Lioness Tales
Tale 1: Njano's Secret
Chapter 10: A Troublesome Cub
Despite a rough start, little Njano had made it through the drought. The rains had finally arrived, bringing with them new life to the territory of the Eyasi Pride. This meant that Erevu was finally released from his punishment, hopefully having learned his lesson.
The lion stopped joining the hunting party to concentrate again in patrolling his borders and keeping the territory free of intruders. Erevu hated to admit it, but the punishment also made him value and appreciate the hard work that the lionesses put into the hunt. He considered himself lucky to have such a good team of huntresses to provide him with food every other day.
Safi had done a good job at patrolling while Erevu had been occupied with hunting, but the relation between the two male lions had cooled down considerably. They would often go their separate ways, and Erevu hoped to be able to challenge Safi to a fight again sometime, once he was fully grown, to even the score.
Njano, in the meantime, was full of energy and would run around playfully all day long, keeping Duni extremely busy as she tried to keep track of where the cub was going. Duni realized with some mortification that she was having trouble trying to keep up, since the cub kept running all over the place, and more often than not Duni found herself following the wrong scent trail.
"Njano? Njano, where are you?" she called out loud one morning, when she had lost track of the cub for the third time already.
"Looking for this?" came Chiku's muffled voice unexpectedly, probably carrying Njano in her muzzle. Indeed, Duni felt the cub being dropped by her paws, while Njano laughed innocently.
"Thanks, Chiku," Duni said, trying not to look too embarrassed.
Chiku only snorted and walked away, shaking her head and thinking to herself that the cub would end up in serious trouble without proper vigilance. But she kept repeating to herself that it was not her problem, Duni would have to sort it out.
Duni sighed deeply and nuzzled Njano, "What did I tell you? You must not run away from me, you have to stay here where I can protect you from predators, you understand? If Chiku had been a leopard instead, you could have been dead by now!"
"Sorry, mom... Milk now?" Njano asked, feeling hungry.
"All right, come here," Duni replied, glad to be able to nurse Njano, which meant the cub would finally stay put for a while. Duni was exhausted, and would take advantage of these quiet moments to catch up on some sleep while Njano ate and napped.
Things didn't become any easier for Duni as time went by. Njano was very smart and she eventually noticed that there was something different to her mother. Once Njano realized that Duni's sight was impaired, the little lioness started taking advantage of her mother's handicap. Njano would rub herself on an object and then place it close to Duni's nose while she slept, to fool her into thinking that she was still lying nearby. Njano then would head off to explore on her own.
If she was quick enough, she would return before Duni even noticed, but one time she wandered too far and ended up in the hunting grounds, ruining the lionesses hunting attempt once by yelling loudly, "Hey Adla, what you all doing?" and blowing up the lionesses' cover.
Duni had to sit and listen time and time again as the lionesses voiced their complaints about her lack of control on the cub.
As much as it hurt her, Duni now understood why the lionesses thought she wouldn't make a good mother. They were right when they told her she had bitten more than she could chew. Duni loved Njano dearly, but the little lioness was driving her insane lately. Sometimes Duni even felt like running away and hide for a while, wishing her cub had been more like Nura instead: obedient and sweet-tempered. But then a feeling of guilt would swarm her, and Duni would feel like the worst mother ever for even thinking that way about her own, beloved cub. She kept reminding herself that she had been blessed with a healthy and intelligent little lioness, and she should be thankful for that.
But when Chiku came to Duni for the umpteenth time, complaining that this time Njano had been trying to knock down a beehive, even after being warned by Damisi that it could be dangerous, Duni finally broke down in tears, admitting between sobs that she could not take care of Njano by herself, and that she needed the help of a sitter.
Adla nuzzled Duni while drying her tears. "I'm sure something can be arranged. The drought is over, so we can spare one lioness to stay behind in cub-duty with you."
Adla looked around the Pride to see if anyone volunteered, but most of the lionesses had this I told you soexpression on their faces, feeling little empathy for Duni.
It was Nura who finally came forward. "I'll do it."
