Queen Svetlana

The piebald lioness rested on one of many rock ledges in the center of the pride's territory as she watched her two surviving cubs play together. When the birth of new cubs end well, Barbados goes easy in the pride. And lately, things have been looking up for everyone, all thanks to Svetlana. Not only is she the first lioness in the pride to birth four cubs (three males and one female) but she's the first to birth a smilus cub. A subspecies of primal. The king was ecstatic to sire his first smilus son; so much so that he's made Sobek his new heir. That's not all; the rest of his littermates were granted immediate protection, the best food, they and their mother were allowed to sleep in the king's cave at any time, and the best part? Svetlana has been crowned the pride's newest queen.

There's been a bit of mixed reactions. Neith wasn't so thrilled that she's been replaced, and that her eldest daughter wasn't used as a replacement. The rest of her former court were also displeased, but at least it wasn't Sundari. Speaking of which, Sundari was also upset, and attempted to take it out on Barbados, verbally, to try and speak some "sense" into him (which untimately failed).

Though she lost two of her cubs, her last two were still alive and well; Sobek, and her only daughter, Aphrodite. Svetlana has quickly learned that being a queen comes with heavy responsibility. She's supposed to be the pride's most experienced huntress and has been busting her tail to move up in rank. Slowly but surely, she's getting there and has be hosting hunting lessons for her daughter and the other adolescent females in the pride. She'll also need to start her own royal court. Princess Aphrodite is an obvious choice, but she'll need more loyal lionesses to help her run the pride, and to keep herself safe. Sundari might try to start a revolt against her back, so she'll need a new set of girls, perhaps some of the king's older daughters if not the others that make up his harem.

It's a lot, but Svetlana wouldn't rather be anywhere else. She continues to watch over her cubs with a smile on her face, a very rare moment since joining Barbados' pride.