Lioness Tales
Tale 1: Njano's Secret
Chapter 17: A Painful Farewell
The Eyasi Pride gathered together after hearing Erevu's call, wondering what had prompted this meeting.
Safi and Duni also joined them, when Erevu told them that this concerned the both of them as well.
"Get up here," he muttered to the two young lionesses still standing behind him.
Njano and Kanai joined the rest of the Pride, looking very distraught.
The lionesses gasped when they saw Njano sporting a few bloodied scrapes on her side, and deep gashes on the back of her head, caused no doubt by a leonine paw.
Adla walked to her, inspecting the wounds, and looked at Erevu, demanding an explanation. "What's the meaning of this?"
Erevu turned to Njano and snarled, "Tell them what you were doing."
Njano looked around, feeling the Pride's stares as if they were piercing her like a razor-sharp claw. She looked at Duni, who had no idea what was going on; Safi was trying to describe to her what was happening and how Njano appeared to be wounded.
"I said tell them!" Erevu growled, slapping Njano's flank with a paw.
Njano winced in pain and then looked at Kanai, who appeared to have lost her voice all of a sudden. Seeing she wouldn't get any help from Kanai for the time being, Njano cleared her throat and muttered, "I was helping Kanai through her season."
The lionesses gasped in unison, wondering if she meant what they thought she meant.
"Imara and I saw it with our own eyes," Erevu went on, pacing in circles around Njano, "These two were engaged in a poor attempt at mating, while the leader-to-be," he spat, "pushed her own mate away, to spend time with this lioness instead."
"That's not true!" Njano interrupted, "I came across Kanai by accident, I just wanted to say good-" but Erevu cuffed her hard again, this time on her face, rendering Njano silent again.
Duni heard the hard slap against Njano's face, and began crying. "Please, Erevu, stop hitting her, she's hurt enough already..."
Erevu turned towards Duni and raised a paw to her too, but Safi growled and stood defensively between Erevu and Duni. "Lay a paw on her and I kill you right here," he snarled.
"Everyone, get a grip and focus on the matter at hand!" Adla roared, getting the whole Pride's attention. "Erevu, please stop beating Njano! Haven't you caused her enough pain already?"
Erevu narrowed his eyes. "I don't care about what you think anymore, Adla. If you want this lioness to remain unscathed, then you will make sure that she leaves this Pride, right now. Same thing goes for Kanai!"
Kanai looked up when she heard those words. "No!" she finally spoke.
Erevu turned to her, baring his teeth. "You're a disappointment to me, and you don't deserve Imara as your mate. The betrothal is canceled, he can now choose another lioness of the Pride as his mate."
Kanai went to join Imara and they both looked at each other, clearly not expecting this turn of events.
"No, Erevu, please," Kanai begged, "I don't want to leave... I've studied so hard, you know everyone agrees I'd be a good leader, please don't kick me out!"
Imara stood firmly by her side and joined her pleas. "You have to let her stay! You know I don't want any other lioness as my mate, I really like Kanai and I am sure all this is just... some... big misunderstanding!"
"There was no misunderstanding, Imara, we both saw them very clearly." Erevu then turned to Njano again, placing a paw under her chin and forcing her to look up. "How long has this been going on?"
Kanai stepped forward and answered the question before Njano could speak. "There was absolutely nothing going on! We're just good friends!"
Njano turned to look at Kanai. Her heart ached, seeing the love of her life denying all what they went through, as if it had not mattered at all.
"How do you explain what we saw today, then?" Erevu snarled at Kanai.
"She went looking for me and told me she knew of a way to help me through my season. That's all! I could not control myself, you know how hard it is... She was very insistent, and I just couldn't say no..."
Njano's mouth hung open for a couple of seconds, as Kanai told her, "I'm sorry, Njano, I can't cover this one up. If I had known that by accepting your help, I would upset Erevu and Imara so much, I'd never accepted it in the first place. I would never risk my position in the Pride, there's just too much at stake. You'd never understand... You have nothing to lose..."
Kanai gave a meaningful look at Njano, trying to convey how sorry she was for selling her out like that. She hoped she would understand.
