The Time

There comes a time in every lion's life when they feel weighed down by their own lives. Heavy, with the grief of the news that a loved one of theirs is dead. The world had seemed to loose all meaning when Shani heard the news that Shinikizo was in fact, dead. Destroyed, utterly ruined, she fled to the savannah's for what she'd believed would be a time period of a few days. Her body trembled as she stood there, staring around her, looking at the world but not really seeing it. Her eyes were wide open yet there was darkness as if they were shut. She was a lone lioness, a spot of chocolate brown, in a field of yellow grass. Just one lion in a whole world full of the, so small yet so big. Did she mean anything to the universe? Was she just another figure, sitting on the horizon? Was she pointless? She shook her head and stared around her, taking in the red and orange sky as it faded into evening. The tree behind her broke up the grass, added depth to the image around her. She sat back on her haunches, head turned upwards towards the sky. Confusion was clear on her fathers, she was lost. She didn't know what to do without Shinikizo, a lion she had fallen madly in love with. The world was so cold, so dark, despite the burning sun.

It all happened so fast, one moment she was alone, staring up at the sky and wondering what to do, the next she was being pushed to the ground and ripped at. His claws dragged against her skin, ripping the flesh open as she struggled. A scream was accompanied with his roar of dominance. She struggle and reached up a paw, slashing at his face. This angered the lion even more and his task became faster, more urgent. They tumbled through the savannah, staining it with blood. With her body ripped to the point where she'd slowly bleed to death, he ran away with a mad laugh. She lay in the grass for what felt like ages, her blood slowly dribbling through her fur as she sobbed brokenly. Life was cruel, she realised. She struggled to get to her paws.

She stared at the Lowlands, dragging herself there. It was a hard task for a dying lioness with barely enough energy to lift herself up, let alone walk. She was nearly dead by the time she'd reached the edge of the jungle, still on the savannah. She could no longer carry her own weight, to weak to go on. She stumbled backwards and fell tot he grass, blood pooling around her now. Her fur was covered in streaks of dark red, the blood beginning to dry on it. She cried out for help desperately, hearing her voice echo through the jungle. Her head fell down and a final tear dribbled out of her eyes and down her cheek as the life faded from her eyes. Their comes a time in every lions life, where they must die, and for Shani, this was the time.

In the heart of the jungle, news had arrived from the mountains that Shinikizo was dead. No further details were offered, but it was stunning for the pride. Nyota was not personally saddened to hear of Shinikizo's passing, for she had never trusted the lion, but the impact on Shani was deep. Despite having three cubs to care for, the young lioness was inconsolable and increasingly despondent. Time would heal Shani's wounds, Nyota assumed, and when the mourning lioness disappeared that day, the queen did not follow. Sometimes solitude and reflection were the best tools for healing, and if Shani needed time to herself, none would stop her.

Little did Nyota know what (or who) was lurking beyond the borders that fateful day. The queen had been patroling on her own when she heard desperate cries for help. Dragging her bloodied self across the border was Shani, mortally wounded and fading fast. Countless times had Nyota tried to warn the younger lioness about the dangers of the savanna, but now was not the time to chastise. Panic seized the monarch as she rushed to Shani's side. Was she too late? Shani's chest had stopped its steady rise and falling, and Nyota paused for only a second as she looked down on the battered body of her friend. In her lifestime, Nyota had seen more blood and loss than she cared to recall. Shani's condition was as bad as one torn apart in battle.

A booming roar parted Nyota's lips, a call to Duara for her presence. If Shani's children heard, then so be it. If they came to say goodbye, Nyota could not stop them. Flashbacks of her mother's own death came fresh into Nyota's memory, and she wished she could spare Malaika, Sakina, and Upendo of the pain of seeing their mother in such a sorry state. Now Shani's cubs would be orphans. Nyota's pawed at the younger lioness weakly. There was nothing she could do to help. "Oh, Shani. How will the cubs ever accept this? They adored you, their mother. Surely you knew this." Her head hung sadly, mind reeling. She wanted to go after the attacker, but she would not leave Shani now, whether or not she was still present or already gone to join the ancestors.

