[PRP] Sight and Scent {Zakiya & Ezinothuzi}

[Big Hobbit]

Zakiya was waking up slowly. It was pleasantly warm that day instead of scorching hot like it had been.

She felt much more relaxed and at peace now that a semblance of balance had returned to their lands. With the return of the rains and the arrival of a new herd, the fear and discontent that had plagued the pride during the time of the drought had all but dissipated into the wind.

It had been a trying time, what with already weak lionesses getting injured and killed trying to hunt dangerous game for the sake of the pride. Standing up with a long stretch, she yawned and began to make her way out from the den were she'd been sleeping alongside others.

Zakiya had promised to meet with another lioness to go hunting that morning. So, she'd better get going.

ABVirus

For Ezinothuzi!

 

[ABVirus]

Ezinothuzi, like nearly everyone else in the pride, was enjoying the fresh grass and the cool temperatures. Well, cool in comparison to how it had been earlier that season. She was still saddened by the way the heat had affected those she cared for so much, but between the new litters of cubs coming in, added with the happiness and relief in everyone's faces, she was happy to let bygones be bygones. For her, it was an easy enough thing to do, since she had not participated in the hunt for water that resulted in that crocodile catastrophe. In fact, considering all that had happened, Ezino got off relatively easily by comparison to other lionesses in the pride.

These days she found herself happy to watch the cubs of mothers while they went out to go hunting. When she wasn't cub-sitting, she was rolling around in the new grass in their territory.

Only a few times had she ever wished to join the hunts with other lionesses and much to her surprise, yesterday, something had come of it. She was speaking in her slow way to another lioness whose name she could not quite recall, but the other had been very patient and very sweet, so Ezino had taken a liking to her. Ezino had mentioned her desire to hunt one day and suddenly she was being offered to go on a hunt with that very lioness the next day. Ezino happily accepted.

Now, she wait outside, splayed out in the grass as usual and waited for her companion to show. Oh, this would be an exciting day!

Big Hobbit

 

[Big Hobbit]

Zakiya approached the place where she planned to meet the other lioness and smiled when she spotted her laying in the grass.

"Why good morning there," she greeted with a chuckle, "enjoying the pleasant days that we've been having? I hope you're ready for a hunt! It looks like a great day for it."

With the weather being the way it was now, the prey beasts were more plentiful and out in the open. The grazers had plenty of resources now which ultimately only helped them in terms of finding and bringing home food for everyone.

"Would you remind me of your name again? Ezi--?"

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[ABVirus]

Ezino raised her head when she was approached by another, the very same lioness who had agreed to take her hunting and rolled over to smile at her. When she was asked of her name, the dusty coated lioness (in both senses of the word, on account of pattern and the result of the roll) replied in her usual slow speech.

"Ezinothuzi." She paused, smiled sheepishly and then added."...and you?"

She was not a very talkative lioness, nor was she a particularly elegant one. She was slow of speech, of movement and though she wouldn't think it herself, of mind too. Yet she was a happy lioness and she was happier still to be asked out on this hunting trip.

"Where shall we go?" She asked, turning her wandering gaze out onto the pride lands. Since coming to the Bonelands and usually being put in charge of watching over cubs or doting on the younger lionesses, Ezino hadn't actually spent much time outside of the social circle and in the rest of the territory so she didn't have the slightest notion where their journey would take them that morning.

Big Hobbit

 

[Big Hobbit]

"It's Zakiya. Its good to get some new blood around here now and again. While its always wonderful to be surrounded by family, its not so good when its the entire pride," the lioness said with a small laugh.

"I think we should go down to the southern fields where the herds are thinner. It'll be safer for us than trying to take on the larger herd on our own."

With that, Zakiya led the two of them through the pride lands and toward the aforementioned pastures where she'd seen small numbers of prey animals stopping there to graze. Once they got there, she was pleased to see a small group of gazelle in the distance.

"Perfect," the lioness spoke in a low voice, "How experienced are you at hunting?"

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[ABVirus]

Ezino smiled along with the other lioness, bobbing her head occasionally, though she found herself not entirely understanding what the other implied. She eventually just guessed that Zakiya enjoyed making new friends as much as Ezino did and she stopped thinking about it.

When they came to the southern fields, she found herself gazing at a herd of gazelle and began to grin, her paws flexing with anticipation. This was dampened slightly, when Zakiya asked her how much experience she had with hunting and her expression turned sheepish.

"None..." Before she came to the bonelands, she had managed to live the life of an omnivore, though it made her sick to her stomach. She ate whatever she found that others did not want and at one point tried to graze like the prey beasts did. That hadn't gone very well. Turning an apologetic look to Zakiya, she shuffled her paws a little. This was the reason the pride had put her in charge of cubs when she first came to the bonelands, because she was an adult lioness that hadn't the first clue how to hunt for herself. Embarrassing, really.

Big Hobbit

 

[Big Hobbit]

"None?," Zakiya answered her incredulously.

Growing up in the Ithambo'hlabahti, you learned to hunt at a young age. She could remember following her mother and a group of other lionesses into the hunting grounds as an older cub. She remembered being brought with others around her age to observe the hunt and begin to learn the skills necessary for her to be able to take down prey skillfully. How had this lioness survived?

"Well," the lioness began, "today's a great day to learn. First, we'll start by crouching low to the ground and watching the gazelle for a bit before slowly moving forward."

ABVirus

Sorry I disappeared! I'm down to finish this up if you like