The Origin Of the Pridelands

[Alexterri1]

Enjoy 8D

Chapter One

Mohatu's eyes opened.

The first thing he saw was his brother's reddish-brown fur, the tuft of hair on his head a mess from rolling about in his sleep. Then he saw his sister, her tawny body rising and falling slowly as she slept.

Scanning the room, he came to the conclusion that his parents had already left the den. That didn't bother him much; in fact, that was usually the case.

Mohatu was the youngest of three cubs in the Badala pride. His parents, King Kubali and Queen Hisia, were two of the most respected/feared lions in the land. He always felt jealous of his siblings: it was obvious that his brother was his father's favourite, while his sister was his mother's favourite.

His brother, Juya, was the eldest, so he was the one who would take over the pride once he grew up. Their parents had been sure to tell them of their responsibilities when they were young. But even besides that, Juuya seemed to be better then Mohatu In every way. He always won when they had play fights, he was bigger and stronger, he even started developing mane before Mohatu did.

His sister, Nyiwe, was destined to be betrothed to the prince of some pride, but even she was liked more then Mohatu. She was already showing signs of being a good huntress, she made friends easily, and she always followed the rules.

But Mohatu was the unfavourite. He wasn't sure if it was because he was smallish, he was the youngest, he wasn't as eager as the others to be "proper", or if it was another reason. But he knew that he couldn't ever leave. If he was just another male cub, he would be expected to either challenge for a rank, or leave the pride once he was two and a half years old. But, as the son of the king and queen, he was expected to stay in the pride for the rest of his life and be second in command too his brother.

Of course, his other option was to challenge his brother for the throne. But considering he was smaller and not as good a fighter, that option probably wasn't likely, unless he was destined to be big and strong as an adult.

"Mohatu?"

Mohatu was jerked away from his thoughts as he heard the voice of his mother. He turned his head to the entrance, to find her walking into the den.

He had to admit, he liked his mother more then his father. But that wasn't saying much.

"What?" Mohatu said.

"Today is the monthly pride gathering. Wake your siblings up, and I'll come back In five minutes to get you." Hisia replied.

Within five minutes, Mohatu, Juya, and Nyiwe were following their mother to a poll of water behind the large rock the lions of the prides lived in. Upon getting there, Hisia would lay down and motion for Juuya to come over to her. She began to groom him, and after five minutes, she moved to Nyiwe, grooming her as well. Finally it was Mohatu's turn.

It was the middle of the dry season, so the pool of water was smaller then it would normally be. But it was still a popular grooming place, and Hisia wasn't going to let her cubs go to an important event without being clean.

While Hisia was grooming Mohatu she suddenly stopped. "Mohatu!" she exclaimed, "you're mane is getting bigger. It's definitely bigger then it was last week"

"Still not as big as mine" Juya boasted, puffing out his chest. Mohatu just rolled his eyes.

Once everyone was clean, Hisia and the cubs began to head to the large rock that Kubali held every event on. Once every month, all the members of the pride gathered together to hear the news of the lands. The amount of time it lasted depended on how much news there was to give. During this time, the King sat on the rock with his Queen laying down next to him, while the cubs sat next to their mother.

Upon arriving, the lions were still gathering, Kubali greeted them with his general gruff aloofness. The cubs of the pride were permitted to play with each other, as long as they didn't get themselves dirty, untill all the animals arrvied. The lions of the pride all sat in the rocky outcroppings surrounding the large rock the King and his family sat on, so that's where they would talk to the other cubs.

Mohatu didn't bother socializing. Firstly, his siblings always had everyone's attention diverted. And second of all, he didn't feel there was anything he could do besides without getting his fur remote dirty, besides boringly talk with other cubs.

"Man, the dry season really sucks" he heard one cub complain. "Its really unfair the royal family gets to drink the water first. I'm always thirsty, even after getting to drink."

"Yeah, I agree. They're really lucky" another cub said.

Mohatu began to wonder. Should be grateful about being a prince, even though he was the underdog of the three?

He shook his head. Of course I shouldn't be grateful. I shouldn't be grateful for being ignored all the time.

Juya walked up to the cubs. "You do realise that we're the ones who run this place, right? We deserve first access to the water. Go rule your own pride and you get all the water you want!" Juya growled. The two cubs backed away, clearly intimidated.

Mohatu sighed, That was another thing about Juya that irked him: whenever he heard some other cubs saying anything remotely non-favourable about the royal family, he felt the need to stick his nose in.

