Shakha [The First]
The Leader
All Shakha can remember from before he met
Shing is that he had been alone, while knowing that there must have been a time when he wasn't. He also remembers that being alone was quite miserable. And he already had a hunch that Shing wasn't the best choice of lion to stick to, but truth to be told, he was the only one around.
Still he was glad to find anyone and the fact that he finally had a full stomach again, once he had convinced Shing to keep him around, told him, he had actually been right. Besides, once the girls and
Amai were around, life could finally be fun again. Growing older,
Bomani became his best friend, more like an older brother, and often Shaka was a voice of reason for the more hot-headed male.
Once out on patrol, Shakha found
Ime, a little girl-cub who had been seperated from her pride. He took her back to the pride, but Shing turned her away, because she was so small and weak. Sharha however couldn't just send her away, and hid her in a tree hole, not far from the camp. When Shing found Ime on one of his explorations, he dragged the little cub back to camp to kill her in front of the others and show them what happened to those who disregarded his rules. Shakha couldn't just let the Tyrant kill a defenseless cub and stepped in between. Determined to defend his reign Shing fought the younger lion. They had a tight struggle and no one seemed to be able to get the upper hand, when, defending himself against a bite, Shakha aimlessly leashed out with his claws and ripped Shing's throat. The older lion died immediately.
Although he didn't want to, Shakha, having killed Shing, was to succeed him as King of the Pride. And as the others seemed to like him that way, he contented himself with his new position. As he had no idea, though, how to rule a pride, he consulted all his new ‘subjects’, and one of the first things he did, was set up hunting parties under the lead of
Ode, who named
Dziko as her deputy.
As more lions started to gather in his pride, new cubs being born and the occasional loner asking for admittance, Shakha relaxed as the day to day life started to show a certain routine. While he, like most, enjoyed seeing things settle down, some, though especially among the younger cubs born in the recent, more peaceful times, but also among the older pridemembers, who had once joined after a long time as wandering loners, started to become restless, and not few decided to leave. He knew he couldn't hold them, and so didn't try, although he knew many would leave a gap. Yet he took pride in seeing how they had grown, and developed ties to all the others, and it filled him with joy every time he saw those who had decided to stay.
