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Any pronouns
Born under the name of Sands, the young lion was the child of a loving mother and a somewhat careless king. Calligraphy doesn’t remember much of their parents. Only vague memories, the laughter of their mother, and the apathetic gaze of their father when they tried to bond with him. As soon as Sands was weaned off their mother’s milk, his father chucked them right out of his territory. Sands wandered all alone for a little while, until he stumbled on a band of mismatched, rugged looking cubs and adolescent that lived in a large tree, at the base of which lied discarded scraps: food bits, rocks, shiny things and whatnots. The band of cubs took Sands right in. They had joined the Giving Tree.
Life could be rough at the Giving Tree. Every day, lions came in great numbers, taking and leaving unwanted cubs and trinkets. Every day, Sands had to watch friendly faces leave for an unknown destiny, and welcomed stranger cubs into the mismatched little group. Some days, food was abundant, left by kings and their prides. Other days, Sands went to sleep hungry. Time passed, and no one took the ginger-and-yellow lion in…
Until one day, Sands had enough. Now an adolescent, a short mane growing on their neck, Sands left the Giving Tree on their own, aiming to make a life for themself. Life was even harder alone. But Sands survived, for about four months, traveling from pride to pride or walking on their own. Until they found themself on the edges of a desert. Sands, deciding that they feared nothing anymore, strode right into the dunes. The first day went pretty well, they found a small waterhole with plenty of critters to eat. But after that, everything went downhill. After days of wandering, Sands had reached the end of their energy. Tired, hungry, dehydrated and sunburnt, the young lion passed out under the meager shade of a boulder, and closed their eyes. Already, the vultures circled, waiting for the Singing Desert to end yet an other life.
☀️☀️☀️
‘Rūna, what’s that over there?’ The lioness called out to her mate
Looking over where her partner was, Rūna the smilus Queen shrugged ´Looks like carrion, love. Let’s get going, I want to be back home by sunrise. You know I overheat with my mane and all’
Ignoring Rūna, Vivacia trotted closer to the bundled up body ‘It’s a cub! I wonder if…’ the red lioness bent, sniffing the body ‘it’s barely alive. Rūna, pick it up, we’ll bring the cub to ZebraFlame. Maybe there’s still a chance!’
The smilus easily picked up the emaciated, limp body, hurrying along with Vivacia to the shaman’s desert cave.
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