Prologue
The sun pulled himself from his warm earthen bed. The first rays flitted across the surface, giving everything in his path an ominous red glow. As the sun pulled his way farther out of his resting place, the colors shifted to a rich orange to a warm yellow to the soothing colors of dawn. The light filled the valley, almost like he was searching for something. The trees stretched towards the rising light, desperate for a drink from the rich sunlight. But still, the sun swept his light across the bowl, bringing dawn to the farthest reaches of the valley.
All across the sun’s path, creatures were shifting about. Some were waking up from the blissful night to embrace the day, others were settling down to sleep to escape the unforgiving sunlight. The trees of the north did a fair job of hiding most of the sun, but the plains of the south warmed up easily and quickly.
At the edge of the jungle, on the eastern side, there was a cliff, separating trees from grassland. The cliff was barren, only home to many caves and rocks and a small pride of lions.
The leader of this pride, Jalil, and his queen, Layla, were already awake. Early last night, Layla had given birth to a single cub, a boy. Today would be the presentation to the pride and to the animals of the kingdom.
As the sun found the pride, animals of all kinds were gathering below the cliff to view the new prince, and future king of their land.
At the top of the cliff, called Juanonea for the color of the great stone at the lip, the elder lioness, Chuki was meeting with the king and queen.
She had seen now five generations, and was greatly respected among the kingdom. She was also the darkest lion in the pride, as was obvious when she picked up the caramel cub in her teeth.
The kingdom suddenly became silent. The winds had died down and the animals turned their attention towards the cliff, waiting for a view of the cub and the ritual in his presentation.
Chuki walked over to the golden stone at the very lip of the cliff. In a dip in the stone a shallow pool with golden flecks resided. The dark lioness jumped up onto the large boulder and placed the cub next to the pool. She looked up towards the heavens and took a deep breath, allowing the spirits of ancestors to return to the golden stone once more. She opened her eyes and looked down at the helpless cub, which was squirming.
She extended her claws and rolled the cub over, exposing his weakest parts. She raised her claw and looked back at the sky.
“Ajali!” she roared as her claws rushed towards the cub and scraped his belly. The young cub squealed in pain as droplets of blood appeared on his caramel-colored pelt.
Quickly, Chuki picked up the bleeding cub and placed him into the pool, where his blood would join that of his pride.
After a few moments, she pulled the cub out of the pool and held him for all the animals to see. Down below, the kingdom broke into an eruption of noise.
Chuki returned the newly named cub to his parents.
“Ajali.” Layla whispered.
“Ajali.” Jalil repeated.
Ajali opened his eyes.
