The sun was just reaching its peak in the sky for the day and the heat was beginning to radiate. Being so close to a desert but not in it made the land a bit warmer than other area’s but it was too hot. Today Mavi was sitting on a hill looking over one of the race tracks of the pride. She had finished her duties early today and was just watching the races going on and all the other members of the pride go about their duties or enjoy the races. There didn’t seem to be many illnesses or injuries recently so her work load was really short leaving her with a lot of free time and no idea what to do with it. She was a friendly lioness and did enjoy being among the pride members but today she was feeling a bit aloof and was not really in the mood to be right in the middle of the crowds watching the races.
Her mind was wandering today thinking on her past, looking over her present and wondering about her future. Her life had started with tragedy. She had lost her mother as a cub and had barely survived to be a juvenile. She had been wandering around when she was found by a guard of the Makano-epesi pride. He had taken her into the pride’s borders and put her among the youth of the pride. She prospered in the pride and was even attempting to practice her hunting so she could become a hunter when she was old enough but her fate had not been to be a hunter. As an adolescent she met a very old healer who was looking for an apprentice to train and take over for him when he became deceased.
He was part of her fondest memories of her youth. He had become like a father figure to her as he taught her everything he knew from how to treat a sprained ankle to how to assist in births when needed. She had become extremely attached to him and had even come to love him like a family member. She never left his side and soaked up everything he had to teach her with eagerness. He had taught her everything he knew by the time she was an adult but he was getting extremely old. It wasn’t long after he had told her she was done as his apprentice and now a full-fledged healer when he died peacefully in his sleep. Losing her mentor had been a very crushing blow. She went over everything she could have done to save him in her mind for days and days. She had dwelled so much on what she could have done it had begun to affect her way of life. She made errors of all kinds and was told to take a break and find herself again.
She had left the pride after that unable to just wander around all the places where she had memory after memory with her mentor. She was gone for several weeks before in her dreams one night her mentor appeared. They spoke and he told her she was not at fault for his death and there was nothing she could have done. “It was my time.” Were the words she always remembered from that dream. The morning she woke from the dream a sense of peace filled her entire being and she knew it was time to return to the pride and use what her mentor had taught her to save many from pain.
She was back at the pride within the week and back at her healing duties as if nothing was different. She still remembers her mentor usually on her off duty days like today. She knows he would be extremely proud of her if he were still here. She was establishing herself well in the pride all on her own and now she even owned and trained a cheetah for racing herself. She was extremely thankful for the dream with her mentor that had straightened her out. She had no doubt it had been his spirit following her so he could send her back once she was ready.
She turned her gaze away from the racing track up to the sky above. Death was a mysterious thing even to healers but she liked to believe in more after death especially after her encounter with her mentor in her dreams. She knew he was always watching over her and on days when she really really missed him that thought always made her feel better.
She turned her gaze back down to the race track as she heard the cheers of the crowd. The cheetah’s were all pretty fast but there was always that suspense filled moment when two of the cheetah’s were running nose to nose competing for first place. Watching those moments when the winners spot was questioned always made her smile. The crowd was gathering around the finish line and the two cheetah’s who had been so close to being first place. There was a group of lions standing off talking amongst themselves. She knew what they were doing. They were trying to figure out who had been in first place. All of the lions in the circle had been watching closely to see who crossed the finish line first.
This suspense below her made Mavi decide she wanted to go down. She stood up and started down the hill towards the race track. The lions in the circle were going to take a few minutes to decide who the winner was so she knew she had time to get down there before the winner was announced. All the other lions were on the side lines gathered around the pair of cheetah’s who had come so close to both winning. She walked in among the crowd and a smile just covered her maw. This was the excitement that she really enjoyed that was a part of this pride. She was happy she had ended up here. Her fate had brought her here and she would not want to ever leave.
Fin
Word count via microsoft word: 1,026
