She looked like her. That was what Dis had been told growing up by other lionesses who had known her mother. That she looked like her. She had never known her, since she had died during a hunting accident when she was young. Two rogue males had caught her off-guard and not only stolen their meal but Dis' mother from her and her father. A frown appeared on her face. She hated being compared to her mother. Even when she hunted, walked, talked, there was talk by others in her father's pride that she 'reminded them of her mother'. It made her sick. One thing she had inherited that she was appreciative of on occasion was her sandy coat. It allowed her to blend in much easier than those with brighter pelts or even black ones. Even when she wasn't crouched, she was hidden from most of the world against the golden grass that made up much of the plains of her father's pride.
Large paws carried her lean body through the savannah. Her head was up, ears forward and golden eyes looking outward into the unclaimed lands beyond her father's border. The mingling scents of prey, her father, other lionesses from hunting, sweat and the slight aroma of rain were all there, just as they should be. But there were...two others. Blood was the first to hit her nostrils, causing Dis to stop in her tracks. Quickly, almost frantically, she looked around her, hoping to just see a wounded gazelle or something benign like that to be the source. Nothing. The next scent was an unknown marker.
As quickly as she could, the young lioness turned and darted back towards her father's pride.
Durin was living well enough now. Even after having stealing the fish from a lioness, returning it and then falling into a ravine, he was still well enough. Sure he had been in there for a day before his small pride came looking for him, but even so, he was still as fit as ever, if a little skinnier. He laid under one of his territory's trees, surrounded by the bodies of lionesses who lived under his protection. None of them were pregnant and he was beginning to think he had gone sterile after siring five litters, granted two only produced one cub each and the the one with a leopardess only giving him two boys. Still, it was less mouths to feed and little wandering bundles of energy to watch and protect.
"Father," came a voice that got his interest right away. His golden eyes opened from his nap during the heat of the afternoon to see a familiar face staring down at him.
"What do you need Dis?" He asked, a yawn interrupting him as his body shifted, causing two others who leaned against him to growl softly in protest.
"I picked up a scent near the border. It smelled of blood and urine." Her voice was stern, her eyes narrowing down at the one male that was supposed to protect them. It was likely a male rogue, wounded from a fight, looking for a pride to overthrow and had already started marking it as his. It could have been anything, but with rogues being the cause of her mother's death, she didn't like taking any chances.
"It's probably...ahhh," Another yawn. "Nothing. Why don't you come sleep through the afternoon with us? That way you're rested if any herds come by later." Any herds would be small. Rival prides nearby picked off of them, some hunting more than others, which usually meant there were only the fittest left for Durin's pride to hunt from when they finally migrated near enough.
"No."
The defiance got his attention. Sighing, Durin raised his head, his mane swaying in the light breeze that kept some of the flies away. "I said it's probably nothing. Go to sleep, Dis."
"And I said no. It doesn't just smell like those two things for no reason. Besides, I didn't recognize the scent. It was foreign." Part of her wanted him to stop being so damn lazy and just go check it out to put her mind at ease but another part worried that it might actually be a rival male who could kill her father easily. He wasn't exactly the fittest lion out there, but he was in decent shape. He had to be, just in case, even though challenges were rare and few between for him.
"You really do have your mother's stubbornness." Durin replied, rolling his eyes. He knew his daughter hated hearing that but it was true. It was her stubbornness and pride at having the talent to hunt solo that had led her to be ambushed by the two males. If she had been in a hunting party instead...It was grim thought that he didn't like to revisit. Lionesses came and went, but her memory stuck behind. Maybe it was because Dis' had her sandy pelt.
She winced. Those words. She hated them. "At least I didn't inherit your laziness." Dis spat out, her lips raised as she snarled at her father. Her actions caught the attention of the other lionesses who were now awake and watching the two with quiet attention. "Your laziness to patrol your own borders killed my mother and will likely be the death of us all. A male, two or three, could be at our borders, marking it already and be preparing to kill us while we all just sleep!" There was no care in keeping her words hushed now or suppress her anger towards her father's dismissal of a possibly extremely dangerous situation.
One of Dis' ears turned but her stare never broke. She could hear the whispers of lionesses talking under their breath. She knew everyone was watching now. 'Let them watch.' The thoughts were bitter.
Wow, she really was upset by this. Durin's massive body rose from the ground, the eyes of his lioness' watching him. He stood a little over a head taller than his defiant daughter. "If you are so worried about our borders and think I do such a poor job, then you go defend them." He didn't mean it, none of it. It was his job to do what he suggested her to do, but he was heated, his mind wasn't thinking straight and mistakes were made.
His words just fueled the fire within Dis. She wouldn't think of any words to throw back at him, no witty comments or thorny replies. Her chest puffed in frustration, her mouth forming a thin frown as she just stared at him. Suddenly her ears went back as her mind finally thought of what to do. She left. She turned and walked away from him and her pride-sisters. And the other thing she heard as she walked back towards the borders was the sound of her father's roar.
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