Erevu turned to Njano again. "So this was all your idea, then?"
The whole Pride was silent, except for a few sobs coming from Duni, who seriously feared for her daughter's safety now.
"I... No, it... I..." Njano stammered, not sure how to react to her best friend's betrayal. She paced around nervously until she was face to face with Kanai. Njano looked deep into her eyes, reproachfully.
Kanai simply repeated in a soft whisper, for only for her to hear, "You have nothing to lose... Please..."
Njano had no other choice but to accept the fact that Kanai had just thrown her to the wild-dogs. She was now completely on her own.
Looking around at the Pride, Njano noticed that there was not one supportive look or gesture towards her. She saw Faiza and Etana whispering something amongst themselves, while Bahiya and Adla were trying to comfort Duni. Chiku was staring at her intently, as she tried to make sense of what was going on, her expression hard to read.
Njano closed her eyes and looked away. She could tell them the truth. She could tell them how Kanai was the first to declare feeling love for her, and how she started all this fake-mating thing in the first place. But that would only get both of them kicked out. Njano could now clearly see that Kanai really had no interest at all in her; she seemed more mortified about having to leave Imara and her position as leader, than about causing her grief and pain. So, even if they ended up in the same Pride after exile, the love and trust she once felt for Kanai had certainly taken a huge dent.
Njano, who had never been a vengeful lioness, opted to take the blame for now. She would then leave with Safi and Duni, and explain to them exactly what had happened. Whatever the rest of the Eyasi Pride would think of her was of no relevance any more.
"You all know Kanai and I have been best friends basically since the day she was born," Njano finally spoke, "I'd never do anything to hurt her or get her in trouble. All I wanted was to be there for her, always, to keep an eye on her and protect her. I even consented to mate with Erevu outside of my season, just to obtain his permission to keep my place in the Pride, and stay with her."
There was a murmur from the lionesses, while Kanai looked at her with eyes wide open, realizing how far Njano had gone for her. She felt her heart sinking to her stomach, when Erevu didn't deny it.
He looked a bit embarrassed, but finally confessed, "So we did. She came to me and we agreed in an exchange of favours," he told the lionesses, sounding slightly defensive, while the lionesses continued muttering amongst themselves.
"The point is..." Njano went on, "You can probably tell by now that I was willing to do a lot of things for Kanai. When I saw her suffering through her season tonight, I had the stupid, crazy idea that I might be able to help her. I had no idea if it would work or not, it was all just a stupid experiment. I didn't mean to get anyone into trouble, especially not Kanai."
The lionesses continued to whisper amongst themselves. Njano could pick up a few phrases, such as 'dumb mistake, but not worthy of exile', 'It was to be expected, with the lack of supervision from the mother...' and '...not surprised she tried that silly idea out, she's always been a trouble maker after all...'
Meanwhile, Adla had kept a close eye on Njano and Kanai during the whole conversation. There was way too much tension between those two, and it was obvious to her that this had not been one of Njano's silly games that she thought of in the spur of the moment. There was something deeper going on between them. Adla also remembered how Duni had approached her to discuss this matter; she was now sure that Duni had known more back then than she had dared to admit.
The alpha lioness could tell that, while shocked, the Pride would probably be willing to see past Kanai's and Njano's unusual feelings, but Erevu was clearly not in a forgiving mood. She had never seen him so upset, and she even wondered whether she would be able to help Njano any further.
Njano, in the meantime, looked around at the judgmental faces of the lionesses, but what hurt her the most was to see Duni looking extremely angry, while muttering to Safi, "I told her so, I warned her she'd get hurt."
What Njano didn't know, was that Duni was actually not angry at her, but at Erevu, for having taken advantage of her daughter's desire to stay. But Njano could not tell that at this point. It felt as if everyone was repulsed by what she had done, which somehow appeared to be serious enough to obscure the impact of Erevu's abuse of power. No one was talking about that. But the worst was seeing the disappointed look in Duni's face. It was extremely disarming, and it was then when Njano admitted defeat. All she wanted now was to run away and be on her own.
"I'm sorry, everyone..." Njano said, "I really didn't think my idea to help Kanai would be so devastating. I didn't mean to cause any trouble..."
