The History Of Juris's Pride

Two months have come and gone since that cub disappeared. Things were going well, now if only Bo would disappear next. Out of all his cubs Juris had despised Cyclops the most but Bo wasn’t much better. He had no freaky deformities like Cyclops but he was dumber than a twig. He often spaced out and wandered off, making it harder for the rest of the pride to do their job since they always had to keep one eye on him. His pride would be better off without him. Tired of watching his nitwit of a son Juris got up and wandered over to Arjana where she was having Cherry Blossom, Rose, and Wisteria practice their stalking.

“Keep your butt down Cherry Blossom, if the gazelle see’s your tail waving around in the air they’re not going to just stand there and let you kill them. Look how Wisteria is keeping her body so close to the ground her body is almost brushing against it. Her tail is straight out behind her, not thrashing around like a wounded rabbit.” 

Rose looked to Wisteria and thought she had been doing basically the same thing. She guessed her sister was just doing it better. Her mom was always complimenting Wisteria and telling them to be more like her. Rose knew Arjana loved them but sometimes she wished her mother would compliment her and tell the others to be more like her. Ever since Cyclops disappeared her mother seemed to be harder, not cruel, just sterner and way more protective. Arjana was never cruel, that role went to her father and her two brothers Maple and Quince. They were always bullying Cyclops before he disappeared and now that he was gone they spent their time bullying Bo. She did her best to stick up for her little brother but it wasn’t easy. He wasn't the brightest cub and didn’t seem to realize that his brothers weren’t joking around.

Arjana spotted Juris approaching them and her tail shot up in the air to let her cubs know to stop and be silent. All her cubs immediately grew quiet and sat up with their heads high ready for whatever may come. A flick of her tail and all three cubs greeted their father at the same time. “Good morning father,” the voices echoed together. “Good morning my love, what can I do for you?” Ugh how she hated calling him her love when everything in her hated Juris and wanted nothing more than to be with Jupiter. She showed none of her true feelings though and purred softly and brushed up against her mate twining her tail with his. “To what do we owe the honor of you coming over here?”

Juris watched his cubs as he approached. They seemed to be doing ok especially Wisteria, Rose was pretty good as well but Cherry Blossom had a long way to go. At his daughter's greeting a purr rumbled through his chest. “Children, I want you to go find Sunset or Midnight. I need your mother to go on a patrol for me. Go on off you run, except for you Wisteria” Juris added a bit of a growl at the end to make sure his cubs knew he wanted them to leave that instant. Once they were gone he turned to his mate. “I’ve heard a rumor of a strange lion wandering our borders. I want you to go in search of her and I want you to take Wisteria with you. The cubs are old enough now to go on patrols. You've been training them to hunt and fight since they were five months old. They’re almost nine months old now. It’s time for them to help the pride. Once the two of you find this lioness I want you to bring her to be by any means necessary. Don’t be afraid to claw her up a bit if you have to. If she’s stupid enough to trespass then she’ll do as I say. Now GO”

Arjana didn’t hesitate for a second when Juris growled at them to go. She turned tail and quickly took off running. She looked back only once to make sure her daughter was right behind her. Once they were out of Juris’s sight she slowed down only a little so she could talk to Wisteria. “When we find this lioness I want you to do exactly as I say.”

Wisteria was shocked that her father wanted her to go with her mother in search of some lioness but at the same time she was excited. She couldn’t wait to prove to her father that she could be a valued member of the pride. “Yes mother, I’ll do whatever you say I promise.”

“Good! I want you to stay behind me at all times especially when we find this rogue lioness. Do not say anything to her, I'll do all the talking. Do not make any sudden movements unless I say so. You know all my tail signals by now so make sure you keep your eyes on my tail for any orders from me. Understood?” Arjana was glad it was Wisteria that Juris had chosen to tag along with her. She was still very young but she was a fast learner and always did as she was told.

Together the two mother and cub ran to the nearest border where they would begin their search for this intruder. Wisteria wondered what could be so strange about a lioness?  I mean whole pride was made up of fairly strange lions each one different and unique in their own way. After all, almost none of them was a straight up lion; her father was an earther which meant everyone in her pride was an earther with some kind of tree growing out of their backs. Her mother was a tribal lion which meant she had unique colors and markings on her fur which she had passed down to some of her cubs. So what could be so different about this one particular lioness?

The day slowly grew longer and longer as they continued to search the border. Arjana was about to call it quits for the day and head back since the sun was beginning to set when she finally caught a whiff of the lionesses scent. There was definitely something different about her. She was a lion but not a lion at the same time? How could one be a lion but not a lion? Even Earthers, Tribers and Spacers smelled like pure lions with a hint of their element. But this lion was different… Arjana flicked her tail to motion for Wisteria to be completely silent. No more talking from this point forward. They continued forward slowly drawing closer to the source of the smell when she spotted her. She looked like nothing she had ever seen before. The lioness looked like she was part black panther and part leopard as well. How strange. Arjana flicked her tail at Wisteria to signal her to stay put as she slowly approached the strange creature. “Who are you? And what are you doing on our prides territory?” Arjana snarled and barred her fangs and the strange looking lioness.

