Welcome to Gaia! ::

She continued until she was in sight of this herd of prey beasts, then crouched silently, waiting as her son leapt from her back and dove for cover, a well-rehearsed thing, it seemed. Then she straightened slowly, no sudden movements. "You might want to hide yourself so you don't startle the gazelle."

Then she was off, moving forward sure and fast, adopting the deadly grace of a hunting cat from the first step. She instinctively moves to darker spots - shadows of trees, rocks, things like that - so as to hide her movements, blending in, but she hardly needed to bother. When she moved through the golden grass, she looked like nothing more than another shadow.

Pausing in the shadow of a large boulder, her eyes scanned the gathered gazelle, picking out a likely target: a young one, trailing behind the others, close enough to chase. And then she does. Shooting out from her hiding place, she goes from standing still to top speed in a matter of strides, shooting across the grasses. Caught by surprise, the gazelle faltered for a second or two before turning to run. Those seconds gave her the distance she needed to close in for the kill. Less than thirty seconds of speed chasing and she's knocking the back legs out from underneath it, catching it by the throat and closing her jaws in a death grip before it has a chance to get up again.

With the rest of the herd scattered in the wake of a predator, she's the only creature moving as she begins to walk towards them, her sides heaving a little from exertion, the young female hanging limply from her jaws.

She laughed softly around her mouthful, finding herself liking this male. He was polite and gracious, unlike a few she had met in her past, and his bowing she found rather sweet. It was a nice change from receiving fear or haughtiness in those she met.

She dropped the gazelle to the ground before him. "Eat. You must be very hungry." Then she stepped a few paces away on her long, graceful, spotless legs, lowering herself to a laying position, her breathing already beginning to calm.

Aki comes trotting out of his hiding place as soon as his mother was laid down, bouncing over to her and placing his forepaws against her shoulders, beginning to lick the blood from her muzzle to the sound of her soft chuckles and purrs.

Zakiya merely shook her head, however. She'd eaten an hour or so ago, her first hunt of today, one of a few she'd make, no doubt. With three hungry mouths to feed, not including her own, she often went stalking into the long grasses after gazelle, such as the one she'd just brought down, or whatever other prey beasts were handy at the time. She would be fine, able to last until she went back to her den and one of her boys became hungry.

Her youngest, however, was another story. He needed as much food as he could get, to help him grow.

At his mother's prodding, the little tri-coloured cub padded over to the carcass, falling upon it without even a glance toward Fuhati. If his mother tolerated the cheetah's presence, little Aki had no concerns over him being there. Within moments, the mostly white fur around his muzzle and his chest is stained red with blood.

Zakiya's head turned, even as the first rumbling of the thunder of hooves reached their ears. Her lavender eyes widening, she shoved herself to her feet. "Stampede! Move!" she shouted, darting to her son and yanking him by the ruff of his neck from his meal, no time to be gentle although feeling a smidgeon guilty by his startled yelp, sparing time only to push rather hard at Fuhati with her shoulder before she's off, running to the left to get herself out of the path of the stampede, although away from the hill so she doesn't have to climb the slope to escape. She'd used up a great deal of energy on the run, as she always did, but even so, she managed to reach a good speed. Her cub was in danger, and she could run like lightning when she was ready to drop to the ground in exhaustion if it meant she could save him. Had Aki not been there, she would have waited for Fuhati, but her cub came first, no matter how much she liked the male. She just had to trust he followed her, and in time.

Keeping her pace up despite feeling as weak as a kitten, she headed for the cover of a patch of trees.

Relieved of the task of escorting her son to safety, her exhaustion finally shows its ugly face and pounces upon her mercifully. Inevitably, she slows, her long limbs beginning to tremble. Within moments, she's reduced to a mere trot, ambling along in a vain attempt to avoid the crush of hooves on the dry earth. The rising cloud of dust begins to wash over her, stinging her eyes and nose, causing her to cough and making it fairly impossible to see where she's going. Seconds after the dust cloud hits her, she's lost from sight, any sound she may have made, any cries for help or warnings to stay back, lost in the roar of thunder that accompanies it.

Akia, able to see this catastrophe from his dangling position in this male's jaws - ones that were unused to the handling of cubs, he could tell - let out an aggrieved cry. He began to squirm madly, desperate to get away, to dislodge himself from Fuhati's grip so he can go find his mother.