Naledi was currently walking toward the entrance of the path that lead down to the training grounds. Her footfalls were strong and steady, her mind focused on her current task at hand. Earlier that day, shortly after she'd woken up from her night of sleep, Naledi felt that she needed to check up on her queen. She'd noticed that Anansi had been slower and duller than usual. Also Anansi typically came down to the training grounds at least once a day to observe the others or ensure that her own skills were sharp, and that alone inspired the others to continue to train and build their own abilities. The fact that her queen had spent the past few days hiding herself away in the depths of the forest signaled to Naledi that something was wrong. Sure enough, when she'd sought out Anansi that morning, her queen had seemed down and listless sitting by herself and staring off into the distance at the mouth of the trees where guardians went on their spiritual quests. Naledi and Anansi ended up sitting together and having a long conversation about the journeys that brought each of them where they are now. They talked about the lingering pain and trauma that both of them had experienced at some point in their respective lives.
After their talk, the two of them were able to lightened the other one's heart and they both were able to part from one another in a brighter place. In these days, nothing made Naledi happier than putting a smile on her queen's face. After all that Anansi had done for them, it seemed like a small thing for her to do in her own show of appreciation. If it wasn't for her queen, she would have died suffering under the paws of evil lions, she had no doubt of it. When Anansi had shown up unconscious and flanked on both sides by her captors, Naledi's spirit had long been broken. It was Anansi that had ultimately brought her back to life, and that was something that Naledi could never fully repay her for.
Naledi was pulled out of her thoughts as she reached the mouth of the path she intended to walk down. She turned behind her and observed the fleet of small bodies that were gradually catching up and stopping near her, waiting for their next instruction. They were all so small and new. For some of them, it was their first time being taken to the training grounds where they would see the warriors and other members of the pride honing their bodies to their maximum potential. For the ones that had gone training before, they tried to appear confidant and knowledgeable about their impending activity while at the same time attempting to frighten the ones that had just become old enough to begin training.
Naledi told them to quiet down as she looked over them and made sure that she still had the same number that she started out with. Once satisfied, she began to tell the cubs that they needed to be careful walking down the path as there was nothing but deep forest on either side and the path itself was rugged and full of things that might cause a small cub to trip, fall, hurt itself, and/or get lost. Naledi ha done this many times before, but with new cubs to look after she was always fearful of losing someone's child or bringing one back to it's mother injured. So she made sure to take extra care with the little ones.
After their warning, the lioness began leading the cubs down the rough path to their intended destination. Naledi frequently glanced behind her and the cubs moved their tiny legs as fast and as carefully as they could. The lioness smiled secretly to herself at how cute they all actually were. As much as a pain in the hind end as they could be, she did not regret her responsibility to teach them the ways of the pride. They were the future, and everything that the pride was ultimately depended on these small cubs. Thinking this way, Naledi felt proud to be teaching the future of the pride. The cubs never seemed to understand their own importance or the importance of their training, their world was free and innocent and the future didn't extend much further than the next day.
In a way, this made the cubs both precious and difficult to deal with. Naledi shook her head fondly and checked again to make sure all the cubs were behind her. It was during times such as these that Naledi entertained thoughts of having her own cubs one day. She imagined to herself looking behind her to see a litter of her own children walking along with the others. She wondered what they would look like, what their personalities would be like, whether they were boys or girls. The more Naledi worked with the young and impressionable members of the pride, the more she was solidified on the idea that she wanted cubs of her own.
After the deaths of her family and her kidnapping into slavery, Naledi decided that she would never love any cub that came out of her because she knew that if she were to have cubs that they would be sired by her masters. In fact, she even entertained ideas of killing any cubs she gave birth to in hopes that she would be in turn killed in punishment. However, now that she was experiencing freedom after such a long time, her ancient fantasies of becoming a mother were resurfacing and being a teacher to the cubs did nothing to help matters.
Naledi had rid herself of the fear and rage that she'd held onto and directed toward males. Since this personal revelation, she no longer saw the harm in potentially seeking out a male in the future. Whether this potential male would serve just as a father of her cubs or as a father of her cubs and mate to herself would only be told by time. She was in no rush, simply entertaining thoughts for the time being.