The Pride of the Purple Eyes

The day had been a long and tiresome one, full of aggravating moments, regrettable actions, a few laughable jokes, and even some touching moment. But over all, it left the cub feeling exhausted, and ready to take a long nap. Sadly for Ari, her day was far from over.

She trotted into the cold stone den, her tail flapping in a tired happiness, a small red flower held tight in her muzzle. Ari had retrieved these flowers earlier today, and had given them out to her siblings. But there was still one important lioness that had yet to receive one.

Ari peered through the cave, spotting her pregnant looking mother sprawled out on the floor. "Mother!" She said happily walking up to Heshima giving her an affectionate nuzzle before plopping down beside her.

"I brought you this! I hope you like it!" Ari beamed, and set down the red flower for her mother too see. It was duller, and withered now, not as glorious and healthy as it was when she first found it, but in Ari's eyes it was still beautiful. "I thought it would help you feel better! Do you like it?"

The cub new of the treatment her mother, and the other lions were going through right now. Condemned to Pride Rock, never leaving, spending the day lazed in a dark den where the light rarely seemed to touch. Ari didn't see the problem with this, she was happy sleeping and spending time with her father and siblings. But her imprisonment wasn't as harsh as the others, wasn't as binding. For now, she spent her days in a happy ignorance, enjoying the life inside the prison she called home.

Heshima had been lounging around the den, talking with one of the younger hyenas about various things. It seemed as if they agreed on one thing, the lands weren't as they used to be. Although this fact was for certain, it was only mentioned and then dropped just in case the other two hyena brutes wanted to listen in. The hyena that Heshima had been talking to today had no large importance in the pack, only that he was sentenced to almost babysit Heshima, even though she knew that running away wasn't an option.

The expectant mother smiled when her eldest child Ari came bounding in, her violet eyes shining like jewels even in the dark and dreary cave. "Ari! Where have you been all day love?" Out of all of her children, Ari was the only one to inherit the bright purple eyes that were hers and hers alone. She was glad to see that her little girl out and about, even if it meant Heshima missing it. The female pulled her close in an embrace and licked her forehead. When Ari presented the flower to her, Heshima's heart broke and a smile could not be wiped off of her face. She turned to the hyena that she had been talking to, "Can you put this in a safe place young one? I need to treasure this forever,"

The hyena nodded and carefully took the flower into his mouth and carried it away to the back of the den. Heshima now turned to her daughter, "Ari that was beautiful! Is that where you have been? Outside getting a flower of all things?" Either or, Heshima pulled her daughter close and started to bathe her, relishing in the moment that she rarely got to have. After giving her daughter a quick bath, she smiled and nuzzled her softly, "So Ari, how are you today? I hope you are staying out of trouble and out of your father's mane unlike the rest of your siblings,"

Ari laughed as Heshima began to pamper her in a small bath. She always loved the feel of her mother, comforting her, and giving a warm motherly smile whenever she spoke. It was true that a mothers love was one of the best things on the planet. And Ari would never get tired of it.

"Mother, that tickles!" She giggled and squirmed slightly. Ari could never sit still during a bath, she was always laughing to hard! When Heshima was done, Ari snuggled next to the expecting lioness, ready to tell the stories of what her day had entailed.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I went mother! You see, me and Giza went out to look for some flowers! It was a great time mother, you should have seen it! Their were all sorts of flowers with different colors and everything! I hope you like it!"

Ari pouted slightly as she tried to remember exactly what she saw in the cave. Her memory was a bit fuzzy at the moment, excitement still rushed over her tired body, making it hard to focus on one thing entirely. But her ears did manage to perk slightly at mention of their father.

"Oh no! I didn't bother father! He was real happy to see me though! And we talked and spent some time together. I even gave him a flower too, he really enjoyed it! And then..."

Her words came to a halt as a small blue fluttering insect glided its way into the cave and landed on the small bundle of remaining flowers. Her eyes widened at the beautiful insect, she had never seen something so amazing! "Mother, whats that?"

Heshima smiled as her daughter blabbered away, apologizing for her misdoings and how she had even gifted Scar a flower. It filled the mother's heart to know that Scar had at least taken a liking to one of their children although why it was Ari she couldn't understand why. But all of the sudden, a small graceful insect fluttered into the den and it caught her russet daughter's attention. Ari had inquired what that thing with wings was called and Heshima answered, "That Ari is a butterfly, I haven't seen one since I was a cub! It must be returning from a long sleep with its family," Heshima sighed, the lands were so much more prosperous when she was a cub, when Mufasa was king.

