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Birth stats 513
Daughter of Nila [Huntress] and {King} Atlas
The previous shaman, Amyth, watches over her in spirit and Tulik'kar often calls on her for help making important decisions.
[Cub]
Starting at a young age, she always felt very connected with both her male and female sides. When she was born, even her mother thought her to be male, as mothers tend to know what gender the cub is without referring to anatomy. But it was soon clear that the cub was in fact female, but held nearly equal amounts of both male and female energies. Amyth felt that it was fortunate sign, and started training the cub immediately.
[Adolescent]
As a small cub, one of the earliest pieces of the apprenticeship was to seek out a connection with the spirits by inducing a trance state during a wildfire. If the cub could conquer its primal fear of fire and just focus on it, the flames assist in bringing it into a deep trance. At first, Amyth would bring burning branches to the cub, but once she grew into a young adolescent, she began joining Amyth to wildfires.
Tulik'kar became so comfortable around the fires that sometimes she sets the dry brush grass at the edge of the territory on fire just to meditate and be comforted by its dangerous warmth. The other lionesses are frightened and disturbed by her strange habits because they do not know the rites and rituals of the Shaman, and Alaav'a just calmly keeps the rest of his pride away when he sees the grey lioness slip off to the outskirts of his land.
[Adult]
As she grew into a beautiful young lioness, Tulik'kar started the final stages of her training. She had memorized hundreds of chants, songs, and ceremonies since she was an adolescent, and began holding ceremonies for other pride members, under the guidance of the slowly aging Amyth.
One of the final lessons was how to handle Sziika'a, the white snake that holds a special bond with the shaman and assists in many ceremonies. The shamans have an ability to communicate effectively with snakes, and hold a strange relationship with the creatures that other pride members often find unnerving. Snakes are considered to be one of the most holy creatures, because they move through the world on their bellies and sense everything directly through their bodies, as well as their ability to move fluidly both above and below the earth. For a lion to have a deep connection with a snake, and especially to handle it, is considered extremely dangerous for those who are not trained spiritually.
Sziika'a, upon first coming in contact with Tulik'kar, was mesmerized by her starshine eyes. The snake had been so comfortable looking upon Amyth's one green eye and one damaged white eye, and felt threatened by the new, deep eyes looking down at him. Quickly and effectively, he struck out at her right eye. Shocked, Tulik'kar recoiled and hissed at the snake, who just hissed back and unpredictably cuddled up next to her. Looking up at her, he felt comfortable again as he saw that her eye slowly became cloudy and mirrored Amyth's. After that unfortunate incident, the lioness and snake had bonded, and Amyth decided to complete transfer the snake to her side.
After Amyth passed, Tulik'kar started wearing a patch over her white eye, as it saddened the rest of the pride to see such a similar face as their beloved first shaman.
Though she prefers to keep her distance from the rest of the pride, she is not completely unfeeling towards them. At one point, she saw a lone male lion creeping towards the pride from her higher vantage point. Alaav'a was further off, overseeing A'tiiri's hunting lesson, and he didn't nearly didn't notice the intruder in time. As soon as he caught the scent of the stranger, he turned and ran at full speed towards the napping lionesses and young cubs. The lone male was seemingly crazed from hunger and exhaustion, and took out his deep hunger and frustrations on the helpless cubs. He grabbed Ktaal, one of Tsaar's two young daughters, and started flinging her in his teeth. As Alaav'a and two lionesses closed in on the male, the stranger was suddenly struck from behind and flung to the ground. It was Tulik'kar, full of rage. The male, though tired and weak, was unpredictable in his counterattack, and was able to land a deep scratch in the shaman's rear leg. She kept tearing into the male, though, and with the combined help of the king and several other lionesses, the male was sent off from the pridelands, limping and bleeding badly.
Tulik'kar retreated to the edge of the territory once more, and refused contact with the rest of the pride, despite their concerns over her deep wound. As the wound became infected, she came to terms with the fact that she would have to remove part of her limb in order to save her own life. In her eccentric way, she was able to fashion a wooden leg for herself, so she would not sacrifice her ability to walk and perform her duties as shaman. Though every step was pained, she wore the wooden leg like an eclectic trophy, and was satisfied in how it stunned other lions.
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