Sumai was lounging around in the most recent tree that he had set up camp in. Laying stretched out on a large branch, he absently chewed on a tibia bone from his latest kill. He had gone beyond the trouble the he would normally go through to take down a larger prey since the rabbits weren't filling him up anymore. Staring out into the fading sunlight, he was finding himself in a slightly damper mood. On days like these, he couldn't get the thoughts of his lost family out of his head. They only made him lonely, so he usually tried to keep them away. All of the images and memories were at the forefront of his mind now, though, and he could help but remember.The earth colored cheetah had a tendency to hide behind his smile and exuberant behavior. It wasn't like he was a tarnished creature with a fractured soul. It was just that, he was sad sometimes, and it was easier to be happy than it was to be sad. One of the biggest and only things that made him sad were the memories of his family.
He had been born to two wild and carefree parents. He had also been born with a single sibling, his sister. They all lived in a lush meadow where the vibrant green grass grew tall enough to protect them from sight. Sumai's parents had flattened down the grass in one area, which made for a very nice place to sleep. In his earliest days, he could remember rolling about and wrestling with his sister in the grass. Their parents loved the sound of music and the natural rhythm of the earth, to say the least. Sumai could also remember sitting with his parents, his sister beside him, learning how to make a variety of different sounds and beats with the natural object they found around their home. He and his sister would have a blast incorporating various musical sounds in their play together. The days had been endless, and the night was only another adventure. Sumai's parents had been relatively lackadaisical in their effort to regulate their children. They thought that it would be more useful to teach their children skills that they would need later in life and to let them learn about life largely on their own with distant supervision.
Well, he had to admit that he was doing pretty well in his independent bachelor lifestyle. If anything, his parents had taught him how to improvise, think quickly in tight situations, and be quick on his feet. All of which had kept him alive thus far in his travels and were his most useful skills. The only skill that he was never formally taught was how to hunt. This has caused Sumai to undergo strenuous bouts of hunger on a variety of occasions, but he had done a fairly good job of figuring it out as he had managed to keep himself alive.
His parents had never taught their children to hunt because they had thought that world was too dangerous for two young cheetah cubs to be out in the open where they could be seen. If something were to happen they wouldn't be able to keep up with their parents, or they could be attacked, or stolen. So, they were mandated to stay in the grass while their parents were out looking for food. Knowing the dangers, Sumai nor his sibling never complained about the rules, it just gave them more time to romp around and play with one another.
Sumai smiled to himself as he thought about his sister. Most of his time living there had been spent with her. Even when his parents would leave in the day time, she had always been there with him. The times that he remembered that only consisted of the two of them were some of his favorite memories...and the saddest. They would go on elaborate and grand adventures with each other. It was only them, the grass, and the sun shining down on them. They would play and laugh and have fun all day. It had been the greatest time of his life.
He was sad not to have his family with his anymore. If it had been up to him, he would have simply stayed there for the entirety of his life span. However, there were forces around them that thought otherwise and had other plans for their small family.
When the slave traders had come, it had been a nightmare. They had forcefully uprooted all four of them and relocated them to someplace far away from their meadow. The memories of the lions that had come trampling through the grass were forever burned in his mind, and no matter what he did, he could never forget that day. It had taken him a long time to stop having nightmares well into his adulthood.
Those brutal and disgusting lions had taken everything from him. His mother, his father, his sister, and his home had all been snatched away from him before he had even reached adolescence. Least to say, he hated the lions that made his family suffer, and he was extremely paranoid of the lions that he came across in the rogue lands. Especially when he encountered male lions, he found himself shaking and the overwhelming feeling of fright swallowed him whole and made him want to flee as far as he could get. Sumai hated being afraid, he hated feeling weak and defenseless against the larger felines. On a level, Sumai knew that all lions were not slave traders looking to capture and sell him. Nevertheless, as a sheltered cub, he had never been exposed to lions before, and first impressions are very important.
Sighing in a slight depression, Sumai dropped what was left of the bone he'd been chewing to the ground. Several small creatures scurried up to snag any meat that might have been left on it. Watching them with dead green eyes, Sumai wondered once more if he would ever find his sister. He had been searching for her ever since he'd reached young adulthood and gotten up the courage to go and try to find her.
He wondered if he ever would.
