Chapter 4: Time of peace...

[Asani]

Time had passed, the war with the Bolsheviks was over, the Heshima-Mlinzi Pride had won. Somewhere during the course of that time, Ana had gotten pregnant and conceived a little girl, which Sabre and herself named Nadya, but unfortunately, the Queen died during childbirth leaving the infant in the care of her father, Sabre. True these few months would be hard on the pride, since they expected to take a queen for quite sometime, but not everything in life is controllable.

Early one morning, the chocolate brown toddler opened up her jade eyes and looked around in curiosity while the rest of the pride was still asleep. Standing up and trying to get her bearings, Naddie, as she was most often called, she toddled forth unsteadily toward the cave's entrance silently smiling the entire way.

Having made it outside, she looked around excitedly, her jade irises darting back and forth all while wondering which way she should go.

[Sabre]

As the sun creeps its way into the mouth of the caves, the Heshima King, Sabre, still slumbers, even to this day the male hasn't changed the bedding that he and his former queen had created. A few moments later, the sunlight hits his eyelids, the light causing him to open his dark brown eyes and wince at the bright light that at once enters the orbs.

Sabre yawns before stretching, relieving any tension in his muscles before standing up fully. Once his eye sight clears he glances around before noticing that his young daughter was missing. "Nadya?" He asks before looking around more, he then walks outside of the cave, the sun bringing out the rich dark color of his pelt. Sabre walks a few feet before calling out for his daughter again, the only thought going through his mind being that the region is a very dangerous place, with the threat of rogues and even the Shaderians. He then leaps down and begins to search for any scents that Nadya left behind while using his sharp eyes to look for any tracks in the soil of the savannah. "Please don't be far off..." The king mutters to himself as he searches frantically for any trail that his daughter left.

After the war finished, the Shaderians took their leave. All but one. The Shaderian warrior prince Naraka decided to stay behind against his father's wishes. The Shaderian Overlord Rendarin finally accepted the fact his son wouldn't come with him and bid the Heshima and Mlinzi prides adieu with an ominous message: "Watch your backs. Our eyes and ears are everywhere." The large, black feline then left with the rest of his Clan, their destination unknown...but it is known that they are once again a very dangerous enemy.

[Asani]

The little princess just sat in the tall and dry grass staring upward at the large bright orb above her, high in the sky. For some strange reason, the sky had always fascinated little Nadya. She began to continue walking forward while keeping her eyes on the sun above her thinking that maybe she could possibly get closer to it if she walked far enough. Though her concentration was broken when she slipped off the bank of the water hole and skidded to the shallow area of the water. She sat up and looked around since she had never been here before. Staring at another lioness in the water, this startled the cub and Naddie jumped up and ran back towards the bank drop off, huddling against the dirt in fear.

The other cubs in the pride had grown too, Ayo was now a young teen, Esi an older cub and as for little Kibwe...well...he was now a roly poly young cub that almost constantly wanted food. Sleeping by his parents, the young prince began talking in his sleep. "MMM....yeah more antelope please..a...a great big piece..." he muttered while flopping a paw onto one of his younger sisters and accidentally kicking his father in the muzzle with his small back foot. Ayo opened one eye and stared at his younger brother, shook his head and rolled his eyes and went back to sleep.

[Sabre]

As the sun hits her eyes, Ustrina awakens next to her mother. The orange cub yawns and turns her red eyes toward her sleeping father. Ever since the incident with Brownie, she's noticed her father wasn't like he normally was. Even as young as she is, she's already worried about him, enough that her normal spitfire attitude was being dowsed by it, even to the point she doesn't retaliate to Kibwe's actions. She gently moves over to her father and lays down next to his head, wanting to be by his side until he recovers.

Sabre finally finds a trail that carried a scent like his daughter's, once finding this track his ears perk up. "Aha! I think I found her!" He thinks as he begins to hurry along the track before finally spotting the young princess huddling against the ground, he walks over to her and nuzzles her. "There you are Naddie, what's got you scared?" He asks as he notices the cub huddling in fear.

