Prompt Shop Bop

"Sandcastle Kingdoms" - Hera

by Natewantstobattle

"What can I make and what can I sell?

"A timeshare in Heaven that's just out of Hell"

Since Hera's pride has fallen into disrepair, she has been clueless on how she is meant to proceed in life. What is she meant to provide for those that have continued to follow after her? She has nothing she can provide, nothing that should give them any comfort in trying to follow after her. All she had to offer was herself as a queen, and even that no longer holds any weight in her disgraced state. Her experience with Chikondi proved that. Now that she had lost the pride she was meant to lead, she no longer had any value; she was damage goods, a failure who would forever be marred because of that. At one time, she could have found plenty of protection for the Mountain Pride with a political allegiance or something of that sort; instead, any mention to who she actually is immediately destroys any plans, because no one wants to take in the unlucky, disgraced queen and the pride she failed to lead.

"Am I a fraud or a genuine scam?"

Since the destruction of the Mountain Pride, Hera has done a lot of (negative) self-reflection. No matter what Odysseus or anyone else close to her says, she blames herself for what happened, when in truth there's no way to know if she could have done anything differently. The pride fell apart, and she tried to lead during that time as gracefully as possible, even if it did not work out that way. The poor lioness has wallowed in self-hatred since then, unable to give up the belief that the falling of the pride is her fault. Was she a fraud for trying to lead in the stead of her siblings and parents, who perished and left her a throne she was never meant to have? She wasn't worthy to have tried to fill the paw prints they'd left behind. Had she scammed her pride by attempting to lead them? There were others more worthy of leading, even if they didn't carry the royal blood in them. Perhaps she should have abdicated the throne back then and let someone else lead the pride, someone more competent and equipped to do so than the naive fool that she had been. She thought that a big enough heart was all that was needed. Such notions were foolish, and she had been an idiot to believe them. Maybe Hera should have embraced the idea then that she now understood all too well, and made a political alliance with another pride. Whether that meant she married someone terrible or never fell in love, or even if it meant relinquishing her pride to become part of theirs, surely that would have been better than the fate that ultimately befell them. Her pride had deserved better than Hera gave them. She'd believed she could lead them, and upon failing, realized the false pretense she gave them marked her as far more guilty for the fall of the Mountain Pride than she wanted to admit. It was her fault. It had to be.

"Am I a monster"

As she grew to loathe her behavior more and more, Hera found herself facing a truly horrid question: was she a monster for allowing what occurred to happen to her pride? After all, she had to have had the ability to fix things. She was their leader. Surely she had some agency in their destruction, because the pride had never fallen apart under anyone else's control. The rest of her bloodline had lead it just fine; it was only when it got to her that things fell apart. Didn't that mean something was wrong with her? Didn't that mark some flaw on her part? By not stepping down and by failing to lead competently, did that make her a monster? If the fault of the Mountain Pride crumbling did lie with her, then surely she was a monster, because, after all, what sort of leader let their pride fall under their control? As a disgrace to her family name, she was certain that they hated her and were disgusted by what she had allowed to have happen, and that they would have loathed her had they still been around to see what happened to the pride under her control. No matter how hard she tried, she still failed her pridemates, and has paid dearly for that mistake ever since. She has to be a monster for allowing what happened to happen, because otherwise, what could she be?

"Or worse, just a man?"

If the thought of being a monster terrifies Hera, then the alternative is far more frightening. If she is not a monster, then that further differentiates her from the rest of her family. After all, if you are a monster, you at least are still an important figure; you still are higher than a normal being, still memorable in some fashion. However, if she is not a monster, than Hera is simply just a man, a mere mortal, and that might just be scarier. If she is, then she truly has no equal footing with her family, and if that's the case, then she is even more isolated from them then she ever was before. The poor girl wants so badly to hold some sort of candle to her family, and at least as a monster, she still did something memorable. Even if she would be remembered as a monster and equated with the fall of the Mountain Pride, Hera's name would still be remembered as a leader who had an effect on her pride. However, if she truly had no agency in the downfall of the Mountain Pride, then that means she did nothing. She had no effect at all, because she certainly didn't stop it; if she is not the cause, then she was merely along for the ride, and if that's true, then Hera is simply just another lioness, in the wrong place at the wrong time and completely forgettable. To be forgotten terrifies Hera, and so she would rather be seen as evil than forgettable. She just wants to have some sort of claim to her family name.