Busara couldn’t sleep again even though she wanted to. She lay on her side inside of her den. It was the middle of the night, she was sure. Her internal sun told her that it was about that time. Laying there, she had tried to sleep while listening to the soft distant snores of some of the other sleeping lions. With her eyes closed, she had only managed to get lost in her thoughts as opposed to the recesses of unconsciousness. The same thoughts that she had been getting lost in since she had come here. For whatever reason, as soon as she had settled in here, she seemed to have forgotten why she had come here in the first place.It was agitating her, unsure of what purpose she had planned here. It wasn’t that she particularly disliked it here, it was just that she was unnerved by the things that she wasn’t used to. Like the raging silence at times that racked at her psyche. She had never heard quiet like this before. As a cub, the rush of the water from the falls, the rustle of leaves, and the lull of her parents’ voices always filled her world with sounds. In the desert, the billowy and whistling wind constantly blew the sand every way and the creatures that lived there where constantly shuffling about.
Also, she wasn’t used to being around this many other lions. Even traveling with the group here had been quite interesting for her. She had been an only cub and her parents had been the only other ones around, and she wondered alone in the desert. Busara knew that her parents would have been happier with her being in this protected pride with others around. The dangers of being young and alone in the desert were great, but it had forced Busara to grow in maturity and in the strength that she now possessed. It definitely could not be said that she would have taken that time in her life back, for she had spent most of it there.
Sighing hopelessly, she decided that she was not about to sleep any time soon. Standing up, Busara made her into the main den. Carefully stepping over sleeping lions, she left through the opening and slowly climbed down the mountainside. As she reached the grass, she looked around briefly before heading to the stream. Leaning down, she lapped up some of the water, before beginning to walk alongside it. Initially, she had chosen to walk with the stream because it was her center point for nearly everything in the pride’s lands. Busara had a good sense of direction, but she had never been here before. However, now she simply enjoyed walking along this stream, it was calming and it reminded her of her days as a cub.
Her parents hadn’t been overly strict or over protective of her as they lived in a safe an secluded environment. They were much older that most when they had their first cub, and they had see so much of life that the small and enclosed area in which they lived seemed a harmless to them once they had inspected the place. Thus, she often ran off away from the moss covered den to play in the pond or in the trees whose branches and leaves reached the ground. As an only cub, she did very well on her own. Early on she learned to make better decisions over ones that simply seemed like more fun. Busara had only ever gotten hurt once playing, and her parents had such a reaction to the event that she tried never to do it again.
Busara had been devastated when her father died, as well as her mother. By the time she had reached adolescence, her parents had grow old. Soon after, her mother had fallen sick in her heartache. She remembered the relatively short time that it took her mother to die sadly. Her mother had been her last connection to the world. Up until that point, she had spent her entire life there and didn’t know anyone else.
Now that she thought back on it, she supposed that the deaths of her parents were sort of their unintentional way of forcing her out of her comfort zone and into the world. She had only spent a short and miserable amount of time there before she had left the only home that she’d ever known. At this point, she had spent so much of her life in the desert that she wasn’t even sure if she would be able to find the place again. It had been a fascinating and wonderful corner of the Earth, and she wondered if there was another couple raising their cubs there.
Looking up from her thoughts, she realized that she had reached the end of the river and was near the border of the lands. She stared onwards, wondering if perhaps Kuon was out tonight. Probably not given how late it was. At this point of the night, it was closer to morning that evening. He had been such a incredible surprise in her life, but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep him. Unless he decided to up and abandon his own pride for hers, but she couldn’t ask him to do such a things, just as she wouldn’t leave the Ongozana’Ke for him. Turning away, she began the trek back to the mountainside.
Climbing back up to the den, she suddenly felt a wave of fatigue come over her. Well, at least the walk made her tired. Tired enough to go to sleep. Eye heavy, she made her way to the back of hte den towards her nook. On her way, she stumbled over something on the ground that she had not been paying attention to. Quickly looking down, she saw one of the older cubs sprawled out on his back, snoring, completely undisturbed at having been tripped over. Staring at his small face, a slow smile crept onto her face.
I think I remember why I came here.
