First love
The hot morning sun rose up in the horizon, the bright yellow rays flittered through the caverns entrance. The birds sang their morning song deep within the jungle creating a beautiful symphony.
Wisteria stretched, leaning towards the ground with her paws on the slightly cool cavern floor. She yawned as she was still tired from the previous night. The hunting party was out most of the day and well into the night in search of prey. Food was scarce as well as water. The lake has dwindled into a mere puddle and the caverns streams had dried up. She was thirsty and decided to drink some water, she walked out of the cavern and into the dried cracked lake. She stared at the puddle, ‘there’s hardly anything left, i can’t drink too much.’ She reminded herself. Her body wanted more water as she was dehydrated but she forced herself to stop, ignoring her needs.
A dark and light brown lion was pondering near the waters edge, a worried look on her face. It was the lead hunter, Pura. She was clearly deep in thought as she stared at her reflection in the remaining water.
“What’s wrong?” Wisteria asked, concerned about her friend and her lead hunter.
Pura sighed, “I don’t know how were going to survive this dry season. There's hardly any water and we haven’t found prey in days!” She was agitated and in distress.
Wisteria thought for a minute, Pura was right. How are we going to survive? This has been the worse dry season ever. “We can’t give up, we have to keep trying. Let’s go out and look for food. There has to be something out there.” She said, trying to stay positive.
“What’s the point? We tried yesterday. All we found were bones and scraps that couldn’t feed a single lion.” She snapped at Wisteria.
“Look, we can give up and wither away, just like those animals who didn’t survive. Or we can keep fighting. We can continue to search for food, and maybe we'll get lucky.” She argued with Pura. She cant give up this easily.
“Fine, you and I will go hunting. Don’t be surprised if we don’t find any prey.” She huffed.
Both lioness walked silently together, weaving through the thick jungle. They were going to enter a dangerous place to hunt, the jungle, home to baboons, the lions fierce enemies. “We have to be careful.” Pura whispered, warning Wisteria. The two lioness, covered in bristles and thorns from the dense jungle, continued to search for prey but had found nothing.
Suddenly, they heard rustling in the bushes, a snorting sound was heard. The lioness both looked at each other and excitedly whispered “Warthog!” at the same time. They stayed close to the ground, making sure not to rustle the dried leaves on the jungle floor. They stalked towards the warthog, the warthog wasn’t in view, they went closer to the sound. Finally they saw the juicy prey in sight, it was searching for roots near a thick acacia tree. Pura signalled to wisteria to stalk from the right side of the warthog.
While they stalked closer, Wisteria noticed some rustling branches above them. She quickly glanced up and saw a terrifying baboon, with its sharp teeth as it bared its teeth at the lions. It was looking at Pura with a sinister look, like a lion staring at mouth watering prey. The large baboon lunged at Pura while she was getting ready to pounce. Pura didn’t notice the baboon above her as she was fixated on the warthog. “Watch out!” Wisteria yelled at the top of her lungs while she sprinted towards Pura. The warthog was alarmed and squealed off into the bushes. With her front legs stretched out, she pushed Pura out of the way. Pura landed against a tree and passed out. The baboon dropped on top of Wisteria instead of Pura. Its sharp teeth dug into her shoulder blade, blood poured down her shoulder onto the forest floor below. Wisteria growled in agony and viscously clawed the baboon trying to get it to lose its grip. Finally, it let go of her, the baboon’s face coated in blood. She growled menacingly at the foe, her teeth bared as she challenged it. The baboon retreated into the canopy of the trees.
Pura was dazed, and didn’t see the baboon or the fight. She regained conscious shortly after the baboon retreated. Wisteria quickly limped up to Pura, “Are you okay?” she asked concerned.
Pura glared with irritation and anger. “Why did you do that?! Why would you scare the warthog away?! Why did you push me?!” She yelled, her voice stern with anger. Her fur on her neck bristled with outrage, her claws unsheathed as she dug them into the ground. "That was the first prey we’ve seen in days! The pride is starving, we are starving. How selfish can you be?” she continued her viscous rant.
