(For those of you unaware, I heard a rumor they were going to be brothers, and if you think about it, they would be twins or half, and I'm going with twins. This is a self-indulgent AU of them both growing up as members of the Royal family.)
Leona had wanted a cub for years, so badly it was painful. Claudus always reassured her, telling her one could not force nature and the gods would bless them when they were ready. He always delivered his words so gently that she always wanted to and allowed herself to believe him, despite knowing otherwise. The truth of the matter was much more heartbreaking.
Peering into the basket beside her mate, she couldn't help but feel overjoyed. To her, it was as if the gods had blessed them with not one, but two sons.
The crowd was hushed, but curious, as Claudus reached into the basket, consequently earning himself two purrs from the sleeping bundles, and pulled a tucked card out. She glanced at it and smiled even more broadly.
Names.
"Just their names," Claudus announced, his voice light and curious. "Nothing more." Then he paused and looked up, "Where did you come from, little tigers?"
Tygra, she looked at the orange-furred cub, swathed in a green blanket, and Bengali. Her gaze transferred to his pale brother, who seemed to have a natural blue 'mask' that curved down from the bridge of his nose to his cheekbones, before travelling to his ears. He was swathed in a dark blue blanket.
Warmth, akin to the feeling she felt with her sister's children, seeped through her body. And then she reached into the basket, picking Tygra up and holding him to Claudus, before picking his brother up. "It seems the gods have delivered us sons." The brothers stirred in their sleep. Claudus looked down at Tygra, perplexed.
"Tigers?" he asked, leaning closer.
She looked deeply at the sleeping bundle in her arms, and then at Tygra in Claudus' arms. "Not just tigers, Claudus. Princes."
They both purred.
They were playful and rambunctious. Within weeks, the two were crawling—and falling—all around the nursery that Leona had feared would never be used.
With some minor renovations, it had been outfitted for the fraternal twin princes. As it was, she spent most of her time in their with her happy and handsome little princes, and often slept on the bed that had also been brought in—specifically for her to use if she felt the need to. She would play with them both, for one was rarely awake or even away from the other—a lovely fact she had discovered very soon after a second cradle had been brought to the nursery, and the twins had been found sleeping on the floor the very next morning.
She had been very concerned, but once she had confirmed that they were—thankfully—unhurt from their fall, she had sent out her lady-in-waiting and her handmaid to acquire a much larger crib for the both of them.
As of the moment, Leona was sitting on her bed, chuckling softly at Tygra as he crawled under the light pink blanket. Bengali seemed to be more content sitting up and observing the sunlit room in his quiet and mellow manner.
She leaned forward, recognizing this as Tygra playing, and grasped the corner of the blanket. "Come out, come out wherever you are." she spoke in a sing-song, gently lifting the blanket. Tygra looked up from where he lay in 'hiding', confused but nonetheless happy and giggling. Of course, because Tygra was giggling, so was Bengali.
Leona laughed fondly as she scooped them both up and held them close. "You are my handsome little princes." She nuzzled them and they quite enthusiastically pawed her face and mane.
Leona was overjoyed when she learned she was with a cub. This could be the one, the one child she was meant to carry and nurture before entering the world.
The twins, who even at a young age were clever, but very kind, would always be her children. She would always love them, no matter what. But the cub she carried was special in a way that Tygra and Bengali had never been had the opportunity to be; the cub she carried was a sign that she was capable of carrying life, that she wasn't infertile.
She was so over joyed that she cried, and Claudus was, at first, concerned that something was wrong.
They didn't tell anyone right away, just in case... something went awry as Jaga feared it might. But once it was obvious, they decided they had to tell little Tygra and quiet Bengali that they were going to be big brothers.
She came into the room, with Claudus' arm gently slung around her smaller frame, to see Tygra and Bengali both wrestling a little—both wore blue shirts and white leggings, but the blue of Bengali's shirt was of a much darker color that complimented his white fur better than it would his brother's dark orange fur. They stood there for several minutes, just watching the two, who had seemingly grown up so fast—had four years really gone by already?—as they played.
Finally, Claudus announced in a gentle voice, "We have some exciting news, Tygra, Bengali."
They both stopped wrestling, and sat up with happy joy that lit their features was contagious, and coupled with the surreal knowledge that she was with a cub, was enough to make her break out into a broad grin.
"The gods have blessed us a second time," she told them softly, cupping her swollen baby-bump.
Claudus added, "You're going to be big brothers."
They shared an excited look, and a happy little gasp.
Leona opened her arms, silently beckoning them over. Her own expression fell slightly as she realized that they—mostly Tygra—would be crushed to learn that their younger sibling would be inheriting the throne. For four years, they—again, mostly Tygra, though Bengali rarely seemed to mind or even be jealous - had been told time and time again it was their—Tygra's—birthright. That one day, Tygra would be King and wield the Sword of Omens.
Their expressions fell—they were such sensitive cubs, that her own mood easily affected theirs—and they solemnly got up and crossed the room to her. She clasped Tygra's left shoulder and Bengali's right shoulder, and crouched down. Leona knew she needed to reassure them.
"You are my handsome little pr-" she hesitated. They were still princes but, no longer the princes or prince. "-darlings," she corrected herself to. The small smiles that had started to spread on their features were wiped away with sad, slightly open-mouthed expressions.
Leona felt just as crushed as them.