My first memory is being carried across the savannah in my mother's jaws.

I know from her other litters that she spent two weeks in the swamps of the Pridelands, waiting for our eyes to open to bring us from the safety of the water which hid our scent to the sun-warmed grasslands where we would grow into adults.

My mother was born in the Kusini Pride. They lived far to the south, across a great river. They were buffalo hunters, big lionesses with huge, hooked claws who took down the herds of massive buffalo. They were far more matriarchal than the Pridelands were. My mother's uncle had been king when she was born, and the birth of four daughters to his twin sister could easily have been a threat to the throne. Her uncle had been clever though, he had sent his nieces to the Pridelands to cement an alliance with the throne. He had bought entrance to the kingdom with his problems. Perhaps my mother's intelligence was shared by her king.

For many weeks, even after my eyes opened, I knew my mother by her milk-scent and great warm tongue. She left many times, but she always returned to our little nest in the grass. She would lie next to us and groom our fur until I fell asleep to the rasp of her tongue. My sister smelled like me, and like mother, and like something outside of our life filled with milk-and-grass. She had a scruff of fur on her head, which grew longer as she grew.

Our mother was very protective. She taught us to remain silent and still in the grass when she was gone, warning us of dangers little cubs couldn't imagine. We quickly learned that when she was with us, we could play and adventure as much as we liked. She watched us, laying on her belly sunbathing as we wrestled and ran through the grasses all alone in our little paradise, far from Pride Rock and our pridesisters.

For a long time, I knew nothing save my mother and my sister, and the grasslands.

~oOo~

First part of what will hopefully follow all the way to Simba's return, or perhaps a bit further.

Artwork & story; characters Naanda belong to me.
Elements from the story relating to The Lion King including its associated characters © Disney.

Reference