"You can't," Chiku told her, "Even though you've had your First Hunt already, you still need all the practice you can get, if you are to lead the hunting party sometime."
Nura took another step forward. "There will be time for that later. For now, there's something you need to know..."
The lionesses turned to her, listening intently.
"I've had my first season already. Erevu and I sealed our engagement last full moon."
The lionesses gasped in unison.
"I have reasons to believe that I am expecting his cub as well," Nura went on, "and I'd like to spend time with Duni and Njano, to learn how it is to raise one. So, I'd really love to cub-sit with her. Will you please let me do it?"
After some consideration, the lionesses finally agreed to let Nura stay behind.
Bahiya nuzzled her daughter, crying from happiness. "I can't believe you're all grown up... Faraji would have been so proud..."
Adla waited until the commotion died down, as the lionesses congratulated Nura, bowing to her in respect and roaring loudly in delight. The young lioness was now officially the leader's mate, and that called for celebration.
"So that's settled, then," Adla told them, "Nura will stay behind for now, and I suggest the rest of us get a move on and go search for food."
Adla then turned to Duni, who had stopped crying in the meantime, and looked more serene. "The lionesses are always very quick in helping Njano out when she gets in trouble. They do have a soft spot of her; don't let their distant attitude fool you. We're all keeping an eye on her, so don't you worry. Okay?"
"Yeah, I know. Thanks a lot," Duni said sincerely, wondering what she would do without Adla, "Sorry about all the trouble she's caused so far..."
Adla simply licked her cheek in return, reassuring Duni that there were no hard feelings from her side.
After the hunting party had left, Nura turned to Duni and Njano and asked, "Do you two feel like a swim by the lake?"
"Swim? Whassat?" Njano asked, tilting her head.
"I haven't dared taking her to the lake," Duni explained, "I'm afraid she'll jump in and I won't be able to follow her trail anymore..."
Nura nodded understandingly. "Oh, I see... But it is really important for her to learn, the sooner the better. I'd like to teach her, is that okay with you?"
Duni couldn't help but smile, and nodded in approval. The three lionesses then headed in the direction of the lake.
Nura's idea turned to be a success; Njano was having a blast while splashing around and chasing fish. And Duni didn't have to worry too much if the cub ever sneaked here again on her own, knowing that the little lioness had turned out to be a very good swimmer after all.
"Thanks for helping me out," Duni told Nura once Njano had gotten tired from all the exercise, and had curled up against them for a short nap, her moist fur drying in the sunshine.
"Don't mention it, I was looking forward to it."
Duni bit her lip for a moment, hesitant. "I... I never apologized to you for what happened..."
"Do you mean what happened between you and Erevu?" Nura replied, laughing slightly, "Don't worry about it, I know how pushy he can be. He kept asking me every single day, Are you of age yet?" she added, imitating his voice a bit mockingly, "He was driving me crazy, I tell you. He didn't nag much after he spent time with you, so I have to thank you for that."
Duni chuckled, blushing slightly. "And look at you now. Here you are, finally of age, and carrying his cub... It seems like yesterday when I was pawing your tiny face for the first time."
"Yeah, time flies... Erevu seems really happy with the idea. He says he finally feels that he can lead this Pride. He wanted to wait before making the formal announcement to the lionesses, but I thought today was a good time to let you all know, given the circumstances."
Duni looked away for a moment. "So he feels ready, hmm? That means Safi will probably have to leave soon..."
Nura looked at her in surprise. "I don't mean to pry or anything but... I had assumed that you wouldn't let Safi go all on his own... Or aren't you two that close?"
Duni couldn't hide a dreamy smile. "He asked me to go with him, yes. I had agreed back then, but now... Njano is just totally out of control. Safi will probably be busy hunting and patrolling, and then I will be left alone with the cub. I'd hate to think what could happen to her, without the watchful eye of the other lionesses..."
"You have a point, but think positive: Njano won't stay small and hyper forever. I'm sure things will work out for you in the end."
Duni gave her a hopeful grin, but couldn't stifle a yawn afterwards. "Sorry about that, I just haven't had some decent sleep in forever..."