[Asani]

Naddie, who's still huddled next to the dirt, jumped in surprise once more as her father appeared above her. She began to whine slightly still staring at the water, afraid to go back and look at her reflection again, just the thought of it caused her to get closer to the wall of the bank but since she was already as close as she was able to get, it wasn't possible. The little princess tried to pull herself back up onto the bank above but, it was too high.

Kibwe continued to dream about his giant piece of antelope and began to chew Kujali's tail in his sleep, not realizing it was actually her tail. At all the nomming sounds going on, Ayo re-awoke and padded over and plucked the cub off his younger sister's tail. "No nomming on sis's Sport..." he smiled and replied over Kibwe's scruff as he pulled him off Kujali.

[Sabre]

"It's ok Naddie, there's nothing here to hurt you." The king says, looking down at his daughter with his brown eyes as she tries to pull herself up the bank. "What spooked you anyway?" Sabre asks after watching her for a few more seconds. "It's just me and you here, and this stream." He says as his gaze turns to the stream, watching the running water as it sparkles in the sunrise, trying to figure out what could have spooked the young princess. It was just water, there isn't really anything scary about it if you don't fall into it, even then, this stream wasn't very deep, shallow enough for even Nadya to wade through.

"Are you wanting to get up on the bank?" Sabre asks, bringing his head close to the cub, watching as the small brown cub continues to try to climb it.

[Asani]

Naddie's jade irises locked onto her father's deep brown ones as she clutched his large foreleg, trembling in absolute terror. The water hadn't spooked her, it was just her reflection that did. Peering over at the stream she let out a small squeak and hid her face once more. "Da!" she said clinging as tight as she possibly could to his leg, practically putting it in a death grip.

Kibwe awoke and looked up at Ayo who had dragged the cub off and away from Kujali. "Wha? What'd I do?" he asked with a yawn. Ayo chuckled. "You were trying to bite off Kujali's tail was what..ya hungry?" he asked. Kibwe nodded. "Alright...come with me." he said urging the cub to follow. "Where we going?" he asked as he trotted alongside his older brother. "We're going hunting." Ayo smiled while his gaze locked on a herd of nearby zebra.

[Sabre]

"The water?" The king asks as he watches Nadya make a motion before clutching to his leg again. He walks over to the running water and looks in, seeing his reflection, all the scars on his head from previous conflicts. "Was it your reflection Naddie?" Sabre asks, moving his leg forward enough for Nadya to look into the water. "It can't hurt you, it's just a reflection of you." He says in a soothing voice. "Nothing to be afraid of."

In the cave Naraka awakens when the sunlight hits his jet black pelt, causing him to open his yellow eyes. The Shaderian warrior yawns before mumbling. "Morning already?" He stands and stretches before glancing around his new pridemates. "So what is it for me today..." He mutters, thinking with a claw up to his jaw in thought. "Hunt." He says before hurrying outside and spotting Ayo. "Ayo! I'm coming along!" He shouts as he runs, his Shaderian form moving very swiftly.

[Flash]

Flash sat on a rock watching the sky, her amber eyes quiet and thoughtful as she watched. She had grown a bit, a quiet young teen instead of a bouncy curious cub. Many days Flash could be found sitting on " Her rock " which she claimed by sitting on it daily and watching the sky and her surroundings. Flash was always on the rock because as far as she was concerned she wasn't good at anything. Her white pelt gave her away the first three times she tried hunting so she totally gave up on trying that. She never tried fighting, after the hunting incidents she would just gravitate to this rock everyday. She didn't mind however, she really liked watching the sky and the birds. In the distance the quiet teen spotted Ayo, Naraka, and Kibwe, watching with semi-curiosity at what they were doing. Turning her body she sat herself down so she could watching her pridemates at whatever they were attempting.

