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Khalima tilted her speckled and streaked head, those emerald eyes seemed to have a brighter color to them that made them stand out in all the rest of the green and darkness. She rose to her paws, her anklets making a metallic jingle as she started to walk a little closer to the male of deep shadows. The way Khalima's eyes pierce into someone, looking much deeper than the flesh could be unnerving to some, but the lost lion she sees inside spoke to her dark and slightly twisted heart. She knew what that felt like, to be hung between what you could be and what you need to be, not knowing what you even want to be. She has helped so many with direction in this way, she also senses a hole left in him, one that only a lack of a good father could have created. His midnight touched blue and purple tinted eyes harbor no ill will, but his confused heart is angry.
She closes the gap but not too closely and stops, silvery moths flutter up from her paws and flutter about her small frame. Now that she is closer, he can see that she is athletic for being a smaller lioness but the faint shape of ribs are seen from many nights of her giving her meals to cubs but she isn't unfit. Her eyes have a wild look to them as she peered upwards at him, her scent is laced with the smell of cubs that do not bare her scent and of sweet yet bitter herbs of medicine.

She speaks to him in her ragged voice, her presence does not feel hostile nor alarmed by him nor his towering size compared to her. "Being lost is still being lost, be it on the outside or on the inside. Dooeess this one come to test his strength on the outside or within I wondeeerrr. Or perhaps this one is in need of a new kind of challenge? One he has yet to attempt? Tell me Dark Shadow, what is this onesss name? I am the wandering Shaman Khalima, and the Jungle of Sssecretss is one of my many homes."
She called him Dark Shadow for that is what she sees inside of him, she has a habit of nicknaming those that come before her, including her apprentice whom she calls Mouse even though its not her name. If he had ever heard the tales of the dark and mysterious Shaman that roamed the lands, her name was attached to those tales. Some say she is dangerous and one who practices dark rituals, others say she was a saving grace from illness and some whisper about her harboring cubs somewhere in the Jungle.
Somewhere back behind her in the surrounding shrouds of the plants that skirt the edge of her clearing there is a small rustle, as one small purple eye peeks at them, watching the adults.

Chausiku sigh and then said "I don't think every creature I have met understands me either but I guess that is just life." She shrugged her shoulders and then said "I will do my best to quiet my mind and sharpen my skills, I'm sure I won't be perfect but I doubt parents of cubs are ever perfect." She sighed "I'm babbling again." She was worried that Khalima would change her mind about giving her a cub to adopt. Others were in the jungle as well perhaps they were better suited for the task of caring for a cub than she was.

Scarcely a year had gone by. The big male lion, Tau, scarcely past the huge growth needed for a cub to mature, found himself following in his mother's footsteps. There were no footprints to speak of as they had been washed away in the flooded monsoonal rain. But he had a profound feeling in his breast that his mother was with him and that he was following in her path. It was not a superstition per se, but he felt that his strength came from Serket and her outstanding parenting.

He walked with hesitating steps as he faced down the jungle. He knew of the dangers, and knew that an academic understanding was nothing compared to the real thing. But he kept going. He was not afraid in the sense that a coward battles with themself to move forward. His hesitation merely came from the gravity of the situation and what he intended to do. He wanted to start a tradition that had begun with his mother and he wanted to pass it on... Surely he could have cubs one day, but in this instance he was growing the family in unpredictable ways. An unrelated cub feeling part of the family was such a huge step in the making of a rock-solid family. He wanted to help someone else and this seemed to be the best way he could, for now.

At the mouth of the jungle, that is, he chose a plant that he would bulldoze through, he let out a huge roar. It befit his massive chest. Hello, hi. I am here. I want to meet you. I'm coming in! And then, he entered the jungle. Immediately the air became heavy with moisture. There were rich smells that he had never smelled before. He could hear all sorts of critters in the distance and recalled his mother telling him that a distant sound could be far closer than expected. So he kept his eyes and ears ready. After several minutes, he roared again. His message was more or less the same, that he was here and wanted to tame a wild cub. He had a rope and bait ready to throw at the feral cub (not really). Perhaps they would get the humor.

Then he heard a familiar roar. It was Khalima, his old caregiver! She was the protector of the cubs same as she ever was. Tau's memories of her were flashes of green in his mind. She blended in so well. Did Khalima remember Tau?

(edited to remove one instance of Tau's image. You did not need two of him! lol)

Chaaya... Was far from hostile. He was calm, quiet. He allowed Khalima to draw as close as she wished - unchallenged and unthreatened. In fact, the lion breathed, to take in her scent quietly, his own scent bearing the scent of a male in the roguelands - wild grasses, wild frasses of those lands and bare stone, and a lioness whom raised him. He protected his mother. He would protect others, too - weaponize strength for those defenseless. Chaaya noted the scent of cubs, and his ears afforded a response. They did not fall into his mane is disdain - they pricked. They worried when Chaaya's face did nothing, his tail switched, even if he did nothing - not with anger, not with threat. Worry. He remembered feeling helpless at that age. He remembered asking where his father was, and the sad look in his mother's eyes. He learned of Jioni from whisopers and fear as he and his mother and sister roamed -- whispers of a cold lion preferring strength. Who was now the master of some of the deadliest lions. And he hated beiung scared at first. Fear bred anger as he realized what happened. The pity. Anger, resentment. But... Chaaya tempered it into steel in his claws when his mother needed him. When his sister needed him. But for now that steel was set aside for velveted paws and quiet, calm courtesy. Even respect, for one whom tended to those whom needed her more.

