Most days were more or less uneventful. He would wake up with his siblings, his mother would see them fed and groomed, and the rest of the day was theirs. Dalziel and his siblings were still kept close to the den or within eyeshot of one of the many lioness' within the pride, but for young cubs barely the size of their parents' paws, that was room enough. There were dozens of places to hide, dozens of cubs to play with, and new sights and sounds every day.
Other days... things got complicated.
In the process of growing to know their fellow pridemembers his parents had arranged for his litter to spend time with another under the supervision of one of the nannies.It started out well and good but the game they had chosen to entertain themselves with involved one cub closing his or her eyes and seeking out the others. The others would cry out in response to the seeker and from sound alone, the 'it' was to find and tag them all. A fun game, surely, but one that Dalziel couldn't fairly participate in.
Unable to cry out to be the seeker or the sought, the cub was asked to sit the game out. It hadn't been a cruel request really, it was unfair to restrict everyone else from a game just for one cub.
With the nanny's attentions focused mainly on the rowdy pile of cubs screaming and laughing in the dens, little Dalziel found it all too easy to slip off. If he couldn't play, he'd find something else to do.
