" HUNT

Vika is the only cub born to wandering rogues. Born in the driest of seasons, Vika was scrawny and weak, and her parents feared her death within the first few days of her life. Against the odds, the cub survives, and learns the ways of her parents to hunt and fight.

Her mother's death comes soon after Vika's spots fade, and all that Vika knows of the world is taught to her by her father. She is a skilled and experienced hunter, and becomes the sole provider of meals when her father is near-mortally wounded in a territorial scuffle with a band of brothers. She cares for her father until he breathes his last, and wanders into Aza's territory while searching for water.

She accepts Aza's offer of a place in his pride, then a meager pride of himself, and learns to respect and admire the scruffily handsome lion over time. Her hunts yield bountiful meals, and Vika's place as alpha female is cemented. Unfortunately a blow to her left hind leg from a wildebeest kick leaves Vika with a broken leg that never heals right.

Vika is a surprisingly patient mother, never once raising her voice or unsheathing her claws at her cubs' antics, ever ready to soothe wounded prides when tussles became too rough. She is often found with Sacara or Aza, grooming and nursing her cubs, or singing them to sleep in the night. When they are old enough to be weaned, Vika resumes hunting, often surprised at how much the younger lionesses have learnt in her absence.

As both she and Sacara bore sons, both Khida and Zulu are chosen as heirs.