|
Born to a quiet lioness in a strictly structured, fierce nomadic pride, he bore no name when he was born, and did not take one for most of his young life. Throughout his youth, he learned to hunt and fight like any lioness, and contributed to the pride without fanfare or effort to gain acclaim. He had been singled out by some of his peers as a pushover young, and as a result was not very high in the social pecking order of his generation. Enough instances of him being picked last for hunting parties, passed over when instructors asked questions, and the occasional sharp comment about his thoughts or interests effectively produced a quiet, subdued young lion in the habit of doing as he was told and not much else.
In his adolescence, however, he found solace for himself in learning a bit more about who he was. While there were one or two other maned lionesses in his pride, he discovered that this was not true of him: his mane growing in and his own surprising joy and fulfillment at the development led him to eventually realize he was unequivocally a lion. It did not change much in his circumstances or social position in his pride, but it brought him some comfort, and gave him just enough of a spine.
Recognizing that he was not happy in his birth pride was a difficult thing, but something that he had to grimly accept, and something he finally worked up the nerve to do something about: he left. He immediately felt a coward for it, for leaving rather than fighting to be treated better, to carve out a place for himself, but that had never been who he was. He didn't want to have to make space for himself, he just wanted it to be given to him. He left and tried to find that feeling in the open savanna as a wanderer. Alone, however, the confidence he managed to pluck up would sometimes falter, and he found it difficult to feel a sense of belonging when constantly on the move.
By luck, he stopped for a drink on the edge of the Lushlands, where he was surprised to run across Fortune's Farewell. The two of them were wary of one another at first, and neither were particularly talkative, but struck up a camaraderie together that tempted Fortune into eventually arranging for more of the Sun Kingdom to come across the young male, speak with him, and decide he was worth keeping. He gained the name Eventide upon his entry into the pride, for his dark coat, though the name was given only with affection. Some even noted that his mane was the same sun-touched shade as the Sun King's, in tones of approval.
Eventide was rather convinced that was all just coincidence. He was happier to stick to his friends in the Evening Court, Fortune's Farewell of course, and later Crimson Corona. He is largely happy to be useful and help out with anything the lions around him need help with, and he's usually halfway through a task before anyone can even shock him with the thought of doing anything other than what he was told, or what the rules say. He does not easily or openly share his thoughts or feelings, not least of which because he doesn't quite know how to express them most of the time. He finds it difficult to be put on the spot, usually swiftly running out of things to say in such situations and tending towards freezing if pressed.
All the same, he is good-natured and warm-hearted, if quiet about it – the warmth of a small but bright candle, unnoticed perhaps when the Sun is bright and warm in the sky, but something warm and constant when the night creeps in. He is quiet and observant, and surprisingly adept at picking apart his observations along with lions' words to offer inward-looking insight into various matters. He still rarely shares these things with others, but when he does, he does so always with the hope that he can help someone. He would never overcome his shyness to overstep any other way.
|
