Ailsa

Why were animals starving? Why was it, when she was here surrounded by warmth and food, were there animals who were barely alive? Silfur returned one day with a starving puppy, so weak it could barely stand. Ailsa had stopped playing. The reality of the world beyond the den had hit.

Creatures were suffering...

Her toys were pushed aside as she approached, sniffing the poor thing and beginning to groom it. Her own meals were skipped so it could get some food. No one else was allowed to approach the puppy she adopted, not even her 'brother' Malice, who told her it was kinder to let the mongrel die. She had stared him down, claws bared, and dared him to try. It took one of the other lionesses stepping in before she backed down. But not before it came to blows. Malice walked away with blood dripping from his tail, and she bore a deep scar on her neck. It should have killed her. She refused to fall to his teeth.

Not long later, a cub just barely younger than she was brought home and there was no debate. The cub was hers and she refused to leave its side. Slowly, ever slowly, her wards would begin to regain strength. And from that day on she vowed. They would never do without while she lived in luxury. If they starved, she starved. If they had plenty, she had plenty. And any she found that were struggling, would find rest in her paws.

Her pup one day found a new home. Stronger. A protector of the ones suffering. Her cub vowed to stay. For no one else made her feel safe. No one else protected her. There was no one else she trusted. To this day, that lioness heeds her word. One whisper and she knows were she is protected. Touch her. Touch her lioness. And face the wrath of power none in lion-kind have ever felt before.