Mufasa, he was the only one who was able to persuade Heshima away from her mother's side and she missed him so. But fate had not been kind to the former king or his son, both struck down by a stampede in the gorge. Knowing this, Heshima dubbed it a place of bad omen and made a strict rule for her cubs never to visit the gorge. But with being tied up with matters in the den, Heshima had no more control over where her cubs ventured. The pale lioness missed the days where she and her children could take a peaceful walk over the dying Savannah, but now that this small being of life had found it's way to the den, Heshima hoped that it would give the Pridelands a new start.

Heshima feared that her children would never be able to see the Pridelands in their former glory, for now it seemed that all there was left was the water hole and the hyenas. But none-the-less, Heshima wished for her children to know of the way their lands used to be, so why not give Ari a history lesson? The pale lioness nuzzled her daughter and smiled once more, "Well Ari, would you like to hear some stories? That butterfly over there has given me some very very good ones!"

Ari gazed with wide eyes at the fluttering creature. "A...butterfly?"She questioned more to herself than to her mother. The word felt alien on her tongue. How could she have never seen something so beautiful before? Why had this glorious creature never shown it's beauty to the Pride Lands? The dried grass lands and the diminishing watering hole could have really used something like this to spice it up.

Ari took a moment to let her mind wander to other possibilities, too a time when the world around her, which is now dry and dying, used to be lush and beautiful. She imagined all these flowers scattered around the watering hole, with millions and millions of butterfly's gliding over them, flying higher and higher, and getting lost in a bright blue sky. Now that was a place Ari would love to live in!

Her attention wavered from her imagination, and focused back on her mother, who had offered a story time! Oh how Ari loved stories! History, learning, those types of things always interested the young cub. She nodded her head enthusiastically.

"Oh yes! I would love to hear stories! What are they about mother? Do they involve the Pride Lands? Or butterfly's? Maybe even a history lesson! No no wait, don't tell me, I want it to be a surprise." Ari spun herself around a few times, kneading the ground beneath her feet, before sitting down to rest her head on her mothers paw. "Okay, i'm ready!" She said grinning, excited for the stories she was about to hear.

Heshima chuckled at how excited her daughter was to hear the stories of the old, and how much she wished to learn. Maybe her daughter didn't take much after Scar as Heshima had normally thought, maybe it was just her genetic appearance that was affected by her father. The expectant mother smiled and nuzzled her daughter and looked out unto the horizon, many stories flowed into her head and she thought one might be the best out of all of them. Mufasa and Simba. Heshima started off, "Many years ago, there was a Golden King, he was joined by his Golden Queen and they ruled the Pridelands as one. Now this Golden King had something to give his lands and soon, his queen had bared him a prince, the Golden Prince," The lioness paused to let this information soak into her daughter's head and then she continued.

"The Golden Prince was an adventurous one, and he soon found himself in the gorge that runs through the lands. But soon, a stampede of wild animals, much bigger than zebras, ran through the gorge. The Golden Prince was trapped," Not wanting to make the story too scary, Heshima switched to her daughter's father, "Now, the Golden King had a brother, the Red Lion, and he was a strong and powerful male. The Red Lion was smart and everyone knew he would love his children just as he loved his mother and nephew. It was only luck that he found the Golden Prince in the gorge and he found his brother. The Golden King leaped into the stampede, but neither of them was seen again. The Red Lion walked with a heavy heart to Pride Rock and told the pride of their loss and sadly took the reign as king,"

"The Golden King's body was found but the Golden Prince was thought to be lost to the vultures, the King's body is not there anymore, but he and his prince still watch over the Pridelands and the gorge, making sure none die and repeat the mistakes of the old," As Heshima finished her story, the hyenas seemed to be on edge, and the mother of four shot a look back to tell them that she had not broken any of the rules set by her one time mate. "Now Ari, don't go running off to the gorge now, I wouldn't know how I would make it if you weren't around," The pale lioness paused and nuzzled her daughter once more, she always felt a special bond with her oldest, even if the only thing they shared was their bright violet eyes. She smiled and placed her chin on Ari's head, "Now, another story?"

