Dissension (Julie Skywalker and Dark Huntress)

[Dark Huntress]

(OOC: I can edit a character list in if you would like me to.)

Chika yawned and stretched her legs, back straining as she pushed against her unofficial mate, Zaire. She blew her red hair tuft out of her emerald eyes and rolled onto her back. She followed a crack along the stone ceiling of the den in attempt to entertain herself without waking Zaire.

"Zaire?" she asked softly, not being able to contain herself. "Are you up yet?"

"Cheeks," he answered, rolling over to face her,"I've been up since dawn. Cheeka gave him an innocent grin as if she'd done something wrong. "What?" he queried in a concerned tone. "I should be worried, shouldn't I?

"No!" Cheeka playfully pushed Zaire's face with a red socked paw. She rose so that she sat on her haunches and flicked her tail impatiently. Zaire followed, first stretching. He flicked an ear back as he studied her pale face.

"What? Am I in trouble?"

"No...," he answered slowly. "Should you be?" He worried about Cheeka. She was of a mischievous nature and when he wasn't with her...he shook his head. She probably hasn't done anything. After a moment of silent questioning he mentally added, too bad.

"Probably." She flicked him an enigmatic smile before rising to her paws and padded towards the sunlit entrance. Zaire yawned before following, traipsing lazily into the white morning light. It was only an hour or so past sunrise and the blue sky was still tinged with pale violet.

"To the waterhole?" Cheeka answered by nodded once and moving lethargically down the slanted path. Once only a few steps down, a young, ash grey teenage lioness with red socks and tuft skipped gayly up to them.

"Aren't you up early, Xhosa," Cheeka remarked, smiling at her eccentric niece.

"Why should I be? It's a lovely day and Mum isn't nagging me since she's busy."

Zaire and Cheeka shared an amused glance. Cheeka's niece, Xhosa, and Chika's sister-in-law were constantly bickering and arguing. Cheeka was surprised her brother ever got any rest. "Well," Cheeka began, attempting to change the subject, she wasn't supposed to choose sides and that was very hard for her,"We were just heading towards the waterhole, would you care to join us?"

"Yes, please," Xhosa smiled and took her place on the unoccupied side of Cheeka, she and Zaire flanking the small lioness.

*£*

Adanya watched her daughter join her aunt and, Adanya preferred to think of him this manner, uncle. She worried that Cheeka was filling her already beyond-hope mind with her new-fanged, rebellious ideas.

"Don't worry-Cheeka promised not to take sides," her mate, Chenziri's, low words were comforting.

"Oh," she attempted to feign nonchalance,"I'm not worried about that. It's completely normal for a young lioness of her age to be rebellious. I know I was, the gods let my mother rest peacefully."

Chenziri chuckled. "What about your father??" He grinned at her, his smile bearing a striking resemblance to that of his sister's.

"Oh, well, he had the easy part. I was kind to him," she shot him a keen sideways glance. He chuckled again, this time louder.

"I can only pray for your mother." He licked her on the forehead before striding out of the den. She watched both her mate and daughter disappear, alternating her glance between both. She sighed and shook her head the turned back into the den. Perhaps someone would need or want to talk with her.

[Carl]

The old lioness Sethunya stretched the tiredness out of her bones. It wasn't the only thing she could feel in her bones; she knew something bad was coming. What, she didn't know. A storm, maybe? And invasion by other predators perhaps? The cheetahs and hyenas were finding it more and more difficult to find food without getting into the pride's hunting ground, so it wouldn't surprise her if they came here to hunt, which could cause problems. She sighed and began padding slowly out of the cave. She'd seen tough times before, whatever it was coming their wayㅡ assuming she was rightㅡ they would survive. They always did.

As Sethunya walked away from Pride Rock and towards the ancient baobab tree she liked to hang around, she was joined by the young princess, Themba, and the foreigner, Bao. The two younger lionesses often accompanied Sethunya wherever she went, being very intrigued by her mystery and interested in the legends she told. They were very curious about the drawings on the old lioness's favorite tree, and she'd promised to tell them their stories one day.