Erevu hushed her with a snarl. He then took a deep breath, and addressed Imara. "Are you sure you still consider this lioness worthy of being your mate?" he asked, motioning with his head towards Kanai.
Imara nodded. "I do. I forgive her for giving in to Njano's suggestion. It was not Kanai's fault; I had already seen Njano act like that during wrestling, so I am not surprised that she tried this again tonight, taking advantage of Kanai's current state. Please let Kanai stay, it would be a shame if all her good training went to waste. She's worked extremely hard."
Erevu paced to and fro, looking thoughtful, but in the end he nodded and then looked at Kanai. "I expect nothing but a hundred percent loyalty from you from now on. You will go with Imara tonight, and seal your bond with him, as it was intended from the very beginning. I don't care if you want cubs or not."
Kanai nodded, willing to do whatever it takes so as not to get kicked out along with Njano.
"Fine, Kanai is allowed to stay," Erevu announced to the Pride, but then bared his teeth menacingly in front of the shaken lioness, "But one paw out of line, and you'll regret it. You hear me?"
Kanai nodded again, bowing at him in respect, and muttering, "I didn't mean to let you and Imara down. I'm very sorry."
Adla then walked to Erevu, and placed a paw on his shoulder. "I think they both have learned their lesson now, let's just leave them alone."
Erevu shook Adla's paw off him. "I'm not done with Njano yet," he growled.
Erevu approached Njano, who was visibly shaken, and kept staring down at her own paws in shame.
"You tried to corrupt Kanai from the very beginning, with your childish nonsense, your stupid games, and now this... I think you deserve a bigger punishment. Exile is not good enough," he snarled.
Adla insisted and tried to calm him down. "Come on, Erevu, she's been through enough already."
"You won't get your way this time, Adla," Erevu replied, relieved that the truth about his arrangement with Njano had been revealed, and Adla couldn't blackmail him anymore. He turned to Njano once more. "She seems to think she can act like a male, let's see if she can fight like one too."
Njano looked up at him, visibly scared. "Are- Are you challenging me?"
Erevu didn't have to answer that. His aggressive demeanor and his combat stance were clear enough.
Njano knew there was no way she could win a fight against someone Erevu's size. It would be suicide to try and stand up to him like that. But before she could say anything in her defense, Erevu pounced at her, with bared teeth and extended claws. He was not playing games.
Njano tried desperately to avoid his attacks. She wasn't even fighting back, she was only trying to look for a way out, but Erevu was a trained fighter and he kept blocking her path, while injuring Njano in the process. The lioness screamed with every blow and slash she received, roaring loudly in pain.
The voices from her pride-mates became a blur. Everyone was screaming for Erevu to stop, but the Pride, seeing that even Adla received a painful blow as well when she tried to intervene, didn't dare to break into the fight.
Kanai had buried her face in Imara's short mane, not being able to stand seeing her friend hurt like that. She felt Njano would die at Erevu's paws, and it was all her fault. The thought made her sick to her stomach and she had to force herself not to throw up on the spot.
The one-sided fight ended abruptly when the sound of another male's voice joined in with Erevu's imposing roars. Safi could not take the abuse any longer, and disregarding his own safety, he had jumped into the scene of the fight, standing up defensively between Erevu and Njano.
"That's enough," Safi yelled, "She's not fighting back, can't you see? Well, I am willing to fight for her, if you insist in carrying on with this gruesome display of dominance!"
Erevu snarled, sizing Safi up and down. The lion was much stronger, and he didn't want to risk making a fool of himself in front of his Pride.
Erevu only shook his head in response, and dropped his fighting stance. He walked around Safi, staring down at Njano with disgust.
Njano lay sprawled on the ground, bleeding from several places. Although her wounds were not deep or lethal, the heavy blows she received to the head were making her act dazed and confused. She was not quite aware of the reality of her situation, because she kept calling softly, "Uncle... Uncle..." as if she had been engaged in nothing but a wrestling game.
