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"You can't even relax for a minute without Cub climbing all over you, nipping and pulling at your ears."
"You hear from another pride mate that Darbat was telling them that he could beat you in a fight. Oh really? You'd like to see him try."
"Davshahi struts up to you and you greet each other as equals. You later puff up a bit at his nerve."
"You see Davshahi puff up and strut in front of the lionesses, confident of his dashing looks. You feel slightly annoyed."
"Vanui was running without looking where they were going, and ended up slamming into your legs - claw first! Ouch!"
[shoulder scar from sparring against Arahi]
[white right eye scar from sparring against Arahi] [healed]
[white left eye scar from sparring against Vinayzat] [replaced with long left eye]
[turbulent, nose scratch, and muzzle from his final fight against Vinayzat]
[neck scar from a fight against a cheetah]
[short right eye scar from a fight against a puff adder]
After Sharrut died, Davshahi should have taken over as a king in Tuwarret Araim, but he left the pride in Vinayzat's care and spent his time roaming the savannahs. The lions said he had met a strange lioness in the hills, who called herself Wenet the Wise, and all he cared about was doing her bidding. When they first met, she gave him a hare's foot necklace, which he resolved to never lose.
***
Davshahi spent too long away from his pride. When he returned and tried to get his pridemates to help with Wenet's strange schemes, he found that the pride had turned against him. Vinayzat was lying on a flat rock in the slope above him, and asked him mockingly with what power Davshahi thought he could order the pride around. "When it was your time to lead, you left me behind to be a king in your place. Do you only care about us when you want us to run errands for you?" Davshahi was surprised; Vinayzat had never seemed to much desire a leader's place. He had always thought he would take his sister's place unquestioned.
The aged huntress Adid sat down in front of Davshahi, the tip of her tail twitching. She was followed by Atalui, and Parvasi and Parurrtu sitting together, and Mibrazai and Jefrat - all the pride's elders eyeing Davshahi gravely. "We want to have you for our king," Adid told him. "But only if you would earn it. Fight for the pride, so we can see you're willing to risk your hide for our sake. Then, by all means, lead us all to your quest! But do not leave us again and think we'll wait for you."
Davshahi was struck by her words and full of doubt, and when he leapt up the slope to take on Vinayzat, the older lion struck him back with ease, like he was a cub to be gently knocked aside. He turned around and ran out to the savannah with his thoughts and his wounded pride.
It was only when he slowed down that he discovered he wasn't alone. A dust-brown shadow was following him at a distance; when Sharraf saw he was calming down, she approached him. "Even if you're going back to your travels, you don't have to go alone," she said softly. "When were we ever apart from each other, before you began to disappear?... But I'd rather take you back to the pride as its king. Let me help you, I can help you win in a way no one can detect."
Though Davshahi was grateful for her company, he didn't want to do anything underhanded to win back his pride. Sharraf disapproved of his decision, but still stayed by his side. "Whatever you must do for her, I'll do with you," she whispered, "But when you are the king at Tuwarret Araim, I will be the queen - and I'll cede that place to no one, however much you love her." Her words struck fear in Davshahi's heart, but he knew he couldn't interfere in lionesses' fights. And Wenet had refused to come to his pride...
That night Davshahi went to the herb grove in the valley where the creek ran, to see the shamaness Ajil. He dropped a hare's carcass before her and asked her council: did the spirits of the dead still approve of him as the king in Tuwarret Araim? Did Arahi and Kerabai, and Sharrut? Or would they be offended and abandon the pride, if he was to become its king? Ajil gave him one of her gentle, mysterious looks, before she chewed on her herbs and fell in trance, called upon her animal helpers and her faraway master's spirit, and her spirit left her body to wander unknown paths through darkness, while Davshahi lay by her feet tense and trembling. As the sky was beginning to lighten in the east, she opened her eyes and looked directly at Davshahi. "The spirits of the dead are on the edge. They are not against you, and do not advice me to turn you away, but you must prove your worth before you can be allowed back to the pride. Only by being strong enough to win, you can make yourself worthy." Her weary eyes that always seemed too old for her face looked into his like they could see through his soul. "And only then will I approve of you, as well. And you will be nothing without me."
When Davshahi was wandering away from the grove, still nibbled by his doubts, the old, grayed Parurrtu stepped silently out of the darkness to walk by him. "Not all are against you," he said gently and pushed Davshahi with his head. "I would like to see you as the king before I die. But that would have to be soon..." The kind words made Davshahi feel his spirits rise. He could never be sure what thoughts were hiding behind the older lionesses' unmoving faces, but his half-brother's support meant much to him.
It was bright morning when he returned to Tuwarret Araim, and Sharraf came by his side but stayed a little back to let him meet the king alone. Parurrtu and Bashdi came to greet him and then ceded the ground for the fight. Vinayzat leapt down from his favourite place above the rocky slope, tossing his mane to clear his head for the fight. He was no longer a young lion by then, an old and mighty king and much larger than Davshahi. Now he touched his muzzle to Davshahi's in greeting and backed off, the two eyeing each other warily. In the tense silence, one could have heard if any lion in the pride had as much as breathed.
Then, as if on a sign, they both crouched and charged at each other. Now they were fighting seriously, exchanging lightning-fast swipes before grabbing each other and throwing their weights to knock the opponent down. Vinayzat used his larger mass to strike Davshahi to the ground, and he felt Vinayzat's claws ripping through his sides and his fangs scratch his face as he went down. The rage of battle surged through him as he kicked with his back claws and reached for his opponents throat with his teeth. They pelted each other with strikes, parting at times heavily panting and striking together again, until a careless leap sent them both rolling down the slope in a ball of growls and ripping claws. Finally Vinayzat pulled away from the fight. He was bleeding from a deep cut in his belly, though Davshahi was bleeding more. He jumped back when Davshahi was about to pursue him, and raised a paw to stop him, his head cocked back high and lips curled in a snarl. "Enough!" he grunted. "For now, you will do, king of Tuwarret Araim. And from here on, it is not on me to judge your worth."
The first one to reach Davshahi was Bashdi, his litter-sister, who licked his wounded face and pushed her head to his shoulder triumphantly. "Welcome back into the pride," she whispered in his ear.
Davshahi accepted no healing for his wounds, but he did ask Arumzan and Atalui to heal his blind eye.
Losing Wenet made Davshahi ill in mood. He lost himself in fighting against other male lions, determined to prove his worth, but he never neglected his pride any more.
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