"Are we going to your tree?" Themba asked, the small tuft atop her noggin jumping around as she bounced along behind the wise lioness.

"Yes," Sethunya replied, "we are. I can feel something in my bones, so the shaman's lair is a good place to see if I can figure out what that is."

The younger lionesses beamed at each other around the older one, as they always walked with Bao on her left and Thema to her right. This would be a good opportunity for them, they'd been curious about the shamanistic things regarding that tree and, like the drawings, had yet to get the old lioness to talk about it. They were ecstatic, to the point that Bao felt like leaping around like a cub. The lioness contained herself, though and focused instead on asking a question.

"What d'you think you're feeling, Sethunya?" she wondered.

"I'm not sure. It could be anything, it could be nothing," the legend-keeper replied, flicking her tail unconsciously.

---

Back at Pride Rock, the king, Nnamdi, was perched at the very uppermost point of the rock with his mate, Nthanda, and their son, Obi. His eyes followed the groups of lions wandering away from the rock. It was a calm, normal day. His eccentric daughter was off on another quest of enlightenment or something with the oldest member of their pride and the strange lioness they'd found in the jungle moons ago. The others were heading toward the waterhole, and everything seemed peaceful. The birds flew by in flocks, the herds were visible grazing on the plains. Nothing was out of place.

The king let out a contented sigh. He knew other creatures were suffering during this time, but it was only the cheetahs and hyenasㅡ he felt like they almost had it coming anyway. The ones who mattered, the lions of his pride, were well-fed and happy. It was a great time for the Pridelands.

"Son," he called out to Obi. The adolescent moved over to sit beside his father.

"Yes Dad?"

"Look at it all. This land is going to be yours one day."

"Yeah, when you're not able to be king anymore, I know," the prince said.

"When that time comes I want to know that you'll be a good ruler, that's why I've been teaching you everything I know. Take a good look at the kingdom today, my boy, this is what a kingdom run properly looks like," bragged the king. His mate on his other side remained silent, enjoying the scenery.

"Yes it is. You're a great king, Dad," Obi replied, wearing a big smile.

"And you will be too, son."

"I won't be as great as you though."

The king laughed, a deep bellowing laugh, and smiled proudly at his son.

"No king will ever be as great as me, huh?" he asked jokingly. Obi shook his head.

"No Dad, they won't," he beamed. Then his eyes traveled to the waterhole, and he tried to identify the lions down there. Once he had, he turned back to his father. "Dad, I'm going to go down to the waterhole, okay?"

"Of course, have fun," said Nnamdi, still smiling brightly. The prince nodded and began making his way down Pride Rock. It was a long walk to the waterhole, but he didn't mind. He'd take his time getting there anyway, not like he was in a hurry.

[Dark Huntress]

Xhosa blushed a little as she sighted the prince coming down towards her and her aunt and Zaire. "Actually, I just remembered-I was supposed to meet Dad for a-a pouncing lesson!" She tried to strangle the flushed smile beginning to turn up the edges of her lips. Chika nodded.

"Okay, have fun with your 'pouncing'."

Xhosa, who had already turned to leave, froze and gave her aunt a suspicious look. She shrugged her ashen shoulders and pranced off. With a quick peek to make sure they weren't watching, she darted behind a boulder and bounded towards the prince. "

Hey, Obi! Psss!" she whispered rather loudly to ensure he heard her. "Good morning, your highness!" She giggled, as he had told her not to call him that so many times.

Chika watched her niece disappear out of the corner of an eye. "Heads are going to roll," she chuckled. Zaire looked more worried. "What? What's wrong?" she questioned him, giving him an interested look.

"She shouldn't be sneaking off with him."

"If it's love, we can't do anything about it. We should know that, Za," she placed a rusty paw on his much larger one. He shook his head.

"[b]It's not that. She just shouldn't be that close to him. It'll be impossible for her to choose, if it comes to that."

"Oh!" Chika exclaimed,"I almost forgot-meeting!" With that she bounded off leaving Zaire standing there shaking his mane. He picked up his paws more slowly and followed.

*£*

Adanya padded up to the queen. "Your majesty, have you seen Sethunya?" she asked, smiling pleasantly,"She seemed to be troubled last night and I was going to see if she needed anything." She sat down expectantly.