Then Nyiwe walked over. "Juya, come on, don't be mean!" she said.

Juya glared at her. "I'm the prince, I can do whatever i want!" he protested, staring down his little sister. She eventually gave in and crawled away.

A part of Mohatu wanted to go up to his brother and call him out, but he knew it was pointless. Juya would no doubt complain to their parents, and their parents always sided with Juya.

So instead, he trotted over to where his sister was now sitting, hoping to comfort her. "Its okay, Nyiwe, you..."

Before he could finish, his father's voice was heard. "Everyone had arrived! The meeting will begin now!"

As quickly as possibly, the three cubs scrambled up to the rock and sat down next to Hisia. The other lions of the pride sat down around the rocks surrounding the largest rock. There were 30 lions in total, so everything was a tiny bit crowded.

"I welcome you all to the annual Pride Gathering. I do not have much news to share this month, as it has been rather quiet...however there are some things to be said."

He then began to speak about general problems the animals of the lands were having in the dry season, and Mohatu found it incredibly boring, so much so he almost considered just leaving, but he reconsidered when he saw his mother glare at him when she caught him staring towards the watering hole too much, rather then the audience.

"There is one last thing I would like to mention..." Kubali said after what felt like hours, jerking Mohatu's attention back to him.

"Today, while the lionesses were out hunting, they came across a rogue lioness attempting to hunt. She was quickly captured and brought back to the Pridelands."

Mohatu blinked. He didn't even know there were rogue lionesses: he was just a cub, after all, and he had assumed that all rogues were males, since those were the only rogues the pride seemed to come across.

"Now," Kubali continued, "rogue lionesses aren't something you see every day. But this lioness....is particularly unusual. In fact, I can safely say I have never seen a lioness like her in my life."

As if on cue, two male lions got up and walked to a hole underneath one of the rocks behind the meeting place. Mohatu could almost feel anticipation build amongst the animals watching. After five seconds - which felt more like five hours - the two male lions walked up to where Kubali and his family sat, dragging a half heartedly struggling lioness. The male lions dropped the lioness right in front Kubali's rock, one male holding one forepaw on her shoulders to keep her down. The entire crowd of animals gasped.

The lioness was white.

She wasn't exactly white: it was more of a very pale silver, but it was still an extremely unusual sight in this pride's land.

"As you can see," Kubali continued, "this lioness is very unusual. She is a white lioness. Technically, he fur is not white, but its still the palest possible colour for a lioness who is not albino. Needless to say, a lioness of this unusual colour isn't just a typical rogue lioness. But, we will say how her future goes. Meeting dismissed."

The lioness said and did nothing, she simply hung her head low as the animals stared at her. They didn't seem to want to leave the meeting, but when Kubali gave a rather loud roar, indicating that all animals must leave, they obeyed and left.

As Kubali and the lions of the pride walked back to the pride's den, the two male lions guarding the white lioness picked her up and carried her behind them.

"Wow, I've never seen a white lioness before! I wonder what Dad's gonna do with her.." Juya exclaimed, Nyiwe and Mohatu walking besides him.

"I wonder why she left her pride?" Nyiwe said.

"Maybe it got crowded, or something?" Mohatu responded. "Mom told me that when prides get too big the king will make some of the female cubs leave as well as the males once they're old enough"

Upon arriving back, Kubali motioned for the pride to gather at the base of the den, said something Mohatu didn't hear to the two males, and they dropped the lioness at the base of the den, again holding one paw in her shoulder to prevent her from escaping. The other lions gathered around to see what would happen, and Hisia made her cubs sit with her in the front of the audience.

Kubali sat down next to the white lioness. She had her head held down, attempting to avoid eye contact with the king.

"Now, you will answer all of these questions, so the rest of the pride can hear you. What is your name?" he growled. Mohatu could tell it wasn't a suggestion.

"Zawadi," the lioness said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Are you from a pride close to here?" he continued.

"N-no, sir, my pride was at least two months of travel away from here..." she said, her voice a bit louder.

"How old are you?"

"A year and two months old"

"Why did you leave?"

"I...I was kicked out."

"Don't lie to me" Kubali snarled, "If a king wanted to be rid of a lioness as young as you, they would have killed you. Besides, you're too unusual to just let go of."

"I..I left by myself" she stammered.

"Why did you run away?"

"Because.. because the king was unfair, and my mother died.."

