The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 25: Accretion

Jasiri was walking cautiously through the tall, dry grass under the hot sunlight, crouching as she maintained a focused glance on her preys, a family of buffaloes that was grazing with no other worries. Jasiri's ear twitched when hearing rushed steps ahead, so she poked out her head from the grass and her eyes widened when seeing another hyena going after the buffaloes. Jasiri growled and began to hurry towards her, knowing she had to either just get her away or end with her life in order to feed her family, wanting to avoid that option, thing she didn't find hard as the other hyena stopped her steps abruptly while breathing in and out rapidly. "Queen Jasiri?"

Jasiri raised an eyebrow when finding out who she was, still taking small, cautious steps before her. "Jaira." She said with a neutral tone in her voice.

Jaira was still recovering her breath. "My queen…I'm sorry for what happened." She lowered her head with shame. "I never thought he would do such a thing."

Jasiri sat down slowly, action mimicked by Jaira. "Your cubs?" She asked with a still unconfident tone.

"They're safe, we took shelter over there." Jaira gestured over her back, pointing at a group of tall bushes. "Not the best of places, but…" She sighed. "…enough, I guess."

Jasiri was thoughtful, she looked at the buffalos that were still unaware of their presence. She glared at Jaira again then glanced back at the preys. "I'll go for the female." She crouched and began to walk towards them, hesitantly followed by Jaira. "You get the male." Jasiri kept commanding. "Then we both go for the children, understand?"

"Yes, my queen." Jaira said.

Jasiri suddenly hurried up her steps, running with her eyes locked on the female buffalo, who never expected what was coming, same as the male and the children. When getting close enough to them, Jasiri jumped at her with her open jaws and her paws aiming at her side, tackling and biting with strength, bringing the buffalo down, keeping her teeth embedded on her skin, muscle and bone. Jaira had done the same with the male, throwing lots of bites at his neck, killing him almost right away, she looked around and saw the children trying to escape desperately, so she jumped over the dead male and began to run towards them. Jasiri gave a fatal bite at the agonizing mother, leaving her lifeless over the ground, she noticed that Jaira was already chasing the children so she rapidly rushed towards her.

The two little buffaloes looked over their backs constantly, each time seeing the hyenas closer to them, sharing looks of fear and great desperation. Jasiri scratched the hind leg of one of the buffaloes with a quick blow, making her to fall. She killed her rapidly with a bite on her face. Jaira jumped over the male child and got her jaws over his back, bringing him down along with herself, but she stood up quickly and ended with his suffering with a strong bite on his neck. The two hyenas were sitting down among their victims, sighing repeatedly with a rapid breathing, glaring into the other's eyes. "Now…" Jaira's breathing slowly began to get back to normal. "…what?"

Jasiri inhaled and exhaled deeply a couple of times while glaring at the ground, constantly switching her gaze between the scattered dead preys. "We have a cave." She looked into her eyes again. "Small, less than decent. But enough for two families nonetheless."

Jaira almost didn't think in her answer at all. "Really? You'll let us spent the night there?"

Jasiri got into her paws and started to walk towards her. "The night, the day. As long as we all do our part. Hunting, training, watching, all of those things. Those are the ways to our survival now that we have nothing left."

"My queen." Jaira sighed with shame and gratefulness. "I don't know what to say."

Jasiri was focused on the tears that were forming on Jaira's eyes. "Bring your cubs, Jaira. Tell them they'll sleep and eat in peace for today. Tomorrow, no one knows."

Jaira let out a gasp of thankfulness, accompanied by her teary eyes. She bowed down her head then looked again into Jasiri's eyes. "Thank you, queen of mine." She turned and started to head towards her cubs with hurried steps and Jasiri just looked at her with a hopeful smile on her face. After Jasiri had lost sight of her by the grass that grew there, the ears of the two male cubs showed over the dry grass, then Jasiri started to see them more clearly until they both got right in front of her, crouching and bowing their heads hesitantly. Jaira did the same after sitting behind them.

"Queen Jasiri." Jakir said.

"Hi, kids." Jasiri replied. "Feel hungry?" She gestured at the dead buffaloes. Both brothers looked into their eyes briefly then glanced back at Jasiri, nodding repeatedly. She chuckled. "Well, help us bring these to our cave and you may have double portion, do you agree?"

"Yes!" Both cubs said.

"I mean, yes…Queen Jasiri." Jakir corrected with a blush and a timid chuckle.