Nura grinned. "Well, go ahead! I promise I'll keep an eye on Njano. If you find us gone when you wake up, we're just taking a walk around the borders. Is that okay?"
Duni nodded appreciatively, and fell asleep within minutes of resting her head on the grass.
Nura, in the meantime, stared at Njano curiously. There was no doubt this was Erevu's cub. Njano had inherited the colour of his eyes and his pelt, which was slightly darker than Duni's. Nura couldn't wait to see what her own cub would look like. In the meantime, she decided to start practicing her cub-grooming skills, licking Njano gently while she slept.
Duni had feared the time when Nura would retreat to give birth, and she would be left alone with Njano again. The little lioness was already six months old, but she was still extremely active and playful, and would get impatient with her mother every time Duni could not keep up with her.
"Mom, will you hurry up? Those birds are gonna be long gone if you keep lagging behind!" Njano yelled at Duni one afternoon.
"Njano, come here for a moment," Duni told her, losing her patience slightly.
Njano rolled her eyes and approached her mother. "What is it?"
"I want you to close your eyes."
"But the birds-"
"Just do it, okay?"
"Fine, fine! They're closed now,?" the little lioness replied, closing her eyes tight.
"Great. Now keep on walking, but keep your eyes closed. Don't cheat!"
"This is lame. How am I supposed to know where I'm going?"
Duni smirked slightly. "Use your nose and your ears."
Njano sniffed around, muttering unintelligible words under her breath, and just a few seconds later, she crashed straight into a rock.
"Ow!" she exclaimed, opening her eyes and rubbing her nose as her eyes began to tear up from the pain.
Duni approached Njano and licked the sore nose lovingly. "Now, I want you to imagine that this is how it is for me, all the time. I don't have the option to open my eyes and see everything the way you do. Every step I take, I have to make sure that I won't crash into anything, or step into something painful. Now, I can follow your trail, but if you keep running away from me, it just makes it harder for me to keep up. Can you understand that, Njano?"
"Yes..." Njano muttered, finding it hard to imagine having to navigate with her eyes closed all the time. "Sorry, mom. Can we please go to the birds now?"
Duni nodded, and smiled to herself when Njano had stopped hurrying her, and actually waited for her to catch up. To Njano's delight, the birds she had spotted were still in the area, and she had a blast chasing them around.
However, Njano still enjoyed sneaking away on her own so as not to be slowed down by her mother, and in the weeks that Nura was away while giving birth, the complaints from the other lionesses had started raining over Duni again, making it clear that she could not leave the Pride just yet.
It felt like an eternity to Duni, but Nura eventually returned to the lair, presenting two healthy cubs to the Pride. The first born was a male cub that Erevu decided to call Imara, and the second one was a female that Nura called Kanai.
Njano was most intrigued by Nura's new cubs, and she could hardly wait for them to grow a bit more so that they could all run around together.
Safi had been watching the Pride thoughtfully as the lionesses celebrated the arrival of the leaders' cubs. That very same evening, Safi approached Duni, while Njano slept by her side, and whispered, "You know, I think today would be a good time to make our exit... Erevu's got his own cubs now, and the Pride doesn't need my help anymore. What do you say?"
Duni looked away sadly.
"What's the matter? You don't want to come with me anymore?" Safi asked.
"I'd love to, more than anything, Safi," she replied, nuzzling him out of the blue.
He nuzzled her back, always happy with her attentions, wondering what was wrong.
"The problem is that Njano is too much for me to handle, and I hate to admit it, but I can't take care of her on my own. I'm afraid she'll get into serious trouble if we leave now."
Safi chuckled. "She is quite a handful, isn't she? I can't remember having that much energy when I was a cub."
The lion looked at Duni, who appeared worried and stressed out.
"Listen, we don't have to go yet if you're not sure about it. But I'd really like it if we could at least share a niche together or something. I'd love to sleep by your side every day."
Duni looked up and smiled. "So are you officially asking me to be your mate now?"
Safi grinned and licked her face repeatedly. "Yes, that's basically it. I just want to be with you, doesn't matter if it's here or anywhere else."
