Jua the Wise

In the original pride Jua was the youngest lioness on the hunting party, but the rest of the pride didn't see her as the team baby. In fact, Jua was the wisest and most understanding of any of the females. Even in her younger years, Jua seemed to be the one the lionesses went to when they needed advice, and as she grew older she became the pride's unofficial guru. She preached understanding towards all forms of life, and always tried to make sure Alphalo's pride knew that there was a balance in the land that had to be upheld.

Her best friend out of them all, however, was Senti. Jua being the calm and wise lion she was seemed to be drawn to Senti's snappy wit and fast-paced attitude. Together they seemed to be the perfect pair, working together to take down any obstacle put in their path. Sadly, their friendship was torn apart by a misfortune that at first glance would seem unrelated; both of them gave birth to mostly male cubs.

Senti's boys seemed to be first-in-line to be chosen for Alphalo's throne, and they might have been if they didn't begin to die under circumstantial tragedies. One was killed by a rabid lion, another was taken by poachers, and so on. Jua's cubs lived happy and healthy until they eventually decided to leave or in the case of Kiongozi, stayed alive while staying in the pride. In her grief, Senti began to resent Jua out of jealousy. She even began to think that perhaps Jua was cursing her cubs so her own would have a better chance of carrying on the pride's name,

They grew apart, but the friendship was finally broken when Senti's final male cub attacked Alphalo and was killed by Kiongozi as he tried to defend him. Senti became a different lion after that, only a shell of her former self, and even with her boundless wisdom Jua had no knowledge of how to comfort her old friend.

She is older now, and because she was younger than her teammates she has long outlived them all. She is often seen with Senti's only surviving child and the only daughter she produced, Malaika, trying to teach her all of her wise ways in the hopes that her teachings will carry on long after she's gone. Perhaps, more than that, she is trying to make up for what Kiongozi did, to ease the hatred that could have been set in Malaika's heart from loosing her family because of what Jua's own did...