I love the Banjiku. They are so cool! So here's a story about one of them.
I come from Zallara, in south Carthak. My nomad tribe pays homage to the Emperor in the North.
I started turning into a lioness when I was fifteen. Give or take a few sick days I was able to turn into a lioness at will.
It turned out the mysterious stranger my mother mated with was to be my undoing. She met him on her spirit solo and they fell in love. She brought him back with her and tried to stop the villagers from killing him. They said that he was an evil spirit that had come to try their faith. My village can be very stupid sometimes. Any ways she discovered that she was pregnant with me and was taken in as a second mate to the leader. Mother died just after I was born and I've been bounced from hearth to hearth for as long as I can remember. Other children aren't allowed to talk to me. I had a lonely life until I started turning. By then I was fifteen and old enough to wed. The villagers threw me out as soon as I was able to fend for myself. They told me to find others of my kind and to never come back.
I stopped for a moment. I had come this way because I had scented lions in my lion form. Even in my human form I had superior scenting abilities. Worse I was beginning to come into heat. Every time I stopped I made an odd grunting noise, I don't know why, instinct I guess.
The smell of lions was getting stronger as I headed into the heart of the prides territory. I hoped that I would be accepted because 1. I was female and 2. I was in heat and 3. I was a good hunter.
A fresh pile of dung was before me. I opened my mouth to fully get a whiff. This was dung that belonged to a male in his prime! Just what I was looking for! More importantly the dung was fresh.
I opened my mouth and roared the song of a lioness cast adrift from her pride and looking for a mate while she was still in heat. Before I had finished he was there! Fully 400 lbs he out weighed me by 150 pounds. His mane was rich ocher red and his body was tawny and muscular. In short he was the mate of my dreams.
"Why have you come into my territory?" he said indignantly. His voice was low and pleasant to listen to.
"To join your pride." I answered as calmly as I could.
"That doesn't tell me anything about you!!!" He said exasperatedly.
"I am Norami. I am from a pride south of here. I was banished from my pride forever." I replied with my eyes cast down.
Pride males sometimes eat cubs but only if the cubs are male too. There is only one thing a lioness could do if she was banished. And that is to eat her own young. And that explains the horrified look on my prospective mates face. But I couldn't have eaten my young because this was my first heat and I knew that he could smell it on me.
"But this is your first time!" he shouted, "WHAT DID YOU DO!!!"
I bowed my head and told him my story. As I spoke three lionesses rose up around me and to my surprise they were all laughing at me.
"I'm sorry," the lion said, "But that's basically what happened to all of us!"
And then he proved it!!
I woke up surrounded by the lionesses. When I fall asleep in one form I wake up in the other so when I woke up to three mouths with big teeth I panicked and shifted to a fighters crouch.
The largest lioness looked at me and said, "I am Zena. This is Kiara and Xantha."
Zena was light ivory, almost white. Kiara was ocher yellow and Xantha was the color of ripe wheat.
Zena continued, "I'm the lead female. Kasec is the male. You're quick with your shifting. Tomorrow there will be a hunt to test your abilities. I trust you can do the duties of a tribe woman."
"Yes I can," I replied. "It was the only reason that I was tolerated by my village. I can make leather and store food and make a hut."
"Good." Zena said.
For a second I dared hope that I had found a home. The group turned and loped off as I followed. We came to a cave in the side of a cliff. I was disappointed that I couldn't see Kasec. As if reading my thoughts Kiara told me that he was out scouting for a herd and that he wouldn't be back for a while yet. Zena, Kiara, and Xantha changed. I copied them. They tested my knowledge of food and building and tanning.
While we worked, they told me of how my species came to be. "We are of the tribe, Banjiku. We are lion-beast. Our cousin's are not so lucky, they can only commune with animals. We can turn into them. All of us escaped when the Emperor took our tribe."
I mulled this over while I worked.
Finally we went to sleep. I collapsed in the shelter of the cave.
When I woke I found that I was the first one up. I started the morning meal. But I was too nervous to eat any of it. Kiara woke next and said," Nobody here is a morning person." She tasted my stew and smiled. "This is very good! What's in it?"
"Antelope from the last hunt and various herbs and grains. You really need this hunt."
"WE really need this hunt. You're going to be accepted." She said with a serious expression. "How I know is that you've been wandering the savannah for two months. You would be a lot skinnier if you weren't a moderate hunter."
"Thank you," I said, "But I've learned to not get my hopes up."
"Understandable."
Then Zena and Xantha woke simultaneously. They walked over and sat down by the campfire.
"Somebody go wake up Kasec. The lazy bum has to help with this hunt." Xantha said.
I offered. When I woke him he took a swipe at me with his hand. I quickly dodged the blow and offered him a bowl of tea. He took a sip and coughed.
"Goddess, that's strong tea!!!" he spluttered. Then he gave me a smile that melted my heart.
"I've been told to get you up for the hunt."
"I'm up, I'm up." He gave a yawn that showed me his perfect teeth with a small cavity in the back. I returned to the women. They smiled at me in greeting and quickly finished their soup. Then we all shifted and loped outside to wait for Kasec. He joined us and silently we all trotted south. I was surprised that Kasec hunted with the women. But I was told that they ignored the hide bound rules of regular lion prides. There were too many things that could go wrong with a hunt to rely on only three lionesses.
When we got to the river I saw that they had made a canyon with brush and grass. They stopped while Zena told us the plan. I would go to the north of the small herd of wildebeest and drive them toward the canyon on Kasec's signal. Then Kiara would continue the drive until she was too tired to go on. Then Xantha would chase them to Zena who would get them into the canyon. Please let me not fail. I trotted north and got behind the herd. I crouched low in the tall grass. Then Kasec gave a roar that shook my bones. I sprang into action. I let loose a roar of my own as I chased them down. When I couldn't go on Kiara got up from her hiding place. The smell of two lionesses scared the wildebeest even more. I loped after and saw Xantha racing after them too. Finally they reached the canyon. By then they were so panicked that they raced right in. We followed them and the butchery began. Afterwards we all stopped to breathe and Zena said, "It's time for the ceremony."
They got in a line in front of me and said in unison, "Do you promise to uphold our traditions, beliefs and honor?"
"I do."
"Do you promise to help hunt and live peacefully?"
"I do."
"Then we welcome you the pride."
They surrounded me and licked and nuzzled. For the first time in my life I was home.