Duni snuggled her face in his mane and whispered, "I'd love to be your mate."
Both lions spent a while nuzzling and grooming each other. As they finally made their way together to Safi's usual resting spot, with Njano still fast asleep while hanging from Duni's muzzle, it became clear to the Pride that Duni and Safi were officially a couple now.
Adla smiled to herself as she watched Duni curling up against Safi, while he wrapped a paw over her protectively. She couldn't help feeling proud of how far her adoptive daughter had come.
With three boisterous cubs running around, the Pride decided to assign yet another cub-sitter, to keep an eye on all of them. Nura had resumed hunting, so Etana, Gasira and Faiza would take turns to watch over the young ones, while Duni would often tag along, teaching them how to look for rodents, and nursing them whenever they felt hungry.
Njano had taken a liking to the younger cub Kanai, and they would often team up together to tease Imara, who was a bit shy and less outspoken than the other two.
"Play nice," the lionesses would tell Njano often, but it seemed as if that concept was alien to her. Njano loved to wrestle, but she would often bite and use her claws. To make things worse, Kanai had started to follow her example, and poor Imara would often return from their playing session scratched and bruised.
"If you keep this up, we'll be forced to ask Chiku to do the cub-sitting. Trust me, you don't want Chiku as your sitter. We're warning you!" Faiza told Njano one day, when her rough play had gotten out of hand and both Kanai and Imara had deep scratches on their noses.
Unfortunately for Njano, she did not listen to Faiza's warnings, and awoke one day to find that indeed Chiku would be doing the cub-sitting for a change. Njano couldn't care less, and was prancing around playfully, until the hunting party left. Chiku then approached her and pinned her down roughly with a single paw.
"Listen up, kiddo, whatever you do to them, I'm going to do to you, so you better watch it with those teeth and claws. Understood?"
Njano tried to wiggle away from under her paw, but Chiku simply pressed down slightly harder. "Answer me."
"Okay, okay! Let go now!"
Chiku lifted her paw and Njano scurried away to hide behind Duni, who looked worried and was not totally sure this approach would actually work.
"Okay then, listen carefully now," Chiku said, addressing all three cubs while showing off her sharp, long nails, "These are the rules for today's game: first one to move, loses. That's it! The game starts right now," Chiku snarled, while the three cubs looked at her uneasily.
"What happens if we lose?" Kanai asked.
"Do you really want to find out?" Chiku said, giving her a mean, toothy grin.
Kanai shook her head, but stopped quickly realizing that this would probably count as movement.
Chiku ignored it and chuckled to herself.
"I must warn you, talking counts as moving too, so keep quiet."
Chiku had never been a good sitter, and she knew it. She had no interest in having cubs herself either, she just didn't have the patience for it. But it amused her how easily she could keep the cubs under control, including that little pest Njano, who was as still as could be.
The lioness kept the cubs like that for quite a while, until they started fidgeting, tired of sitting in the same position.
"How do you like this game?" Chiku eventually asked.
"It stinks, can we play something else now?" came Njano's swift reply.
"Well, I'll tell you what. I'll let you guys run around for a while, but at the first sign of trouble, we're going back to my game. Is that clear?"
The three cubs sighed in relief and they all stretched at the same time, glad to be able to move.
"Hey guys, how about a round of Tag?" Kanai suggested, and the two other cubs quickly agreed. As they ran after each other, Chiku went to sit next to Duni and kept an eye on them from afar.
Duni always felt shy around Chiku, more so after all the problems Njano had caused lately. Duni could hear her, breathing calmly right next to her, and that was already enough to make Duni feel uneasy.
Chiku glanced at Duni and couldn't help but laugh slightly. "Hey, the 'don't move' game was meant for the critters only, you don't have to sit still like a statue."
Duni nodded nervously and lay down on her tummy, unsure of what to say, but it was Chiku, to her surprise, who initiated conversation.
"Things must've been way out of hand if they called me in to do the cub-sitting. Didn't you ever teach Njano to control her biting and scratching?"
