Ulozi was laying on her side, breathing heavily. She had not expected to take sure a long fall, and was suffering from the blow. Above, there was a sheer cliff that fell into a sudden gorge. It was grassy and thick with underbrush, and the very last thing even the astute and aware Ulozi had been expecting as she padded her way through the grass in search of food. She had tumbled and tried to right herself, get her paws under her, but she hit a rock jutting out of the side of the gorge and then quite a few others on the way down. She slid to a stop in a crevice, her body bruised and pained.
She was laying on her side, her chest rising and falling painfully. She was trying to recover herself, take stock of what was and was not damaged. First, she had to focus on the pain and see how severe it was, what it meant. If it was burning or just sharp, sudden, if it was already fading or growing worse. She did not feel anything broken, but she had hit those rocks hard enough for it to be a possibility. She could not afford to be laid up with injuries that extensive, and would not bear having done it to herself. She had been completely alone.
Or that was what she thought, at least.
As it so happened, another lioness had been walking nearby. She was more familiar with the area and saw Ulozi walking toward what she called privately the Danger Zone. And it had proven to live up to its name. At the top of the gorge, Sharti looked down to see the lioness laying unmoving below. Had she been killed in the drop? Whimpering, but determined to go and find out, Sharti ran off to the west. There was a sloping way down into the gorge, though it would take some time for her to circle back to the injured lioness. Hopefully she would still be alive once Sharti got there.
She ran has hard as her paws would take her, careful of the rocks and bushes that threatened to trip her. She was a small lioness, dark furred and very fast, streaking like a black blur through the underbrush. She was used to living in dense areas of woods, not liking open plains, and her movements were much more at ease when she was climbing over obstacles or moving through small places than they were at loping gaits across open land. Picking her way down the gorge, over the rocks, she managed to make good time in her haste to reach the lioness.
Ulozi had her eyes closed, still assessing herself, but her ear flickered and swiveled when she heard footfalls nearby. She opened her eyes and glared at the approaching lioness, emitting a deep growl of warning. She was not in the mood to be harassed by another lion, but she would not yet consider herself helpless. Ulozi was dangerously strong, and her large frame made her an intimidating sight. Even laying as she was on the rocks, her red eyes and dark growl made Sharti hesitate in her approach. She swallowed hard.
“I’m… I’m here to see if you’re okay. I saw you fall. Did you break anything?”
Ulozi was silent. She had never had help before. She had never asked for it before, and certainly never sought it out. She was independent, as full to the meaning of the word as possible. She had no friends, held no one in regard, and barely ever even gave another lion her name. She preferred to be detached, though she had no good reason for that either. It was just how she had been raised, on her own, and she would rather keep it that way than learn how to deal with others.
Sharti was not deterred by the silence, and moved closer. Ulozi growled again but this time it had no effect: Sharti ignored her completely and nosed her side carefully. The larger lioness hissed in pain but did not attack, and Sharti sat down next to her.
“I’m going to put my paw on you, and it will hurt, but I’m going to feel for any breaks in your bones, okay? Keep your fur on and try not to rip me apart.”
Ulozi grunted a reply, and now stayed silent as Sharti began her search. She hid any trace of pain and did so because Sharti had made a comment on it. She was a prideful beast, and did not want to see this smaller lioness looking smug or getting any sort of affirmation or pleasure out of being right. So she pretended it did not hurt at all and let Sharti work, which was just fine by the other as she had not really wanted to be attacked today. Everything seemed to be in its proper place, though Sharti was far from a healer and was not exactly certain where these certain places were, but nothing felt wholly out of place. She nodded her approval at this discovery.
“I think you are just going to have some wicked nasty bruises, and they’re going to hurt. At least you have black fur and no one will see them! I saw a white lion all bruised up and it made him look just terrible. Like his body was all blotchy.” This was a lie, she had never seen it but she imagined that was how it was, and she had no trouble telling small lies to amuse herself. Also, they popped out when she was nervous, which she still very much was.
It was not lost on her how big and angry this other lioness was.
Ulozi remained silent, closing her eyes and not saying thank you or asking for any more help. Sharti walked off and Ulozi thought that was it, but some time later the smaller lioness returned with a rabbit, freshly killed. She put it down near Ulozi’s nose and then moved to sit almost touching the larger lioness’ side. It seemed Ulozi had a caretaker now, to look over her and make sure she remained wall. Even if they never spoke to each other, and Ulozi refused to thank her, Sharti could not just leave her there to suffer in pain and maybe starve from being unable to hunt.
(Word Count: 1,066 in Word)
