Another day blossomed across the Pridelands.
The sweet, harmonic calls of the many birds only emphasized the grandeur of the rising day. A cold, knowing breeze once more brushed across the land, sweeping through the main canyons, caves and grasslands throughout the Pridelands.
This breeze rushed through the vine-coated, overgrown cave in which Kopa and Kuwinda had spent the night. As the breeze brushed through Kuwinda's soft, warm belly fur, her rested eyes slowly crept back to consciousness, flickering in the shallow light. The sun’s rays beckoned through the cave's small knife-like entrance.
The lioness groaned as her body awoke from its slumber. Every inch of it wished to just lie here for a few hours more, huddled up to a soft, tickly, squishy rock.
But wait! Rocks weren't squishy, or soft for that matter. Kuwinda flickered her hazy eyesight over to the other side of the cave, where Kopa had plopped down last night. Now, there was no sight of him, yet her nose was telling her a different story.
His recognisable, nearly irresistible musky scent seemed to stick to the air, only emphasizing the strong, warm feeling growing in her chest and gut. A soft weighted object seemed to rest over her side, dangling down over her and onto her belly. Looking down, she saw a large, instantly recognisable paw, softly holding onto her body.
Nudging her head back, Kuwinda felt the young lion's comforting, cushioned mane resting behind her, providing a makeshift pillow for her head to rest upon. Her wide smile only grew as she buried her head into his, snuggling up to his warm body. A part of her wished she could spend every morning like this, waking up by the side of this incredible, caring lion.
The couple rested there, just enjoying their comfortable, soul-warming embrace. Their unison only stopped as Kopa gave a large, earth-shuddering yawn, announcing his awakening to the new day. The constant snuggling brushes of Kuwinda's head brought a small giggle to his awakening, croaky voice.
"Hmm, hey there." Kopa’s soft rested eyes slowly broke into the light of day. Kuwinda's sweet, musky, heated scent swirled across the surface of his nose. Each and every whiff of her scent caused a blast of natural, orchestral rhythms of life brushing through his mane, spreading to his body until flowing deep into his bloodstream.
"Hey, handsome." Kuwinda replied, lost in Kopa's scent. She only snapped out of her dreamy state after realising what she had just said.
"Erm, heh!" She nestled her head back within her own paws, a slight nagging feeling seemed to spring within her heart, growing and growing, as she moved slowly away from Kopa's arm and comfortable body.
This embarrassing act even seemed to affect Kopa, forcing the rather proud lion to lie still, only glancing at the now embarrassed lioness from the corner of his eye.
Part of him felt bad. He couldn't remember anything from the night, only arriving at the cave and falling to sleep. What if anything happened? Being with such a beautiful, life-drenched lioness was a tempting position to be in at the least of times.
Kopa was only barely able to claw himself away from this trail of thought, however, focused on the promise he had made the day before instead. Stretching his front paws outwards, he stretched to all fours, giving out one long, majestic yawn. The very fabric of the cave rumbled with the vibrations of his powerful roar.
Kuwinda still cowered away in a nearby corner, her mind flooding with doubt, embarrassment and regret.
‘Why did I call him handsome? To his face!’
As Kopa arose to his paws, wandering over towards the cave entrance, she moved out of the comforting, body warmed position he had rested herself in. Her face looked on into his, a slight look of worry stretched across it.
"Are you coming?" Kopa turned around.A small, innocent-looking smile glanced back towards Kuwinda, who seemed still nervous about her encounters with the young lion.
"What do you mean?" Kuwinda shuddered. Her softly moisturised face peered up at Kopa, analysing every fold and grin across his muzzle. Her ears laid down softly at either side of her head as she rose to her feet, her tail swooping down low as if a heavy weight had been tied to its end, yanking it down to the ground.
"Well... I did promise to train you to hunt, right?" Kopa stopped near the cave's entrance, the smile that had adorned his muzzle since his awakening had not withered. His small, cheeky grin only forced Kuwinda to smile back, even though deep down she was still nervous about what his true feelings were.