"We don't wrestle; I tried to play like that with her one day and ended up stepping on her by accident. I was afraid I'd end up hurting her for real, so instead I told her to scratch and bite on a piece of bark..."
"Ah, no wonder," Chiku replied, "The bark won't snarl and correct her when she bites too hard. Oh well, I'll gladly teach her a lesson today, if push comes to shove."
Duni had no doubt that Chiku would be able to instill fear in Njano if she were to misbehave. "I've been meaning to ask you... Do you actually look as menacing as you sound?" Duni asked, hoping she wouldn't feel offended.
Chiku let out a deep chuckle, apparently taking Duni's comment as a compliment. "The thing is, my mother was very much battle-oriented. She valued combat training over hunting training, so I got extra fighting lessons from her. She said that it was good to have a good fighter around, to defend the Pride in case the male was away."
Duni listened intently, as she realized how little she really knew about Chiku.
"You can imagine, as a result from my training, I turned out a bit brawnier than the rest. My face and body are covered in scars too, which makes me look a lot fiercer. I even heard from a charming passing rogue once that I look like an ugly, mane-less male."
Duni tilted her head as she could detect a slight hint of bitterness as Chiku spoke those words.
"Not that I mind, you know," Chiku added quickly, shaking her head as if trying to get away from that memory, "I'm extremely good at what I was raised to do, and that's what matters. So to answer your question, basically all I need to do is look mean and bare my teeth, and those three cubs will pee themselves in no time."
Duni, who already felt intimidated by Chiku's presence only, could not imagine what kind of effect she could have on a cub. She would find out soon enough, since at that point, they heard Imara scream in pain.
"That's my cue. Don't worry, I promise I'll try not to cause them any permanent damage," Chiku said with a wink, but since her gesture was lost on Duni, she added quickly, "That was a joke."
Duni simply nodded and pricked her ears, listening to Chiku's footsteps as she walked towards where Imara was crying.
"All right, looks like it's time to go back to my game," Chiku said, as Njano and Kanai groaned.
Chiku bent over to inspect why Imara was crying; a clear set of teeth was imprinted on his foreleg, and he was bleeding slightly. Without a warning, Chiku turned around and pinned Njano to the ground, holding one of the cub's forepaws between her powerful jaws.
"Remember what I told you?" Chiku asked through her mouth full.
Njano's eyes widened in fear, but before the cub could reply, Chiku increased the pressure on her jaw slightly, making Njano scream, much to Duni's distress. As much as she wanted Njano to learn some discipline, she didn't like the sound of Chiku's methods. Chiku, however, had been careful not to really bite. It was more the fear of being bitten what had caused Njano to scream.
Chiku released Njano's leg. "Next time I swear I'll bite you for real, until you learn how to play nice. Now line up, and stay still until I say so! Move it!" she growled.
The three cubs stood next to each other as quickly as possible and tried to remain still, while Njano sobbed quietly and tried to examine her uninjured paw without moving too much.
"I'm sorry..." Kanai whispered as soft as possible, "She didn't give me any time to explain it had been me who bit Imara..."
"S'okay," Njano said between sobs, "I wouldn't have ratted you out anyway. You're smaller than I am, she could've gobbled you up in one go! Did you see the size of her teeth?"
Kanai nodded as discretely as she could. "I did! She's super scary! But yeah... Thanks for covering up for me... I owe you one."
"Quiet, you three!" Chiku ordered, and the cubs remained as still as they could.
By the end of the day, the three cubs had never been so glad to see the hunting party returning to the lair. Having Chiku as a sitter had been a horrible and incredibly boring experience, and one thing was for sure, Njano would think twice to disobey if they threatened her with bringing in Chiku again.
Duni, who had felt very apprehensive as she listened to Chiku drilling the cubs all afternoon, was happy to hear that the biting and scratching incidents had stopped after that.
Duni couldn't help but wonder if Chiku herself was treated the same way as a cub. It sounded like she had had a rough childhood, with all the scars to prove it. All in all, Duni was glad that the they had that small moment of bonding. She felt she could now understand that scary lioness a little bit better.