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Leyara was quite young when she joined N'dogo's pride. She was a gift from a fellow pride that recently gave birth to many cubs, almost too many for them to handle. As soon as she was able to survive away from her mother, she was given to N'dogo.
While N'dogo was pleased to have a new lioness in his pride, he was a bit concerned. He found himself with two lionesses nursing cubs, two more new lionesses, Haruka and Amii, and not enough territory to go around. He knew it could be hard to lead a pride, especially since gaining more territory was laughable to other males around his territory, but he knew what he had to do.
He had to get more territory to support his lionesses but he wasn't sure where. The males around him all knew he was looking to expand and were very much ready for a fight.
It wasn't until one night when Leyara found he wasn't sleeping but instead, staring at the sky. She asked what he was doing.
He responded that he hoped that the tales were true when growing up - that past leaders of pride resided in the stars, sometimes called the Great Kings. It was a faint tale from a far away pride that his mother told him when he was very young. Whether or not it was true, who knows. Many prides had their depictions of what happened to lions after death.
Leyara gave him confidence that the Great Kings in the sky would guide him. She also asked what was troubling him.
He confessed that he was very worried about his pride due to the limited amount of space. The lionesses were bringing back less and less prey, some days not bringing back any at all. The herds had moved from his territory. Leyara thought for several moments before realizing something. She had tagged along and noticed all the herds going in a direction that she wasn't used to seeing.
She told him what she remembered and N'dogo sat up. He knew what to do.
He told her to inform the lionesses that he would not be there in the morning, going to look for more territory and that he should be back soon. Until then, he told her that Chiana would be in charge.
He did come back as promised, and told them of a place were a lot of the herds were around the edge due to large amounts of water and overgrowth for food. At first, they believed he was exaggerating, only Leyara imagining and believing his story. His confidence took a blow when the two nursing lionesses fled his pride in fear of their cubs' safety. After they fled his pride, he took his remaining lionesses and led them to this strange place.
When they saw he was truthful, Leyara hoped the pride wouldn't doubt him again. He said he heard from nearby prides that they called it the jungle. While enemies would be in there and large mammals that could harm them, he knew they could call it home.
And to this day, the pride has been well fed, comfortable and safe under the canopy of the jungle.
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