Chapter 6
Much her mothers daughter, Kamira was awake long before the sun rose. She lay awake, eyes scanning her surroundings. She watched the sleeping forms of her pridemembers, ears perked forward, twitching as they tried to catch every sound there was. Beside her, Kasoni was sound asleep, even slightly snoring. She watched her mother's tail flick back and forth, her paw twitch involunteerily as she dreamt. Everything was taken in, absorbed in these early hours by the young cub. This was her time to observe.
Many days she lay, staring at the opening of the den, curious. For what felt like years she'd woken at this time and could only stare, not even move. Now she could walk, perhaps clumsily, but she was moving around the den at least. Her mother had kept her from the entrance, promising her to one day take her there, show her what lay beyond that mystical area of light.
Kamira's nerves were alive, her whole body humming in anticipation. No longer did she have to wait, for today was the day Sharra had promised to take her and Kasoni out and show them the world that would be theirs. Kamira lifted her head when her mothers whole shoulder twitched, followed by a gasp. The deep amber eyes opened briefly and then fluttered shut, squeezing as the white body tensed up.
The young cub stood and moved closer to her mother, nuzzling the shoulder that had just twitched. Rolling forward Sharra stared down at her young daughter. "Momma?" Kam asked, her cerulean eyes asking the question.
Sharra melted at the sight. "Don't worry baby, just a bad dream is all," She told her, licking her forehead. "What're you up at this time for?" Sharra asked, staring out at the still dark sky.
Kamira looked away, slightly embarrassed that her secret had been discovered. "Excited?" her mother asked, smiling. The cub's face lit up and she nodded vigorously.
"Yeah, real excited," she said, laughing.
Sharra roped her paw around behind her daughters rump and pulled her close to nuzzle her. She licked the downy soft cheek and couldn't help but smile as Kam burst into excited giggles. "Momma!" she laughed.
She laughed now, remembering almost as vividly as Sharra. "I was so happy you were up then, awake with me. I couldn't wait to see the outside world you and Dad got to see everyday," Kam said, then looked off toward the distant savannah. "Now I wish sometimes I never had,"
Sharra sighed, staring at her daughter as Kam fought the tears back. "Oh baby," She nuzzled her cheek. "You mustn't think like that. You're going to have beautiful cubs that will make up for all of lifes hardships. You'll see. You'll look down at them and everything will be ok just because they're there,"
Kam looked up at Sharra, their eyes locking for a moment. "But…"
"No buts, you'll see honey. You'll get through this, I promise, just like you got through your first day in the real world,"
By the time the sun had poured its light into the den, Kamira was nearly bouncing she was so excited. "Come on Kas! You're slow," She yipped, biting his shoulder to get him moving.
He shot forward, yelping. "Ow! Mo-om! Kamira bit me!" He limped forward dramatically.
Sharra rolled her eyes, "Kamira, you can't bite your brother. Apologize or we won't go anywhere today,"
The young cub sighed and shook her head. "Ugh, fine. I'm sorry Kasoni," He nodded his forgiveness and then ran up to stand beside his mother. Kamira followed, squeezing between him and Sharra.
"You two knuckleheads ready?" She asked, smiling. They giggled and nodded their heads. "Alright then, let's go,"
The light was blinding as they stepped out onto the edge of the opening. As they eyes adjusted, they took in everything with simultaneous "wow's" as they looked at each other and then stared in open-mouthed awe at the world that was now theirs. "It's beautiful isn't it?" Sharra asked, looking down at them.
Unable to answer, they merely nodded. "You two want to see the rest of it?" They nodded again, their faces breaking out into huge smiles.
Turning, Sharra hopped off the large rock and then turned. She took Kam first, grabbing her by the scruff and lifting her off the rock and then putting her on the ground. She repeated the process with Kasoni. Then, she walked off, the two cubs following after her.
As she walked, Sharra
was reminded of her first outing in the pridelands. The memory
overflowed inside her head, playing itself out in such vivid detail
that she nearly staggered trying to push it out.
"Momma? You
ok?" Kasoni asked as she stumbled.
Offering a small smile Sharra nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine, you guys want to see the watering hole first?" They nodded.
"Yeah!"
They bounded ahead of her as she neared it, rough-housing a bit and almost tumbling overtop one another. Sharra smiled as she watched. She even laughed when their play landed them in the water. As the water from the splash rose and fell over them, both nearly jumped out of their skin and came flying back out, toppling into Sharra's legs as she stopped just a few feet from the waters edge.
"What in the world is that?" Both asked, shivering as they leaned against their mother.
Sharra laughed. "Water," she replied simply. "You drink it, now that you guys are old enough to, this is what you'll drink, and you'll eat what Daddy's been bringing you," She said, smiling.
Cautiously, Kamira moved forward, walking over to the edge again. She stared down at her reflection and cocked her head. "That's what you look like," Sharra said, staring down at the water and adding her reflection to her daughters. As she stared at her own reflection, she remembered the first time she'd seen it. She moved away and shook her head. She remembered still, remembered finally figuring out why everyone made fun of her and made her an outcast. She let out a long sigh and then smiled as she watched her children begin to tentatively play in the water.
As she did, she wondered about Memmai and her cubs. Were they out discovering the pridelands for the first time as well? Or had they already discovered them? What did they look like? Perhaps they took after Mai, or maybe Katu. Sharra smiled as she wondered.
She looked at her cubs, laughing as Kamira made Kasoni do a somersault and land in the water. She shook her head as she noticed how muddy they already were. "Alright you two, let's go see something else,"
She stood and began to walk off, laughing at the way the two complained. They followed, even though they whined about it.
Sharra showed them everything, walking around the land and explaining what everything was, telling them what was off-limits and why. She left the hunting grounds for last, standing at the bottom of the hill that would lead them there. Her cubs were beginning to get tired, she knew, but this was the best part of the whole tour, or so she hoped it would be. She had saved the hunting area for last because she knew this was the time that the hunting party would be out hunting. The white lioness had timed it just right so that her cubs would see a hunt.
"You two ready to see something exciting?" She asked, eyeing the top of the hill.
Instantly their ears perked up. Though they both were tired, the prospect of something exciting had them curious. "Of course," Kasoni replied, lifting his head and holding it high in a show of pride.
Sharra laughed. "Alright then, follow me, and try to be as quiet as you can ok?"
They nodded and then followed her, trying to mimic their mother as she crouched low and slunk forward. She moved with the agile grace of a huntress and had to force herself to keep it slow so that her cubs could keep up, and as she glanced back, she had to try to keep from laughing as they tried to imitate her.
Despite the slow progress, they made it to the top of the hill. Sharra stayed low to the ground, watching, eyes scanning the herd of zebra beneath them. She smiled, zebra was her favorite. "Wow Momma, there's so many," Kamira whispered.
Sharra nodded. "Those are zebra," she said. Her daughter nodded.
The lioness picked out where the party was arranged, eyeing them, eyeing their positions. Her muscles tensed, as she wished she could be among them. Mali was at the front of the pack, off to the side a bit. Sharra watched as the huntress nodded her head, asking two of the party to move forward.
"You guys get to witness a hunt, see Mali down there, off to the left a bit?" She asked. Kam and Kasoni nodded. "She's in charge, everyone has to watch her for orders," Sharra was about to explain the next step when she heard something. Turning her head she barely had time to gasp before the herd of zebra were in full stampede, and heading right for her and her cubs…
A/N: Sorry for the cliffy, I will update soon! And 10 points to anyone who can guess what's going on with Kam ;)