Kubali snorted. "Did you honestly think a lioness of your fur colour and age would last long as a rogue without either dying or being scooped up by some pride? Well, either way, you are now a member of Badala." he turned to the lions and lionesses in the audience. "No one is allowed to harm or touch her in any way unless I give them permission too. Pride dismissed."

Kubali motioned to the males and left to attend to other kingly duties. The two males grabbed Zawadi and carried her into a part of the den before dropping her and walking back outside. The other lions and lionesses scattered.

Hisis turned to her cubs. "You three are allowed to play now, but stay within our borders, don' get into trouble, and don't touch or talk too the white lioness. Understand?"

"Yes, mother," the cubs are replied at once.

"I have one question," Mohatu asked.

"What is it?" Hisia said.

"Why were they carrying the lioness?"

"She broke her leg while trying to hunt. It won't fully heal for about three months."

---

At the end of the day, Mohatu was the first to come back to the den. There were only three other lions there....not including Zawadi. Mohatu knew he wasn't supposed to interact with her, but his curiosity could not be satisfied until he did. So, he looked over his shoulder to where Zawadi lay.

She was motionless, her eyes half closed. After a few seconds, however, she lifted her head a little, looking at Mohatu. They stared at each other for a while before Mohatu tried smiling. She smiled back, before lowering her head again and closing her eyes.

"MOHATU!""

Mohatu almost jumped into the air, he was so surprised. He quickly looked in the direction of where the scream came from, but relaxed a little when he saw his littermates running into the den.

"Why are you already in the den?" Nyiwe asked, running up to him. "Are you tired?"

"Nah, he's just lame" Juya said. "He doesn't have any friends, so no one to play with."

Mohatu wanted to say something, but he bit back his words. He didn't want to start an argument.

"Well, we kinda got in trouble. We were talking to some cheetah cubs and an argument broke out... lets just say mom and dad weren't happy. They want us to stay here for the rest of the evening!" Juya said. 'This den is so boring."

Nyiwe and Juya played in the den for an hour or so, but Mohatu didn't join in. He remained curled up, avoiding eye contact with Zawadi.

But, when Kubali and Hisia arrived, and ordered to cubs to go to sleep, Mohatu gave one last look at Zawadi, before going to sleep.

[Alexterri1]

Chapter Two

Currently, Mohatu was lying on a medium-sized rock, watching some others cubs play by a stream. He would have joined in, if his brother and sister weren't there, which was all the time.

The last time he tried to join in, his brother had beaten him up in a "play" fight and Mohatu had to sit in his den for a full day due to having cuts on his paws. Juya had claimed it was an accident, and of course, their parents believed him. They always believed him.

It had only been a couple of weeks since Zawadi was captured, and the pride had quickly erupted in gossip. It wasn't uncommon for Mohatu to hear two lionesses or cubs exchange surprise over the situation while eating. However, this slowly subsided as the days went by.

Still, it wasn't hard to tell the pride was interested In seeing what would happen to her.

Of course, Mohatu was interested as well. But he couldn't sate his curiosity: his parents made it very clear that he was not to talk or even look at her. Mohatu had tried to make an effort to be good and follow their orders, so he spent two weeks avoiding her.

Currently, the cubs were playing a popular game where most of the cubs played a hunting party of lionesses, and some of them played wildebeest. The objective of the game was for the "lionesses" to catch one of the "wildebeests", and the "wildebeests" were supposed to avoid being hunted. It looked fun, but Mohatu knew his brother would ruin it for him, so he didn't bother.

Besides, he wasn't sure which role he wanted to play.

Mohatu watched the cubs. Most of them were tawny and brown. Mohatu himself had brown fur: a particularly dark shade. As he thought about this, his thoughts shifted to the white lioness he had been trying so hard to avoid.

He tried his hardest to think about other things: heat, sand, trees, grass, rain, sky...

But he couldn't.

------

When the sun began to set in the sky, the lionesses who were responsible for hunting went out to catch something for the pride to eat. They didn't always catch something big, but they tried to always bring something back.

When the food was brought back, the royal family always ate first, followed by the second in command and his family, followed by the rest of the males, then the hunting lionesses, and then the rest of the lionesses. Cubs ate with their parents. That was the order to eating in all prides.

Mohatu, Juya, and Nyiwe were all sitting on one small rock, their parents off doing royal duties. Nyiwe and Juya were talking about things Mohatu didn't much care about, so he mostly tuned them out. He was too busy thinking about Zawadi,

"Hey, Mohatu?"

