At first the duo walked side by side away from the grave, little Melitta keeping up easily with the bigger lion. But soon enough she started to lag behind, so that Aurae had to bend down to let the cub onto her back. She didn't know how long the hyena had been on her own like that. Couldn't have been very long. The body had looked fresh, if not still long since gone cold and the child the energy to walk a ways before getting too tired. Still, Melitta had a half-starved look to her. As she crawled up on Aurae's back, she quickly fell asleep, exhausted from everything that had been happening in her short life. The lioness left her alone, continuing in silence with the comforting weight on her back.
After a few hours of this, the weight shifted in a very particular way, the limbs of the cub stretching out on either side of Aurae's rocking body. She kept walking, paying close attention to the movements Melitta was making. The child said nothing, though she was clearly awake now, her head no longer resting on Aurae's back. Aurae didn't blame her the quiet attitude. Nor was she going to remove her from her perch. Which did create another problem. They would need food and she couldn't do that with a hyena cub on her back. She didn't want to do it with the cub off her back, either. She hadn't prepared to be in charge of a child and had nowhere suitable to hide her while she went hunting. But she also couldn't take her on foot, Melitta would not keep up.
Was there an abandoned corpse around somewhere they could nibble off? Sniffing the air as she walked, Aurae thought she caught the scent of something far off to the east. She turned in that direction. Melitta, adjusting her weight to the change, remained silent.
Aurae kept her nose to the wind as she approached it, walking more slowly than her usual gait. She couldn't make out the scent of another predator nearby, so perhaps whoever had killed this was long gone. Or maybe it was simply the product of an injury or accident that had finally taken the animal's life. Either way, this was good news for the two of them. Melitta needed to get her strength back up so that Aurae could find a safe place to hide her to hunt their own meals. Scavenging might be fine for some, but it was a blow to her pride to do this.
Just because she'd taken on a hyena cub, didn't mean she wanted to eat like one.
Vultures were circling the kill, for as they approached, Aurae was certain this was an intentional death. Teeth marks circled the antelope's throat, large teeth. Another feline. Not that it mattered. No predator was all that keen to share a meal. Nonetheless, she had to take this opportunity. She lowered to the ground so Melitta could slide off. The cub quickly took to the kill, too hungry to worry about where it came from. Aurae went beside her to nibble a bit for herself. It was unsure when she'd be able to do this herself. All the while, she kept her ears on a swivel in case of the owner's return.
She was nonetheless unprepared.
"I hadn't planned on having company, but don't let me stop you."
Both Melitta and Aurae snapped to attention, blood still dripping from both their muzzles to settle their eyes on the biggest lion they had ever seen. The speaker was looking at them with an impassive facial expression, his tail stone still behind him. Aurae couldn't tell if he was mad that they had decided to claim his kill for their own or trying to be nice about it. Far as she could tell, he didn't seem to mind either way. But than a lion as big as him must not have any trouble taking down prey on his own.
"I am sorry!" she apologized, turning around to face him and getting down on the ground, bowing her head in shame. It would be the first time she did this that she would get caught. What was he going to do with them?
Melitta, even more afraid, for she was still so tiny, merely ducked her head behind the antelope, sneaking along the ground so she was closer to the head. His eyes were so scary, he must be the meanest creature in these parts and they had angered him!
The big lion merely looked at the lioness for a bit before he turned his head, his body slowly following. "Like I said. Don't let me stop you." He didn't leave, just stood there watching her out of the corner of his eye.
Was he baiting them to continue? Was this some cruel game he was currently playing with them? Both females were too afraid to move, expecting him to pounce on either one of them and sink his teeth into their necks.
He turned his head slightly, cocking it to one side. "Do you not want it now?"
"I....Uh...." was all Aurae could sputter out in response. If only she could get a reading on him, she could talk to him better. But he just continued to stare at her with those weird eyes. She'd never seen a lion with eyes like that, no whites in them at all. Was he some sort of God? Surely not. That seemed too obvious.
The big male promptly gave a sigh, sounding very tired of the conversation. He turned his back on them both and started to walk away. Aurae clamped her mouth shut on the desire to call out to him when she had nothing she wanted to say. He still gave her the creeps, the way he simply walked away from them as if none of this was worth his time.
Even after he was long gone, the two females just stared where he'd disappeared and around them, afraid to continue eating for fear he had hidden himself nearby. Soon enough, however, hunger won out for Melitta and she went back to getting her fill, though at a much slower rate than she had previously. Between bites she'd quickly raise her head as if she expected him to materialize besides her. Aurae remained on alert, refusing to touch another bite. She couldn't stop the uneasy feeling the big lion had left with her, despite the fact it did seem like he was long gone.