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 Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:58 pm
 Sa'ibabaw was quite proud of herself - although she had just grown to maturity recently, the queen had entrusted her with the very important task of showing one of the newest pride members around the lands, and, as the newcomer would be a hunter as well, some of the best places for bringing down game.
Sa'ibabaw herself was an indifferent hunter at best, and a bit of a bumbler at worse. She was very good at finding the prey, but she couldn't keep her mouth shut long enough to bring things down without scaring them off. More often then not, the other hunters she would be teamed up with used her to track down the herds, help them to target a few antelope or gazelle or wildebeest that had separated from the main herd, and then sent Sa'ibibaw off while they did the actual tracking and killing. Then they would call her back to help bring the kills back to the rest of the pride.
It was because Sa'ibabaw was so talkative, outgoing, and all-around accepting that the queen had sent Bala'tan with her. The new lioness had had her share of hardships, and there was an edge to her. Someone as unfathomably cheerful as Sa'ibabaw seemed to be might help her settle in to the pride, or at least feel welcomed.
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Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:10 pm
 Bala'tan followed behind the younger lioness quietly, trying to absorb the area and everything Sa'ibabaw chattered about while musing over the changes in her life in her own head.
Leaving her birth pride had been a big decision, despite how unhappy she had been there. It was still where she was born, where she grew up, and all she knew. It was the right decision, though, leaving - the Mwezi Johari followed the Great Lion, the moon, and not the sun, and here Bala'tan had no unearned reputation just because of her coat.
That had really been the last straw, having a stormy coat. No male would consider her for a mate, even though she had not been topped by any of them. They were willing to top her, but not marry her, a being of inferior moral quality, as proven by her coat, the color of stormclouds. The facts did not matter, her actions did not matter, all that mattered was the pelt color.
In this pride, though, the Great Lion measured and weighed each lion case by case, and the pride was about helping and caring for those that did not have the Great Lion's blessing, not hating them or judging them. Her coat didn't matter anymore. She had woken up under the full eye of the Great Lion, and he was watching her. She was a valuable huntress, here, valuable and dutiful, if still a bit skittish over males.
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 9:22 am
At the moment, Sa'ibabaw was telling Bala'tan about pride life, rules, and her own family history. Well, more of her own family history, but bits of pride life thrown in for good measure. "Well, those are the main rules for marriage in the pride, you have to actually get married and all, and since you're female you'll keep your rank, and if you ever take a mate he'll get your rank. My mom had a mate before she came here, but she followed her old king and her mate, my dad, didn't want to come, so I never knew him. I think my mom is probably one of the only huntresses in the pride that had cubs without having a mate. My and my brother, Ojore, look like my dad so my mom doesn't really like looking at us that much because we remind her of him. No one else seemed to really mind, though, cause the great lion had his eye on us anyway. But now that I'm grown up, I get to move into my own den, and soon I'll get married and my kids will know their dad. I would have liked to know my dad, even if the pride didn't mind us not having one."
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 9:29 am
It was heartening for Bala'tan to hear how Sa'ibabaw and her siblings were accepted by the pride, even with their lack of father. Such things were never permitted in her old pride - even the lionesses of stormy coats, if their were cubs with no father, the pride drove the cubs out. They were supposed to be unnatural.
"It's good that you are happy here. Do you have anyone in mind to marry?"
Bala'tan wasn't ready to take a mate yet; males made her nervous, used to thinking of them as lions who just wanted to take something from her, and she had never grown up thinking she would have cubs. It wasn't in her stars. And now that she was in a pride that would accept her and her cubs . . . well, she didn't know how she would raise them, or birth them, or . . . anything to do with cubs. A lioness with her coat had not been welcome in aiding with the cubs.
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 11:49 am
"Anyone in mind?"
The question seemed to stump her into silence, for a few minutes at least.
Sa'ibabaw thought through the males of the pride she had any acquaintance with. The one she knew best was Ojore, her brother, but she did know several other males. She was very fond of Kobe, the king of the old pride; he told good stories, but he was old. Very old. He could be her granddad.
There was Farvardin . . . he was nice; he was a slave, but she knew he would rather marry up because he wanted to help protect people, not be protected. He was older than her, too, though, and he probably wouldn't be interested.
"Well . . . not really. But I'm sure I'll find someone. It's better to wait and find the right lion then it is too try and rush in, I think. Sometimes I want to ask if my mom rushed into mating with my dad; maybe if she had waited longer we would have had a dad all this time. But there are lots of nice males in the pride, you can get to know them. I think having babies will be scary, though, you never know if the Great Lion will be looking at their births or not."
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 1:16 pm
"I think it is better that the cubs have chance. In my old home, there was no middle ground. Cubs born at night had to go through many rituals to make the sun recognize him, and cubs of dark coats were sometimes even painted bright colors so the sun would reflect on them, but they were still mistrusted. The true Great Lion does not demand his followers change themselves to worship him, only that they trust in him and the ones he follows. The Great Lion is worthy of our devotion."
Bala'tan was a bit surprised at her own speech; she had resisted talking of her birth pride as much as possible; the new pride and the old were not at all compatible, and more so because she wanted to put that pride behind her.
"The Great Lion measures lions, not their pelts. And I think it is good that he extends his protection through the rest of the pride, even for those he does not turn his eye on. There is no competition here; just trust and help."
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 8:01 pm
Sa'ibabaw wasn't used to such devotion, especially from new comers in the pride. She found many of her pride members to be pious, but not as vocal as Bala'tan was.
"It's good that you put such faith in the Great Lion and his followers already. Even after you've only been here a few days."
Sa'ibabaw had always kind of taken the Great Lion for granted, but then, she grew up in his light. She never thought what it would be like for an outsider to grow up not knowing of him, and then to be introduced.
"I'm glad you're settling in. It looks like you will be very happy here."
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 8:36 pm
"I certainly hope so. But I've distracted you from your job - you were going to show me more of the hunting grounds. I am not used to hunting with large parties, so I will need help to learn new techniques. Do hunting parties go out often, here?"
Bala'tan was eager to settle into daily life, and wanted to assimilate quickly. The best way would be to be included in duties as soon as possible, or so she believed. The Great Lion favored her when she acted; she would keep this habit going.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:31 pm
"Oh, right. Usually a few parties go out every day to mae sure everyone eats enough. There are times when we're a lot more successful then others, and several parties a day increases the chances of bringing food in. The lands, well, they're pretty much all like this," she said, gesturing around her. "Once it stops smelling familiar, it's usually time to turn back. We aren't at war with any other prides around, but it's best not to push it. As for getting you assigned to a hunting party, why, I think we can get that done. We should talk to Njiru about getting you assigned to a group, and you'll be all set. Actually, let's go back and do that now. Once it's taken care of, you can meet your hunting group and they'll probably be better at showing you then I will."
Sa'ibabaw wheeled around and started heading to the main living area at a slow lope. The group would not only be better to inform Bala'tan, but it would help her start finding friends of her own. There had to be more than just service to the Great Lion, and lions to work with would be the natural starting point.
Plus, if she saw Favardin, Sa'ibabaw could maybe invite him along.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:53 pm
Bala'tan was more than willing to turn around and go seeking the head hunter, and followed Sa'ibabaw into the scrubbier area where the pride made their dens. She was sure that tonight, with the Great Lion watching her, she would be able to bring down a buffalo for the pride, all by herself. Even if she knew it would be foolhardy to try.
It was nice to be able to follow Sa'ibabaw home. A real home.
Bala'tan smiled as the younger lioness started shouting for the head hunter. Home.
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