"Oh yeah, right." The young lioness leapt up to her soon-to-be-teacher, a sudden, gleeful spring empowering her step as she hopped towards him, softly and slowly pushing past him.
The side of her body flashed through the young lion's rough, body heated fur, eliminating any cold within her own. His musky stench rubbed off on her, only enhancing this most enchanting of moments.
The visual cue of gratitude certainly wasn't missed by Kopa, whose grin only widened as the lioness passed by, her tail flicking wildly behind her as she trotted out of the cave, barely grazing the rooted vines curtaining its entrance.
Kopa's mind focused back on the day's potential events, constantly planning how and where he would take Kuwinda. Just seeing her this excited about being near him only fuelled the fire in his heart. She wasn't the first lioness to act like this around him, many had in the past, but only one had forged this sense of pride within his chest, and she had been missing for months.
Hearing Kuwinda pounce and leap with joy outside, Kopa’s eyes couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
"Today's gonna be a long day..."
...
A few hours later…
"Five, four, three, two, one!" Kopa laid in a shallow, comfy land of grass. The slight, peaceful breeze brushed through his mane, forcing the young lion to close his eyes, embracing the cooling gush of wind as it brushed against his sun-warmed fur. As he began to count down, a ruffling in a patch of tall, windblown grass behind him forced his mind to focus. By the time he had counted to one, his body moved rapidly, rolling onto his side as a flash of shadow pounced towards where he once laid.
The shadow took the form of a lioness, one that Kopa had known all too well. After all, he had spent the night by her side, snuggling up to her warm, cosy fur, her muscular yet slender body. Kuwinda landed next to Kopa with a bony, squishy thud.
As she did, Kopa peered down towards the lioness's face. She could make out a look of worry, mixed with the strange concoction of hope and patience, gleaming in his soft, brown eyes, right along with her own reflection.
"I guess you heard me, huh?" Her paws raised to the side of her head as an uncontrollable, nervousness induced giggle overcame her muzzle. Her brown, longing eyes widened as she looked up at the inverted lion above her.
"Only, a lot!" Kopa released a small, humorous giggle of his own. Seeing the young lioness in such an ungraceful position just seemed to scratch a part of his brain and diaphragm. Taking a step away from the lioness as she recovered from her fall, he began to show her how it was done...
"You're still using your paws all the way to your prey." The lion nestled himself close to the ground, re-enacting the lioness' movements. "The pads on our paws are just making it easier for you to be detected." Without thinking, he turned his paws to their side, brushing his fur across the ground, instead of the hard, cushioning area of his paw. "But if you turn your paw..."
As he moved across the ground, barely any sound came from his body. The silent killer crept through the tall grass like a large, furry snake, slithering and sliding through the overgrowth with ease.
Kuwinda, following his flickering tail, also lowered herself to the ground. Placing her paws to the side, she also sneaked through the overgrowth, as silent as she had ever been. The excitement of succeeding, of actually learning, brought a large, gleeful smile across her muzzle.
Kopa realised that a duo crawled out from the overgrowth, back into the shallow, unshaded undergrowth of the impala's grazing lands. The shadow of Pride Rock stretched into the distance, darkening a single, blooming baobab tree nearby.
"You see?" Kopa smiled back at the lioness as she shrugged out of the overgrowth. His mane, like always, was tangled, messy and knotted.
Just the way he liked it.
As Kuwinda approached him once more, she pounced, knocking the vastly heavier lion to the ground with pure excitement. The pair laughed as they rolled down the shallow hill, only stopping as the ground beneath them levelled out once more. A small herd of impala looked on, slightly confused seeing two fully grown lions 'playing' like this.
"Yeah." Kuwinda returned, slowly, to a normal state of laughter, along with Kopa. The pair, now recovered from their fun play fighting, just stared at one another, their muzzles barely inches apart. Kuwinda laid on top of her 'teacher', her smile infectious to his muzzle and heart. "I think I've got it now."
"Indeed." Kopa kicked his back leg, nudging the lioness from off his chest. As they arose to their paws once more, Kopa scanned their surroundings.
"But creeping on your prey is just the second step." He turned back to his pupil, who had sat next to him, her tail wiggling behind her with the speed of a ravine.
