Ashra

Prompt: Lying on the ground with a displeased grimace, Ashra notices you and turns her head, watching the horizon now.

Ashra is what Xivak would call...a brat, to put it nicely. It was a young lioness Tesnak had vouched for and Xivok trusted Tesanak’s judgement— he’d recognized Xivak as the king of the pride without question and had aided in his judgment of character of those allowed through and into the pride. Ashra, however, had Xivak puzzled.

Ashra was always lurking about, not in a suspicious way, but certainly in a ‘don’t come near me, don’t bother me and don’t talks to me’ sort of way. When it’s her turn to watch cubs, she’s quickly overwhelmed and this has sparked many lectures from the young lioness on the importance of personal space and independence. The broodmothers are notoriously adamant on allowing quite literally any other lioness to watch the cubs in their steed before Ashra because one to many cubs have grown rebellious streaks because of her.

Xivak came by at sunset once, looking for Tesanak for a patrol when he came across the deflated lioness. She looked tired, down-trodden even. He caught her eye and quickly her visage formed into a grimace and with a huff, she flopped over— back to the king and staring off at the setting sun. Xivak wanted to be annoyed, but he knew this type of melancholy— a look of missing the past. With a huff, he sat next to the young lioness and the basked in the last few rays for a moment together.

A pain in the ass, sure, but she’s growing and learning.