Duara had been reluctant to give up her patrolling duties and allow Nyota to replace her, but the Queen could be quite persuasive at times. Now, Duara was catching up on some well needed rest. She yawned as she awoke form said sleeping and looked around idly. The cubs were lazing around per usual, and she couldn't see any other sign of life in sight. Duara was not the type of lioness to be able to cope with sitting around for so long, so it was that she was soon wandering the jungle in search of entertainment. She found nothing along those lines as she sat in the midst of the beautiful peace and serenity. She found that sometimes, even the beauty of the jungle simply wasn't enough for her and she picked her way back to the caves. Her boredom was clear in her violet eyes as she sat at the mouth to the cave, watching the cubs sleep peacefully. It seemed it was all those cubs ever did, with the exclusion of Upendo and Nyima. She wondered how on Earth they didn't become so bored, but presumed it was the laziness of being so young.

Her eyes scanned the immediate area for Nyima, and she was most displeased to see that the Princess had vanished within the jungle once more. A heavy sigh parted her lips as she rose and strode back to the jungle, breathing in the scents. They hit her nostrils like a delicious buffet, save for the plants, and she picked out Nyima's distinct scent amongst the different ones. She followed it as far as she could, until she heard a roar echoing throughout the jungle, one that stated dominance over others. She shivered and felt on edge, but knew that if there was a lion approaching the border Nyota would have called out for her by now. She felt tense and on edge though, now looking for Nyima with far more urgency then previously. She wanted to call out for the cub, but knew that this would attract nothing other than the attention of the un-wanted lion.

Duara was beginning to panic now as she could not locate Nyima anywhere. Had the lion taken her precious daughter? Nyota would be furious if someone even harmed a hair on her body, let alone actually kidnap the Princess. Who would want to cause trouble with the Lowlanders, a peaceful place? Her eyes widened in fear as she remembered the war all those years ago and wondered if it was a revenge-seeker from the opposite side. She growled and looked around, urgently running across the earth when she heard Nyota's roar for her to come. She turned and fled towards the savannah, a sight falling upon her eyes that she did not ever wish to see. She stared at the lifeless form of Shani and let out a pained noise, sitting beside Nyota. The slashes on her body looked not un-like those from the war. It was like they were a warning, but Duara knew they weren't. Shani had ventured into the savannah, a place she had been warned about on countless times. She had been stricken by grief over the loss of her mate, and common sense had abandoned her. "Oh Shani..." She sighed. What of her cubs? She thought to herself.

Death was nothing a young cub should have to cope with, and that was something that Upendo seemed to know well. He experienced it every time he hunted, the creature who gave their life for someone else to eat was remarkable. But then came the news of his father's death. Upendo hated his sire, but there was something about the fact that he was dead was beyond him. He was told that he died protecting his king from a rogue, and the cub had to believe it. Valor and honor was something he never thought his father was capable of, he always thought that he was a murderer and a sadist. But maybe there was some good in his father's heart, although Upendo had avoided his kindness every step of the way. It was absurd to think that his father wanted the best for them, but that was what their mother stood by even after Jabari and Ziko had vanished with their demon of a father. But the news of death took his mother down hard, and Upendo finally understood that his sire truly loved him and his family, but he couldn't accept it. It didn't feel right to accept something as absurd as that. Shani had become distant now, and Upendo took to being more of a father to his sisters than a brother. But little did Upendo know that he would now have to take that position more seriously now, something that no cub should have to do. And it would all start now on his simple walk through the forest.

A roar was heard in the distance and it was unmistakable, it was that of his mother. But something was different, this roar wasn't one of success from a hunt. It was one of pain. The dark tan cub rushed through the jungle vines, getting caught on some of them and tripping as he rushed towards his mother's crying and painful roar. But soon Upendo caught scent of something else, blood and his queens. Something happened, maybe there was a rogue and his mother defended the pride? Maybe his queens and her were just play fighting like he and his sisters do and his mother accidentally was injured? The growing cub prayed that was what had happened. But as he finally broke through the vines and the tree line of the Lowland territory he was greeted to a different sight. Just outside the neutral lands, where the grass started to diminish into a wide landscape of sand was the figures of his two queens. The scent of his mother's blood heavily filled the air as he rushed forward, being the first of his siblings to notice their mother's roar. As he neared closer, everything started to slow down as he realized that the figure on the ground that was motionless was his mother. He stopped in his tracks for a split second, sending himself backwards towards his home, but he quickly picked himself back up and ran towards his mother's body. "M-Mother!" His cry was loud and deep, showing him starting to hit adolescence as his voice grew deeper. But this wasn't just his aging, but horror.

