Young royals - part one

The birth of Muhazi was like a small miracle. The pride had always hoped for the arrival of a good heir and there he was, the son of king Oddysey and queen Donya, and the future king of the Bakari pride.

However, one month after his birth, droughts, resulting in fires, put the animals of Africa in danger. To assure his safety, Muhazi was constantly kept inside. In the first months of his life, the cub had never seen any daylight. He spent his days in a small area, never having been able to play with other cubs and to run around freely. When he reached his adolescent stage, he was clumsy, boney and weaker than the other adolescents. He was absolutely alienated when his father took him out of the den for the first time, to show him around the large territory. The king and queen had to give it their all to raise their son into a decent lion. Months passed by, and the adolescent had proven to be a slow learner.

The young prince was growing bigger and stronger every day, but his role in the pride kept bringing new worries to his parents. King Oddysey was getting older and Muhazi still wasn’t properly trained and ready. There were still many things that needed to be taught to him. He still needed to get to know the territory that would soon be his. He still needed to learn how to behave like a king and how to take care of a pride. And he also still needed a queen.
Especially the search for a future queen had been very tiresome for Queen Donya and King Oddysey. None of the neighboring prides had a suited lioness and some prides just weren’t suited to make a deal with at all. The king and queen were running out of options. Muhazi noticed this as well. His parents kept visiting prides every day, in hopes to make a deal with one of the kings and to bring home a suited queen someday. But time flew by mercilessly and Muhazi remained without a fiancée. For a while, the prince’s parents had given up on their search. Maybe there would be new options in the future. But those options never came. The queen was obviously very distressed. Every time she looked at her son, worry and frustration showed on her face. Muhazi, who had just started to become confident, lost a tiny bit of that confidence every time his mother looked at him with such an expression. It made him worry about his future and wonder if he would be useless without a queen. Instead of feeling the need to prove that he was still strong without a queen, he felt vulnerable and afraid. But he still held his head high every day, even though this became more and more tough to do.

Shortly before Oddysey became too old to travel long distances, he brought home a young lone lioness. She was a rather quiet, shy and timid female. But once she got used to her new home, her tender, soft and caring side showed. She was also a perfectly balanced mix of strong and elegant, and her genes showed a lot of potential to the future of the pride. She introduced herself with the name: Nubia. It was when Oddysey’s body started to show signs of old age, that Donya decided to get to know this new female better. It was time to tell her mate about her idea.

“Sweetheart?” the king approached her mate, who was resting on the small hill that towered above the open place.

“Hm?”

She snuggled up next to him, rubbing her chin against his muzzle before taking a comfortable position to hold a serious conversation in.
“Muhazi still needs a queen.”

“Donya, we-“

“You have grown too old and weak to travel long distances to prides in search for a queen.” She cut him off “We’ll have to do with what we have.”

Oddysey was startled by her words and it took him a while before he was able to reply “What do you have in mind?”

Donya nudged her head towards Nubia, the beloved new lioness. “Her. I think she will make a wonderful queen for our son.”

“What?” Oddysey now softly growled in shock, but no anger towards his mate “We know nothing about her family, her origin, her background, where she came from…nothing!”

“Isn’t that where Lesedi comes in?” Donya now smirked, clearly feeling smart and determined.”

“Donya…I don’t know…”

“Oddysey, do you really think that we can still find a suited queen somewhere far away? We have visited so many kings and risked our lives multiple times by entering territories without permission. Not that I would not risk my life for our son, but I do not think that it is necessary anymore, because our answer might be right in front of us.”

Oddysey was now staring at Nubia. She was making her way through the lionesses, lingering here and there to chat with some of them. Muhazi, who was hanging out with Viti, did not even care about her too much.

“Fine, I will see what Lesedi can do.”