It hadn’t been an easy life for Mbali, her parents had shown her little attention, a blind cub was the last thing you wanted in the Stormborns, she was weak and unable to fight like others would expect. As a cub others had picked on her she was an easy target to go after, she couldn’t fight back after all she didn’t know where they were. Her sister was her one shinning star, Inyanja had always been at her side. Everyone had said that they were identical but for the colors, Mbali was tan and Inyanja was blue… whatever those colors were.
Mbali pulled herself from the den and listened for her surroundings. It sounded like the pride was bustling with activity, not the best time for the blind lioness to be wandering around without an escort. For the most part as Mbali had gotten old she had gotten more self sufficient and definitely better at defending herself, but still when the pride was busiest she found she had a lot more trouble. The last things she wanted to do was stumble into some Reaver on a power trip. Sighing she decided to just sit where she was her sister would be back soon enough.
Anane was on the move, he was looking for someone to chat with. Slowly but surely the white male with green markings was making more friends. He was quite proud of himself, it had been quite sometime since he had been within a pride. Being in the rogue lands he had lived alone only crossing paths with others here and there. Now that he was back with his family he couldn’t get enough social interaction, in fact he was beginning to consider a trip out into the rogue lands on a pilgimage so he could be a Reaver.
As the male strolled through the lands he noticed a tan female lioness sitting by herself out front of a den. He smiled, this was perfect. It was always easier to approach someone if they were on their own. Plus this female looked like she needed a friend. He approached slowly as to not scare her.
“Hello there” he said bowing his head a little in greeting. He didn’t his bed to be charming when he could.
Mbali had heard the male approaching. The one blessing she had a result of being blind was that she had developed quite the sense of hearing. She turned her hard towards the male before he even had a chance to speak. A smile on her face, she had learned from experience that those who approached slow and carefully didn’t tend to mean her harm. She did give him the courtesy of at least waiting for him to greet her before she answered in turn.
“Hello.” she said in return a smile on her face. Mbali definitely needed more friends if she could get them, it wasn’t fair to count on her sister for everything, her sister needed to be able to have her own life too.
“My name is Mbali’Ufukwe, but I prefer just Mbali. The rest is too much of a mouth full.” She told the male with a smile. She wished she could see what he looked like, you would think never having had sight she wouldn’t miss what she didn’t have but she did.
“The pleasure is all mine Mbali, my name is Anane.” the male responded to her in turn. He was studying her and had noticed how her eyes never seemed to come to rest on him, she was looking in his general direction but never directly at him.
“I noticed you sitting here, I wondered if perhaps there was something I could do for you.” Anane asked. He was careful in asking this questions, many Stormborns would take great offense to be told they looked like they needed help, he got the sense that this female was different though.
“I am blind.” she told him bluntly, she had found that beating around the bush never got her anywhere so when someone approached her she ended up just blurting it out.
“I just got up and my sister isn’t here, it sounds like the pride is bustling with activity. I wanted to go get a drink.” she said twisting her ears around to get another listen to the activity around here. She could pick out details here and there, such as the cubs rough housing to her right, and their mothers sitting close by gossiping. To her left their was a freeborn giving their thrall a list of things to do for the day. If she moved slowly enough through the pride she could probably do it on her own, but she was pretty sure that she looked ridiculous tip toeing around.
“Well I am here now” Anane told her a smile on his face. Sure most Stormborns would discount her and leave her to her own devices, survival of the fittest but Anane wasn’t like that, nor would he ever be.
“I will take you over to the water hole, keep you company for awhile, at least till your sister gets back.” his voice was gentle but not condescending.
“I would appreciate that.” Mbali answered politely. She didn’t like relying on others, but it was nice to have a little company and she could tell this male wasn’t doing it out of pity, she was pretty sure that he was actually just nice.
“If you let me lean on you to know where you are I should be able to keep up just fine. You don’t have to slow down for me.” she told him. She stood and moved towards in the male until she could feel his body heat.
“Lead the way.” she told him. She was quite thankful that she had found such a male to accompany her for the day. Mbali counted her lucky stars once again.
