Mwali woke himself with a lawn yawn. His great tounge fell over the side of his fangs as he stretched himself, bringing his yawn to a close. Beside him, his mate still slept with most of the cubs up against her side. His own side had only two cubs. Azula and Sinbad who was still fast asleep, rolling himself to his back and pawing at the air at an unseen enemy.
He sneered a bit and turned his gaze to the female. A lage paw pushed at her side a bit to rouse her from her sleep. "Azula."
The girl whined softly at the push, which could hardly be called a 'nudge'... though at least it wasn't a slap. After a moment she blinked her soft sea green eyes, so like her fathers, and yawned. "What daddy?"
He nodded towards the mouth of their small den. He'd explain when they were outside and wouldn't wake the others. She'd know well enough to follow along after him.
A little bit of grumbling later, some stretching and sulky follwing, the girl headed out of the den after him. She perked up fairly quickly once they were outside, though, when it was obvious that he wasn't dragging any of the others along. "where are we going?"
"You're getting older..." He said simply, walking himself at his normal place. It would be a bit quick for her but she'd have to jog to keep up, but all the better. "You'll need to begin your training as soon as you feel you're ready... of the litter you're showing the most eagerness towards becoming a servant of the goddess... you, Kenna, and Sinbad..." Though he said the last cub's name with a bit of a grumble.
"I began sharpening my claws when I was about your age... an early start gives you an advantage."
"Do i have to get dirty?" She asked with a bit of a whine. The two girls he'd named off were a lot alike in this regard. Neither of them liked to get terribly dirty; Kenna had a fairly crippling OCD about the symmetry of everything... Azula was merely vain. "I don't like to get dirty, daddy."
"Sometimes it's necessary. Pride is necessary, yes. But when you must soil your claws with blood or our pelts with dirt. Would you rather be beautiful and dead or a bit filthy and strong? If you prevail you can always groom yourself later." he glanced down to her, "Don't let pride come before duty..."
"I would die if i were not able to be beautiful." She proclaimed with a sniff, "So i shall be beautiful, strong and alive."
"Good." He nodded a bit, "Don't even think about your appearence when you fight." He smiled a bit, "There's nothing more beautiful than a warrior in battle. Work on the beauty of your strike if you must."
Azula frowned as she thought about that. It made a.. sort of sense. thinking so hard made her lag behind, however, and she had to run to catch up. when she did this time, she kept up the pace for a few minutes so that her breathing evened out before she spoke. "So where are we going?"
"We're going to the brush.... it's closer to the boarder but you should be able to find game there." He glanced down at her, "You do want to learn to hunt don't you? Hunting is the first step to fighting. You need to learn the feel of your claws in flesh will harden you. Killing another lion the first time is never easy."
Azula considered this. "We kill creatures all the time," She said, "The three of us. We hunted down a hare together. And there's the mice and baby birds."
"I said game." He smiled, "Rabbits are small game... there are small deer...you're old enough to take down one of their younglings..." He glanced down, "Can you do this? Or should we continue hunting hares?"
"I can do it!" She protested quickly before he turned homeward instead. She really wasn't sure of it... but for his love she would be. The little 'princess' lifted her chin high and proud. "I'm more than capable, father."
"Very good." He continued forward. "Now... they're different from hare. They run much faster, and much longer but they won't hide underground." He crouched himself down, "You have to keep down wind...they travel in herds... and if one smells you they all run."
She crouched down too, though she was less likely to be noticed than he. Of course, their pelts stood out like nothing else.. it was amazing they weren't spotted anyway. She was scared, of course, but she didn't want him to know that. After all, she was just a fragile little cub... and those fawns were protected by their mothers. but if she had to do this for him... "Ok, daddy."
"Now you have to be patient. Don't run off right when you see them. You have to wait. If they don't notice you, they'll move around and continue grazing. Move when the wind blows... they won't notice the grass moving when you come closer- and stay down wind.."
Once more Azula nodded. She waited for a breeze before crawling forward. She could hear the babies now, bleating softly in the grass ahead. Her heart thumped in her chest, but she steeled her resolve. If she needed to do it, she needed to do it.. and her stomach was growling.
