"Mother c'mon! Let's get going!" Taka said irritably. Normally, she'd still be asleep like her mother, but not today! She'd been unable to sleep all night long, and was still awake from last night. Mawi had already made her drum, Taka felt a bit left behind and wasn't about to let her mother sleep through it! She pawed at her mother's nose, but that wasn't working... the gold juve took a look around and saw the perfect thing- her mother's drum. She was more than sure Isithunzi wouldn't be upset at her for using her drum to wake her up- she'd be more upset about being woken up- but Taka had played on her mother's drum before. She hopped over to it in two bounds, then started banging the drum which resonated in the den. Isithunzi was up in a hurry!

"What, what's going on?" She asked, startled by the alarm as if it had been an elephant about to squash her. A few panicked glances around the den showed the answer. "Taka, couldn't you have come up with a more polite way of waking me up?!" Isithunzi cried over the sound so her daughter would stop pounding.

"But mom," Taka whined, padding up to her dark mother. "I already tried all that, nudging you, whacking you, whatever, nothing worked! This worked though..." Taka said with a mischievous look back towards the drum. She logged it away: How to wake mom up. But she had triumphed, for Isithunzi slowly rose to her feet and stretched.

"I suppose this is about..." Isithunzi yawned a big yawn. Just like her other daughter, the sun wasn't up yet. "... Ahhh. Your drum quest?" She finished more smugly and turned to her very-eager daughter. Taka nodded vigorously and bounced up.

"I haven't gotten a wink of sleep, I'm so excited!" She said honestly, though one couldn't tell that the juve hadn't slept at all last night. She was just as energetic as ever.

"Well, let's get started," Isithunzi said before yawning again. "Tell me, Taka, where do you think we start? Take a look at my own drum if you need." Isi sat down while her daughter pondered, wiping her eyes in a desperate attempt to wake herself up. Taka stared at the drum, meanwhile, taking it all in without touching it anymore than she already had this morning. There was a wooden gourd, she knew that. A leather skin and some teeth.

"Well mom... I'd imagine we'd have to get the gourd first, because otherwise, what do you put the skin and teeth in?" She asked looking up at her mother to see if she was right.

Isi had given up rubbing her eyes to wake up while Taka had investigated. "Yes, absolutely right. Let's get going, shall we?" Isithunzi rose to her paws. The jaunt would certainly wake her up. It was a bit chilly outside, and the dew covered all of the flora that was around, wetting the lions' paws as they proceeded towards the gourd tree that Isithunzi had visited so often recently. Both of their paws got muddy, but both had different thoughts. Taka's mind was thinking Drum drum drum drum... and Isi was thinking to herself that she was going to wash off the mud as soon as possible and spend the rest of her day by the lake when the pair of them were done here today.

Taka started to chatter, "...oh mom, it'll be great! I'll have the most unique drum ever, I don't want it to have a normal sound, no. You know how I like tinny sounds?" She said as they walked onward, turning around and waiting for Isi to catch up. Before the adult got the chance to respond, Taka continued with another string of sentences, "Yeah, I want a tinny sounding one, I think that you can do that? Maybe if we did something weird to the drumhead too? Maybe that'll do something, will that do something?" Taka asked and turned around, finally giving a pause long enough for Isithunzi to slip in an answer.

"We can try a different drumhead, I've never really played around with it, but the main thing that will give the sound you like will be the gourd, which we're getting close to!" Isithunzi said as she saw them slowly approaching the mass of gourds.

Without much warning, Taka bolted forwards and started to pick through them, tapping a claw on each one and rejecting it... That was until she reached the perfect one for her, she could just tell by looking at it! It was a decently sized gourd. She tapped her claw on it as scrutinously as she had all of the others and heard the kind of sound she'd hoped for. It was a bit shallow, but still powerful. By the time Isithunzi reached her (having walked at a normal pace the rest of the way there, knowing her daughter wouldn't mind,) Taka was already bounding back with a gourd hanging from her mouth. The juve was grinning widely, obviously happy.

"Hold up there, kiddo, you sure that's the one you want? I didn't even see you pick it." Isithunzi said as Taka approached.

"I checked it, I tapped on it, see?" She tapped the gourd to hear that lovely sound again. "It's perfect!"

"It is," Isithunzi said, tapping it a few times herself. For being a thin gourd, it was surprisingly sturdy. "It looks like you and your sister don't even need me! You're already way on top of things," Isithunzi said to her daughter cheerily. She actually tried to keep up with Taka when her daughter took off again towards the drum circle. She must've heard all about the drum-making process from Mawi, Isithunzi thought as she kept up with Taka. Sure enough, she was at the area with leather and teeth in no time, gourd set aside and rummaging through the area to find a fitting skin.

"My goodness, Taka, where's the learning in this? Now wait a minute, stop." Taka pulled out from where the skins were kept and looked at her mother with a sheepish grin. "Do you even know how many holes you need in it?" Isi asked Taka, who only continued her sheepish grin.

"Six?" The golden girl guessed. Isithunzi shook her head.

"Eight, dear. You need eight. Do you know what to do with them from here?"

"No..." Taka said regretfully turning her eyes to the ground.

"It's alright, that's why I'm here! At least you do need me," Isithunzi said with a smile. Taka smiled back, glad that her mother wasn't mad at her and Isi continued with the lesson as she would have with anyone else's cub. "First, you've gotta make eight holes along the top of your gourd, one for each tooth. Your gourd looks like you can get away with using just your claws, see?" Isithunzi had taken the gourd and begun to carve a hole in it with her claw before she pushed it over to Taka. "Try it. You'll need eight holes."

Taka pulled it over and did just as Isithunzi had done, stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth, and finished the hole. She silently proceeded to the next, and the next... Until all eight were carved. "Now for the drumhead?"

"Yup, here, was this the one you wanted?" Isithunzi asked, pulling out the last skin Taka had had in her mouth before she was asked to hold her horses.

"Yeah, I like it, don't you think?" Taka asked, turning her pink eyes to her mother. Isithunzi nodded and handed it over, along with an assortment of eight teeth and claws. Taka stretched the head over the gourd's opening, tacked them in, and sat back to admire her handiwork. If only she knew how to hunt, now, she'd be able to make drums all by herself without any help at all from her mother!

Isithunzi had, meanwhile, gone and grabbed the neckpiece and brought it back to her daughter, who confirmed what it was before tacking it on too with extra teeth. "There! OH! I need to decorate it, I've got the perfect thing in mind. Come with me?" Taka said excitedly, her drum almost finished. Isithunzi followed as her daughter swiftly slipped the drum onto her neck and headed for the lake. Isi had an idea of what was about to happen...

And she was right.

Taka called on her namesake and slipped the drum off before padding off into the water, getting her paws (all the way up to her shoulders, really, Taka always seemed to enjoy the lake.) Taka returned out of the lake with mud coating up to her elbows, the rest was only wet. She splatted her pawprints on it, though carefully, painting it with the mud. She added a muddy zig-zag design and was content. It reminded her... Quite like herself! The color was almost the same as her own brown-and-gold. She held it out to her mother when she was done decorating it with a broad grin. "You like?"

"It's perfect," Isithunzi said happily, checking it over. Yes, it did just scream Taka, what with the mud. "Looks like you're all ready for that quest!" Isithunzi said cheerily. Taka jumped to her feet at the thought.

"Yeah, I'd better get ready to go!" The juve said, running off towards their den. Isithunzi sighed contentedly and gave a little chuckle. Her work ended just where she'd wanted it to- by the lake. The grey lioness laid down and closed her eyes, content at the sound of the waves and the feel of the sun.