Kiek never really had problems with self-confidence growing up. Mostly this was because he never had much ambition, and it was easy for him to be confident when the only things he tried his hand at were things he knew for a certainty he could achieve with a minimum of effort and a very low probability of failure. He wrestled with his brothers, took down small game, and was generally just one of many in the pride.
That had changed when one day in his adolescence he had encountered a lioness fleeing from an enemy he had barely glimpsed, although he had an impression of many sharp teeth and a propensity for violence in the few moments he had been able to see the lioness's pursuer. He had not seen the pursuer until later in the episode though.
At first all he had seen was this petite lioness running for her life, bleeding. And then she had looked at him and called out two words that changed his life forever: "Please help." He had not been able to resist her blue eyes or her breathless plea, and from that moment he had begun transforming himself into the hero he knew the lioness would need.
He had persuaded her to cross into the territory of the Pridelands (they were just on the border) and even to come home with him by the time her pursuer turned up. As they were turning to depart Kiek caught a glimpse of the lion, who was considerably older and larger than Kiek had been at the time. He had been a little afraid, then, that he would have to fight this lion, which was a fight he knew he would lose. Fortunately, the lion had been deterred by the idea of crossing into a pride as large as the Pridelands, just as Kiek had predicted while convincing Gliri to come with him.
His mother and family had been overwhelming for Gliri at first. Like she had warned him when they first met, she did not deal well with new people, particularly in large groups. Kiek had once more found himself filling the role of protector, fending off his siblings' curiosity and keeping them at bay while Gliri explained the situation to his mother. His mother had been sympathetic and understanding, but Kiek could see that she was relieved when Gliri told her that she had no intention of living in their den, although he was fairly certain that his invitation would have been honored if Gliri had elected to live with them.
His brothers, particularly his twin, had wanted to go off and hunt down the lion who had hurt her. Kiek privately would have enjoyed doing that, but he did not want to do it as a group. It was something he felt strongly he would prefer to do on his own, because he wanted to kill the b*****d, and he knew his siblings would not allow him to do that if they came with him.
The fury he felt toward this lion he had never met before was a little scary to the young lion, who had never really had a strong emotion one way or the other in his life. Now he was dealing with murderous rage at the lion who had threatened Gliri, a lioness he barely knew, and a fierce protective instinct like he had never imagined anyone without cubs could feel. It was wholly unlike him and he was not sure how to deal with those uncharacteristically powerful feelings.
A lion who had been raised with less love and affection in his life might have been tempted to back out of everything and distance himself from the lioness who made him feel so unlike himself, but Kiek was brought up to be a good person, even if he had been fairly useless up to that point in his life. Therefore, he was not even tempted. The thought did not even occur to him. In this the lion was undeniably a credit to his upbringing.
In the end, he had settled Gliri in a den not too far from where he still dwelt with his family. In his younger days Kiek had planned to move there with his mate, but he thought Gliri's need was more pressing. If he ever found himself a mate, the lioness certainly would not know what she was missing and the den suited Gliri. It even had a back way out, which delighted her in a way that made Kiek feel warm and proud all at once.
For a long time after that Kiek and his family were the only people Gliri really knew in the pride. He had convinced her to take a few walks with him wherein he arranged for her to meet some of his friends, but he quickly learned to read her body language and from that he could tell that even meeting cubs was stressful for Gliri. She was capable of interacting with people, she just took a very long time to grow comfortable with them, and until then it was difficult for her, almost painful, to pretend otherwise. Often Kiek found himself cast in the role of protector, and he did not really mind so much.
Gliri wasn't always serious and skittish, but because of the time he spent with her Kiek grew up a lot more quickly than the rest of his littermates, it seemed. He practiced hunting and fighting in his free time so that he could be a better defender and provider. The decision to train himself to be a better defender was a conscious one. He did not think about the fact that his hunting would make him a better provider. The only ulterior motive he ascribed to the hunting was that it meant he could meet more people, some of whom might be acceptable companions for Gliri.
His mother was proud of her son, naturally, and what he was making himself into, but she was worried that he seemed to be doing all of this for Gliri. She worried that this was not what he wanted for himself. It was that conversation that forced Kiek to acknowledge that everything he was doing was, in fact, being done with Gliri in mind. At that point it seemed only natural to acknowledge that he was in love with her, too.
His mother was not exactly thrilled by this, given the disparity in their ages, but in the Pridelands such arrangements were not as uncommon as they were in other prides. Eventually she gave him her blessing. Ultimately, Gliri was a much harder sell.
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