"You notice a fountain of dirt. Getting closer, you see Bahrut head first in a large dirt hole digging for bugs."
"Bahrut snuggles up to you with a loud purring noise as you near her, raking her body against yours. You are now covered in dirt."
[claimed after cub encounter]
[torn fur from bushbuck hunt] [removed]
[white left eye from a bontebok hunt]
[nose ridge scar from steenbok hunt]
[cheek scar from kob hunt]
[short left eye scar from drowned gazelle hunt]
[nose scratch from gemsbok hunt]
[beaten up scar from okapi hunt]
[back scratch from a dik dik hunt]
* Leader at the hunt
* Blood-sister to
queen Kerabai
As the eldest and most skilled lioness in the early days of the pride, Bahrut was the natural choice for the hunt leader. Her duties include sending lionesses on group hunts and leading hunting parties at more demanding expeditions.
She got the scar in her side when a hunt for a sable antelope went bad and ended in a prolonged fight, with the antelope buck wounded and unable to escape but none of the young lionesses able to crush his resistance. Kerabai jokes that Bahrut must have been seeking a scar matching that of Kerabai's, and since then she considered Bahrut her blood-sister.
Being one of the undisputedly most skilled and experienced lionesses in her pride, Bahrut is quite confident about her decisions, but in the end she still has much to learn. A harsh lesson was taken when she and Kerabai decided on a whim to take on a donkey that turned out to be much stronger than anticipated - the donkey was less than willing to be dinner, and Bahrut escaped with a sore backside and a bruised pride.
Her blinded left eye, on the other hand, is a badge of honour earned later, when she was already a very experienced hunter. The lionesses were chasing a bontebok over rocky terrain, when the animal suddenly turned around and charged Athui in desperation. Bahrut leapt against in from the side and successfully tipped it over, but the two took a roll in the gravel and bontebok managed to injure Bahrut before she could subdue it. Athui said she owes a debt of honour to Bahrut for the incident.
As the queen's blood-sister, it was natural that when Kerabai started expecting cubs, Bahrut would also breed, so that their cubs would grow up together as siblings.
Bahrut and Kerabai don't so often go hunting just the two of them anymore. They're now leaders of a great pride and always surrounded by lionesses looking up to them, males looking for their guidance, and young to train. But every now and then, they'll make time to ditch all that and take a long trip together.
When the great drought ravaged the land, they once decided to be free from the pride's worries for a while, ran over the grasslands and savannah for the whole afternoon, and then came back in a much better mood to command their pride to come and help them drag home the prey. Because they had brought down a giraffe, just the two of them, to soothe their hungering pride's worries.
The scar on her cheek is one more reminder that even the strongest, most skilled hunter has to always stay vigilant. She got it when trying to show off for young Atharvai and Jetamzin at a kob hunt, and the prey turned out to be less easily subdued than she had expected. Next time the lionesses got in a fight with a kob, Bahrut ordered retreat, her face bloodied, and they went to the river to pick up drowned carcasses instead.
The greatest challenge in Bahrut's life was when the hunting party took on a dik dik, and she had to protect her queen and huntmates from the wrath of the ferocious animal. Her back scratched and bloodied, she emerged victorious and the pride feasted upon the dik dik's corpse that night.
As her daughter Bahrizai aged, Bahrut gave her more and more responsibility at the hunts. At last, Bahrut decided it was time for her to start hunting less, and being ever the stern leader, she decided to put Bahrizai through a trial: she was to lead a hunt on a giraffe. Bahrizai was no young lioness anymore then, and though she was wounded in the fierce fight with the strong prey, she cleared the trial with confidence and ease, making Bahrut and Kerabai pleased and Sharrut's eyes shine with pride.