He lowered himself down even further, ears pressed against his head. Whether or not she actually managed a kill was irrelevant. To manage it would be quite the feat, but she needed to start thinking about it, start building on her skills now if she and the others were to become worthy of the goddess. Either way...he'd step in if needed.
A part of her wondered why he wasn't helping her, but the rest of her... knew. She hadn't yet 'proved' herself worthy of said help, for one thing, and she needed to think for herself. That was fine.. she'd done hunt strategies for the others. The issue, here, was that there were a lot of them.. and one of her. Would her father bother to protect her from the worst?
She didn't know. Ignoring that, the cub went on with her plan. As the wind blew, she circled around the small group in the herd, getting closer with each movement of the wind. She looked for holes in the protection cirle and went through them. ... if the antelope knew she was there, they were probably so surprised to see a cub doing this that they didn't make a sound about it.
Mwali only watched. Seems she was understanding it well enough. if she looked back she'd only recieve a nod from him, urging her to go ahead with the hunt. He was there, but he'd not do it for her.
The small herd was grazing on what grass had managed to stand still against the desert wind. Much of it was thanks to the larger rocks and stone faces nearby. The deer were quite small, even the adults would only come up to a grown lion's elbow at best. But to a cub they might as well be real gazelles.
She eyed the bucks surrounding her trepidation, expecting for them to turn on her at any moment. But.. they didn't. She passed by and soon found herself practically facing down three babies. They were all grouped together, and so far hadn't noticed her.... but... how could she possibly take one without the other two raising an alarm? Her stomach grumbled, loudly, and the babies bleated in alarm.
JUst at that moment a roar somewhere nearby, a group of rouges perhaps, or a leapord, attacking the rear flank of the herd. Unlike buffalo these creatures didn't circle each other and make a stand when attacked, they leapt to their feet to run, even the babies.
Seeing her chance, Azula leapt upon the back of the closest one, getting it down with her teeth about its neck in a second. It kicked but its legs were int he wrong place to hurt her. And the herd hadn't even noticed until they were several yards off that they'd lost one baby in the run. The mother looked back, but she was the only one, staring at the place her fawn now laid dead with a red lioness cub wrapped about it. Another deer came back to nudge the mother away--there was no point staying, and the larger danger could still be there.
Mwali rose up out of the grass, first witha snarl in the direction of the strange roar. Rogues no doubt... they were desperate or foolish if they were this far. Or wose...one of the false kin.
"Well done." He walked himself over towards Azula, a faint smile coming to his maw, "I'll carry it back... we should get back to the den. The kill is yours, you will eat from it first. The rest is for your siblings."
Azula grinned. Her first solo kill!! She was more than proud of herself and stood, licking the blood off her maw. Sure, it had been pure luck that she'd gotten away with it.. but she'd still gotten away with it! And she'd managed to do it artfully, in a way, barely any blood spilt. She stood and walked a little in pace, practically wiggling at the praise. "Ok daddy!! Can you take me out again sometime?"
Mwali nodded. "Yes of course. You'll need practice. sharpen your claws and fangs on its pelt, learn the feel of where it's softest. In a kill, you strike where the flesh is the softest as quickly as you can. Right in the throat or the belly." He bent down to lick the top of her head then turned to grab the kill and turn back towards their den. He didn't have to tell ehr to follow.
No, he didn't. She followed her father as quickly as she always would. It didn't bother her that she'd just choked a baby to death; it was the same as killing anything else, really. Instead, she was simply on cloud nine for the fact that she'd gotten rare affection from their normally reticent father. Ah, life was bliss
He would continue to walk until they were back in front of their den, however he dropped the kill right outside of it. It was her kill afterall. "There. Enjoy your kill. Then when you're ready to share you may wake the others."
"Okay daddy," She nodded and bent her head quite willing into the carcass. It was still hot and the cub purred softly as she enjoyed the fruits of her terror.
He nodded his approval and laid himself nearby, lifting his head back in the direction they had come. A rival's roar... never a welcome sound. While his blood boiled to show them just whose lands these were, for the moment he had his family to look after. A cub would be easy leverage during a fight. He wasn't willing to risk it... each of the litter was precious and necessary to the future of the pride.