Chenziri watched his mate before continuing down towards the waterhole, taking a little different path than the normal one. His sister's lithe red and white form streaking across the Pridelands caught his eye. He knew she'd be heading to a 'Changes'-a group supporting governmental and other changes-meeting. Zaire followed farther behind.

Chenziri shook his head. He didn't support what the group advocated but his sister was enthralled with it. Her keeping Zaire only as a 'half-mate' was proof of that. He wouldn't normally care but Adanya was especially riled by Chika's actions and opinions, especially as Xhosa was rather gravitating towards them.

He sighed heavily and lowered his head to drink. He shouldn't worry about everything all the time. Just most of it. He was a Dad-wasn't that what he was for? He chuckled the thought and cleared his thoughts.

*£*

Chika gave the group of lions and lionesses a wide grin. "Sorry, almost forgot!" She turned to Ashante, a large, pale lion. "Shall we begin?"

"Where's Zaire?"

As if in answer, Zaire trudged up, huffing and puffing. He obviously was built for combat and brute strength, not running and agility. Chika beamed at him then turned to Ashante, "There."

[Carl]

"Hey Xhosa," Obi said with a friendly grin, "you don't have to call me that though, I'm not the king." Noticing that the activity was dispersing away from the waterhole, he stayed on-track, trotting along with his head held high. He was thirsty anyway, which was part of why he'd been heading towards the waterhole in the first place.

"So has your morning been nice?" he asked pleasantly even as he kept going past the young lioness. Obi essentially had two options for a future queen; one was Xhosa, and the other was the foreigner, Bao. The latter was always hanging around with his sister and the old lioness, as she was today, so it was easiest to talk to Xhosa. He wasn't really sure how he felt about either of the young lionesses, but they were both nice enough to hang out with.

---

"She left this morning with Themba and Bao; it looked like she was going to her baobab tree," Nthanda told Adanya of Sethunya. "She seemed fine to me. Last night, you say she seemed troubled... troubled how?"

Nnamdi stretched, listening to his mate talking to the other lioness. He was interested to know what might be bothering the old lioness, but, like his queen, he hadn't noticed her seeming troubled. They must have been too focused on other things, it wasn't as if he and Nthanda had nothing else to do. After all, they were the king and queen, they had to keep the kingdom running smoothly. That was his primary goal; Sethunya was a wise lioness, if something was the matter he trusted she would have told him.

---

The old lioness agilely climbed up into the tree as if she were many moons younger. The two younger females watched her in awe; no matter how many times they saw her do it it always surprised them how able she was at her age. Not even they could get up there so easily. Once Sethunya was clear, Themba clambered up awkwardly, Bao following her. Between the tree's branches the three lionesses sat, the younger two silently watching the legend-keeper.

Sethunya raised herself up onto her hind feet, reaching up with a front paw. She hooked it around the staff that had been left here for a long time. The two youngsters had seen it often, but they knew not where it came from. Sethunya took it in her jaws and placed it on their perch. Then she leaned up again, shaking a branch until one of the fruit fell off. It cracked into several pieces upon impact with the tree. The old lioness crouched down and sniffed the exploded fruit. Then she raised her head and sniffed the air.

"What is it?" Themba asked curiously.

Rather than answering her, Sethunya picked up the staff in her jaws again and tilted her head to the side so that the staff was vertical and shook the fruits on the end. After a few moments, she froze in place, nothing moving except the twitching of her ears. Bao and Themba exchanged a look of wonder and then returned their gaze to Sethunya. She pawed at the destroyed fruit in front of her and began muttering under her breath.

"...dissension... the king... storms of change... circle of life... hunger..." were the only words the younger lionesses could pick out of her rapid mumbling. It was almost as if she was possessed. They had no idea what she meant, but before they could ask, she looked up at them, beaming as if nothing was wrong. "Would you two like to hear the stories of these drawings?" she asked, gesturing the ancient drawings with a paw.

"Yes please!" the princess and the foreigner begged simultaneously. And just like that, they were no longer curious about the shamanistic ritual.

