Hunting.
Hunting was a way of life now and something that Angara was not used to yet, especially not hunting on the plains of Africa. Her family had kept a small herd of gazelle, with stick fences and skins as a sort of corral. They took from that instead and traded away anything that had remained for food when they needed to let it replenish itself. The herd was well cared for as it was the difference of starving or sleeping well that night. Of course many families shared their herds. It helped them stay stronger for a mush longer amount of time.
Angara's body was low to the ground as she stalked through the grass. Relying on pure instinct on what she should be doing, she stalked closer and closer to a herd of zebra that were grazing during the night. Under the light of a full moon, they were easy to spot.
"I wouldn't do that." Came a sudden voice.
The ears on the tan-bellied lioness swerved forward, her head raising. Her murky green eyes looked around for the source of the voice. Another noise filled the air. This time it was the sound of whinnies of zebra. Angara's head spun around, staring at it. Another body was in it...a lion. A male lion was hunting in the same herd. He had to be a rogue. No male lion in a pride would be hunting by himself. Her ears went back, her tail down as she started to walk backwards, away from the scattered remains of the herd.
"Did you not see him there?" Came the voice again.
This time Angara was able to find the source of the voice. It belonged to a rather bright, but beautiful lioness who stood on the top of a nearby rock formation without fear of that male.
"Seriously, he was really obviously hunting that herd. He probably would have beaten you up if you had interrupted his hunt. How could you not have seen him?" The owner of the voice asked again, this time raising a brow to emphasize.
"I...I don't know. I was just hungry..."
"Haha, hunger is no reason to be stupid. I don't think a possible kill would have been worth your life. Especially since even if you had managed to kill something, he probably would have taken it from you." The starry-pelted lioness finished with a small chuckle and quickly began humming an unfamiliar tune.
Angara huffed, her cheeks puffing up slightly as she stared at this unknown lioness. How dare she talk to her that way! Even if she was a lowborn, she still didn't deserve to be talked to like a cub. She was an adult! "Hey, who do you think you are anyways?" She asked, taking a few steps closer, no longer caring if that male noticed them or not.
"Me? I'm just a pathkeeper."
"Path...keeper?" That was not the answer she had been expecting.
"Yep!" Uzimamto hopped down from her perch and began to walk away from both the lioness and the remains of the herd. "It's my job to keep my father's paths still intact." Her head nodded in the direction of the flattened grass behind her and the small trail that could be seen weaving through the golden grass for some distance.
The crafter's eyes traveled down the paths, curious about what this lioness was even talking about. Was she insane or just playing stupid now? "And who is your father?" Angara asked, her eyes falling on the starry lioness who stopped as soon as she posed her question.
Slowly she turned her head around, smiling sadly at Angara. "Why, he's the god of seasons. He has a lot of ground to cover when changing the season." She took a few more steps, almost hopping as she walked. "I've got to keep them ready for him for when he'll need them again." Her job meant there was a lot of walking, a lot of travelling. It also meant she got to meet a lot of interesting characters, some scary ones. Dangerous prides were always a possibility as well, but her seer visions kept her safe for the most part. It was a little piece of her father that still looked out for her.
A god was her father?! How?! Angara had never heard of the gods intermingling with mortals before so this was a brand new concept to her. Quickly she jogged up beside this mysterious god-child. Looking at her curiously, she asked, "So...where is he? I haven't seen anyone else around until I stumbled across you and that...rogue earlier."
"He's up there." Uzimamto replied quite quickly, her head raising to look up at the night sky. "He's up with the old kings and gods. Probably Mkodi too." It wasn't fair to be without him, but he was the god of seasons. He went through his cycles and eventually he died again assuming no one killed him before then. Maybe this time around things would be different...Also assuming he even rebirthed.
"He's..." Her head followed the same motion of the other lioness'. "..dead?" Wow, that word was hard to get out, choked almost. She seemed like such an upbeat lioness but to continue walking these paths for her father was something that Angara never thought she could do. Not that she would ever need to. Her father was a fat, old lion who did nothing but gamble away everything their family had accumulated.
"Yep, but he always comes back so I'm not worried." The grim atmosphere that surrounded their conversation was too much for Uzimamto to handle as she danced a few steps in front of the other lioness and smiled at her. "I'm Uzimamto by the way. You want some help hunting? You don't seem very good at it, but neither am I. Dad always used to do it for me because I'm so bright, but I'll help where I can. Maybe two lionesses sucking will equal something a little better!"
"Nice to meet you..." Angara returned the smile. "I'm Angara and I'd love the help."
"Well come on then. I think I spotted a small wildebeest herd this way. Maybe we can snag something from that." The two lionesses moved towards this herd's last known location, hoping to find some kind of meal.
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