Ari listened intently to her mother’s story, taking each and every detail and doing her best to imprint it into her small, yet ever growing, mind. She had made a few connections in the story, mostly from prior knowledge she had picked up from overhearing the Hyena’s cackle. The Red Lion described in the story had to be her father, though Ari could not understand why he wasn’t the Golden King. The Golden Prince, who’s name Ari heard only once but could not remember it, Limbo maybe, was her cousin. The thought of a cousin brought a grin to her russet colored face. That would make The Golden King her..uncle!

But, her mood was saddened when she heard about his untimely death. Ari wondered if she would have gotten along with the Prince, if they could have been friends. She started to create all these stories of what could have been, imagining her and the nameless cub playing in the den, eating dinners together, or even sleeping together in a pile! It was a shame he had to die…

Ari was so lost in her imagination, she didn’t notice the story had ended. Her ears flattened, unimpressed. “What were their names Mama? The Golden King and Prince? They are related to me, aren’t they? Why haven’t I heard about them before?” All these missing facts drove Ari nuts, but she knew her mother was hesitant to answer, so she tried her move her mind from it. “I promise I won’t go to the Gorge.” Over the day she had made a lot of promises, not go here or stray from there, Ari was starting to feel a bit…restricted. But, it would be best to ignore that too. Setting her mind on the unobtainable would only lead to disappointment. “I would love to hear another story though!”

Heshima silently cursed her former mate's gene pool for a moment, for he had passed on his intelligence to all of their cubs. Ari had questioned if the two lions of the story were related to her and the hyenas sat up and glared at the mother of four. The pale prisoner sighed and averted her eyes to the ground, "Yes, you are related to them, but your father doesn't want us speaking their names, it hurts him since he saw them both die," Heshima sighed, Simba and Mufasa, life would be so much better if they were here. The hyenas had seemed to have calmed down after the lioness refused to give out the names of the deceased royal family and Heshima relaxed as well. She could see the disappointment in her daughter's eyes but she knew that Ari would keep her promise to stay away from the gorge. If her family had died there, bad things were sure to happen to the young cub if history wished to repeat itself.

The pale coated lioness smiled when Ari had asked for another story, but Heshima yawned. If it wasn't for these growing cubs, then she wouldn't be so tired all the time. Heshima placed her paw up to her mouth and thought for a moment, letting it fall to the ground after coming up with a good story to tell. "Alright then, I hope that you have heard about the Great Kings of the Past living up in the night sky? Watching over us as the stars? Well have you heard about the brightest star in the night sky?" This had been one of the only stories that Mufasa had told Heshima after she inquired what Simba had learned the day before that kept him out all night. "Well, that star is your great-grandfather, Mohatu!" Heshima smiled and began to tell her story, "You see Ari, in Mohatu's day, there was a horrible drought. In order to spread rations fairly, Mohatu made a law about how much water each animal could drink. He also proclaimed that lions should be the last to get their share, as they could go days without water. The law was put into effect and the animals survived."

"But then one day, a selfish and lazy lion came to the water hole and drank more than his fill. Many animals stood in the distance, waiting for him to finish. But when one approached him, asking if she could get a drink, the lion lunged at her and scared off the remaining animals. When Mohatu heard the news, he was outraged. He asked himself how they could survive if one of his own kind couldn't cooperate. As the drought worsened and the remaining water grew smaller, Mohatu called the animals to Pride Rock and told them that he would going on a long journey to find a solution to their problems." The pale lioness would pause here to give some suspense to her daughter and then she would continue, "He set out on the journey and walked long and far. Finally, he reached a lush jungle, and found a river known as the Great River. It was until that day on, the animals of the Pride Lands journey to the jungle oasis to get their share of water. But when a great rain comes and the Pride Lands becomes lush and green again, the animals no longer have a need to return to the Great River." Heshima paused and closed her eyes, slipping into a small trance, "I hope that is what is going to happen soon love, that a great rain will come again and shine on your father,"

(OOC: Yeah, no effort was put into that post, just copy and pasted the big ideas from the Wiki page on Mohatu. Had no muse for Heshi today...)

Ari frowned when her mother tried to change the subject. So she wasn’t supposed to know about her relatives? Or to a lesser existent their names? That displeased the princess, but found it best not to pry into the subject. Mother said it upset father, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. But, it still kept in her mind, the nameless relatives she would never know.

