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 Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:55 am
Shomoro had left her little cubs with one of the nannies of the Pridelands, a sweet young lioness called Lemaa'sheshe. Truth be told, they didn't need very much watching quite yet, too young to bumble off wandering, but it eased her heart to leave them in safe company; and she thought, perhaps, it might do quiet Sheshe some good to take her mind off of the blue lion who'd captured her heart.
The golden lioness trotted stealthily through the grasses just past the edge of the Pridelands, black-tipped ears swiveling this way and that as she sniffed the air. She was hungry after her days of seclusion.
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Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:05 am
Not too far away, there was a swarm of buzzing flies looping happily around in the air; doubtless the hyenas would follow before too long.
The long grass rustled lightly, trembling with the shakes of the tiny lion cub hiding in it. His momma - he could see her, but she wasn't moving... he'd only ever seen her thin, so thin, so couldn't know how emaciated and starving she was. Couldn't know how he was starving too.
All he knew was that she wouldn't get up, and finally the swarms of black flying things and the strange, disturbing smell rising from his mother's body had scared him back into the grass to shake and cry. He was barely old enough to totter around, nowhere near old enough to understand.
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Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:21 am
Before long, the smell of death met her busily-flaring nostrils. Her first thoguhts were hopeful, of a carcass as yet unfound by scavengers, food she could feast on without the danger and effort of a hunt...perhaps even enough to return with some for Sheshe, who could not hunt for herself.
...but then the dire truth was laid out before her, and Shomoro had to turn her head, shutting her bright eyes. It was no gazelle, no zebra, no wildebeest; it was a frightneningly thin lioness laid out and still, swarmed by flies. This was no feast, it was tragedy.
The huntress' heart sank even as she opened her eyes once more. There was no point in lingering here; hyenas would come to defile, to tear apart a creature who must have been beautiful once, and if they found a living lion still here, she too could become a victim.
As yet, the cub in the grass had gone unnoticed. Letting out a sigh, she bowed her head and breathed, "I'm sorry."
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Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:25 am
A voice! Who was that? The cub scooted backwards as fast as he could, making the grass sway and rustle loudly. The noise startled him, and he let out a mewling cry, hitting that piercing note that only the very young can manage.
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Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:31 am
Her head shot up, every muscle in her body tensing as her ears swept forward to catch a high-pitched cry that keened through her mother's heart. A cub! The lioness who now lay dead had been a mother, survived perhaps barely by her own child.
Easing her posture, Shomoro moved towards the sounds, head lowered to sniff after the cub. "Shh, it's alright," she soothed. "I'm here, I won't hurt you."
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Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:33 am
The cub's fur was stained with mud, but underneath was burnished gold as he snuffled over to lay his head disconsolately on Shomoro's nearest paw. He wasn't sure who she was, but she had a smell around her that he recognized from his mother, before she stopped moving. He mewled again, the sound pitiful and pleading. No words; he didn't know them yet.
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Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:51 am
That hint of gold against hers was almost jarring in its similarity, and in that moment the thought that began as 'He looks like mine,' turned simply into 'Mine.' And with that sad little mewl, he wormed his way just a little bit further into her heart.
If she took him now, small and shaking, the memory of how he'd started might fade, replaced by a mother alive and healthy, of brothers that wouldn't remember being three, but four instead. He even looked like her could be hers...maybe no one would know the difference. No one but Lemaa'sheshe.
Mustering up a purr despite the choking smell of death, Shomoro bent her head and licked and licked the top of his, cleaning some of the mud from the shock of black fur that would someday be his mane.
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Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:55 am
The cub tilted his head up into the licking, his eyes blinking fast to clear the crust from the corners. That felt right, that felt good, and he let out a pleased prrwrr. He shoved his head against Shomoro's leg, hard; the movement had something of desperation in it, as though the cub were trying to confirm that she was in fact real and he wasn't dreaming.
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Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 11:07 am
Shomoro swished her tail behind her, nuzzling the poor little cub comfortingly; it all came so naturally. But the knowledge that she couldn't affored to dawdle here invaded the brief sense of right, and so she sighed, giving his face one more lick before purring to him, "We need to go home."
With that, the huntress took gentle hold of his scruff and lifted him from the ground, sparing one sidelong glance for his unfortunate mother before turning in the direction of the Pridelands.
Mine, echoed the thought in her head.
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