The lioness recovered shortly after and became aware of her surroundings once again. She looked around, and immediately tucked in her ears and tail, curling up into a small ball, when she saw Erevu glaring down at her. She even soiled herself slightly as she released her own urine, the biggest sign of submission she could give to Erevu, hoping to appease him.
No one in the Pride had seen someone act so meekly out of sheer terror, but before they could rush to Njano's side to assist her, Erevu motioned them to stop.
"Get up," he told Njano, unimpressed by her submissive gesture. "This is what's in stock for you, if you decide to stay. What will it be?"
Njano stood up with trembling paws and shook her head. "I'll- I'll go..."
Erevu smirked for a moment. "Good. And I'll tell you what... Since you like games so much," Erevu taunted, "How about you join me on this one? I will count to three and you'll start running. If I catch up with you, I tear you to pieces. If you manage to outrun me, then you'll live. I think the rules are clear enough, don't you agree?"
Njano heard an explosion of voices and yells around her but nothing made much sense to her anymore. She had no idea if they were defending her, or egging Erevu on. All she knew is that he looked serious enough, and she knew for certain that her life was at stake.
"One..." he started counting, "Two..."
Before Erevu reached the number three, Chiku actually pounced on him and pinned him down to the ground.
"Come on, someone, help me!" Chiku called, and Safi came to her assistance, keeping Erevu hostage under their own body weight.
"Run! Get away now, while you can! We'll try to hold him back!" Chiku screamed at Njano.
Njano looked at her, puzzled as to why Chiku, of all lionesses, would risk her life like that for her. But Njano had no time to ponder about it right now. She turned around and ran as fast as her wounded legs could carry her, while back in the distance Duni's cries could be heard loud and clear.
"Njano, no, please! Where is she heading? What's going on?" cried the blind lioness desperately. No one was answering her questions amidst all the chaos, so without hesitation, Duni darted off, trying to follow Njano's trail.
Adla quickly joined in the pile of lions holding Erevu down.
"Go after them," she told Safi, "bring them to safety, hurry!"
Safi nodded and released Erevu, while Adla and Bahiya took his place. The lion then ran after Duni as fast as he could.
"Get off me!" Erevu growled," I wasn't planning on giving chase! Let me up!" but the lionesses didn't risk it and kept him down until Safi had disappeared in the distance.
Safi didn't take long to catch up with Duni. As fast as she was running, the lioness was being careless, not being able to afford time to spend in recognizing her surroundings. Duni kept tripping with everything in her path, injuring herself with branches and bushes in her way.
"Duni, Duni!" Safi called, "Stop this! You're only hurting yourself. Come on, I'll lead you to Njano."
Duni brightened up when she heard his voice. "Okay... You go ahead, I'll follow your trail," she told him.
Safi nodded, and ran ahead as fast as he could, while leaving a few sloppy marks for Duni around obstacles along the way, so that she could keep up.
Safi gasped as he picked up the sound of the river not far away, realizing that Njano was heading in that direction.
"Njano! Njano, please stop! It's me, Safi! Erevu's not giving chase!" he called in vain.
Njano was vaguely aware of someone yelling her name in the distance, but the lioness was not stopping for anything.
She eventually reached the edge of the river and stopped abruptly, panting heavily. She had only been here once, with Adla and Duni, and they warned her not to jump in under any circumstances. However, she knew Erevu hated water, and he would not pursue her if she were to dive into the river.
The lioness looked around and searched for crocodiles nearby, but there weren't any. The current was strong though, and she knew she would be dragged along. But she was also very confident in her swimming abilities, and she was sure she could make it to the other side. The river would erase her trail, and Erevu would not be able to find her anymore.
With that thought in mind, the lioness took a deep breath and plunged into the cold water, while the current immediately swiped her away.
Njano had never experienced anything quite like this. She know understood why Adla had warned her about this place. Swimming in the tranquil lake could not be compared to being swept down forcefully by the water, and trying to stay afloat in these troubled waters was proving more difficult than she anticipated. The water kept rushing over her head, making it difficult to see where she was heading. But Njano finally managed to keep her head out of the water, and used her remaining strength to wade across to the other side of the river bank, while trying to avoid obstacles in the process.
