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She wasn't a cub anymore, and she wanted to explore more of the pride than just her parents' den. Mom in particular had explained why she and her siblings shouldn't venture near to the border - as they had no special blessings from the Great Lion, misfortune was more likely to befall them if they strayed too far.

But wandering around within the pride was okay. There were many lions who were blessed and thus the Great Lion protected these lands well, allowing low class lions like Halili to roam fairly freely within.

And if she was to be a good help to those other lions when she was older, it seemed reasonable to start by learning her way around. That was what the pale juvenile was doing today as she wandered through the Mwezi'Johari heartlands.

Halili looked up, feeling eyes upon her. There was an older lioness, an adult, whose fur had very pretty black sections with dark red highlights. Really, she'd never seen anyone quite like this lioness before. Her own mother, Kibetinyota, was as pale as she was, though her father, Uchanjaa, was a vivid russet color.

She had no idea who the other lioness was, but supposed she must be a member of the pride otherwise why would she be here? And if she was a member, obviously she was a safe person to know.

"Hi!" the juvenile greeted the stranger. "I'm Halili, who're you?"

Akemi. It was a pretty name, to go with a pretty lioness. Halili decided she liked both lioness and name. She smiled up at the adult.

"I'm learning where things are," the juvenile explained. "If I'm to help out when I'm older, I should know how to find people and places." It seemed perfectly logical.

Except for one thing. She knew that most people called low class lions "slaves." But her father didn't like using that word. He said it should be a bad word and banned from use because it gave people precon...precon...it made people associate bad ideas with it. So she thought of herself as being low class.

"Thanks!" the young lion exclaimed. It was a nice compliment and she genuinely treasured the idea of being helpful to the pride. It was what she'd been born for. Just like Mother was the one who took care of lions undergoing the rituals for joining the pride! Halili sometimes hoped that she'd be able to help her mother out with her duties. Other days she saw all the new cubs in the pride and decided that when she was older she'd help take care of all of them, so the parents had some time to themselves.

In short, Halili was going to be useful.

"Yeah, I was born into the low class. What about you?" she asked cheerfully.

The older lioness didn't seem to happy as she replied. Halili was surprised to hear that she'd been a rogue before she'd joined the pride, she hadn't really met any rogues or former rogues before. Her parents, she knew, had spent a long time without the pride because they'd been separated. But even though they'd lived like rogues, they hadn't been rogues. It was kind of weird like that.

But the most important part was that Akemi had been new moon - low class!

"So you're low class like me! That's really neat!" Halili was very excited to meet someone else in her class. Her parents were high class, so even though they loved her as parents, it wasn't quite the same as spending time as people in the same class as herself.

"Maybe you should meet my brothers and sisters too!" the juvenile was very excited at the prospect.

"I have two brothers and two sisters," Halili told the older lioness. "And we were born on the same night of the new moon, a'course. So we're all low class. At least for now." The juvenile didn't think it was necessary to point out that her brothers might not remain low class because they might marry higher class lionesses. After, that's what'd happened with their father! He'd been middle class before he and Mother married.

"So what are you doing today? Are you helping with someone's cubs maybe? Oh! Or maybe you're helping with a hunt? Oh, or maybe you're helping with someone who's sick?" She was excited and interested to hear how an adult of the low class was helping out.

The juvenile nodded understanding. Today must be something of a day off for Akemi. Well, not that anyone was prevented from taking a day off in any class, as far as she knew. The pride was pretty understanding of things like that.

"Sounds like a nice lazy day!" Halili replied. As she spoke, she heard a familiar voice calling her name.

"Oh! I have to go now! It was really nice to meet you Akemi!" The pale lioness turned tail and ran back home to the familiar big russet lion. She couldn't wait to tell her parents about her day!