On the meantime, Janja and his children were laying over the ground, taking the sun while speaking occasionally, the three had their eyes closed and their breathing was tranquil. "Jaye…" Janja was between reality and dream. "Don…don't make your mother angry, okay?" He yawned. "It pisses m…me off."

Jara chuckled while looking into her brother's eyes. "I think he is dreaming."

Jaye turned his glare at his father. "Of course he is, we never make mom angry."

Jara raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" She yawned. "And the thing with Jedesi the other day?"

Jaye closed his eyes, pretending to ignore her. "That was an accident…almost."

Jara let out a single, brief chuckle. "Oh sure, that's why you didn't have breakfast for one week!" She smirked at him with sarcasm.

"Well, it was unfair. I was just hanging out with those guys and Jedesi wanted to show off. Those rocks where about t…" Jaye got interrupted.

"…to fall, you were just looking, yada, yada, yada." Jara completed, getting an upset frown from her brother.

"Shut up, Jara." Jaye got his head more comfortable over the grass.

"Jaye…" Janja warned with a sleepy voice.

"But…" Jaye looked again at his sister, frowning again. Jara just chuckled, a little bit more loudly, still silent enough to keep her dad calmed.

Janja's nose twitched when smelling his mate's scent, knowing she was close, so he got into his paws and stretched then raised an eyebrow when seeing Jasiri being accompanied by other three hyenas, almost not minding the good dinner they were dragging. "Hey…" Janja recognized the three hyenas. "Jaira? Jakir?...Jenuk?" He approached them, followed by his cubs.

Jasiri and the others left the dead buffaloes over the ground. She walked towards Janja and licked his face then stroked his neck while looking at Jaira and her two cubs. "She was also hunting." She whispered. "They need shelter."

"The cave is small." Janja murmured.

"Enough for seven, still." Jasiri argued. "Janja, she is still loyal. She've proven so."

Janja locked his gaze on Jaira's, whose eyes didn't show anything but truth. He then looked into her cubs' eyes, seeing on them the same bright of his offspring's glare, he would've never let the striking cold of the night to hurt their fur, or the heat of daylight to burn their skin, or their bellies to feel empty. "A…" He delayed a bit to answer. "Am I the only one who's hungry here?" He smiled at the cubs and their mother.

"No, me too!" Both Jakir and Jenuk said.

"Kids, manners!" Jaira scolded.

"Hi." Jara approached Jenuk. "I'm Jara."

"Jenuk." He replied, gesturing at his brother. "And Jakir is my brother."

"Eldest brother." Jakir added.

Jara chuckled and looked at her brother. "Jaye, he is the little one."

"I'm no little, you were born first, that's all." Jaye argued. "Nothing else."

"Uhm, duh." Jara annoyed him with a face that matched her expression.

Jaira let out a peaceful chuckle after seeing the cubs' greetings. "I think they'll get along pretty well."

"So do I." Jasiri opined then began to walk towards the buffaloes, followed by her mate and Jaira. The four cubs followed them.

The hyenas were enjoying every munch of the food they were sharing, feeling the warmness of the sun rays over their fur, tasting the chewy meat of the buffaloes, having no words, only feelings of satiation and glares of sudden harmony, only hearing the noise of their own bites and occasional tweets from neighboring birds.

After their stomaches got full, they all got in the cave to take a post meal nap, with plenty of buffalo still left for dinner and maybe for next day's breakfast. "I know." Jasiri sighed. "It's small."

"It's fine, my queen." Jaira replied while glaring at the dark rocky surroundings. "We could've spent another night in the cold, but now we'll have nothing but good rest." She looked at Jasiri, with eyes of thankfulness. "How could we ever pay you?"

Jasiri smirked at her when reaching the bottom of the cave. "There's nothing you owe us, Jaira. We both lost everything, all we got now is…" She glanced at her mate, at her cubs and Jaira's, then looked back at her. "…us."

"Qu…" Jasiri's voice was deeply broken, behind a grateful smile. A tear was forming in the corner of her eye. She started to cry all of a sudden, Jasiri approached her and stroked her with her forehead. "My…" She sobbed. "…queen…" Her crying got louder. "Thank you!" She kept crying. "…I didn't want this…" The others were just looking. "…I swear, I…I didn't…"

"I believe you, Jaira." Jasiri said with a reassuring voice, allowing her to let out all of that sadness and shame.