Kopa continued. "You need to be able to track them as well." Taking a deep, nasal breath, he twitched his nose at the wind. The rush of the scents of every animal nearby brushed past the tip of his nose.
Kuwinda followed in the paw print of her teacher, taking a deep breath through her nose also. The same rush of smells brushed against her nose, but unlike Kopa, her inexperience of this technique strangled her, overloading her nose with every smell and scent of every animal that had passed through recently.
Seeing his pupil struggling to concentrate on single smells. Kopa signalled her to stop with a single raise of his paw. He had forgotten that she was not as... advanced as he was.
"Wait! You need to focus, Kuwinda." Kopa lowered his paw, allowing her to try once more. This time, she focused on the weakest, yet strongest scent that she could taste on the tip of her nose. It was small, rather dilute, yet filled with a sweet, fruity stench.
"I think I've got something!" She whispered before sneaking off away from where the impala had once watched the two lions. Kopa seemed shocked. He was surprised how quickly she had picked up his teachings. He watched as his student successfully followed but was confused as to what scent she had picked up.
Taking a whiff for himself, Kopa tried to pinpoint the animal she had found. It wasn't an impala, that was for sure. Not even a zebra. Instead, only one scent matched the description she had given. One that, just from its scent, prickled the back of his throat
"Hmm, that smells like a porcu-" Kopa halted his speech, his eyes shot black with worry as Kuwinda sprinted off, leaping into the tall grasslands once more, willing and eager to hunt her prey.
"Wait! Kuwinda!" Kopa sprinted after her, knowing that her prey was more... pricklier than she could ever believe. As he sprinted, he thought back to the morning. He was right after all. Today would certainly be... interesting...
It didn't take long for Kopa to find her. The shallow shrieks of pain led him to where Kuwinda lay. Her paws were covered in porcupine quills. He watched as the little creature scurried away, out of sight into the thick overgrowth beyond. Glancing back at the huntress, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Come here… let me help you." Kopa approached her slowly, lowering his muzzle to Kuwinda's quill ridden paw. He gently grasped one of the porcupine quills, pulling it out gently and slowly.
"OW!" The loud, ferocious shriek of pain murmured from Kuwinda's lips as Kopa slowly grasped the long, bared quill of her supposed ‘prey’.. The quill took some wiggling, nudging and pulling to remove, its barbs digging into the lioness's fur and skin quite deeply.
Kopa tried to make the experience as painless as possible, but even with his nervous, careful movement, a small amount of pain was guaranteed.
"Sorry!" Kopa froze. He hated to see the lioness like this, even if it was her own fault. However, a part of his mind could see that her health and safety was his responsibility.
As he continued to pull quills from the lioness's paws, his mind refocused on her wounds and the small trickles of blood dripping out of them.
Without hesitation, he slavered his tongue across her paws. The minuscule, strange taste of her blood spread across it, only fuelling the fears that had ripped through his heart for years now.
Kuwinda, Simba, Karimu...
His parents.
Wherever he went, Kopa brought blood. Its taste corrupted his tongue, even now. A single lick was enough to stop the blood flow, however, and Kopa's thoughts returned back to Kuwinda's wounds. After all, these were real.
"I think that's all of them." Kopa looked up at the lioness's face. She seemed very quiet, especially for someone who had been quilled by a porcupine just a few minutes prior. Not a single sign of pain rattled across her muzzle. Instead, general shock, mixed with, what?
Kopa couldn't begin to read the lionesses' deeper facial features. All he knew was, when he stared into her watery, longing eyes, a fire burned brightly in his chest. A fire he had not felt since...
‘NO!’
Kopa slapped himself from that trial of thought. He was already taken! His mind flashed through his life...
The pains. The joys. The love that had made all of this worthwhile. The sweet, luxurious scent of his old love brushed across his muzzle once more.
Karimu, first heir to the Uasi Throne.
"I'm rather hungry." Kuwinda's belly rumbled. Placing her paw on her stomach, she felt its empty, demanding rumbles as she nestled on the ground. By now, Kopa had flung himself back into reality, focusing once more on the lioness before him. It wasn't long before his belly also rumbled with rhythm.