Ebele had her nose to the ground following the track of a rabbit or something. She was so hungry, she hadn’t eaten in three days unless you count scraps from another lion or hyena's meal which she didn’t since there was rarely any meat on them. She was so concentrated on hunting down this rabbit that she didn’t hear or scent the two lionesses approaching her until it was too late. At the sound of the snarl Ebele spun around to look at the threat. Her ears flat to her head, her eyes wide in fear. Crap she had crossed into the border of a pride in hopes of hunting food she had hoped they wouldn’t notice if she stayed near the edge of their territory. She guessed she was wrong. 

Arjana began to circle the odd lioness if she could even call her that. The black she realized as she drew closer was from her element which was shadow. That was probably why half of her was black. “Well are you going to answer my question or aren’t you?” Arjana didn’t give her a chance to answer, she flicked her tail up in a signal for Wisteria.

Wisteria lay crouched on the ground watching as her mother approached the stranger. The stranger was obviously afraid as she should be. She sank her talons into the ground ready to attack at a moment's notice. Then she saw it, her mothers signal. She leaped out towards the stranger with a loud roar hoping to scare her even more. She bounded to the opposite side of the lioness so she couldn’t turn and run from them. “You heard my mother, answer her, you filthy rogue.” 

Ebele took a step back from the fierce lioness. “I, I,” before she could say anymore a second lioness much younger then the first, practically a cub still but big enough to do some damage in her weakened state. Mother? So this cub was the daughter of the lioness. Were they out here training and just happened to catch her scent? If so, talk about bad luck. “I, I, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to, I’m just so hungry.”

Wisteria snarled as the strange lion spoke, “I’m just so hungry,” she repeated mockingly. “As if that’s an excuse to trespass onto our territory. This is the pride of Juris the lion, and he and his lions show no mercy to trespassers, that is unless it’s their intent to join but even then they usually wait at the border not to cross it.” She wanted to give the lioness an out otherwise they would have to attack her. Which she wouldn’t mind doing but if she didn’t have to that would be fine as well. 

Arjana took a step closer to the lioness, “hunger is never an excuse to trespass, you’re lucky my mate sent me and not one of his subordinates. Juris is not a forgiving lion and neither are his subordinates. So answer this question, was your original intent to join but got hungry while waiting? Or was your intent just to hunt on our pride's land? Like her daughter Arjana could see her daughter wanted to help this stranger out. Arjana didn’t care one way or another; she had stopped caring about outsiders Cyclops went missing. All she cared about now was keeping her family and pride safe. 

Ebele swallowed nervously, wait was the cub trying to help her? Wait did they both say Juris? Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, this was not good. Juris was becoming well known for being one of the cruelest lions in the savannah even to his own pride. Join his pride? Hell she wanted nothing to do with this pride, but she might have to take them up on their offer for now just to keep her safe and then try and escape at a later time maybe? “Um yes, yes, that’s it. I came here to join the pride, I heard Juris was a strong king and was only going to get stronger and I wish to be a part of such a strong king's pride. I didn't mean to hunt without permission first but I haven’t eaten a proper meal in days and I grew so hungry that when I smelled the rabbit my hunger took over. I do apologize.” Will they believe all this mumbo jumbo about Juris? Well she is Juris’s mate by the sound of it so she must love him and believe all this herself. 

Wisteria was a little relieved when the lioness snatched up the chance her and her mom gave her. She nodded her head and turned to look at her mom waiting to see what she would say about all of this.

Hmm, Arjana wondered if what the trespasser said was actually true or if she was just grabbing at any chance to stay out of trouble. “Very well then, I can not accept your apology. You will need to apologize to my mate Juris, but you’re lucky you haven’t caught anything so he should forgive you though you may still be punished just not as bad. Now follow me…. What's your name?”

A sigh of relief escaped Ebele but the relief was short lived as Arjana told her that Juris might decide to punish her still. “Ok, I completely understand, he would have every right to.” So not true, so not true she wished she could just turn around and run away but she wouldn’t stand a chance against Juris’s mate. “As for my name it’s Ebele.”

“Ebele huh, well follow me and don’t try anything funny. I’m Arjana and that’s my daughter Wisteria and she’ll be right behind you watching you the entire time.” With that she turned and headed back to their camp. From time to time she looked over her shoulder to make sure Ebele was following and not trying anything. But considering her daughter was quiet the entire way home Ebele must be doing as she said.