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Kiama and Kiira's eldest cub.
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Kiara sat on the highest ledge in the den, looking down at the sleeping mass of lionesses. She could easily pick her mother out from the crowd, since none of her other pride mates had stars in their pelts. With a quiet sigh, the lioness rested her head on her paws, keeping her eyes on her mother. Kiama was getting older, and Kiara knew she would soon have to take her mother's place as head of the den. In her head, it wasn't too hard of a job, just keep track of who all is in the den, resolve any conflict, and organize hunting parties. Maybe move the occasional cub to Umija, whenever a cub lasted long enough to get there, of course. But in practice, Kiara could tell it was a tiring job; she could always see how quickly Kiama was able to notice problems and sort them out, and she barely ever had to take an issue to Kiira. How would someone as stubborn as herself manage so many lionesses without her mother's advice?
As she was trying to imagine scenarios, pawsteps interrupted. Flexing her claws, Kiara spun around, ready to attack whoever was invading. Selene let out a yelp and Kiara landed on her, claws out and angry looking.
"Oh- sorry." Kiara grumbled as she let go of her sister. Kito grumbled as well, perking her head up at the noise.
"Sorry! You can go back to sleep!" Selene hurriedly whispered to Kito, embarrassment quickly taking over her expression. Kiara snorted quietly, before turning towards the exit of the den, nodding for Selene to follow. Quietly, the two made it outside, and settled near the food stores, across from Adhama.
"So, what made you want to pay me a visit?"
"Well, I'm not sure, something in the air just felt wrong, it was coming from you." Selene admitted, laying down on the cool stone that surrounded the area.
"Damn. I didn't think I stressed that obviously." Kiara sighed, laying across from her sister. "I'm just a little worried about becoming the leader of the den when mom retires."
"It's not that bad! It's kind of fun, actually, I get to play with all the cubs when their moms are busy hunting."
"Oh come on, you don't lead Fanaka alone! Mshindi does most of the work, you just make sure she doesn't hurt anyone when they annoy her too much." Kiara said, rolling her eyes.
"Okay, maybe that's true. But that's a perfect example, you'll have lionesses helping you! You can't say you haven't seen Aleela helping mom, or one of the others taking over mom's duties when she's too tired or busy. You'll have us to help you, even if we're in a different den half the time. That's because we're all in the same pride, and we're supposed to help each other!"
Kiara turned, thinking for a moment. "I suppose that makes me feel.. a little better." She decided.
"Oh yeah, well what about this?" Selene grinned, pouncing on her sister. The two rolled down the path, playfully biting at each other and giggling.
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Previous den text, before the fall of Pride Khonsu
"Pride Khonsu was the second pride formed in these lands. Despite respecting Kiira as their leader, they split after his choice to crown Ishtar rather than Khonsu as his heir, as Khonsu was a more "proper" heir, and the son the pride's beloved Kiama. Because of the blatant disrespect to Kiama's heir, and suspicions that Mshindi manipulated Kiira, those who disliked Ishtar's leadership formed their own pride, with Khonsu as their leader. In truth, Khonsu does not have much of a say in the leadership of the pride, as his sister, Kiara, serves as his regent and true leader. Kiara does not give her name to the pride, but she leads them as dutifully as if she had been it's heir. Being about 5 years older than Ishtar and 7 years older than Khonsu, she has far more experience to lead the pride."
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