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*~Granite Shadows~* [DOVGRY] greets you with a frowned look on her face. Where have you been the whole day? There's so much to do!
When you come to say hello, *~Granite Shadows~* [DOVGRY] runs to you, making sure you look your best today with a few licks on your cheek.
You find *~Granite Shadows~* [DOVGRY] carefully watching the ducks in the water. You ask her what she's doing. She tells you that she hunts the best if she knows the behavior of her prey. Smart...but couldn't she take a break? It's been hours!
Kody: A heavily pregnant lioness hissed as a pair of poachers moved her to a new cage. Catching a glimpse of my mane in the bushes, she mewed at me helplessly. She was clearly a strong lioness, so she must be desperate. A plan formed in my head. I stood so that I was visible, but able to escape, and roared as loudly as possible. The poachers looked up to see a massive male lion watching them evenly. They shouted something in their language and one of them released the lioness. This gave her enough to escape. I watched as she raced in my direction the humans now panicked. One of them shot a sleeping dart at her fleeing hindquarters. I jumped in front of it, but it never hit my skin to knock me out, it got lost and tangled in my mane. I shoved the lioness along and we moved as quickly as her swollen belly would allow. Eventually, we lost the poachers and made it back to camp. The lioness had told me her name by then, Leah Sundown. My lionesses welcomed her happily, cleaned her wounds, and gave her something to eat. She was forever thankful. She never told us what happened to her before I had stumbled across her, but she always got really uncomfortable when it was brought up, so nobody pushed the subject. Two days later, her cubs were born, but miscarried. She settled in nicely with everyone, but she never seemed truly content in our oasis home. She would always take a group of annoyed lionesses with her to hunt out in the sands and cliffs. The lionesses eventually stopped agreeing to go with her, complaining about sand between their pads and the heat. However, I always offered to take her with me when I went on patrol, since our territory did extend partially into the desert. On one such occasion, she was racing after some animal when she stopped and flattened her ears at the silhouette of a large lion on the horizon. This didn't deter the figure, who loped into view contentedly, his familiar golden mane bobbing in the wind.
"Kasima!" I purred happily, greeting an old friend and our prides closest ally.
"Kody, it's been a while." He replied as Leah Sundown looked on with a rather confused look. But she seemed a bit, off. Typically she would be sniffing a newcomer furiously and interrogating them profoundly. Now she looked dazed and distant.
"Leah..?" I asked, tilting my head sightly.
"Y-yeah?" She answered shakily.
I shrugged, who knew with that lioness. Kas and I got to talking and he invited me to stay a night with his pride, extending it to Leah once he saw her eyes light up at the idea of crossing the desert.
The story ends there as Leah didn't accompany me home that night. She stayed with Kasima and his pride, loving the way they lived. Sometimes, I'll still encounter her out there while on patrol.
About a year later, Leah and Kasima entered my camp happily, Leah was carrying a small black and gray bundle in her jaws.
She smiled as I walked up, placing the bundle on the ground, "This is Granite Shadows. I want you to take my eldest offspring and raise her well in your pride. As a thank you for all you did for me so many moons ago." She purred.
I licked her forehead in a thank-you sort of way.
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