[Dark Huntress]

"I know, Obi, but I like to," she grinned at him and, with a peek in each direction, joined him on the path. "Will we wrestle today or are we getting too old." Xhosa was of a rather petite build and she felt like she had to practice extra hard to hold her own. She knew it could be done; her aunt was a fierce warrior and huntress.

"Or do you want to do something more 'civilized'," she suggested, emerald eyes never leaving his face. "Or do you want to go swimming? Or maybe hunting, or-" she thought for moment then added quietly:"Or do you want to find Themba and Bao and do something?"

Truth be told, she was rather jealous of the foreigner. Of course, it'd taken her awhile to own up to it, even to herself. She trotted along side of the Prince, taking short, quick steps to match his longer ones. "Or," she whispered, a mysterious and mischievous glint shining in her wide eyes,"we could sneak up and eavesdrop on Aunt Chika's meeting...again." She turned to glance at him, gauging his reaction an eagerly awaiting his answer.

*£*

"She seemed as if she could sense something, Ma'am, though I could've been mistaken. Perhaps she did no know what and didn't want to bother anyone." She sat down, preparing to engage herself in conversation with the queen, a favorite of hers to speak with.

"Are Themba and Obi well? Has the Prince showed any designs for his betrothment?" This topic rather engrossed her as her daughter was in the candidacy for queen. .

She laid down, sprawling out on the cool stone floor. She glanced around the den inspecting the cracks than ran the length of the ceiling in some parts. She expanded and retracted her claws into the stone in automatic movements an her tail twitched calmly.

*£*

Chenziri stood from the pond an cast a suspicious glance at his adolescent daughter who was tagging alongside of the prince. He frowned. It wasn't that he didn't like the prince, he just didn't like boys around his daughter, though she did tend to be a flirt. Chenziri sighed and walked towards the young lion and lioness.

Xhosa stiffened a little as he laid his eyes on her but quickly recovered. "Good morning, Daddy," she left the prince's side to nuzzle her father's large head,"I was just going to the waterhole with Obi." She blinked once, giving him an innocent look. Chenziri sighed. Perhaps she did give him an easier time.

"Have fun," he said and padded away.

Xhosa turned back to Obi and grinned. "Works like a charm every time," she giggled and playfully bounced towards the waterhole.

*£*

"The time to rise is now! We'll take over the throne and run the king and his family out of the Pridelands! The changes must happen!"

Chika was all eyes as she stared at Ashante. She flicked an ear back in annoyance as someone loudly asked "Why can't we just ask him to make the changes? We don't want to hurt them! They aren't evil!" Chika frowned at them.

"We aren't going to hurt them-just run them off and the king has denied all conferences we've offered. Even if he would acknowledge our efforts though, Prince Obi, when he becomes king, may or may not acknowledge his father's promises and our treaties will soon be broken throughout the generations! And we want an elected king! Not a mewling wretch who's to become king because his father's father's father found a rock in the desert and settled! We want a king who is a ruler!"

"Hear, hear!" Chika exclaimed, eliciting a nod of approval from Ashante and causing Zaire to shake his head.

===

The entire speech echoed through Chika's head as she walked back towards Pride Rock, this time more slowly as she kept pace with Zaire. "Wasn't that marvelous? Every one of Ashante's ideas is spot on! Don't you think?!" A smile lit up her face as she looked over at Zaire.

"I don't know," he replie slowly, his expression uncertain and troubled,"every meeting out plans grow more and more violent. It started out as we were only going to make the kingdom a democracy and they could stay but now we want to banish them! For all we know-they're goin to want to kill them next meeting."

"You don't really think that do you?"

"Yes, I do, and it's not pleasing me to be part of usurping Obi's throne. Xhosa could be sitting next to him as his queen next blue moon if anything happens to the king and even if she does get to be Obi's mate she's not going leave him, I know. I don't know about you, but I don't wanty niece to be banished."

Chika gave him a hard look. "You know I don't-I not that evil!"

Zaire grinned at her. "Never said you were," he chuckled. She rammed her shoulder into his in a playful nudge. "Ow!" he whined sarcastically. She shook her head at him, her tuft flopping.