She hit a few rocks here and there, but she eventually managed to reach the river bank. Njano didn't linger by the edge for long. She shook the excess water off her pelt, and ventured quickly deep into the bushes to take shelter, just in case Erevu was still looking for her.
Njano remained on the lookout for a while, but the exertion she just went through finally took its toll, and she fell asleep despite all her efforts to stay awake and keep guard.
When Safi reached the river, he sniffed around desperately, hoping that Njano had decided to take a different route. He checked the trees and bushes around, but Njano's scent trail ended right by the river bank. It became clear to him that the lioness had jumped into the water.
Safi was staring at the river with tears in his eyes, wondering how to break the news to Duni, who had just managed to catch up with him.
"Tell me she didn't jump in, please..." she muttered, out of breath.
"I'm sorry, Duni..."
"There must be something we can do! I'll- I'll go find her!" Duni said, and jumped straight into the water, but Safi held her by the tail tightly and pulled her back out, while Duni coughed and gasped for air.
"My dear, there is no way you can follow her there. We have no idea if she made it out. Even if we managed to cross to the other side, who knows where she ended up? The current is extremely strong. Even I don't dare to jump in. There's no way you could make it without being able to see and dodge all those logs and rocks."
Duni cried out loud, roaring and calling for her daughter, hoping to hear Njano's voice from the other side, telling her that she was okay. But no one answered her roars.
"I have an idea," Safi told her, "Let's follow the river, maybe we can spot something..."
Duni agreed, and followed Safi, calling for Njano while he kept a sharp eye on the opposite side of the river bank. He kept to himself the fact that the current was worse than before, and there were lots of sharp, dangerous rocks sticking out of the water. His hopes of Njano making it out alive were diminishing considerably.
"I think I hear something..." Duni said, pricking her ears.
"It was a warthog that was drinking, but ran away when he spotted us."
They carried on like that for what seemed like an eternity to Duni. Even she could tell now that the river was extremely dangerous, by the loud and gushing sound of the water.
Safi was about to give up, when he thought he saw something.
"Hold on..." he told Duni, and squinted to try and see better. "There's a bit of sand on the other side, part of it is dry, and part of it is wet, like something crawled out of the water... There are some pawprints too, heading into the bush."
"How to tell if they're Njano's?"
Safi looked around, to see if there were any birds in the area that might have spotted something weird. There were some vultures circling the sky on the other side, not a very reassuring sight.
"Hey," Safi called them. One of them flew closer, curious as to why a lion would be addressing them.
"Did you just see a lioness get out of the water? Right over there?"
"Why, yes, I did! Family of yours?" a female vulture replied.
"Is she okay?"
The vulture chuckled and landed on a nearby branch. "Let's say we're just hanging around, just in case..."
Duni began crying again. "No... My daughter..." Her legs gave in and Duni flopped on the ground, calling Njano's name time and time again.
The buzzard tilted her head. "Hey... Hey, calm down! I'm sorry, I was just pulling your leg! The lioness is doing fine!"
Safi looked at her. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," the bird nodded, "She seemed to be running away from something, cause she didn't stay for long. She's gone to hide somewhere, that's all I know."
Safi turned to Duni and nuzzled her lovingly. "You hear that? She's alive... She's strong, I'm sure she'll be fine."
"I didn't even get to say good-bye... And now I won't meet her again..." Duni said between sobs.
The vulture jumped off the tree and landed next to the two lions. She patted Duni on the paw with a wing, startling the lioness slightly. It was then when the bird realized that Duni was blind. She felt very sorry for her.
"Well, you know, this river doesn't stay like this all the time," the bird said, "You should come back during the dry season. If there's a bad drought, you could even have the chance of just walking to the other side. Who knows? Maybe you'll find her again."
Duni nodded and smiled gratefully. "Thanks for the suggestion... Maybe I will."
The vulture noticed that the other birds that were still circling above them finally started sweeping down. "Ah, I must go now, it seems that the sick croc we were waiting on has finally passed away. Good luck, and I hope you get to see your daughter again soon!"
Safi watched the vulture take off, just as the sun started coming out, bringing a new day to the Savannah.
