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Nakita had been traveling on her own for a while now. She liked her half siblings well enough to travel with, but there came a time when listening to the other two grumble at each other got old. She needed some time on her own away from them. She wanted to find something wonderful to take back to each of them too, but for now, she would settle for resting her paws and enjoying the silence. Thus she was in a little cavern by a watering hole, which she had found no signs of anyone using.

Nakita took advantage of her rather sheltered and safe temporary den to get some sound sleep. It was not often that one could sleep without too much worry of being sneaked up on or such. It was nice to be able to relax completely. She was dreaming of many things, all of them pleasant, when suddenly her ears perked up. She half woke from the sound of paws thudding toward her. What in the world made THAT much noise running? When she opened her eyes and saw a cub rushing toward her, it made sense. Dubs tended to be very heavy pawed when running.

Nakita stretched lazily, not even rising to do so, and regarded the cub with curiosity of her own. He was certainly an energetic thing, wasn't he? She was half tempted to scoop him up and snuggle him just to watch him squirm. It was an amusing thought, but somehow she figured his parents probably would not approve of some strange lioness scooping up their cub to snuggle. So she would have to settle for trying to answer the million questions that this little creature was determined to throw at her all at once. She was grateful she did not have cubs of her own right about now.

"I am sleeping here. It seemed like a nice place to rest, and I will be here as long as it takes for my paws to stop hurting." Nakita looked around to see if the cub's parents were nearby. She did not want to be snuck up on by angry parents. It would not be the best way to meet new lions. "What about you, young one? what are you doing here? Where are your parents?" If the cub could ask questions, so could she. She was just as curious as he was, after all. The grown lioness was just a lot less energetic about her curiosity. She would blame that on age.

Nikita did not suspect a thing. She never would have guessed the cub was thinking about pouncing on her or any such. He was not her cub, and he had no idea what she was capable of, so she figured he would keep his distance and watch her. That was what most cubs did when faced with strangers, right? It might not have been quite what her nieces and nephews did, but they had her half sister's spunk and stubbornness. That was not a good example of normal cubs. "My paws hurt because I have been walking every day, nearly all day for a long time. I can walk a long ways... but I have a limit and my paws are telling me that I have reached it."

"I woke up when you came running over, and I wanted to know what was coming, since I do not have cubs to own those heavy paw steps." Nikita grinned at the cub and finally got up and moved to the side. "I only did enough exploring to make sure it was safe for sleeping, so be my guest if you want to look at the rest of it." Why ruin the cub's fun? She could lay in the sun and let him explore the cave. Her tail twitched as she sat up and watched the cub intently, waiting. Perhaps she could keep the cub out of trouble until his parents came for him.

Nikita gave herself a shake and another stretch, yawning widely. "I am Nikita... I am not really going anywhere specific. I am just going. It is a good way to live." To her, there was no other way to live. Going from one place to another just because she could was nice. She did not have to worry about a pride telling her what she should do and how she should do it. The only rules were the ones she set for herself. Yes, she dealt with her siblings, but that was even on her own terms. Nobody dictated when she saw them and how she spent her time with them.

Nikita was a freespirit and loved it. Perhaps someday that would change and she would long for a pride, but really the only thing she longed for out of that was to some day have cubs with a good mate. Who needed the whole pride thing when they could just keep a good male and have cubs to teach the ways of wandering? She watched the cub as he poked around, hoping that he found something to entertain himself. Board cubs were a sad thing indeed to see.

Nikita grinned down at the cub and chuckled at his questions. The poor thing probably did not realize just how much world there was out there to see! It was a shame in a way, but at the same time, it was a good thing for a cub his age to be sheltered from most of the world. There was a lot of the world that was not safe for him at this point. Poking his curiosity now to make sure it was there later in life could not do any harm, right? She really wanted to see that spark of interest in another feline. The way of life she had was wonderful, and she really liked the idea of someone else enjoying it as much as she did.

"There are so many things to see. Some things you can only ever see at certain places, others you find all over but they might have little differences from place to place. And then there are all the felines and canines and different prey animals... prides and packs and herds... and if you think this cave could be fun to explore think of all the fun you can have finding new things in the vastness outside!" Nikita purposefully flicked her tail around for the cub to play with and it bounced extra as she started to bounce on her paws. She was getting excited just thinking about everything outside. Things she had seen, things she wanted to see, things that she had heard rumors of but didn't believe, it was all worth getting excited over.