"C'mon, wimp, we're almost there," she gave him a smile and trotted off.

[Carl]

The prince rolled his eyes at her comment. Why did she like addressing him that way? He probably would never know. He started to make a snide remark, but she kept talking, suggesting things they could do. So instead of saying anything, he just continued his march towards the waterhole, listening to the things she suggested. Wrestle? Maybe. Something more 'civilized'? Like what? Swimming? Could be fun. Hunting? Males don't hunt, not unless they have to. Find Themba and Bao and do something? Those two were probably at that ancient tree with the legend-keeper, they wouldn't want to join the prince and Xhosa. Eavesdrop on Chika's meeting? Well, that he was unsure about. He didn't like the way they talked there on the one hand, but on the other hand, his dad would probably like to know what they were saying.

"Hmm..." he said mulling over his options. He opened his mouth to speak, but that's when Chenziri walked over to them. He shut his mouth back and watched as the lioness went to her father and told him they were just going to the waterhole. Then the older lion told her to have fun and left.


Xhosa turned back to Obi and grinned. "Works like a charm every time," she giggled and playfully bounce towards the waterhole.

"So I see," the prince said with a chuckle. This sorta limited their options for the time being, as they had to at least sit at the waterhole for a few moments to avoid suspicion. He decided that was a good thing. It meant he didn't have to decide whether or not to eavesdrop as it couldn't be done from this distance. Swimming was out, the waterhole was barely deep enough to walk in. He decided it would be nice to have a wrestle, but didn't say a thing. Xhosa was just a little ways ahead of him, enough for him to catch her off guard.

He pounced on her playfully from behind, completely without warning. As he collided with her, he laughed, "I'm not the king yet, who needs to be civilized!"

---

"I didn't even notice," Nthanda replied, raising an eyebrow and turning her head toward the tree of life, "Whatever is bothering her, I'm sure she'll tell us when she has some idea about what it is." The queen rolled over onto her side, arching her back against her mate as she stretched. This got a purr out of Nnamdi, who seemed to be asleep. The lioness grinned at him, but continued listening to her friend.

"No he hasn't yet. He seems very indifferent to both of his options at this point, though he does seem to spend more time with Xhosaㅡ I'm not sure if that's because he likes her better or if it's because Bao is always gone with Sethunya and Themba. Either way he needs to choose one of them soon. He's nearly fully grown, and he needs to have a mate in case, Great Kings forbid, something happens to his father," she said, curling her legs in against her body.

---

"Legend tells of a great king known as Simba," the old lioness began, "it is he that this drawing is of." She gestured at the the lone drawing that resembled a male lion. "It is said that he was killed alongside his father, the king at the time, in a stampede as a cub. Simba's uncle, Scar, was the only male left, and so he took over as king and brought in thousands of hyenas. He was a cruel lion, and he plunged the whole kingdom into despair and agony. Even the hyenas who worked for him were suffering as the lands dried up and all of the herds left. It was horrible...

"But, when things were at their worst, Simba came back from the dead, now a grown lion. He was followed into battle by his father's ghost, and the pride rallied behind them. In a great feat of strength, Simba defeated Scar, and most of the hyenas. Then he took his place as king. And that is the Legend of the Great King Simba, who now watches over us from the sky with the other Great Kings."

"Wow..." both of the younger lionesses said in awe. Could it be true? Had a lion really come back from the dead to save the pride in a time of need? True or not it was a fanciful story, and it was quite awe-inspiring. Themba grinned, thinking to herself 'There's always a bit of truth behind a legend, even if he didn't come back from the dead, this guy was amazing, and he is one of the Great Kings. It's cool to know some bits of our history.'

"Is that all?" asked Bao, hoping it wasn't. "Is there more?"

"Yeah, is there more? There has to be more, what happened after he took his place as king?" Themba asked eagerly.

"There is more, but now is not the time," Sethunya replied with a grin at their enthusiasm. She rose on her paws and began crawling out of the tree, carefully placing a paw on each branch before her. "For now, I need to speak with the king. You two run along and have fun."