"Come, we're of no use to her here anyway. Let's go to our new home now. We can take a detour and avoid the Eyasi Pride if you want," Safi said.
Duni agreed, she didn't feel like being confronted by them again. "If we happen to come across any of them, let's just tell them Njano didn't make it. I don't want Erevu going to look for her."
"Okay, as you wish," Safi replied.
The two lions started the journey back to the new place they would call home. While Duni already had tried to get used to the idea that Njano would not be coming along with them, the way things turned out was simply just too painful for her, and she would burst into tears sometimes. Safi then would stop and let her cry, comforting her as much as he could.
Safi and Duni finally settled down in their new territory, and as time went by, Duni was less prone to crying, and resumed her usual routine of rodent hunting. But the experiences she had with the Eyasi Pride deeply affected her, and the lioness vowed to never have a cub again.
Safi simply decided to give her time and let her heal.
The lion eventually found two young lionesses roaming the area, who showed interest in joining his little Pride. For a change, they were actually intrigued by Duni's disability, and showed her respect instead of disdain.
"Anyone who can survive this long without seeing must be totally badass!" said the youngest one, who had picked up a few bad words along the way.
The wandering lionesses decided to linger in Safi's territory for a few days, just to see if they felt at home with him and Duni. They quickly found out that Duni was very motherly and sweet-tempered, always willing to groom them and listen to what they had to say. They also saw in Safi a very strong and well-mannered lion. He never asked anything inappropriate of them, and even surprised them with a zebra for lunch one day, showing them that he was willing to help out sometimes, and not just laze around all day.
The two lionesses finally made up their minds one afternoon, and they approached Safi and Duni resolutely.
"Had you guys already picked a name for your Pride?" one of them asked.
Duni appeared confused for a moment, as she had never given this much thought. But it was Safi who answered the question.
"Of course. We're the Njano Pride," he said, matter-of-factly.
The lionesses then proceeded to roar loudly, screaming the name of their new Pride out loud, as a sign of allegiance.
Safi looked at them, pleasantly surprised to see that they had accepted to stay, and he roared in return, sealing their new bond of friendship, and welcoming them to thrive under his care and protection.
"The Njano Pride..." Duni repeated softly to herself. She perked her ears and turned her face towards the sound of Safi's voice, still roaring, sounding content. Her face brightened up as she smiled gratefully at him.
The lionesses from the Eyasi Pride had finally let Erevu up. He shook himself and turned towards them.
"What got into you?" he asked Chiku, still looking furious.
"I'm sorry, but as much as I disliked Njano and felt like beating her up once or twice, you totally crossed the line. She showed absolute submission to you, why couldn't you leave it at that?" Chiku snarled, breathing fast.
Nura joined in, "Yes, I think your macho display was totally unnecessary, that poor lioness was sincerely sorry!"
Bahiya and Adla cornered him as well, nodding their heads in agreement with the rest.
"Back off, all of you," Erevu snarled, "I did what I had to do to teach her a lesson. She's finally gone now, and I don't want to see her again. So anybody thinking of going to look for her and bring her back can save yourselves the trouble, if you want her to live," he added, looking intently at Kanai, who had stopped crying in the meantime.
"We're not happy at all with the way you dealt with this, Erevu," Adla said, "A decent and fair ruler would have found a better solution."
"Some of you lionesses need a firmer paw than others," Erevu muttered, looking away, "I did what I thought was best to enforce our rules. Also, I did it to ensure that none of you get any bright ideas and start trying out insane stuff during your season. I will not tolerate it, so consider yourselves warned."
Erevu walked away, leaving the lionesses brooding in their anger.
"Poor Njano, she didn't deserve that," Bahiya said, "I could see Duni's heart breaking while all this was going on. Can you imagine, not being able to intervene while something like this is happening to your own daughter?"
Adla sighed deeply, and she turned to Kanai. The young lioness looked very miserable, but at the same time she was glad she could stay with her Pride.
Adla approached Kanai and whispered for only her to hear, "I think you've made a big mistake, Kanai. Next time you manage to make a friend half as good as Njano was, make sure you stand up for her in her time of need. Also, you should know by now that lying to save your own hide is not a trait of a good leader," she added, glancing with a stern expression at Erevu in the distance.
