Tall grass swayed in a gentle breeze as the lionesses walked through them. There were only two this time - A tan lioness and a dust-brown lioness marked in dark rust-brown. While the younger lioness wasn't happy with who she'd had to go with to learn from, she WAS pleased that somebody had decided to take her at ALL. Gold eyes shifted for a moment from their path to the lioness beside her, frowning. Mhisani was from OUTSIDE the pride... And yet untested as far as motherhood went. But she WAS an accomplished enough huntress to be worth Isasa's time learning from her... She frowned a bit as they came to a low rise in the land. "What are we hunting today...?"
Truth be told, Mhisani had been surprised with Isasa had asked her to take her on her first hunt. Between her blunder when the litter had been first introduced, and the fact some of the lionesses didn't like her for the facts she was so pale and not born in the pride, she'd figured Isasa would want to learn from a darker lioness, like Baie'mooi or Eisa. She wouldn't question it, though, that she was the chosen one to take Isasa out. As they stopped, she surveyed the land. "Whatever's not a BUFFALO or ELEPHANT, obviously..." Her tail flicked as her eyes focused into the distance.
Isasa frowned as she watched the other lioness, before her gaze began to wander. A fly buzzed around, trying to land repeatedly on her ear. She flicked it every time. It soon gave up and left. A bird perched in a tree above, drawing the young lioness' gaze upward. The little bird, confident in its safety away from their claws, sang a merry tune as it danced from branch to branch. It was soon joined by another bird, and the two flew and circled, tittering and chirping as they did their dance. Isasa smiled a bit, before her attention soon found a butterfly, lazily floating on a gentle breeze. Minutely, she noted that the breeze blew into their faces, but her attention was on -- Mhisani's displeased eyes. "Aah!" Isasa fell back in surprise.
The older lioness gave the younger a surprisingly dangerous look. "Do you think this is some lazy day as a cub? You need to FOCUS, Isasa!" She motioned with her paw. "While you were watching the singing and dancing birds, I was watching a bull elephant in the distance chase off a rhino! If you don't pay attention to everything around you, you could come face-to-trunk with an elephant, or find yourself hit in the side with a tusk or a rhino horn! Or worse, crushed by the elephant!" She pointed over toward some zebra miling around. "THERE is our prey, and you WILL pay attention. Now watch what I do, and repeat it EXACTLY as I do it and then follow my instructions on what to do with what you learn."
She crouched down, ears back and a grimace on her face as she listened to the other lioness. Her rather angry words of caution were... Logical... They certainly mad sense. When she stood back up, she watched what Mhisani did and emulated, crouching down and stalking through the grass. When the older lioness was sure of her ability to not make noise, they began to move. Isasa watched the zebra, listening to every notation and observation made, before one was selected to bring down. Now it was time to test the refresher she'd been given on how to hunt... And use it on something besides one of her sisters or brothers.
The grass waved as the tan lioness slipped around the herd. Not far away, Isasa was preparing for her role in the hunt. As Mhisani drew closer, she kept her blue eyes on the prize. The zebra they'd selected was not injured or old, it had no health issues. In fact, it was quite plump and perfect and healthy. From the looks of it, the animal was two years old, a mare just out of her first heat. Mhisani had chosen the animal quite on purpose for the exact reasons of her excelent health. She didn't want Isasa's first hunt to be TOO easy... First one black and white head went up, then another, and soon they were all up, ears moving and nostrils flaring. Mhisani froze, watching them. Slowly, the animals began to relax, heads dropping one by one to graze. Mhisani crept closer.
The younger lioness had to reign in her fear of being trampled as the herd suddenly exploded, hundreds of striped bodies running as one. And then one was separated from the body mass and herded by Mhisani toward where Isasa waited, crouching down. Shoulders moved back and forth a moment, before Isasa exploded from the grass, giving chase on the zebra, who let out a panicked bleating. It was if a switch had been hit in Isasa, as her focus became laser-guided on JUST that zebra, JUST that animal. Her body flexed as she came up beside the zebra, and began to slightly pass it. She jumped, landing on its back and digging her claws in. The zebra had to come to a near stop as the lioness clung on, biting into the muscle on a shoulder as the zebra tried to shake her off.
With a growl, Mhisani jumped on the other shoulder of the zebra, claws raking the animal's chest. As the beast struggled, she bit into a leg, seeking a blood vessel she could bite through. The zebra let out a shrill scream of pain and terror as her bite found its mark and the animal went down. The tan lioness stepped out of the way of flailing hooves, and she watched Isasa struggle to hold on. "Be careful of the hooves, and go for the throat! Bite it good and cut off the air flow! Don't let go until I tell you to!"
As the zebra fell and struggled, Isasa dimly heard the warning about the hooves and instructions to bite the neck. She had to shift as the animal went down, and had to make fast choices of placement of paws and body, both to hold on and to not get hurt. When she spied the throat, perfectly open for a bite, she went in for the kill. The taste of the zebra's still-hot blood filled her mouth as her jaw clamped down, and the animal went from screaming to wheezing. Soon all movement stopped as the animal gasped for air... And then it wasn't even doing that, as it expired.
Mhisani walked back up, smiling down at Isasa. "Well done! You can let it go now. Even if it got up at this point, it would die soon from blood loss." She watched the younger lioness step back and sit down, before she circled both. "Isasa, I declare you an adult! Welcome to the world of the huntress, may all your hunts be bountiful!" She turned, letting out a calling roar to their pride sisters and the males. A good hunt meant some bellies needed filling!