[Dark Huntress]

OOC: Wow! Really sorry about all those spelling mistakes! I'll go back and fix them...

"Oof!" Xhosa grunted as she was crushed between the ground and Obi. She laughed and twisted around, pushing a red socked paw into his chin, using his distraction as a chance to wiggle out of his grasp and spin to face him. She bowed in a playful pose, the tip of her tail twitching then stretched her forelegs out in front of her torso, bringing her head closer to the dusty ground.

She leapt at the prince, then readjusted her trajectory so that she flew to the side in a fake. She turned back to him, grinning like a mad lion. "Did I get ya?" she asked, her wild grin never changing as she panted a little.

As she became more serious, the wrestle becoming more fierce on her part, she crouched. Her pupils dilated, her tail stiffened, only the tip twitching, and her breathing became quieter. She dug her claws into the ground, shifting the dirt between her toes with the movement. The water at the waterhole lapped quietly. Muted voices from the others nearby made her flinch at each crescendo. She didn't let the butterfly that flitted by demand her attention.

Her breath caught in her chest, as it always did, and she pounced.

*£*

Adanya nodded as she listened to the queen. "I'm afraid I'm rather partial as a mother, but Bao would make a marvelous match and, I'm sure, queen. My main worry concerning her is she doesn't spend enough time with the prince. Xhosa, I'm afraid, does. I worry sometimes that she fairly pesters him!" She chuckled a little, knowing full well how much her daughter applied herself to everyone she liked to spend time with and even some people that she didn't.

She stood and nodded to the queen. "I thank you for your time, your majesty," she bowed a little,"I was just a little worried about Sethunya."

With that she turned and padded out of the den. She sighed contentedly as the sun soaked into her fiery orange fur. What a lovely day! she thought, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

She strolled around towards the back of the den and started down the incline towards the large, lightly-colored boulders where the lionesses sunned. She hopped gracefully onto her spot and laid her heads on her paws. Her throat vibrated as she purred-the warm rock warming her belly.

*£*

Chenziri sauntered towards the sunning rocks where he knew his mate, and possible his sister, would be. He paused a little ways off, analyzing the figures lounging on the rocks. Adanya's fiery coat jumped out at him and he continued walking towards her.

He leapt gracefully onto the boulder and laid down by her side.

"Have you seen Xhosa this morning?" she murmured quietly.

"Yes," he replied,"She was with the prince a little while ago."

Adanya nodded her acknowledgement and licked his whiskered cheek. That small gesture of affection done she closed her eyes and drifted into slumber. Chenziri followed suit and after resting a forearm on his mate's side he fell asleep.

[Carl]

Obi feigned trying duck out of the way, but let her hit him. From her weight he tumbled over and into the waterhole. Cascading water splashed up around the young lions, getting them both wet. The water was deep enough that lying on his side as he'd landed, Obi's hind legs were completely submerged. He coughed and shook his head, sending water droplets flying from his not-quite-full mane.

He narrowed his eyes and grinned mischievously. Then he hooked a paw under the water and hurled the pawful of liquid directly as Xhosa's face. Then he slipped out from beneath her, the added moisture aiding his escape. The young prince stood triumphantly at the other end of the waterhole, water dripping down him and back into the pond it had come from.

"And the brilliant tactician Obi wins again," he said, beaming arrogantly, puffing up his chest, and holding his head high.

---

"Yes, that's quite alright," the queen told Adanya as she rose and left. Then she turned and looked at her mate, the king. "Who do you think he'll pick? Your his father, you know a young lion best."

Nnamdi rolled over and looked tiredly at the queen. He gazed into her deep green eyes and smiled a bit.

"I think he'll choose Xhosa. He has a crush on her," the king said simply.

"What makes you say that?" she asked.

"A father knows. Have you noticed that even when Bao's around, Obi's more likely to spend time with Xhosa or the both of them, rather than just Bao? Just give him a little time and he'll settle right down," he explained.

"I guess you have a point," Nthanda smiled. Purring, she rubbed her head under his chin, resting it on his paws. Smiling himself, the king lay his head atop hers, preparing for a nice nap and holding in a purr of his own.

