Prelude
I. - The night after the tragedy…
They came as a group.
"Nala," Tama called over to the other lioness cub, "Nala!"
When the little female saw her distant cousin, her eyes lit up and she rushed over to greet the blue-eyed, honey-covered cub. They laughed together and tussled around happily as all of the females from the Southern Lands greeted the Pride Landers. The Southern pride were nomadic lionesses who roamed the desert and other lands in search of rogues and of course food and water. As a result, all of the cubs were generally fatherless. Whereas the Pride Landers, Nala had known for a long time, were more about stability and reliability.
"How've you been?" Tama asked her cousin. Through the faint darkness the cub looked like she was more inquisitive then grieving. Nala only shook her head at talking about it.
"Where's Malka and Tojo?" She asked her own question instead.
The cub rolled her eyes at this. "Well, where do you think?"
Nala looked past her and saw that Chumvi was wrestling around with the other males.
"At least that gives me a break," Kula sighed as she came up beside the two.
That's when Tama took more notice of her cousins' anxiety.
"I'm really sorry," she said quietly.
Both Pride Lander cubs nodded sadly.
The three girls got caught up in a sea of grown lioness legs. Nala had to move around and get separated from the others to avoid getting stepped on. Finally she managed to make it to the edge of the group and readjust herself to a more comfortable sitting position. Once she accomplished this, Nala noticed a medium-sized figure pass her by. It was a male lion probably months older than herself. She shied away as he passed her without one glimpse.
In the onset of night, Nala made out that his fur was a dark shade of brown and the tuft of mane that corded down the sides of his neck was so brown it was almost black. She made sure to keep low to the stone floor as he climbed up to a rock by himself and laid a distance from them. Intrigued, Nala slowly rose to her feet and made her way over to see him more.
A pair of legs cut her off.
She froze and looked up the length of them to see her mother's tight green eyes.
"What are you doing, Nala?"
The cub cringed at the suspicious tone.
"Just… walking." she smiled sheepishly.
Her mother grasped her loosely by the neck and wordlessly took her back to the group. It was just growing darker when they settled down for the long night ahead of them. But as the adults sunk into a restless slumber, the cubs stirred with the circulation of the events.
"Guys," Nala turned to the two females beside her, "Who is that older cub over there?"
To be continued…