Chaaya respected that. Admired that. The notion of a new challenge earned thought. Careful and considering and respectful before he nodded.,

"I suppose a new challenge might be good." Chaaya admitted. Ashka did encourage her children to blossom and follow passions. Chaaya settled. Not quite relaxing in comfort, but perhaps a little less intimidating. Or perhaps a little less towering - perhaps even, a little smaller. Seeking to be less threatening. A shaman one did not challenge nor did one disrespect, even he knew that. And he supposed with time, he's like Khalima. He appreciated her wildness, even if he didn't know it. His own heart beat to bones and sometimes a fight, but... Never to harm.

"My name is Chaaya." He answered p[respectfully. Assertively. He was alert, and the lone purple eye nearby only drew a flick of an ear and lowering of his body to lie himself down. Still,m no claws bared themselves, still, his eyes did not turn to anger or danger. He pretended to not notice being watched, but he did make himself less threatening. This was KLhalima's home, and possibly, one of her wards, and he refused to threaten that. He refused to harm a cub, he refused to harm their caregfiver.

He refused to let himself become a monster.

Khalima studied him, seeing a deeply heavy heart still willing to overcome his pain.
His calm nature and his few words made her smile a bit, he would probably have much to gain from little eyes that look up to him for protection, for guidance and for love, And she had just the Cub in mind. This was strange, usually lions deliberate to find her seeking cubs here, not often does she get the lost ones here in the dark and deep.
She watches as he lowers himself to his stomach, only flicking an ear at the near by cub. So for once she has to figure out how to convince him to take one of the heathens, instead of them trying to convince her to give them one.
She settled into a sit, tipping her head downward at him and thinks a moment or two about how she will put it, then speaks to him.
"Dark Shaaadow. I have a proposal. But first this one needs to know what it iisss that I do out here in the Jungle of Ssssecretss."
She takes a small breath of wet air the continues in her ragged voice.
"I am not only a Shaman, I take in lost or abandoned cubs from the wilds, I bring them here where I can hide them and feed them and I wait. I wait for lions to come and adopt them. Many seek me for this reason, buuut only here in the Jungle. My proposal for a new challenge, for this one's growth and that I feel Dark Shadow would provide a good home with protection, that from this one a cub could learn many things. I challenge this one to adopt a cub from me ."
She waits to see what he will say, he perhaps could be too downtrodden to want a cub, but she knows hopeful purple eyes watch them closely. She can see the courage and emotions needed to be a father or a mentor, sifting within the calm storm inside him. But will he do it?

For a moment, Chaaya thought about it, silent and calm. Quiet and still. It wasn't a quiet of refusal but sincere consideration. But there was something in Chaaya's eyes that wasn't cold. Something in his eyes that wasn't lost. It lit with a fire, not of destruction but determination - a thought of another. Chaaya's mind did what it did when he looked into his mother's eyes and saw that loving warmth. No, this time it heard words, words he understood. One he related to. Abandoned. Orp[haned, perhaps. But abandoned.

It reminded Chaaya perhaps not of his mother, but... Himself. OIf realizaing his own father abandoned them as weak, because his mother was a kind soul. Chaaya could be quiet, perhaps even a bit attatched to bones a bit much, but he wasn't... Cruel.

Maybe, he was incapable because he inherited a form of his mother's warmth. Her love. Or maybe it was because one of the most saavage lions of the Serengeti came to a gentle soul and somehow, impossibly, it tempered one cub just right 0 strength. Power. And Compassion. Chaaya looked Khalima in the eyes and spoke, voice even and surprisingly quiet.

"I know what being abandoned feels like. My father abandoned my mopther, sister, and I before we were born. And... I will accept your challenge. I will adopt a cub." Chaaya nodded, calm. But his voice carried conviction., "And - they will know love. Mine. A grandmother as well. They will be wanted and safe. Protected."

A pause, Chaaya feeling a strange and new feeling. Perhaps not even meeting a nrew child, a feeling he did not know himself capable of.

"They will... Be my son or daughter." Because he did not care gender. He woiuld love and empower them. He would.. Be better.

Nomvula walked with purpose through the jungle, trying to keep her paws from sliding through the slippery foliage or to let herself be addled by the sight of lion bones. Was this jungle more dangerous than she gave it credit for? She began to move more slowly, unafraid of being seen or noticed, but more careful now, lest she trip and fall down an abruptly steep cliffside in the jungle. She was just seeing her life weave itself together, she wasn't going to let one misstep cause her end.

My life will not end in tragedy. She thought, her expression set in determination.

In moving slower and putting more focus into her surroundings, she was quicker to notice the other lioness who was standing nearby. She stilled as she took in the appearance of the spotted lioness and then she allowed herself some part of relief and she smiled at the other.

"Your spots hide you from sight so well in this dense foliage, I almost didn't see you." She inclined her head politely. "My name is Nomvula and it pleases me to see you."

This one is polite Khalima thought to her self but she could also sense the nervousness this lioness had within her. Eyes like emerald scopes always studying what they gazed upon, looked deep into a lion's inner self like no other, perks of being a Shaman, even if she was a bit twisted. As she listened to what this lioness had to say she sat still in her dank light shaft, a boon? She hadn't heard the cubs called that often but she knew what the word meant. She tilted her exotic head and Spoke to Ashanti with her usual strange and cryptic words in scratchy tone " Daeeyyys are only as good as their beholder deems them, but yeeess it isss.
A "Boon"? I know this word but haven't had it used much within My Jungle of Ssseecretsszs. I am who Sand Paws seeks.. For guidance and medicine seek me out in the roguelands around the baobab trees." She stated, as tho the point had missed her though it hadn't, Khalima does so enjoy giving visitors a little bit of a hard time so she said this with a mostly unreadable face, but those wild eyes had a gleam of mischievousness in them.