Author's Note: I apologize greatly for the absence I have taken; it was unwanted and unintentional. I've moved quite a ways from my stomping grounds and in the process lost a few completed and unposted chapters. The last update took place over a year ago and you must forgive me, for it may take me a few chapters before I fall back into the rhythm of things. Thank you!
CHAPTER TEN: THE WASTELANDS
The Mauko wastelands had become a magnet to the heartbroken Sarafina; they stretched on endlessly, filled with nothing but only the hardiest of scrubs and the often incomplete skeletons of luckless creatures. Here, where the wind screamed amidst desolation, the lioness felt most at home.
Her frequent absences from the hunt had secured her only a guard's position and she laid this blame squarely across the shoulders of Muradi. Had it not been for the other lioness's arrival to the pride, she would be living the life she had always dreamt of: next to Taka, loving and nurturing him until the end of her days.
Instead, she stood at the very edge of the vast Mauko wastelands, her eyes half-lidded and unfocused. She was much too deep in thought to observe the slight movement from the depths of the darknened lands; she was too lost in her daydreams to notice that she was being watched.
Presently, the lioness heaved a great sigh and folded her haunches beneath her. What had become of her life since Muradi? She had been pushed out of many games, left to bond only with Sarabi. She had worked very hard for her position in the hunting party and had strived to win the affections of Taka -- only to be bested by the outsider lioness.
She was changing -- and everyone in the pride took notice; her often happy demeanor had become one of bitterness and regret. She spent less time with Makini's cubs, the troublesome trio -- Mjuvi, Kota and Pa'Heko -- and more time skirting the strange and somehow powerful Mauko border. She prefered to hunt alone, taking as much of her kill as should could before the scavengers ran her off. She felt more akin to a leopard, a creature of solitary lifestyle, than a lioness. Oh, how it burned her! That Muradi, that scamp, had taken away her identity!
This sudden bout of anger found Sarafina rising and running into the night, disappearing into the gradually thickening grasses. Her observer, however, never left its spot in the great wasteland.