Kanai looked away, muttering something unintelligible, and decided to leave before the other lionesses questioned her further.
"Come on, Imara... Erevu gave us a task to complete," Kanai said, not sounding very much in the mood to mate with him despite being in season.
The lionesses remained quiet as Imara and Kanai disappeared in the distance, and one by one they retreated to their resting places. Only Chiku appeared glued to her spot, looking distant and thoughtful. Her best friend Damisi gave her a quick nuzzle, while whispering, "Are you going to be okay?"
Chiku nodded. "Sure, don't worry. You go ahead, I'll see you later."
Adla looked over her shoulder and happened to witness their exchange. Feeling curious, she waited for the rest of the lionesses to walk away and then approached Chiku, sitting down next to her.
"Thanks for helping Njano. I know you didn't like her much, so what you did for her was very noble and brave."
Chiku shrugged slightly. "Something about her today managed to melt this icy heart of mine. Just a bit."
Adla looked at her, intrigued. "Really? How?"
"It just happened..." She then turned to Adla, clearly hesitating to ask a question, but she went ahead in the end, "Do you think that she could have actually been in love with Kanai? I mean, Njano certainly looked broken-hearted... There was something in the way they were acting and how they looked at each other..."
"I noticed the same thing," Adla replied, "If they were in love, they kept their secret well, probably anticipating that Erevu wouldn't react too well."
Adla glanced at Chiku and ventured to ask, "Um... I hope you don't mind me me asking, but... Are you in love with a lioness too?"
"No, no," Chiku replied quickly, and looked at Adla. Chiku knew she could trust her, so she went on, "My mother was."
Chiku couldn't help but chuckle when she saw Adla's surprised expression.
"Really? Your mother?"
"Heh, does it really shock you? She was a lot like a male, if you think about it... Always fighting and challenging rogues... I know she was very happy by the side of a lioness she met outside the borders, and was devastated when she moved on with her own Pride on to greener pastures. The look in Njano's eyes, her determination and the lengths she went through to be able to stay with us... All that just strongly reminded me of mother. You know... Mother was planning to take the big step of leaving the Eyasi Pride to follow her lover, but that was around the time when she got bitten by that stupid snake..."
Adla looked genuinely surprised. Chiku's mother used to be very stern, and she seemed to live for training and fighting only. She couldn't picture her being tender with another lioness.
"I was going to help mother leave, but I didn't have the chance to do so. Today I had the chance to help Njano instead, so I went for it," Chiku said, sighing deeply, "I don't think that loving another lioness should earn you being beaten to death, like Erevu was doing with Njano."
Adla nodded in agreement. "It's terrible that things had to end this way. Poor Duni was devastated too... I hope she will find comfort in Safi. Who knows, Njano might have left with them after all."
"Anyway, I'm going for a walk," Chiku said, standing up. "By the way, only Damisi knows about this, so I trust you won't tell anyone else what I've confided in you tonight."
"My muzzle is sealed," Adla replied.
Both lionesses parted ways, and Adla rejoined the rest of the Pride, looking around at her Pride-mates, wondering if there was anyone else concealing a love secret as well. Everyone looked like a suspect now, as they groomed each other and snuggled together.
She shook herself and lay down next to Bahiya, sending good thoughts to Duni and Njano, wishing them good luck under Safi's care. Adla had a hard time trying to fall asleep, but when she finally did, she didn't wake up until the sun had risen. A new day had come by, and life went on in the Savannah.
The Pride resumed their usual activities, but there was a lot of tension in the air, a feeling that simply didn't fade away in the days to come. The lionesses remained very distant with Erevu and that kept him on edge, wondering if he had really crossed the line this time, and whether his own lionesses would all turn against him at some point.
Erevu had thought that he would finally be happy once Duni, Safi and Njano went away, but that was far from the truth. The lion had become moodier, and fights would easily break out between him and his pride-mates. The Eyasi Pride had certainly seen happier days, and the lionesses' relationship with their leader remained very unstable for months to come.