|
Sahara had always been a lone lioness before meeting Commander. Her mother, too, hadn't belonged to a pride and gave birth to Sahara and her brother in the wild. Her mother raised them by herself. Life was never easy, but at least they were able to scavenge enough prey to get by. Their mother taught them how to hunt and take care of themselves. She also told them stories her own mother told her, what it was like to be in a pride and have friends and family around to help with everyday life. Sahara's grandmother had been part of a pride, but was chased from it when it got too full. When Sahara and her brother were nearly two years old they left their mother. Her brother told her he would try to start his own pride, and Sahara agreed she might try to find a pride to join. Life as a loner had been hard.
As a young lioness Sahara met a big, handsome male with a huge mane one day. He introduced himself as Tyrannius, king of a huge piece of the savannah (my main account). He had been patrolling his territory, and Sahara tagged along with him. She was completely enamored with the muscled, handsome lion and tried to have a romantic relationship with him, which eventually ended in him mating with her. After spending a couple days with him he invited her to join his pride. Yes! she thought excitedly. Perhaps he'll ask me to be his queen!
Upon arriving, Sahara was shocked to see lionesses of strange, exotic colors and markings she'd never seen before. There was one that was a deep red color with golden spots and white vitiligo on her paws and back. An albino snake was curled around her. Another lioness was a fiery orange with green eyes and black spots. Yet another was white with a pinkish tinge, orange smudges, and white spots as well. Sahara looked at her own plain cream pelt, and felt very, very insignificant.
Tyrannius was leading silvery pink lioness with white vitiligo, mismatched blue and green eyes, and unmistakable regality and beauty towards Sahara. "This is my queen, Seafoam," he told her. Sahara stared at the pair of lions in disbelief. She then turned tail and fled, heartbroken.
Traveling for about a day to the west, she found herself arriving at a waterhole near the jungle, half of it shadowed by the trees and half of it in the rising sunlight of the savannah. She bent down to drink. Something caught her eye at the far end of the waterhole. It was a male lion, his pelt a cream color and his mane golden. Relieved at his normal-ness, she waited as he came to introduce himself.
|
