Inati

Inati
I-nati/"Mother"

"You notice a beautiful lioness sleeping the sun. Some of the pride's cubs are playing around her and as you come closer you realize she isn't really asleep. She smiles kindly at you as you pass."

Inati was born to Marisol and the current king at the time, Clavicus with a younger sister named Charybdis. Her father and mother were both very kind and loving and she had a peaceful cubhood. Then, when she was almost four years old, things changed. A fierce looking male lion named Firesage took over the pride. He claimed all the lionesses in the pride as his own and soon became the new king whether the pride liked it or not. Inati and her sister became some of the first lionesses to father his cubs. They gave birth around the same time, Inati to two female cubs, and her sister to a single female cub. During her time as a mother, Inati decided to become a Broodmother. She ended up raising many cubs. Eventually, Firesage grew bored of her and put her up for sale in the trading center. It was a few hours before midnight and Nigusi was returning home after exploring. She caught his attention as he passed by and for a while, they did nothing but stare at each other. Finally, Nigusi approached her and started talking to her, although kind of awkwardly. Amused by the younger lion, she asked if he was interested in buying her or was just going to talk and leave. Although he seemed startled by the question, he left but quickly returned with a smile saying that she could come home with him now. On their way home, Nigusi asked for her name. She hesitated. Her birth name had hardly been used since Firesage came along. Even then, she'd grown less fond of it as time passed. After a moment of silence, she told him her name was Inati. Thus, her new name was Inati. She was introduced to the rest of the pride shortly after. Most of the younger lionesses instantly took a liking to her because of her motherly nature. Kokebi was especially fond of her due to her lack of a proper mother figure growing up. Kokebi spent many of her first hours in the pride talking Inati. Defari enjoyed listening to what different adventures Inati had found herself in when she was younger and was glad to hear that Inati planned to become a permanent Broodmother. Semayi also fond of her since she never even had a mother figure. Despite being an adult lioness and not a cub, Semayi would try to stay close to her and even asked if she could spend the night with her. Inati didn't mind, in fact she loved being a mother figure to the young lionesses. However, there was only one member of the pride that didn't instantly love her. Ihudi. Ihudi made Inati question if she was truly welcome or if she'd done anything wrong because of the cub's distance. Nigusi finally explained to her that Ihudi was like that to everyone and would warm up to her in time. She was put to ease for a while, until Ihudi went missing. Even though she would've liked to stay behind with Kokebi, but Nigusi wanted her to help search since Defari was supposed to be in charge of Kokebi. She and the rest of the pride spent hours searching for Ihudi and were about to return with nothing when it started to get dark. That's when Ihudi came shuffling back, bruised, tired, and thirsty but otherwise alright. Inati listened with the pride as Ihudi explained why she ran away. She missed the days where it was just her and Nigusi. She didn't mind when he brought home the other three lionesses, he needed help and so did they. But Inati joining them seemed like Nigusi was starting to try and forget about everyone. Inati also reminded her too much of her mother who was around the same age. Inati was like a reminder of what a bad mother Ihudi's mother had been. Inati felt hurt and offered to leave the pride. It was Ihudi herself who stopped her. She told her she was sorry for the way she acted and that she didn't really want for her to leave. The rest of the pride urged Inati not to leave, telling her they'd miss her. Finally, Inati decided to stay with Nigusi's pride. After a few months in Nigusi's pride, she began to fall in love with the king. They became mates shortly after and Inati was declared the queen of the pride. She soon became pregnant with Nigusi's cubs, shortly after Defari's and Semayi's own cubs were born. She was delighted to be a mother again and each day she looked after Libi and Liyu she grew more and more anxious for her own cubs to arrive. Finally, on the first month of the dry season, she gave birth to two daughters, whom were named Geri and Danisi. Inati named her oldest daughter Geri for how gentle she was with her younger sister despite being a newborn cub. Nigusi named the youngest daughter Danisi, since she looked liked she started dancing when she heard his voice. Her eldest daughter Geri was named the crowned princess shortly after they were born.