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Janūbi bunched up his hind legs under him, muscles taught and ready. The little blue and white cub was keenly focus on dried leaf on the ground. He was going to catch it!

A gust of wind whipped across the plain, picking up the leaf and swirling it upwards. He frowned slightly, and pounced anyways. His inexperienced paws batted at nothing but the wind. He landed in an undignified tumble of paws and tail. Janūbi rolled belly up, a half smirk on his face. It would have been a perfect catch, if not for the wind!

He blinked, focusing in on the sky. He'd never seen it so dark. The clouds seemed to roil, and take on lives of their own. The sun still hung in it's late afternoon position, but it looked like soon the clouds would also obscure it. In his short life he'd experienced a few brief squalls, this storm looked like it was shaping up to be quite spectacular.



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The little blue and white cub wriggled on his back to get a better look at the big male who was supervising him.

"The wind took it from me!" He squirmed again, and flipped himself onto his feet. "I want to be a hunter, but the wind is not co-operating. I wish I was bigger, like you. Then I would have caught it for sure."

Janūbi gave a self assured nod, while looking at Ochieng with an admiration. He knew how powerful the big male was, and admired that about him. Everyone seemed to admire good hunters, so he aspired to be one himself.

"How do I get better?" He batted at a tuft of grass with his paw. If he couldn't yet catch a leaf, he could hardly imagine how hard it would be to catch something that wanted to run.

Janūbi glanced skyward again, watching the clouds. The older lion didn't seem bothered by them, but he still wasn't too sure about them.

He knew what the advice was going to be, but that didn't mean that it was what he wanted to hear. "Sometimes I dream I'm grown-up already have practiced and waited. I wish that was real life!"

Janūbi nudged his head affectionately against the larger male. "But don't worry, I know it doesn't work like that. I'll practice. And watch." He glanced up again at the sky, and the swirling angry looking clouds.

A fat raindrop splattered right between his eyes, and ran down is muzzle. He instinctively shook his head. The drop was quickly followed by more. "It's like the sky doesn't know what to do... The sun's still out!"

Curiosity struck the little blue and white cub. He knew lions sought shelter during squalls, but what about herdbeasts? "What do the herdbeasts do when the weather's bad? Is that a good time to hunt?" Perhaps asking questions would also help him to be the hunter he dreamed of becoming...

His blue eyes went wide at the golden lion's suggestion. "Really? Do you really mean it?!? The youngster bounced on his paws, and butted his head against the large male. Janūbi had dreamed of his first hunt since he remembered dreaming.

"Ochieng, we're going to catch the biggest herdbeast, and then bring it back! Think about how proud Mama will be!" The cub practically vibrated. The rain splashing into his coat was now beyond his notice. Clearly there were bigger things to focus on.

"How do we know where to find them?" He spun around, scenting the air.

Janūbi stared up at the big lion, taking him very seriously. I'll listen, I promise.

Fat rain drops pounded into him, and the wind started in pick up. The golden lion had already started to pad off, so the cub bounded after him, sucking in lungfuls of rain-scented air, hoping to pick out herdbeasts. Janūbi has a grin plastered on his face. He couldn't believe it, they were going on a hunt!

His little paws splashed through puddles, and he lifted his muzzle higher, scenting the air. Along with the scent the grasses and plants made when it rained, he scented something else. It smelled wet, and sort of musky. The cub hadn't actually smelled wet herdbeast before, but he imagined that the smell might be something like the one he was detecting. Ochieng? What's that smell?

Wind-driven rain blew into the cub's eyes, as he continued sniffing the air. The wet musky scent was herdbeasts, then! He felt a small amount of pride at having scented them, and guessing correctly that they were prey.

"Wildebeests..." The wind made his quite word less than a whisper. At least the wind was blowing away from the animals. But it did mean driving wind and rain in his eyes.

Listening intently to the golden male Janūbi squinted his eyes into the rain, scanning the horizon for what he scented. Off in the distance he could see some dark huddled forms, gathering together against the driving wet.

"Are those them?" He gestured with his muzzle towards the shapes in the distance. "They don't look like they much like the rain either...