Wisteria looked in shock at Pura. “I just saved your life and you call me selfish?! You didn’t even notice the baboon above you, you could’ve died.” She was hurt, both physically and emotionally. “What baboon?” She questioned. Her head hurt and she could feel her heart thump louder and louder.
“There was a baboon, it was going to jump down on top of you so i pushed you out of the way.” Wisteria remained calm.
“I doubt there was even a baboon, I didn’t see anything. You’re just trying to cover your own fur for losing the prey.” She muttered angrily. She walked away from Wisteria, her claws digging into the dirt as she walked. Then she noticed the smell of blood. She looked down and saw a pool of blood. She was wrong. “I'm so sorry. I- i didn’t... i’m so sorry.. are you okay?” She apologized. When she looked up, Wisteria was gone. Pura cried, she was always quick to anger but this is the first time she took it out on a pride mate let alone someone who she loved.
Wisteria ran away from Pura, tears fell from her cheek. She ran and ran, as best as she could with her injured shoulder. Thorns tugged at her fur, as she made her way through the thick jungle back home. She finally saw the puddle of the lake and the cavern entrance. “I need to see the shaman.” She muttered to herself. She wiped the tears away with her paws before she entered the cavern. She sought at Viridis in the shamans den that was near the opening of the tunnels, closer towards the depths of the cavern.
“Hello? Viridis, are you there?” she called out. The blood on her shoulder had dried up by the time she got there.
“I’m here, what’s wrong?” she responded, muffled, as she came out from a smaller cave within the shamans den. She carried herbs in her mouth. She placed them down on a nearby rock ledge.
“I got attacked by a baboon. My shoulder is wounded.” She told the shaman.
Viridis inspected wisteria. Viridis licked her wound, clearing the blood away from the injury. “I'll be back.” She told Wisteria. She went back into the herb den. She emerged from the herb den, shortly after, with some herbs, poultice and cobwebs. She applied the poultice to Wisteria’s wounds. Wisteria growled in pain as it was sore. Viridis then applied the cobwebs to her shoulder to keep the poultice in place. She placed the bundle of herbs in front of Wisteria’s paws. “Here’s some rosemary, it will help to stop your wounds from getting infected. I want you to come back to me in three days so i can reapply the poultice.” She informed Wisteria.
“Thank you.” She whispered thankfully.
She is still upset at Pura, she decided to go back outside and rest in her favourite spot near the lake. It was a field of flowers, and grass. Even in the dry season it is still pretty even though it is dry. It was late afternoon and the sun was setting in the horizon. She stretched out on her side and looked the jungle and the sky. She was so deep in thought that she didn’t hear the pawsteps coming towards her.
“Wisteria? Is it okay if we could talk?” It was Pura, back from the jungle.
“Sure.” Wisteria mumbled, she rolled over on her back, her paws facing the sky. She didn’t look at Pura.
“I’m sorry Wisteria. I- I didn’t mean to take my anger out on you, I shouldn’t have doubted you. I shouldn’t have called you selfish. You are the one who helps me out when things are dark. You are my light, my sunshine, Wisteria. You make me see the positive things in life and.... I love you. I always have. I promise you, that i will never hurt you again.” She poured her heart out to Wisteria.
Wisteria was in disbelief. Did she just confess her love for me? She was in shock. She got up, blades of grass still stuck to her fur. “I was really hurt by what you did. I forgive you but if you ever do that again, i can tell you that this relationship will not work out.”
“I understand and that's okay...... Did you just say relationship?” Pura asked inquisitively. “Does that mean we’re in a relationship?” she said in disbelief and awe.
“Yes, you dork.” Wisteria responded lovingly. “I love you too.” She roared happily as she pressed her body against Pura’s and brushed against her. They cuddled together and watched the sunset, with gorgeous colors decorating the sky. Orange, yellow and red covered the sky creating a masterpiece of colors. They were content, happy and in love.