The dual-eyed cub flew past his two queens and into the pool of his mother's blood, the crimson's substance staining his paws as he reached her. Tears erupted from his eyes and Upendo dropped his head down to nudge his mother's. "M-Mom, you have to get up! We, we can help you if you come home!" There was no response but Upendo didn't care, he tugged at his mother's paw with his own and watched as it fell limp, "You can't do this! Y-You can't leave! You can't leave Saki or Mala or Jaba or Ziko!" The cub dipped his head into the crook of his mother's neck and sobbed, "You can't leave me," In the course of a short time, Upendo had lost both of his parents, both to attacks by other lions not of their own pride. The cub wrapped his paws around his mother's neck and sobbed even more, his mother's dark brown pelt becoming stained with Upendo's innocent tears. It was only a matter of time before his sisters came out of the jungle to hind their deceased mother, but until then Upendo was alone in the world. He turned his head to his dominant queen and snarled, "You could have saved her! Why didn't you save her! You know she's the only one I have left!" It was true that he had his sisters, he had Giza, but his mother was the only one that could love him as a parent. He stared into Nyota's dual-colored eyes -just as his own were- before turning his head back to his mother's motionless body.

His sobs were muffled by Shani's now stained coat, but mutters still came from the cub's throat. "Come back Momma, come back," His grip on his mother tightened as he curled up next to her motionless body, his head buried in her neck. He sniffed and nuzzled her for what would be the last time before more tears erupted from his eyes. The cub shuddered and remained shivering from the amount of emotion that ran through his body before he found himself at the mentality of a two month old cub who could barely speak.

"M-Mommy, d-dun' go,"

Silence. What could be said when the first of the cubs discovered there mother's fate? Nyota moved forward briefly to stop Upendo from approaching Shani's lifeless form, to keep his paws clean of the blood shed on neurtal territory, but she found it impossible. Eyebrows knit over dual colored eyes as the male turned on Nyota, accusing her of not saving his mother. Upendo was too young to realize the troubles his mother seemed to find herself in so often, leaving Nyota feeling as if she was the other lioness' mother: lecturing, trying to help and to guide, only to be ignored. A surge of anger flooded the queen's senses as she watched Upendo cry helpless, though she knew it would do no good to be angry with Shani now. All the scolding in the world was useless now.

A heavy sigh parted her lips before Nyota spoke, voice monotone. "There was nothing I could do. There was nothing we could have done to help She was too far away to be saved." Indeed, Shani had not even made it back to the Lowlands before her life force was extinguished. Nyota could not begin to imagine what the younger lioness had been thinking, or where exactly she thought she could run. One could never run fast enough or far enough to escape their troubles, and attempts to flee reality only invited bigger problems. Now the queen had no choice but to pursue the murderer, and if he was a pride lion, a new war would be looming. The thoughts made Nyota's heavy heart feel as if it weighed a ton, but she tried to coax Upendo away from the awful scene, stomach churning uneasily. "Come, Upendo. This will be of no help to anyone. We must learn to let go of the physical, for her spirit is no longer here with us."

It may have seemed like Nyota was heartless, but a stoic face was necessary to deal with tragic situations. Turning to Duara, her eyelids shut as she spoke in a lowered voice. "I must go. One who attacks the jungle cannot be allowed to live." Before Duara could protest, Nyota nuzzled the other lioness, but for only a moment before she turned away, unwilling to listen to protests. "There is no time to wait for the rest to join us, and one of us must stay. Take Upendo away, but keep an eye on.." A curt nod gestured in Shani's direction. The body would have to be buried, and a ceremony performed, but the stench of the blood would soon attract the attention of vultures and other hungry animals. There was nothing more traumatizing then watching a loved one ripped apart by scavengers, and the haunting memories caused Nyota to shudder.