Princess of the Tigers

Chapter 9

My eyes fluttered open at the sound of my door opening. It was still night and I could hear the faint sound of music coming from downstairs so I knew the party was still going on.

Marian had entered and was now sitting on my bed. I sat up a bit, wiped away the tears and looked at her. She gave me one of those pity looks, "Oh Tianria...Why are you so upset? Aren't you happy about being adopted?"

"No!" I exclaimed, "Why would I? I already have a family!"

Marian flinched at my outburst and nodded, "I guess we're both stuck here." She said before getting up and going to my wardrobe. She opened it and grabbed my sleeping dress. I stood up and she started to help get put of the dress and putting on the simple white dress that went to my ankles. I sat back down as she put my party dress away.

"Your not trapped Marian...you could go home if you wanted." I said after awhile.

She smiled sadly and sat next to me, "No, I couldn't. I need to support them."

"So you can't take a day off?" I asked.

"Sadly no. But now I have you. I can care for you now like a sister." She said with a smile, now happy.

I smiled too but it didn't last. The thought of a having a sister only brought back terrible memories. "I had a sister once," I confessed, "But I don't any more."

"Oh, I'm sorry," She said in a soft voice, "What happened?"

"When I was five or six, my sister who was born after my parents took me in, she...She was the best. She acted like a big sister even though I was older. She took me every where she went. She let me tag along no matter what she was doing or what our parents said. It was great and I loved her for that.

"Then one day she took me out for just sister time. It was fun, just us talking about whatever we could think of. We never ran out of anything to talk about. While we were out, she heard something. She told me to climb up a tree and I did as I was told, thinking she would follow right behind me. But she didn't.

"She stayed down on the ground was looked like she was ready to fight when a loud bang sounded. I looked down the tree and she was still standing there, not moving. I thought she was okay but I noticed she wasn't moving. Then after a while, she fell over and I realized what happened. So did my parents.

"I didn't even know they were near but I heard my father's roar of anger, and my mother's roar of grief. And I cried. The human hunter came out and my father attacked him. I stayed in the tree while my parents buried my sister and dispose of the dead human.

"I finally came out of the tree and my mother quickly started to groom me, saying stuff about thinking they lost me too. But my father. He gave me a weird look and muttered, 'Not one of them. Not one of them.' And I felt like he was telling me that I wasn't one of them, tiger or human, I didn't know. But it took a year for him to stop muttering that at me every time he saw me. By the time my brothers, Kiasam and Rokko, were born, he had stopped muttering at me completely."

Marian looked at me as I told the story. She hugged me once I was finished then I added, "My brothers were never told of my sister but my father did well in telling him how terrible humans are. And I believed him. I realized his muttering meant that I wasn't a human, that I was a tiger. This is why I don't want to be adopted. They lost one daughter already to humans, I don't want them to loose another."

Marian nodded and we sat there quietly, thinking things over. The silence wasn't awkward, but welcoming. Marian was still hugging me and I returned the hug after a while. I didn't have the courage to tell her my sister's name, it took a lot just to tell her the story of what happened.

I could tell she understood that without saying anything. But I felt better telling her what happened and why I didn't want to be adopted. Like, something was taken off of me and everything felt lighter. The feeling was nice and I liked it. I looked at her after pulling out of her arms, "Thanks."

"For what?" She asked.

"For listening to me. It means a lot and it feels like...like you really are my sister." I said.

She nodded then she had to go back to work. I watched her leave and I laid down on my bed and for the first time in years, I felt the presence of my sister. It was like she was always here with me, but now I could feel her with me.

And I knew everything was going to be okay.

A/N-Sorry that this chapter was shorter but I didn't know what else to put into this chapter to make it longer.

I would like to hear your thoughts on the story so far, what do you, what do you hate about it, that kinda stuff. Please do comment what you think I could do better! Thanks for reading!