✪ Noonmirage

[Updating this story slowly. Same-ish thing will appear in ☫ Python`s biography once this one is finished]


Found inside of the territory by pride's soon-to-be No-mane the lioness was taken to pride's current leader - Hunt Chief ℂ𝕠𝕒𝕝𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥. As the mother of four begged to be taken in until she's back on her feet, ℂ𝕠𝕒𝕝𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 examined the cubs along her pridemates. She noticed an oddity about two of them, being their short tails. Upon being asked, Prideless confessed that she was seeing a Mane of another pride while she was roaming the savannah, but his pride didn't accept her, so she had to leave. ℂ𝕠𝕒𝕝𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 listened carefully as the lioness spoke, going completely silent once Prideless was done telling her story. Hunt Chief turned her gaze to one of her subordinates, asking him to bring poor mother some meat chunks to feast on while she was deliver her verdict

Prideless was nursing her cubs by the time the evening arrived and Hunt Chief along with her pridemates came up from behind the rock where their base resided. ℂ𝕠𝕒𝕝𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 spoke "You will be allowed to stay here, but you will have to accept the ways of our pride. If you do, then once you feel rested enough you will take a huntress assessment and get a name based on your skills. If you fail...," Hunt Chief paused, looking sideways uneasily, then back to the nursing mother "Well...that will be up to you to decide"

A few months passed since then and it was time for the Prideless to take her test. The pride wasn't quite eager to take her in, but she herself was determined to prove her worth. Her cubs were asleep inside of the nursery cave as the ceremony began, too full and too tired to participate in observing the assessment, and the Prideless later was happy that they were

As ℂ𝕠𝕒𝕝𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 announced the last thing to do, Prideless mother started running around, trying to prove that she was quick and had stamina to run longer distances. However, as Hunt Chief was about to tell her to stop Prideless tripped and fell, scratching her muzzle on the rocks in front of her. Some blood spilled around that spot as the silence fell among the pride. It took lioness a few minutes to get back up as she looked around the clearing, all eyes on her and her pathetic defeat. Her fur bristled and she turned to ℂ𝕠𝕒𝕝𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 for support, but lioness turned her gaze away, saddened, before climbing up the rock in the middle. She glanced back down at the hurt lioness, then announced "This pride requires flawless huntresses only. So, I am sorry to say, but you did not pass," she watched as soon-to-be Prideless hung her head low, just like the first time she arrived here "As I stated before, you may choose what to do next from here on. You have time until the evening to let us know your decision"

It was close to night time when lioness approached Hunt Chief, who was organizing a hunting party for the night. ℂ𝕠𝕒𝕝𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 glanced over, her ears unconsciously lowering at the sight of the dread-filled mother who just finished tucking her cubs back to sleep. Lioness rose her head and finally spoke up in a shaky voice "I...have decided...to leave your pride," she stated "But I will not take my cubs with me...I know...that I can't raise them on my own, so I leave them to you...and I can only ask for you to take good care of them, and love them as your own" With these words Prideless turned and headed out of the territory, hearing occasional pride lions say "Cansu light your path"

She wasn't going to be alone though, at least not until she was out of these lands. As ℂ𝕠𝕒𝕝𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 nodded to her pridemates, she quickly caught up with the sad mother, leading her out to the best path possible. As they exchanged a small hug at the border ℂ𝕠𝕒𝕝𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 delivered her own "Good luck", watching lioness disappear in the bushes, never to be seen again


Many months passed since then and ✪ Noon, alongside her siblings ☫ Python, ✪ Peach and ✪ Freckle began training, advancing their skills. ✪ Noon was the strongest among her siblings, so most of the training felt easy for her, although she felt disconnected from her two other sisters and the distance in their relationship grew bigger day by day. Unsure of what to do, she asked her pridemates for advice, but nothing they suggested felt quite right to her, so she went to find her brother on a border patrol with the Hunt Chief. Surprisingly enough, her and her brother's relationship grew closer, so instead of worrying for her sisters ✪ Noon was spending her free time with ☫ Python, who seemed to be happy about it

Sometime close to the end of the four's training one of the pridemates spilled the truth. About their origin and how the four came to be. This shook them and ☫ Python suggested to spend some time together, like the old times, so they can clear their thoughts and calm eachother down. ✪ Peach and ✪ Freckle, however, disagreed and ventured out on their own, leaving two primal siblings cuddle together in the corner of one of the caves. While other lions slept ☫ Python and ✪ Noon murmured to one another nearly until the morning. They decided to talk it out with the other two later

And they did. In the morning, when every lion was still asleep they snuck out and went to search for ✪ Freckle and ✪ Peach only to find the two almost crossing the border when ✪ Noon called out to them. The group of siblings settled together, awkwardly silent at first, then ☫ Python decided to speak, asking how everyone were feeling after learning the truth of their heritage. ✪ Freckle and ✪ Peach were no longer shocked, quite opposite actually. They were blunt. They were so upset that the pride they lived in for this long wasn't actually theirs. Two other sister felt as if they didn't belong in this pride any longer, so they thought and thought, and decided it would be best for them to leave. ✪ Noon was still quite shocked, but couldn't help but want to thank the pride for taking good care of her and her littermates up until this point. All she wanted now was to give back to them in some way, as did her brother

Seeing as though the four had a disagreement, ✪ Freckle still suggested that they all leave now and never look back. ☫ Python decline the offer, saying that he cannot leave this pride even if he really wanted to. It was his home now. ✪ Peach tried to argue, but was interrupted by ✪ Noon, who instead suggested that ✪ Freckle and ✪ Peach remain in the pride until they all turn 2 years of age, and only after that can they leave, experienced in hunting and fighting as they will be on their own. At first two sisters seemed unsure, but then agreed. They only had to wait 3 more months, pass the huntress assessment and get their names before leaving. Although, knowing them, they'd probably rename themselves as soon as they leave. With the agreement found, the four returned to the den and huddled together until the pride awakened

The day of the assessment arrived and the three sisters performed well, earning their new names: ✪ Noonmirage, ✪ Freckledtongue and ✪ Peachseeker, and ☫ Python cheered for all three of them at the top of his lungs along some other pridemates. However, before ℂ𝕠𝕒𝕝𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 could dismiss the pride ✪ Freckledtongue and ✪ Peachseeker stopped her, announcing that they wish to leave the pride, shocking Hunt Chief. ℂ𝕠𝕒𝕝𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥, though, didn't hesitate much, only smiling at them "If that is your wish, so be it. It was an honor to have you in our pride, but if you have decided to leave, who am I to stop you?" Hunt Chief got down from her rock, purring. Pressing her nose to the tops of two lioness's heads she leaned back "Cansu light your path, ✪ Peachseeker, ✪ Freckledtongue"

And so the two headed off to the borders of the territory, ✪ Noonmirage and ☫ Python flanking them till they reached it. Spending last moments with their sisters was the most tragic time of ✪ Noonmirage's life, but she knew there was nothing that she could do to stop them. They made up their mind "Come visit us every now and then, if you decide to" ☫ Python said, receiving a nod in response

And so, out of four siblings only two remained in the pride, vowing to protect their pridemates with their lives