Ziya

When the trees burned, the realm was changed. Its deities took on new forms, and a third joined their ranks, one meant to keep balance between the two old gods who had spent so long embroiled in conflict. No longer would Life and Decay stand against each other, but rather alongside one another, two sides of the same coin. That was the intention.

But intentions do not always equal action. Rebirth, overwhelmed by their role, fled, leaving their tree behind and the beings of the realm to fend for themselves. The two old gods, despite this, seemed to have left things to exist peacefully... for now.

And it was that "for now" which brought Ziya to the realm of the gods, plucked from her home in that realm as a young cub some time after the great fire. For Rebirth still rejected their role, and if they indeed never fulfilled it... it might only be a matter of time until the battles began anew. But if it came to it, if another could take their place, such warring might be prevented, couldn't it?

And yet... The god of memories had seen firsthand the pain and damage the tampering required to give one the knowledge required of this role. He had seen firsthand how altering the memories of those who came to this realm so often caused pain and suffering, if not for the one whose mind had been changed, then for those who once knew the they who existed before their ascension. And so, he made a choice.

Ziya likes the stories she's been told, happy and sad. But she doesn't like lying. She doesn't like that she has to lie. It's so hard to keep track of it all! Her first "life" was the smilodon, of course - After all, save her mentor, smilodons were long gone. But what about the second? Was that the lion with the tangled mane, or the snow leopard with a scar instead of a tail? Was the sixth "life" the one in the kingdom beneath the waves, or was that the seventh? Was she getting it mixed up with the one where she "lived" in the sky? And then there were the ones in that realm Bora called Earth... It was a lot to keep track of. When she could, she simply tried to avoid the subject.

But... it wasn't all bad. Bora, for as strict as he could be, was kind. The other disciples... they were older than her, but they were fun. Sure, maybe she couldn't be open about everything, and sure, maybe sometimes she missed the life she couldn't remember, the one that was real... or, more accurately, could have been, had it not been stolen from her. But it could be worse.

At any rate, she would make the best of it. No use crying over lost lives, after all!