Mohatu's attention was jerked back to Juya, once he realised it was him he asked him the question.

"What?"

"Do you think she's pretty?" Juya asked.

"...Who?" Mohatu questioned.

"The white lioness. Do you think she's pretty?"

"...I guess?"

"She's super pretty!" Nyiwe chimed in. "I wish I had white fur.."

"The hunting party has returned!" Kubali announced, interrupting the conversation.

The lionesses came to the den site dragging a rather skinny, young zebra. The lead huntress walked up to Kubali.

"I'm sorry, but that's all we could get. the dry season is effecting the prey animals a lot."

"I'll tolerate this for now, but you better step up your game once the rains come." Kubali grumbled.

She nodded and walked back.

"Let's eat!" Hisia said to the cubs.

Mohatu nodded as he and his siblings slowly walked to the carcass. Once he was there, he briefly scanned the pride's lionesses waiting in the background for their turn, and in the sea of tawny and brown, he could swear he saw a flash of white.

Before someone caught him, he turned his attention back to the meat.

---

Another three months passed. The dry season was coming to a close, and the rains would return In another two weeks. Naturally, the pride began to mostly ignore the Zawadi situation, continuing on with their normal business.

But Mohatu hadn't forgotten. He'd spent almost four months trying to forget about her, trying to ignore her, but he couldn't. He frequently caught himself looking at her for longer then just a quick passing glance, though he hadn't been caught by someone else yet.

Mohatu had just been given a lecture, along with some other cubs, about how to detect bad weather. It was very boring, in his opinion, and he spent most of the lesson just nodding his head occasionally and not letting it really sink in.

He exited the den with his siblings following him, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he felt a drop of water fall on his nose.

"Ah"! Nyiwe yelped, apparently feeling a drop as well. "What was that??"

"I...I think it's rain." Mohatu said. Is this really rain?

"Rain! But...I thought it wasn't coming for a little longer?" Juya questioned.

Mohatu would have shrugged had been physically capable of it. Instead, he calmly walked away from his now fascinated siblings, towards the water hole. Or rather, the small water hole: the big one was known by of the animals of the kingdom and was being monitored during the dry season. But the small one was hidden away, surrounded by bushes, and very few knew its existence: not even the king and queen knew about it. Mohatu himself had only discovered by accident.

On his way there, he was stopper dead in his track when he caught a new sight,

It was Zawadi.

She was sitting still, grooming one of her front paws, not even noticing the cub that was obviously staring at her.

Mohatu was about to just turn around and run away, scared that someone would catch them and he'd get in trouble. But before he could, he heard two cubs running up to him.

"Mohatu!" Nyiwe said. "What are you doing?"

When Zawadi heard them arrive, she immediately jumped up and ran away. Neither of the cubs seemed to have noticed her.

"Uhh, nothing. Just going to take a walk."

"Oh. Well, we're going to go play hunt with some other cubs!" Nyiwe said.

"Have fun being boring." Juya added, smirking.

Mohatu just rolled his eyes and walked in the direction of the secret water hole.

Once he got there, he was stopped dead in his tracks again to find Zawadi there, calmly drinking water.

Mohatu didn't know what to do. Should re run and obey the rules? Should he finally talk to her? Eventually, he realised that this was his perfect chance. His parents were away doing royal duties, his siblings were playing, nobody knew about the water hole, and he needed to talk to her. So he decided to just take the opportunity.

"He-hello...." Mohatu said.

Zawadi raised her head, looking at Mohatu with a mix of curiosity and stilted emotions.

"My...My name is Mohatu. I just saw you here and...." he stammered.

"And?" Zawadi said, her expression and voice emotionless.

"I wanted to get to know you better!" he finally said.

"Why is that?"

"I'm....I was curious about you. Nobody seems to care about you..."

She blinked. Mohatu guessed that she wasn't expecting this.

"...Is there anything you'd like to ask me, then?" Zawadi asked.

"Y-yes. Why did you leave your pride?"

She blinked again.

"I let because my pride leader was a tyrant. I already told you all this." she said, her voice becoming harder.

Mohatu took a step back.

"I'm sorry...I must have forgotten..."

She sighed.

"He was a tyrant, my mother died, and I decided to leave and find a better pride. There. Happy?"

"Okay......thanks!" he blurted out, before turning around and running away.