Hari wasn't a bad huntress, and even though it wasn't her job to hunt for the pride she sometimes went out to do just that. Hunting in the desert wasn't all that different from hunting in the misty land where she'd grown up, other than the temperature. The creatures here were similarly small and skittery and inclined to hiding under stones. That was the kind of hunting she'd learned to do growing up.
Khozar, on the other hand, hated hunting small and skittery animals. He wasn't particularly adept at leaping and diving after tiny creatures that darted into dens and holes and underneath stones at the slightest provocation. He tended to over-think things too much and try to plot what he was doing until it was too late.
"Should I...?" he asked Hari, speaking very softly to avoid startling the lizard the two of them had been watching for several minutes.
Hari had been waiting for him to ask something like that for the past several minutes. Rather, she had been waiting for him to do something for the past several minutes other than stare at the lizard. This trip wasn't really for her benefit, but for Khozar's, and so she wasn't going to be the one doing any actual hunting.
"If you think it's best," she replied. Her response earned her a dirty look from the striped lion, who was accustomed to taking orders from his father, and no matter how much he resented being ordered around was not in the habit of taking the initiative without approval, or at least direction.
He nodded then, his expression becoming one of intense concentration as he narrowed his brilliant orange eyes and crouched in readiness to pounce. Hari watched and sat back on her haunches and waited. She wasn't watching Khozar. She didn't need to watch him. She could predict what he was going to do down to the second when he was going to do it. No. Her attention was on the lizard, who was the most unpredictable creature present at the moment.
As Hari watched the lizard, so did Khozar, but unlike Hari he was not an experienced enough hunter to have much of an idea what he was watching for. Signs that it was going to dart off, presumably, but he couldn't even begin to guess in which direction it would go when and if it did. Hari had told him that the best way to stop something from darting off was to land directly on it so that it had no options of escape, but he didn't feel confident that he could jump that far with that kind of accuracy. Unfortunately, if he got any closer Hari assured him the lizard would bolt.
It was a problem.
Hari continued watching the lizard, which gave a very good impression of being completely oblivious to the two lions who were devoting so much attention to it. Hari wasn't fooled. Lizards were better at figuring out who was nearby and how near they were than big game hunters gave them credit for. The lizard twitched and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that twitch, which actually meant nothing except that the lizard had twitched, would be enough to spur Khozar into action. She hoped he made the jump.
Khozar's leg muscles bunched beneath his body as all of his weight settled onto them. Even his front paws were no longer quite resting on the ground, but instead tucked up toward his chest so that nothing would impede his leap. The second he saw the lizard twitch he was afraid that it would make a run for it before he attacked like the last lizard had done and so he sprang forward, covering several yards in a single bound that didn't quite bring him to where the lizard sat.
The lizard, of course, noticed that there was a dirty great lion doing its level best to skewer it with his claws and possibly squish it with his body and was not inclined to hang around and let him have a second go at it. It began to scuttle at top speed in a zig zag pattern that it was certain would keep the horrible cat beast from figuring out its true goal until it could reach the safety of its shady stony home.
Khozar chased after the lizard, his hindquarters barely managing to keep aligned with his forequarters as he attempted to keep up with the lizard's lightning quick changes of direction. His tail swept in wide, wild circles as he strove to maintain his balance while executing the complicated twists and turns required of him by the retreating reptile.
Hari sat back and watched all of this without saying anything. She was smirking like the blazes, but she wasn't saying anything and with luck she would be able to wipe the smirk off her face before Khozar lost his lizard and turned back to look at her. In the meantime, Hari felt no remorse about her amusement. The adolescent lion looked perfectly ridiculous chasing after the lizard like that, skittering about like he was a cub without any regard for dignity.
He was always very anxious for approval, that one, and Hari knew exactly where that came from, so she was sure to let him know when he did things well and only criticize him if it was something she felt he really needed to know. It was one of the ways she was hoping to win him over. Giving him the approval he craved so desperately, even though he really wanted it to come from his father.
She considered it something of a coup, to be honest, that he had agreed to come hunting with her when she went after expressing his initial doubts about the abilities of an entertainer to bring down prey. That was when she had explained to him about hunting smaller preybeasts and how that would be a more useful skill to him here than the more impressive kills the lionesses of his former pride had made. He had considered it, decided that she was correct, and agreed that he would learn this kind of hunting from her.
A few seconds later Khozar lost the lizard underneath a rock that he could not overturn fast enough to uncover the lizard's lair. He snarled in frustration and turned back to look at Hari, making sure she wasn't frowning or otherwise unhappy or disappointed by his performance. Hari had barely managed to bring her mirth to heel in time for him not to see her, and so she had a politely bland smile to offer him.
"Don't chase them," she advised. "We can't catch them. But good job otherwise. Want to head back?"
He shook his head. "No. I told Isa I'd bring her something."
"All right," Hari agreed. "I'll stay and advise, if you like, but this is still going to have to be your kill. You wouldn't want to disappoint Isa, after all."
"Okay."
Word Count: 1,171