[Asani]

Carrying his little squirming brother by his scruff, Ayo held on tightly to Kibwe just to make sure he didn't fall and hurt himself. Placing him down in a patch of grass, the teen bent low and whispered. "OK...in order to hunt you have to be quiet got it?" Kibwe nodded in response. "Now...watch this." Ayo smirked. Th teen crouched low and blew his blond in growing mane out of his red eyes so that he could see better. Before him was a decent size herd of zebra grazing contentedly on the grass. Taking a few steps forward Ayo paused, his muscles tensing and poised ready to go in for the kill.

"AYO!" Kibwe called back from his hiding place. Ayo's eyes widened as he immediately ran back to his younger brother. "What is it? What's wrong??" he asked in a panicked tone. "You didn't get anythings yet and I'm hungry..." he pouted. The teen glared down at the cub. "THAT'S what this is about? Ugh...I give up..." Ayo then started walking back towards the pride's cave leaving Kibwe sitting in the grass behind him.


Nadya still huddled close to land when a butterfly flew above her causing the toddler to scream out in fear and begin to cry, with tears rolling down her face. "Daaaaaa!"
(Daddy!)

[Sabre]

Sabre sits down when his daughter begins to cry in fear, holding her close. "It's ok Naddie, it's ok, it's just a butterfly, it can't hurt you." The king says while nuzzling his daughter, trying his best to calm the princess down.

Naraka sees Ayo walking off and quickly runs to full speed, managing to catch a smaller zebra, he then takes the haunch of the animal and begins pulling it until he reaches Kibwe. "Let's get home kid, then you can eat." The Shaderian male says as he begins to pull again, the hoping that the trip he has to take with the carcass won't take too long, especially without Ayo helping him to pull it back to the caves.

[Asani]

The chocolate brown cub snuggled into her father's foreleg as he held her close. Since Nadya never knew her mother her father and her sister Naona had practically been her own family aside from the other pride members. Eventually calming down, she let go and looked around but still staying close to Sabre's foreleg just in case something else spooked her.

Kibwe's eyes lit up as Naraka caught the zebra. "Is that all for me?!" he asked while smiling broadly.

[Sabre]

"It'll be ok Naddie, just stick close to me." Sabre says before he starts to walk toward the caves, walking at a pace slow enough for the cub to not have to try very hard to keep up as they pass through the savannah, making sure to look down toward his daughter to make sure she's still with him. "We'll be home soon, don't worry." He says reassurringly, his voice soft.

Naraka laughs at Kibwe's question. "It's for the pride, but yes you get to eat some of it too." The Shaderian says, still laughing somewhat. The carcass was rather heavy, and even though the warrior prince was strong, the carcass was still rather heavy compared to the creature. "Dangit Ayo why'd you have to run off?" The male thinks as he continues pulling the carcass.

[Asani]

Nadya, after much struggling, made it up the side of the river bank and tried her best to keep up with her father's pace as she walked along making sure she stayed close just in case anything decided to come up and spook her. Along the way she spotted Naraka and Kibwe dragging what looked like to be some sort of animal along behind them. Thinking it might attack her, Nadya froze in place and ducked down into the grass thinking that it would protect her, which in reality it didn't.

Kibwe trotted along, his face beaming at the thought of all the zebra he could eat once he arrived home. Latching onto a leg, the cub tried to lift it hoping that it would help the Shaderian move faster.

[Sabre]

Sabre sees Nadya hiding behind him and then spots Naraka and Kibwe with a Zebra carcass, he walks back over to his daughter. "It's ok Nadya, it can't hurt you. It's food." The king says with a soft voice, nuzzling the chocolate colored princess. "You get to eat it when we get it home." He says before picking the cub up by her scruff and walking over to the carcass. He places Nadya down before speaking reassuringly to her. "It won't hurt you." He then grabs onto the carcass and begins to help Naraka drag it back.

"About time I got some help." Naraka says in a joking voice, chuckling as he sees Kibwe pulling along with him and Sabre. With the help of the large lion, they would surely have the zebra home in no time at all. "This'll be much easier now." The Shaderian says as their pace builds.