Prologue: Arrival

A striped lioness walked along with her younger sister, both hurt and wounded from a previous, harsh battle. Dabiku, the oldest, looked at her sister with a bit of worry in her eyes, yet not showing it too much. "...how are you holding up?" Dabiku asked, her ears low as she spoke. "...are you... are you okay? I mean, I shouldn't have dragged you along... it's only my fault."

The dull-furred lioness limped alongside Dabiku. She was a bit weak from their recent battle, but she was convinced that she was alright. Adimu looked to her sister as she began to speak, and replied with a weak smile, "Don't worry about me, I'm okay."

"You're limping, though," the lioness tilted her head to the side worriedly, soon approaching her sister, feelings the wounds in her legs sting from the movement. "...and... and I'm not looking all that hot either. We should find shelter soon. Just look at those skies. The ancestors sure are angry today. I wonder what happened to make them so angry, though..." she said just before licking her sister gently on the head and turning away. "...You shouldn't even have come with me, you know. You could be comfortable back in our lands."

"Really, I'm fine," Adimu insisted. Her weak smile faded when Dabiku suggested that they find shelter. She nodded in agreement. Shelter would be nice, since Adimu would like to rest. She shook her head, "Dabiku... I couldn't just let you go away all by yourself...."

"Well, I put you in this mess." Dabiku insisted as she walked, "but I'm glad you came with me, to some extent. I wouldn't have liked being alone, anyway." And as she walked, she spotted a small crack in one of the walls. Approaching, she dug and smiled at what she had found. It wasn't too big, but it would cover their heads from the rain. "...Here, come in."

Adimu watched as her sister dug into a crevice, head tilted with curiosity. Then she smiled when Dabiku had found a small shelter. The small feline approached, and she crawled inside the opening, then she curled up in a corner.

Dabiku crawled inside with her sister, her wounds still stinging badly. She curled with Adimu, trying to keep the youngster as warm as possible. After all, Adimu was her responsability now. Along with the cub she was expecting. She licked Adimu's wound protectively, seeing that the rain had begun outside. Just in time, eh? "...sleep well." It was going to be a pretty cold night, but Adimu would keep them both warm, for sure. She was very fluffy. Besides, Dabiku was warm too. That said, she rested her head on her sister's shoulders and fell asleep, tired and weak.

"Goodnight," Adimu sleepily mumbled in reply, warm and relaxed. She slowly closed her green eyes as she snuggled closer to her older sibling, and soon enough, she was fast asleep.

As the new day came, Dabiku woke up, looking down at her smaller sister. Her stomach growled in complaint. She sighed; she would have to go hunting today, and she was afraid she wouldn't be strong enough to take down a bigger animal. Besides, there were no animals nearby.

Adimu awoke shortly after Dabiku did. She remained in place, still sleepy and very comfortable where she was, though she was feeling a bit peckish. Maybe they could catch something? They would have to travel a bit, though, if they were to find anything.

Dabiku got up and stretched as much as she could in the small cave. Then, she noticed Abimu had waken up. "...we have to hunt today, Abimu. I don't think there's any prey around, so..." she looked down. She still felt tired, but she had to do something about their hunger. The bigger lioness treaded slowly towards the exit, soon touching the wet ground. Eh.

The younger lioness looked up slightly, nodded, and after her sister exited the den, Adimu crawled out to, coming in contact with the unpleasantly damp ground. She shook her pelt and stretched. She shook out her paws, but it was pointless anyway since she was going to place them right back on the wet ground almost immediately after shaking the mud off them.

Dabiku continued walking, though slowly because of the mud that stuck her paws to the ground every now and then. It was just so hard to walk. Then, she came across a scent. It smelled like, zebra, wildebeest, antelope, buffalo? She didn't know. Well, her senses were weak and so was she right now. "...can you... tell what this scent is? It's... familiar, I just can't pin down what it is."

Adimu sniffed the breeze, and tried to figure out the scent. It was familiar, and it seemed to her that it smelled the closest like a zebra or something of that sort. "I think it might be a zebra or something like that." She sniffed again, sure she picked up on another scent. "I smell something else, too... like... a carcass...?"

"If it's a half-eaten carcass, it's good, but if it's just bones... then..." she sighed again. "...but it's worth the try. Let's try to get to it as fast as we can." With that, she ran off. She didn't run too fast for obvious reasons.

Adimu nodded. She ran in the direction of the carcass, hoping that they could get to it before anything else did. It was hard to move as quickly as she would like, though, seeing that the mud slowed them both down.

As they got to the carcass, Dabiku saw that Abimu was right about it; it was indeed a dead zebra. However, two thirds of it were eaten. Well, it wasn't much, but it should be enough. "...well... we're lucky it's not just bones, eh?" She smiled slightly.

Adimu nodded with a smile. It was definitely a good thing there was more than just bones left of the animal. She approached the corpse, and she tore some flesh from it.

Making sure she wouldn't eat too much, she approached and began to eat. Once she had eaten her share, she stopped and waited for Abimu to finish. She was still hungry, but smaller animals and carcasses would keep them alive until they were healthy enough to hunt by themselves and find a place with plenty of prey. Looking at the distance, she spotted a... rock. It was far, so it must have been a big rock. A huge rock. More like a mountain. The grounds around it were grassy and there seemed to be a creek close to it. It was... nearly perfect. "...look... that place... that rock thing, it seems... like a nice place, doesn't it?"

Adimu ate her share of the zebra and licked her lips when she was done. This was satisfying enough for the time being, though it would have been nice if there was more left. All that remained was the zebra's bones, however. She turned her head when Dabiku began to speak, and looked into the distance. She looked back to her older sister, and she said with a soft smile, "Yeah, it does look nice." There was probably a lot of animals there, too. She would hope so.

"We'll head there, then. There are probably animals. And with luck, no pride. But it's unlikely. Every good place has prides. It sucks." Dabiku huffed and then continued walking. "...we'll reach it in a few days, a couple of days, if we're lucky. Well, that's if we include resting and hunting."

Adimu nodded. Every good place had a pride, and most prides didn't really welcome strangers. It was most unfortunate, but the yearling tried to remain hopeful—but, of course, not too hopeful. Maybe, if there was a pride, the pride would accept them...? That seemed very unlikely to her, though....

And then, days passed on, and they had finally reached those beautiful lands. There were many animals... and... hyenas? Why would there be hyenas in such a beautiful place? As far as Dabiku was concerned, hyenas belonged to the wastelands, since they were so horrid creatures, seen as killers by lions. She crouched and groaned slightly, in pain. Not long after, she fell on her side, feeling like it was time. "...Adimu... Adimu... I think... I think I'm going to have this cub... now."

Adimu tilted her head confusedly when she could see the hyenas. They seemed out of place to her, but she decided to not question it. She turned her head when she was spoken to, and her eyes grew wide. "Already...?" She furrowed her brows in worry. She wasn't sure if there was a shelter nearby, either. She flattened her ears. "Dabiku..." She paused for a short second when she noticed some tall grass. "...maybe you can hide in that tall grass while you have your cub...?" Giving birth in the open just wouldn't be safe. Though a den or cave would be the best, but some tall grass would do for the time being, she thought.