Ari shifted slightly, brining herself in a more comfortable position before sitting down for the next story. Her eyes glowed with curiosity at the mention of stars. She had seen them up in the sky late at night, and always questioned their purpose. At first, Tasa had convinced her they were bugs caught in the sky, and, although she found it silly, she believed it. But this story, of the great kings in the sky, it made a lot more sense. Ari connected the drought in the story, to the one going in the land currently. Though, nothing had been told to the young cub, it seemed more obvious as time wore on. She had taken notice of the grass’s brown color, the waterholes dwindling presence, and the dry atmosphere lurking around pride rock.

It seemed smart that a king would ration off food, no doubt a wise move coming from a king. But what caught Aris attention was how a lion would outright disobey the law of the king for his own petty drink! That was outrageous! Ari frowned, upset by this act of treason. “That lion should have been banished…” she muttered to herself. Laws were set in order to KEEP order, when someone went and broke them, they deserved punishment!

The suspense of the situation egged the cub on. She was desperate to know what happened, whether the King found the water, if the selfish lion was put to justice, and if the Pride Lands were safe. “What happens next mother?” She asked, eager for the answer. Mother simply smiled and continued her story.

“A great river…” She said dreamily. Ari was fond of the idea of her Father bringing back the rain to Pride Rock. He would set off on a great journey, just like the old king, and return a hero! Maybe then everyone would respect him. Ari grinned and nuzzled her mother. “I’m sure it will happen, mother! Father won’t disappoint, I am sure! The rain will come, and we will all be happy again! And you can drink all you want until you are satisfied, I promise!” Her imagination was certainly a great one, and never failed to fixed all the problems that she, herself, in reality couldn’t even begin to change. But a great king would return to the Pride Lands, and bring back the water, though Ari would never know the one to do so, would not be her father. Still, her imagination roamed to days of lush and green paradise, hoping that one day it would become a reality.

Heshima smiled as Ari mentioned the great river and she nuzzled her daughter close. But when she started to make promises of how Scar would bring back rains to the lands, Heshima frowned slightly. This lion who had given her a failed litter of kings, who had let the hyenas roamed the lands, the same hyenas who killed her parents... And yet he was supposed to bring peace and rain to these lands? "I hope so too dear," Heshima finally agreed, although there was sadness in her voice, "but for some reason, I feel as if the Great Kings of the Past are disappointed in your father, there hasn't been a drought since your great-grandfather's time as king," It might have been because the hyenas have over hunted the lands, but there might also be another reason that Heshima was too naive to understand. But Heshima smiled and nuzzled Ari close, "Don't talk about me being able to drink as much as I want, I can do just find with what I get now,"

The pale lioness placed her paw on Ari's head and smiled, "It's you who needs the resources more than me, Ari. You, Tasa, Giza, Kifu, and your new siblings," Only a few scars remained from the day that Kuzimu had attacked the pale lioness and they were quickly disappearing as the days went on. It had been made apparent to at least the adults that these were not Scar's cubs that she was carrying, and many thought of her as a saint for not wanting to give up these cubs. Although, they would be astonished for what plan Heshima would have just days before the cubs arrived. Unknown to the lioness now, she would soon receive a scar, Giza would vanish, and she would ask Scar to send these cubs to the Shadowlands. But for right now, Heshima could hold her daughter close and keep her head held high. Even if Scar seemed to be avoiding her like the plague, but didn't he avoid everyone now a days?

Even if this cub was almost everything like Scar and his mother Uru, there was one thing that Heshima loved about Ari; her eyes. Heshima could stare into the violet jewels she had all day long, for it was the only thing it seemed the two had in common beside their tail tuft and lower eye shade. "You know Ari," Heshima started, "I love your eyes, they fit you so well," There was only one lioness that Heshima knew that had the same eyes as these two, the young female Shani from the Lowlands. But unknown to Heshima, one of her cubs, and three of Shani's cubs would have inherited these eyes as well. It seemed as if the rare violet eye gene that seemed to be so uncommon in the Savannah was becoming more common by the day. Who knows, maybe some day the violet eyes would be a staple of a certain pride, and they would be just as common as Scar's jade eyes or Zira's crimson were. But that was only a dream that Heshima would have, and after this litter there would be only one other chance for her to have more violet eyed cubs; if she found true love. But it was apparent that it was very rare in the Pridelands, but would she have to go elsewhere?

(OOC: Oh my gosh I am so sorry I forgot about this thread! D:)