"Your Majesty!" a voice called just as he was starting to drift to sleep, bringing the king back. He looked up to see Sethunya climbing up toward him. He slipped out from beneath his mate, rose to his paws, and walked over to greet the old lioness.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I've had a bad feeling, so I performed a shaman ritual at my tree," the old lioness began, her eyes darting from side to side for a moment just in case someone was listening before re-focusing on the king.

"What have you learned?"

"The kingdom is shrouded by an air that I don't like. The Great Kings have shown me a storm of changeㅡ fueled by dissension and hunger," she said quietly.

"What does that mean?" Nnamdi asked.

"It means that whatever happens the Circle of Life will come full circle, I'm afraid," she said mysteriously. The king frowned, trying to understand her riddles.

"Of course," he said, "it must be about the hyenas. Or the cheetahs. Maybe both... dissension, hunger; they disagree with my methods and go hungry as a result."

The creamy tan lioness nodded and turned, beginning to walk away. "Perhaps... there's more than one kind of hunger, Your Majesty."

With that, she left, leaving him to puzzle out what that could mean. Truthfully, she didn't know what it could mean either. All she knew was that once again the kingdom was in danger, and their only hope was if the king could figure out what the Great Kings and told her.

---

After the legend-keeper had left, Themba and Bao remained perched in the old baobab tree, examining the shamanistic relics that were just lying around. It all seemed so magical, these old artifacts told the stories of their past, they held secrets to the future, and it was all just lying here. And yet, only Sethunya, the oldest and wisest lioness in the pride could make any sense of it. It was entrancing. The young princess wanted to learn too.

"Hey Bao, do you think one day Sethunya might teach us to do what she does?" she asked her best friend.

"I hope so," Bao said, sniffing the fragments of the fruit that still lay where it had fallen.

"You've got some legends yourself," Themba went on, "I mean, you used to live with humans. Most lions have never even seen one, and many haven't even seen the ruins of one of their collective dens."

"They call those cities, and humans aren't really all that wonderous. They're just animals," the Chinese lioness replied, scratching her shoulder with a hind leg.

"But they're so advanced," the princess insisted, "The things you've told me about themㅡ their flying machines, their doors, their metal branches that do a number of different things... how do they do it?"

Bao rolled her eyes. "They have one thing we don't that allows them to craft all of those things and that doesn't make them advanced."

"What is it?"

"Hands."

For a moment the two adolescent lionesses were silent, and then the princess burst into a fit of laughter, rocking backward onto her back. It was so odd to think that the hairless monkeys she'd heard of were only at an advantage because they had hands. All monkeys had those, what made this different? Obviously her friend disagreed, so Themba decided to drop it.

"Okay, you win. You do have other legends, though. The legends of your home land," she said.

"I suppose. But I'm not anything like Sethunya."

[Dark Huntress]

Xhosa glared at the prince, her ears flattened against her soaked tuft. She pulled herself out of the liquid surrounding her and shook her white and red fur, wringing tiny droplets onto the 'victor'. She peeked into the water, checking her reflection.

Her multicolored eyes widened as she saw how her tuft had fluffed up so that it looked like an ostrich's back feather. "Agh!" she exclaimed, quickly wetting a paw and attempting to flatten it. She turned to face Obi, eyes narrowed. "Don't even think about laughing," she snarled,"'cuz I will kick your fluffy tail!" She continued on her odd task until a voice from behind startled her.

"Pouncing lesson my claws," it snorted.

Xhosa turned to see her aunt standing alongside Zaire. "I pounced," Xhosa muttered. She flicked her tail rapidly, her aunt's steady gaze making her a little uncomfortable.

Chika simply rolled her eyes and strolled off towards the sunning area. Xhosa followed, small paws tripping along. "How did the meeting go?" she asked quietly. Chika stopped walking immediately and glanced suspiciously at Obi.

"Fine," she answered in a low tone. "Fine."

Xhosa shrugged and picked up her pace as Chika continued walking. "What's going on?" she asked eagerly.

"I'd rather not discuss it with," she gestured towards Obi discreetly with her head,"nearby. It might make him uncomfortable. Go do what you were doing, your mother is probably already over here."

