felt change. I thought change communication. Speak to everyone.’ 

Her use of words isn’t perfect, and clearly communicating more abstract concepts is going to take some practice, but considering what she was a few weeks ago, heck, even a few minutes ago, the change was remarkable. 

‘You wanted to be able to communicate with everyone, and you felt…like there was a change?’ Dominic repeated slowly, trying to clarify with her.

‘Yes, change. Change body. Change mind. Change communication. Difficult, but possible.’ 

‘Huh,’ Dominic replied in absent acknowledgement. If he was understanding this correctly, Sekhmet had been able to actually change the Ability she got on tier up by thinking really hard about it. Or something like that. And as a result, she ended up with the Telepathy Ability. But that didn’t explain why she was able to use words all of a sudden. 

‘Why not, though,’ Leo piped up abruptly. ‘The hyena matriarch was able to use words too. Our females have been exposed more to words than she probably was, thanks to your messages to them.’ It was true that Dominic often struggled with forming messages purely out of images and scents and feelings, frequently retreating to words and hoping they would understand. Leo was better at it, for obvious reasons. ‘Perhaps they are like me – the exposure to words has allowed them to start using them, but as they are not in constant communication with you, they can only start using them at level ten.’

‘Perhaps,’ Dominic agreed. Then he turned back to Sekhmet with his next burning question. ‘So, why did you ask to greet the ‘other one’?’ he asked. 

She tilted her head, looking at him in curiosity, as if unsure why he was asking the question.

‘Because you are two.’ ‘Obviously’, seemed to be her feeling about that. 

‘How do you know?’ Dominic couldn’t help asking. This time, she didn’t reply in words but in a series of ‘video’ memories. 

Looking at them, he realised that, although it was the same lion – him – the body language was actually quite different. He hadn’t realised how much Leo kept an eye on his surroundings where Dominic himself only did it from time to time. Leo was much more predatory and threatening in his body language, too, while Dominic was more relaxed and curious. Even their feet didn’t fall in the same way – Leo walked more carefully and quietly even when he wasn’t actually trying to be quiet where Dominic just…walked. 

Shown the differences like this, Dominic had to admit that they were rather stark. 

‘No wonder she was able to identify that there were two of us!’ he commented to Leo. 

‘The embarrassment!’ moaned Leo, a little melodramatically. ‘The shame! One of my females has identified that there’s a clod-hopping monkey going around in my body! None of them will want to mate with me once they reach level ten!’

‘Oh stop whining,’ chided Dominic with a bit of exasperation. ‘It’s not as bad as all that. Sekhmet hasn’t exactly shown any signs of rejecting either of us, has she? And, as I pointed out earlier, she asked for me.’ Then he grinned mentally at the lion. ‘Maybe instead you should be worried that they’ll be seeking me out for mating, instead of you.’

‘Which would mean you’d actually have to be in control during that time,’ Leo pointed out with a bit of schadenfreude. Dominic paused, then shuddered.

‘True. Let’s both hope that that isn’t true, then.’ An irritated growl coming from the lioness still stood in front of them made him realise that they’d got distracted again. 

We’re going to have to be careful about when we have our inner conversations now, Dominic realised. It hadn’t been such an issue in the past, but now with the new developments, it could be.

‘What do now?’ Sekhmet asked, impatiently. 

It was a good question. The night was still relatively young, but they’d already gained almost as many Prey Points in one fight as they had in even the most profitable night recently. 

‘Do you want to hunt some more?’ he ended up asking her, then connected with the other lionesses to ask the same thing, though in images rather than words. The two unnamed lionesses seemed keen on more – they’d enjoyed the sense of getting stronger, and wanted to develop further. Isis was unsure – she was uneasy about leaving the rest of the pride for too long. Menhit appeared fine with whichever decision was taken, as did Hathor. Jenkins, like the other two young lionesses, was keen for more hunting. As for Sekhmet…

‘Others less powerful. We, more powerful. Bring prey to pride? All benefit?’ 

Oddly enough, her suggestion was the same as Dominic had already considered – way back when he wasn’t sure if he would be able to convince the lionesses to join him in hunting to get stronger. He hadn’t thought about it since then, but would it perhaps be a good one now? 

‘What if the cubs are hurt, though,’ he questioned the lioness. 

‘Leader protect,’ Sekhmet answered, as if it was obvious, a picture of Isis flashing up with her words. 

‘The cubs from our pride, sure, but what about from their pride?’ Dominic asked, indicating the two new lionesses. ‘Would Isis protect them too?’ Sekhmet seemed surprised. 

‘Why care? Not pride cubs.’ Hmm, did that answer the question from earlier about whether she was understanding the benefits of cooperation, or not? 

‘Not yet, but in the future, they will be pride cubs when the two prides become one,’ Dominic answered, trying to send her a picture to illustrate his words. In the end, he sent a picture of the two prides lying separately, then another of them lying together, looking like one big pride. 

His communication garnered a feeling of surprise and uncertainty, then thoughtfulness. 

‘One pride?’ Sekhmet asked in clarification. 

‘One pride,’ Dominic confirmed. ‘So would Isis protect all the cubs? Could she?’ Once more, Sekhmet gave off a feeling of uncertainty, then walked abruptly away from Dominic to crouch down next to Isis. 

A moment later, she came back to him. 

‘Cubs from both prides protected, yes. Mothers protect cubs too. Follow leader.’ I take a moment to parse through her words, but think I’ve understood. Isis will help protect all the cubs with her Ability, but the mothers of the cubs will also have to help protect them, and they all need to follow Isis’ leadership. 

This might take a bit of organisation, but I’m suddenly keen to try. If we find the right beasts, of course. 

‘Alright, well let’s see if we can find some good targets, and then we’ll try to organise it from there,’ Dominic decided. 

Sekhmet sent over a feeling of excited acknowledgement and went to tell Isis the decision – or at least Dominic assumed that was what she was doing when she once more crouched by the matriarch of the group.

Time to hunt. But this time, not just for his small group. 

*****

Discord server link here!

Chapter 14: Teach Grandma How To Suck Eggs