It was a dangerous world out there. Strangers were not to be trusted. Music was pretty. Such were the thoughts of a young lioness, too young to be a bitter guarded adult, but old enough to have been given the understanding of the ways the world might be dangerous. Not so dangerous, she had learned since mother had passed on. But not to be trusted all the same. Especially not by her. Not with her little brother needing her looking after. Well. She needed his as well. She was big, and would be bigger once she had grown. And she was strong, and would again be stronger when her growing was well and finished.
But big and strong was what she was. Clever and sly and intuitive, that was her little brother. And little was the word. Kunstig was runty, and she meant that in the most affectionate and loving of ways. Fact was fact. He was small for a lion, very small. And weak, poor little brother. Weak like mother had been. But so very smart. He might be smaller, and she would have easily pushed him about and bullied him into doing as she pleased. But he was the smart one. It was his lead that Moilik would follow, and follow always.
Which was why, though the day was near middling and the weather ripe for traveling, the large young lioness sat with her muscular bulk looming over her tiny little brother where he lay curled like a cub in the shade of a tree. He tired sometimes. She did not feel the stress, did not fully understand as she had never tired while playing with him purely because he had always grown weary first. The opportunity to exhaust herself had never properly arisen. Her understanding of being tired was, therefore, purely centered around her sibling. And when his paws hurt, and his steps dragged, then that was ‘tired’ and they would find a place to stop until he felt better.
This place had a scent to it though, slightly stale now but still strong. Moilik had not smelled it before. She did not like not knowing what it was. Kunstig had not worried. She might have wondered if he had not caught the scent, or if he had and knew what it was, but he had been so tired. Poor little brother. She had not mentioned it, had not wanted to worry him. Wanted him to sleep and rest so that his paws would not hurt and he would be able to keep up with her long-legged strides once more. And if that scent was trouble, she would give it trouble.
But the scent, as it would happen to be, was not trouble. Not really. Hinote eyed the lions waiting by her den from her position sheltered in the tall grasses. Crouched down, her prey of delicious fish clasped in her jaws, even the vivid red of her mane was hidden. Her small travel had gone well, done what she wanted in clearing her head. Her brief hunt of fish had gone well as well. However. Her goal to lay in the shade of her den, on the other hand, was thwarted. Because strangers, strangers could not be trusted.
She had crouched here, in the grasses where the earth would flood in a storm, and stared at the strangers. Willing them to leave. Annoyed that they had not. More and more irritated at their being in her territory, and being larger than she. It was not reasonable to attempt to make a lion leave. And that was a very large lion. Lioness, the maned wolf corrected herself. It had no mane. Or. She had no mane. The little one did though. Which was odd. Because it was little, and she had thought that male lions were larger than female lions. Was it the other one’s cub? They did share a like appearance, so green the both of them.
But she did not much care what color they were, who they were, or where they were going. That they were going was important. This was her den. This was her territory. She did not want to leave. She should not have to leave. They would leave. Both of them. What they were doing here, that was the question she cared to have answered. What were they doing, and when were they leaving. Well. She was bored of waiting. It was time to find out.
Moilik’s ears swiveled quickly to the grasses as a small canine thing came out of them. She stared intently, hostily even, but there was only one. Red and black little canine thing. All alone. All small. With a little fish in its little jaws. Not dangerous. Or at least. Not dangerous compared to her. Bristling all the same, no need to be positive it was all alone, the canine thing, Moilik growled, ”Close enough!” She would not have a stranger near her brother. Not when he was so tired. Not when he was so vulnerable.
Hinote paused in her steps, eyeing the lioness with her own dark green eyes before, her eyes never leaving the stranger’s, she placed her fish on the ground between her paws in order to clear her mouth for speaking. ”Why are you in this territory? It is a claimed territory,” she added, pointedly not expressing that it was her territory. Better to keep some things in the dark, she was not a danger to a pair of lions but another lion might be. Let them think it was another lion. It would be better for her.
As the canine thing spoke, Moilik’s ears laid back and her chest puffed very slightly. She was larger than this thing, and larger than some of the lions she and her brother had met. ”I can smell that,” she growled, not wishing this thing to think her foolish or stupid. ”We are not hunting. We were walking. Now we are resting. Later we will walk again.”
It was not difficult to hide relief at the lioness’ words, because Hinote found feeling things, including emotion, to be difficult. But they were travelers simply traveling through. It meant that they would leave, and leave her alone, sometime soon. Hopefully soon. But the lioness was intimidating. Big and puffing up like that, as though looking for a fight. Hinote disliked her already. She had not wanted strangers, did not like strangers, would never trust strangers. But she did like that they were leaving. ”Very well then. Thought you ought to know.” Was there something wrong with the littler one, that he would lay there and not notice the approach of another creature? No. It was not her business. ”You should probably consider leaving sooner rather than later. Just suggesting.”
”We will leave when we are done resting,” Moilik told the canine thing coolly. She disliked that this stranger seemed inclined to be pushy. It was a small stranger, so being pushy meant she was not afraid of the sort of trouble Moilik could bring down on her. There might be more of the small canine things then. Or maybe there were other things, bigger things. Things Moilik and little Kunstig did not know about. Well. She disliked this stranger. Did not trust that it was safe near it. But Kunstig was tired. He was sleeping. Moilik would not be made to leave until he did not have tired sore paws anymore. And that. Was that.
Hinote slowly reclaimed her meal, her eyes wary as she backed back into the grasses. So long as the lions left that was fine. She would leave them be until they did. She had no desire to have trouble, especially the sort a big one like that would rain down upon her. Once she was safely out of sight, she turned and loped back towards the brook. She could eat her fish there. Maybe the strangers would be gone by the time she returned.
Moilik watched the grasses where the canine thing had vanished for a long time. She did not like that there were pushy strangers here. Maybe Kunstig would wake soon. It would be good if they were gone before the canine thing returned.
(1379 words counted)
(Kunstig, Moilik’s brother, mentioned with permission from Zephira73 cool
