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Nikita watched as her new cub shuffled towards her. She smiled softly, pressing their noses together in greeting. Her stripes reminded the lionesses of a fine tigress in the jungle. Her sea blue eyes watched her mother's sky blues in a loving look. She tugged the small cub to her and let the cub suckle for milk.
She decided on a name that would describe her well. "Habena. " She said softly. Her cub meowed softly before finally dozing off, nuzzling close to her mother. All of this happened just before the sun reached it's highest climb into the sky.
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Habena's wise sea blue jewels watched with the sea in her eyes as her mother left the pride, forced to make room for the new cubs coming. She gave a shaky breath, promising herself that she would keep her mother's promise. She would grow into the tigers of the jungle and be a viscous, highly respected huntress of the pride.
She trained under the current Queen of the pride, a maroon, elderly lioness called Arrosa. She learned the proper hunting techniques and was quite rough with her romping with the other adolescences. Her heart grew cold and lonely as she focused on the studies of becoming the lead huntress as soon as Arrosa was gone or she was too old to hunt anymore.
Habena often thought of her mother, who by now was a fine huntress in another pride, possibly nursing new cubs and completely forgetting the daughter she left behind. She remembered the stories of tigers in the jungles, hunting and playing. They were just as powerful as lions but much more stealthier and smarter! Her mother often said she must of been a descendant from a tiger instead of a lion.
And Habena convinced herself she was.
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Habena learned to hunt with stealth and silence than the regular huntresses would. She worked hard but it was not enough. She was still so low against her peers, despite her careful studying. Her adulthood had not altered her thinking of the tigers hiding in the jungles.
She was too low for her liking and demanded to see her mentor, Arrosa on why she was still so weak compared to the others. Arrosa spoke wisely that Habena was using her anger and her sadness of the abandonment from her mother too much and the prey could sense it. It could sense her worry of failing, her rage from the abandonment and the sadness of not having her mother around in her adolescence. And it fled from the emotions.
Arrosa told her to let the emotions go, to let the dream of her being the daughter of a mighty tiger go, for Arrosa knew her father and he was not a tiger. She was not a Tigeress, but a lioness who had grown too blinded by the dream that the whole pride suffered. She must also let go of her mother, to forgive her but never forget her memory.
The pride had been too small, Arrosa explained, and she was getting older. It was just time for her to leave and be the huntress of another pride.
Habena left Arrosa and went into a deep thought of meditation. She let it go. She let her emotions of her mother leaving her go. But she held onto the dream of her being a Tigeress. It was a good dream and she wanted to have it, even if it would never come true.
She would focus on it and become great. She would be the next huntress, no matter what.
When Arrosa passed away, her dreams did not come true. Aurora, a lioness that resembled the great Arrosa, became the next Lead Huntress. Habena did not take this well. She grew angry, wrathful and filled with hatred. She demanded the Old King to tell her why he had picked Aurora instead of her. The Old King ordered her to cool her burning soul before she harmed herself. He weaved to her a tale of her own. He had watched them both when they were first born. He watched as they grew up, watched their personalities and saw Arrosa in Aurora's eyes. He told Habena that it was nothing against her and that it was just meant to be this way.
Habena took this worse and her world crumbled around her, while she tried so desperately to hold on to her sanity. Her dreams crushed and broke, she demanded to be sent away, which was rejected. She couldn't handle it, not even being second best.
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Habena watched the New King, King Balan, on his coronation day. She was still unable to surpass Aurora and was still behind some lionesses. She hid behind the others, knowing he would choose the same as his mentor and father-figure. As he chose a queen, Habena left the Gathering, her heart heavy and hollow.
She walked into the field where she had been born, sitting in the exact spot her mother had. She looked up at the lowering moon and sighed. Even after so many years, her mother's scent was still fresh to her, despite it being stale, old, and so very faint. If she wanted, she could follow after the scent and find her mother, just to see her again.
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