The large lion blinked in the sunlight, groggy from a night of little sleep. He was still for a moment and then suddenly jumped to his feet, he had overslept! His heart racing and his teeth bared in frustration, he bolted toward the horizon, stumbling every few steps as he was still not fully awake.
To an outside observer it would be unclear what exactly he was running toward, or away from, but Chapa'Matlai knew full well what he was doing, even if he was ignorant of the impossibility of it.
He was trying to catch the sun.
His legs were stronger than most lions, and he was relatively thin. He had been running every morning since he could remember, and his body was lean and fit from it. Despite this, he was a poor hunter, and though it was his job to help hunt for the pride, he rarely caught anything larger than a rabbit. He was fortunate that the pride fed him, he would not last long as a rogue.
After only a few minutes of running, he stopped, growling. He had slept too long, and the sun had a head start it didn't normally get. If he couldn't catch it on a normal day, he certainly could not today. He sat down reluctantly, sulking at his own mistake. He wanted desperately to catch that great ball and ride it across the heavens one day, just to see what it was like.
