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[Iri]

This is my character, Zawadi! Her name means "gift" in Swahili.
She was born as a larger-than-usual cub. Her mother wanted to give her a beautiful name, as her mother thought that Zawadi was her gift. So she named the cub Zawadi.
After a while, Zawadi's mother realized she was weak from Zawadi's birth. She was already starving and weak by the time the little cub was born, and died soon after. Zawadi would have died if she hadn't been found by a lioness named Kukemea ["scold"]. Kukemea had no milk of her own to give Zawadi, so the lioness gave Zawadi to Dimbwi ["puddle"].
At first Dimbwi was reluctant to feed a cub that wasn't hers; not because she was selfish, but because she didn't want Zawadi to be hurt if she got teased from having no parents.
After a long while, Dimbwi agreed to raise Zawadi. But Dimbwi's other cubs weren't clueless little balls of fur. They didn't recognize Zawadi; she was bigger than them, she didn't look like them, Dimbwi, or Dimbwi's mate, and she didn't have the scent they recognized. They didn't like that. And they didn't like her.
Zawadi grew up with harsh teases and insults about having no mother or father; but Dimbwi defended Zawadi fiercely. She wouldn't allow the cub to suffer for something that wasn't her fault. But Zawadi refused to be coddled or protected; she had the urge to show everyone she wasn't as weak as they thought.
Just when Zawadi was going into her adolescent stage, a cub went missing. Zawadi tried to volunteer to help find it, but the others just called her "attention-seeking" and a "wannabe".
After many failed to find the cub, a young lioness about Zawadi's age dared her to find the cub. Zawadi accepted the challenge and looked for weeks for the cub. After a long time she found the cub, slipping into a gorge. She helped the cub back up and brought the cub home. Despite being humble about saving the cub and not boasting about it, she was still called the "attention-seeking hero". Fed up with never being taken seriously, she too ran away. But no lion or lioness ever set out to find her.

Zawadi is (c) Iri
Art is (c) Iri