Hey guys, new chapter! I don't own Ice Age.
Shira sighed, bored out of her mind. Why did she need to take lessons about weapons anyway? It's not like she had thumbs, so she couldn't handle them, and her teeth and claws were the only weapons she'd ever need. At least, that's what her family said. So why were they bothering to teach her about- "Shira!" a sharp voice brought her out of her thoughts. She smiled nervously up at the annoyed, stern face of her mother, arms crossed and tapping her foot impatiently. "Are ya payin' attention?"
"Uh…" she chuckled nervously. "Maybe?"
Raz sighed in exasperation. No matter what any of them did, sometimes they just couldn't get her to pay attention during her lessons. Other times, however, she was so focused it was almost unnerving.
"Sheila, 'nestly, what do I have t'do ta getch yer attention today? Y've been distracted all morning."
"I- I'm sorry mom." She apologized. "I just… ever since the last land visit…" they had been on land for another raid, like they did every six-eight months (eh, usually. Sometimes they just went when they were bored and wanted to terrorize people).
The land mass had been barren and cold and snowy, but they had found a pack of white wolves to mess around with. Shira had enjoyed it from her mothers pouch, but she couldn't fully because of the one word that echoed around her mind. Siberia. She had no idea what it meant, or where it had even come from; she wasn't even entirely sure she hadn't made it up subconsciously.
Still, it was a pretty, elegant sounding word. It was mysterious, and stirred ancient feelings inside her. She didn't know what they were, they were different and weren't from her pirate life, but that was impossible, she'd lived with them forever… right?
But, suspiciously, one of those feelings was quite similar to… love. Like the love she felt for her family. But- but it wasn't for them, it was for someone else, and that scared her. How could she love someone else, someone that wasn't in her family? Wasn't that like betrayal? So many questions bubbled inside her, she found it impossible to think straight.
"What about it?"
"Well I- somehow I… I can't help but think I've been there before." Raz froze, blood turning to ice. Was that her daughter's homeland, where she'd been born, the place where she'd come from before she came to them? If so, could it possibly be stirring old, forgotten memories with her biological mother and father? She severely hoped not, would she want to go back if she did?
"Sh-Shira." Her voice was slightly shaky. "Tell me… just- close your eyes, and think. What's the earliest thing you remember?"
She closed her eyes. "Hmm… well…." She frowned in concentration. "I think…" she waited, tensing in anxious anticipation. "The earliest thing I remember… I'm laying down on… I'm not sure what, but Gupta's playing his flute for me."
She sighed in relief. She remembered that day.
It was maybe a week and a half after Shira came, and she'd been especially fussy that day and refused to go down for a nap. Eventually Gupta offered to help, and put her down on a leaf bed under the high rise platform, then played a soft song for her on his flute. It had her out within the minute.
It may have been selfish, hoping she didn't remember her birth parents, but she didn't want anything to happen that could possibly take her precious daughter away. She sighed again. "Thank violence."
"Why?"
She stiffened. Why had she ever opened her mouth? She mentally reprimanded herself. She tended to be impulsive and act on instinct and, well… impulse. She usually didn't have second thoughts about anything, she just did what first came to mind and what felt natural, usually never having any reconsiderations. "I- uh…"
"Yes?"
"…Nothin Sheila." She pulled her into her lap. "Just glad yer here, thas' all."
"But I'm always here mom." She pointed out matter-of-factly.
"I know Shira. Ah'm jus glad yer here in gen'ral."
"O… kay?"
She laughed slightly. "Go play; see if you can get ridda' that energy and focus. Ya need yer trainin."
"But why? Learning is boring!" she whined. At her mother's sharp look, she quickly explained. Raz had little to no tolerance for complaining or anything related to so. "I can't use weapons anyway."
She sighed; she knew she'd ask someday. "Look Shira… memba when ya was taken by them otha pirates?" the child shivered in fear and scrambled into her pouch. She still had nightmares about that. Then again, it had only happened a little over a year before.
"Mmm-hmm." She whimpered fearfully.
Raz stroked her head calmingly. "Well, see, ev'ry pirate knows how ta use blades. Y'know that right?"
"Of course I do mom!" she giggled; it was almost silly, thinking she couldn't know something so… common sensible (if that made any sense).
"Good. Well… baba', when they wan' something, they'll take whateva they need t'get it. And…" Shira got her point and nodded for her to continue. "And when ya older… yer gonna have t' fight fer yer life sometime." She whimpered and shrunk further down into her pouch. She hadn't want to tell her something that would most certainly scare her greatly, but she needed to know the truth. If she was left uniformed, it might just cost her her life.
"And yer probably gonna be goin up 'gainst diff'rent weapons."
"But that's not fair!" she cried. "I can't use those!"
"'Xactly why ya need ta learn all bout them. Ya need ta know their weak points, how ta counter attack. If ya getch yerself 'nough trainin in heada' time, y'll be a fine pirate. I know ya will be anyway, but…" she sighed.
"Ok… I think."
"So y'll pay more attention in yer studies?"
"Oh no, mom. They're still boring."
Raz shook her head as the cub scrambled off, but she couldn't help but grin, chuckling to herself. What a child…
So… what'd you think? I know, not any action. But I figured this would be kinda funny. Anymore ideas? Anything at all?
