Awendela had been on her own for a long time now, and as she got older, her memories of her mother and her younger sister grew less and less vivid. Yes, she had managed to find herself a nice home to stay in, where she wasn’t often bothered, and had never had too much trouble keeping it to herself. Some called it ideal, most would say it was beautiful, and it did have everything she needed. It was a good vantage point, there was a little bit of grass, a couple trees, a nice pool where water collected at the bottom of the crater. And it was also nearly impossible to spot the oasis from the distance. In fact, most other creatures stumbled upon it by accident, having had no idea they were even coming up on such a thing. The red-furred hyena had her own speculations on why it was here or what had caused it, but she was always thrilled to quiz others about it when she got the chance. She liked to hear what different creatures thought of different things that they found where they lived. Though, most of the time others were put off by Dela’s tough façade that she always put on when confronting a stranger.
For some reason, that’s just always how Dela had been. She couldn’t help it. Maybe it was because while her mother was raising her, she had experienced her mother being tricked and taken advantage of by many other creatures, including males that she had taken as companions, and she just knew somewhere deep in her heart that she didn’t ever want to be in the position that her mother was. It was a male companion of her mother’s that had killed her. After that, Dela had taken her younger sister and run from the male, and eventually, her sister parted ways with her to join a pack of other young hyenas that shared the same views and opinions. The confused young adult that Dela had been couldn’t bring herself to join the group, and instead set off on her own to try and make her own home.
Every now and then, Dela thought about her sister, and hoped that she was doing well and happy in her life, and then grew sad with fond memory and missed her family. She had often wondered if she would ever have a family of her own, but she didn’t see how this would be possible if she were unable to trust a male companion…She hadn’t even met many of her own kind, let alone there were not males flocking to her in droves. And as she usually portrayed a bitter, tough, and suspicious character on the outside, even when she did manage to make a new acquaintance, she usually somehow managed to drive them off anyways. Now that she was growing older, a longing for pups began to grow in her heart, and she had been trying to change her attitude. It was hard though, to trust others.
So many times, she had fended off other creatures from her home. She had been in fights, and she had killed- and nearly been killed. Generally, Dela was quite happy living her life in her little grassland oasis, but all creatures long for company sometimes. She wondered if she would ever see her sister again, and if maybe she had little nieces and nephews running around out there in the world. The red-furred female shrugged and gazed into the sky, watching as the clouds drifted slowly. She had spent a lot of time lately pondering such things, and was beginning to feel as though she’d gotten herself into a rut of this thinking. She shook her head and returned her golden gaze to the earth.
Dela lifted herself to her paws, yawning widely as she stood atop her biggest flat rock. She could see for miles around from this rock simply laying on it, so that’s usually where she was to be found, if not under the trees or down in the crater. The red-furred female stepped down from the rock and headed toward her way down into the crater- the natural steps that had formed in the bedrock as the crater was being made. She leapt down from ledge to ledge and gave a little snort as she touched the bottom, which as she rounded the rock corner revealed a large flat surface that nearly circled the pool. It was the perfect place, really, as the pool collected water with each rain, and there was always enough to bathe and drink and even when it got really hot and dry, there was still usually enough to drink. Dela decided she would have a quick swim to clear her mind of the thoughts of companions and pups and her family. She needed to prepare for hunting anyways, since she was beginning to grow hungry and she had been sitting around at home thinking about silly stuff more than she had been spending time paying attention to her body when it was hungry, and focusing on tasks that were important.
The red-furred female knew that the funk would lift soon, but she couldn’t help but hope that some time soon, maybe, she would run into someone that would get along with her, and that maybe he would have been thinking about having pups too. Maybe they would stay together for a while, and then they could have a family, and it would be a real family, with mother and father and babies…Then all the hurt and the sadness would go away. Yes…
‘If I can have pups to love and keep me company, all of the sadness surely will go away…’ Somehow just by the thought crossing her mind once, it had convinced Awendela that finding someone to have puppies with was the thing that would solve all her problems. She was sure that if she could do that, then all the sadness, the bad memories, the hurt, the loneliness, the gruff attitude- would all vanish into thin air. She mulled the idea over, having waded into the water and now just standing there, are the ripples pushed away from her legs and eventually stilled. She stood there for a while, her golden eyes turned upward to watch the clouds as they drifted again, and a large grin spread over her features as she continued to stare out into the sky. Yes…that would be it…
Word Count: 1080
Completed! <3