"Me too." The lion arose to his paws. His majestic, deep mane shrunk down to the ground once more, affected by the gravity of the situation. Slowly taking a professional, focused sniff at the air, he tracked a small herd of antelope, not far from where he stood.
Looking behind at his injured friend, he lowered his back, preparing to sneak into the overgrowth once more. "I think I'll hunt us some dinner. You stay here and rest your wounds."
"Alright." The lioness sighed as her 'teacher' turned to leave. Her paws particularly throbbed with an unusual, stinging pain. It didn’t emanate from her wounds, but from somewhere far deeper. Her blood boiled with worry as she felt chained to the spot, unable to do anything but think of Kopa, and the constant rumbling of her belly.
However, before Kopa wandered off too far, the shadow of a very familiar, majestic bird shot across the tops of the fertile, long grasslands. Its long, balanced wingspan slowly, softly grazed through the strong air currents high above the lion's heads. As Kopa continued to try and track the antelope herd, another scent brushed his nose. Not one, but two, three, four, five. Their scents seemed to come from all corners, all angles.
His thoughts flashed back to Kuwinda. Whatever or whoever had surrounded him seemed to move to the area that he had left the lioness. His heart skipped a beat. As quickly as possible, the lion sprinted back through the tall grass, hoping to find Kuwinda safe and sound.
And, to his relief, she seemed fine.
"Kopa!" A sweet, maternal voice swept through the air behind him. At the same time, four lionesses rushed past the young lion, sprinting and pouncing at the injured lioness lying in the long grass. They brushed themselves against Kuwinda, flopping down by her side in a show of relief. At the same time, a large, muscular, yet soft and gentle lioness brushed past the young lion's side.
"Where have you two been?" An unprecedented level of maternal, loving worry washed over her voice "The whole pride's been worried sick." The older, mature lioness brushed past her nephew, her fur sent a rush of calming, pain-relieving warmth through every cell of his body.
In the corner of his eye, Kopa flickered towards where Kuwinda laid. Now, all he could see was a sea of fur and the occasional raising paw, scratching through the air with a stretched, tension-releasing arch. The five lionesses huddled up to one another. The barrage of cuddly, snuggly hums rung through Kopa's ears. The constant, sloppy sounds of their licking reminded him of the love and affection a pride could bring to one another, a feeling he missed more than anything.
Sitting beside his auntie, he replied to her constant barrage of queries. "Well, we were caught up in the storm last night, so we took shelter in my father's old cave." His ears lowered as he tried to remember what happened between them, to no avail. Nala must have seen this, as she gave a concerned look towards the young lion.
"All night?!" Nala head shot back. A part of her heart felt sorry for the two young lions. After all, she knew what it was like to live in the cold, lonely caves surrounding the Pridelands. Scar's reign brought many troubling, restless nights for the middle-aged lioness. "You both must be starving!"
The constant rumblings of Kopa's belly only confirmed Nala's suspicions.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." By now, the pile of lionesses near them had arisen to their paws, slowly walking off towards Pride Rock in the distance, its gleaming, almighty peak glistening in the sun's gaze. Kopa couldn't help but notice Kuwinda's tail flapping side to side, content and giggling as she walked shoulder to shoulder with many of the lionesses who, just a day ago, were ganging up on her.
Nala started to follow the younger lioness, with Kopa not far behind her. "Come on, we've got more than enough food for everyone back at Pride Rock." And with that, the band of lions wandered under the peaking, boiling sun, slowly sifting through the tall grasslands, lying beneath their monumental home.
Even if the sun's warmth was hot to the touch, the heat within Kuwinda and Kopa's bodies cooled, only barely detectable as they wandered apart. Kopa was too busy telling Nala of his time with the young lioness and the progress she had made on her hunting skills.
The two had grown closer, far closer than when they were even cubs. Unbeknownst to anyone else, they had become one. For as scary as storms could be, they brought a clashing of cold and warmth together...
and sparked the land with unprecedented force…
