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Tufah was pleased at her newfound skill when walking. She - and so her siblings too - were just out of the fluffy useless stage of infancy. No longer did she have to spend all her time asleep or drinking milk or the other things that made up the dull life of the very young. In the last week, she'd been stopped crawling and been up, testing her paws. The waddle had soon become a proper series of runs and stalks and playful pounces.

And while she wasn't exactly allowed a range of many miles - no sane lionness would let a bunch of practical newborns out of sight of themself or a nanny after all - it was freedom. At the moment the young red female was balancing on a fallen log, walking back and forth and perfecting this new balancing skill. Tiny claws dug into the bark and when not busy looking at her feet, she could see her siblings, mother and the beloved Pridelands in the background.

"How sweet of you to be concerned, dear brother."

Tufah stopped and looked down at him, smiling prettily and with a teasing condescending hint to her voice. She knew already that Matisho, for all his scoffing, she knew he cared and despite her ways she cared too. Showing off, she bunched up her body, judged the distance swiftly and leapt down. It was an unpractised move and the slight shock of landing on her forepaws alone made her shake both paws with irritated flicks. She could have sprained something - she should be more careful and practise that as well.

She was very like her brother in many ways. She adored Tiah and while he looked like their unknown father, Tufah resembled their mother. She too, was for brains over brawns - but she knew the value already of both. The playfights she and her siblings got into as young cubs had already taught her that much.

"And yes, I'm practicing and as you can see it's not real climbing like the strange ones. More about balance, and grace. I want to be as good as mother one day."

"Practicing your fighting skills, with claws, jaws and words. I need balance and grace for hunting, clinging to a things backs while I or another huntress make a kill. Grace is another kind of strength, power." She ignored him slights at her skills. She would learn and he wasn't a wonder cub himself, anyway. The entire litter was still new and getting used to their new found freedoms, after all, and any older nearby litters didn't matter in the slightest. They weren't family.

"You however, are male. And while the Pridelands is like a giant den, your place is fighting and speaking up for us" Words like diplomacy were beyond the young cub but she already had taken in the stories of their blood lines. She'd listened enraptured to the stories they'd been told even before their eyes had been opened, when the rumble of voices had been meaningless comfort. Now, such stories meant something. The first 'big' words she'd ever understood had been royalty and hunting, she imagined.

"Mat, I love you but you're an idiot sometimes." Tufah rolled her ruby eyes skyward and wondered is their grandfather Taka would approve of such a lack of forward thought. "Atleast I'm trying. You're just making pathetic excuses."

"And what am I and the others? Dead-meat? We could play and we could fight. I can remember butting you to the side for mothers milk and I'd do it again if you tried to take my place even now."

"Fine, we are equals. But look at this." Tufah stopped and sighed, holding up her paw. She let her claws out, splaying her paw as if to rake it across something. Then she 'velveted' it, by keeping her claws in. She lightly batted her brother with it on the shoulder.

"JUst pretend your claws are out and I may be your sister but as you said, we're equals. I'm a lionness, just as strong and powerful in my own way as you, a lion are. I can take the hits. Besides, I'm sure mother would be overjoyed to see us playfighting. We don't often enough, compared to the riff-raff litters, and they might become better at fighting if not in blood."

"I can see them from here, no one was wondering, except you." She nudged him back - she could walk on her own, now, thanks. Tufah was happy about how this morning had gone so far and smirked right back at her brother. She didn't care what he thought, she was doing just fine.

"And I'm sure I can pin you too."