"Oh, sh-!" Xhosa backed away as if her mother had already seen her.

"My thoughts exactly," Chika smiled a little. "Have fun." She stifled a laugh as Xhosa gave her a grin and darted off towards Obi. "She's hopeless!"

"Not as hopeless as you are," Zaire remarked, coming up behind her. She gave him a slight glare.

"Oh, shhh! No one's supposed to know!" She laughed and strolled towards where the lionesses were sure to be.


Chenziri felt his mate groan a little next to him. "What?" he managed to grumble, sleepiness clouding his thoughts. Andanya pressed a paw against his mane as she stretched.

"It's your sister." She didn't sound too pleased at all. Chenziri made a grunting sound in acknowledgment before turning over. He was too tired to listen to those two get at eachother. It was like listening to a dissonant cacophony of angry rhinos-annoying and frightening. He could only pity Zaire, who followed Xhosa around like a vulture followed a dying animal.

"Good morning, Zizi," Chika greeted him as she curled up not her stone which lay next to theirs. Zaire laid down best to her, resting his broad chin on her back protectively.

"'Morning," he mumbled unenthusiactiacally.

Chika gave him an unimpressed look and rolled her eyes. She shook her head then tucked her nosed under a small, red paw, shielding her closed eyes from the bright sun. She purred a little. This, she thought,[/i]is how a lion should live[/i].

[Carl]

Despite the young lioness's warning, or more likely because of it, Obi chortled a bit. He turned around and hid his face with a paw so it would be less obvious. Then Chika and Zaire had come and were talking to Xhosa. The prince busied himself with swatting at a passing mouse so as not to eavesdrop. He had to be polite and proper, and a proper young gentlelion didn't eavesdrop. The mouse fled as Xhosa returned, causing Obi to look up and see her coming.

"What was that about?" he asked, beginning to stroll away from the waterhole. He felt like going for a walk before it got late. He flicked his tail and shook himself to lose some of the excess water. Then he cut his eyes back at the lioness. "Nothing... troubling, I hope?"

---

As Bao and Themba made their way out of the tree, the princess leading the way, Bao lost her footing and fell down, colliding with Themba and knocking them both to the ground in a heap. A cloud of dust rose up around the two, temporarily obscuring their vision and making breathing a little more difficult.

"Oof...! Careful..." Themba groaned, unable to get up while the other lioness lay atop her, "Get off Bao!"

"Ugh... I'm working on it," the foreigner said, rising to her paws and stepping off of the princess. "Are you okay, Themba?" she asked, leaning down to offer the other lioness help in getting up. Themba rose on her own, shaking the dust out of her fur.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks."

"I'm really sorry about that, my paw slipped... I tried to catch myself, but I wasn't fast enough..." the gray lioness mumbled. As she spoke, Themba was struck by the lovely sound of her friend's most unusual accentㅡ and not for the first time. It was something that had fascinated her for as long as Bao had been a part of their pride. And if felt like she'd been around for much longer than she had been. In fact, it had gotten to the point that Themba couldn't remember what life had been like without the other lioness around, and she couldn't imagine a life without her.

"Um... are you sure you're okay?" Bao asked. That's when Themba realized she'd been staring blankly at her friend. She shook her head and averted her eyes, pawing at the ground in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she insisted, "Come on, let's go look for my brother and Xhosa, we've bothered Sethunya enough for today." She didn't really think that, but she thought with the other two younger lions around, there would be enough activity to abolish the awkward feeling she now had. 'Why the hell did I just zone out staring at her? What is wrong with me?' she wondered, starting to walk away and clearing her throat.

"Yeah, that does sound like a good idea," the gray lioness agreed, following her, "though by the time we find them it may well be darkㅡ this tree is pretty secluded from everything else in the Pridelands."

"That's part of its appeal. It makes it more mystical, and definitely more peaceful. Plus, this far out, I'm not just a princess, instead, I get to be just a lioness," Themba replied.

"You're not 'just' anything. There's a lot more to you than what you are," Bao said in an attempt to comfort her friend.

Themba shrugged, "Doesn't usually seem so."