Chapter 1
"Excellent,
I shall name you, my first born son, Nekoda."
Rafiki
shook gourds over Nekoda, and said
"Nekoda. Asani sani!"
"Nekoda?
Why Lilith? That means-"
The black and
silver jaguar smiled,
"Yes, it means Branded."
When her lion mate looked at
her confused, she said,
"Never
mind. Good night Arash, good night Rafiki, good night my pride, good
night my little Nekoda."
That night when
Arash lay sleeping, Lilith crept out of the den with Nekoda. She
followed the path to the water hole and the she put Nekoda down,
"Hi
Nekoda." The little brown and black cub swatted the air around
his head,
"You're
perfect!" Lilith grabbed Nekoda's left paw and etched in the
numbers 723 with her claw.
Nekoda squealed so loudly Lilith had to cover his mouth, washing him in the water, she picked him up by the scruff of his neck and scurried home.
Startled by a scream a little ways away, Arash shot up. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the darkness and when they were adjusted, he turned and saw Lilith and Nekoda snuggled up together, but what he didn't see was a tiny trickle of blood dripping from Nekoda's wrist.
For the next few weeks Nekoda was cautious around his mother until the stinging died down and Lilith didn't make any more moves to try and claw him to shreds.
He played with a couple of nice lion cubs every day for several months, and then his sister was born. Nekoda, already a year old watched the birth of his sister proudly, he was going to be an older brother!
Jemima was beautiful, an albino lion/jaguar cub with a black ear and black jaguar spots. She looked around with huge brown-green eyes, when her eyes rested on Nekoda, she said,
"Ga!"
Arash smiled and
Lilith scowled a little bit. The entire pride was watching
while Rafiki chanted,
"Asani
sani!"
Arash looked
down at his daughter, purred and said,
"Her name
will be Jemima."
"Jemima.
Asani sani." Then Lilith cried,
"Good night
every-"
"Wait!"
An old tan lion with a bluish-green mane scampered in,
"Kentai!
Hello my friend Asani!" Rafiki looked at his old friend, and
gave him a hug.
"Father! How are you?" Arash bowed down to his father,
"Do not bow to me son. I'm just your father."
Arash smiled, "You are also the wisest lion in all of the Pride Lands."
"I will
bless your daughter now," Kentai moved closer to his
grand-daughter,
"Jemima,
hiriana halelela mamela mamele."
Jemima looked into her grandfather's silver eyes and meowed.