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~Introduction dialogue~
Following the trail of a white rabbit, you're led into a snowstorm, of all things, out here in Tanzania! Picking your way through the drifts, you struggle uphill and nearly fall back down, the ice crystals freezing on your eyelashes and causing you to sneeze every so often. The rabbit is long gone, but just when you're about to give up hope and turn around, a flicker of movement catches your attention ahead. Without thinking, you drop into a crouch and prepare to leap, but a sudden roar and outstretched paws slam into you before you can dodge.
It's not the king or one of the submales who's pinned you down, but a large, pale gray lioness with pinkish-blue in her coat, her crimson eyes glaring down at you angrily with her teeth bared. The dirty, bloody bandages around her paws reveal that she used to be in some state of trouble recently, but it's impossible to tell if she's actually still injured or not. Judging from the powerful grip she has on your throat...not likely. "What's this?" she demands of you. "Some confused cat lost their way to the nursery, eh? Look around. This place isn't meant for you, outsider. I'm no Chief Huntress, but neither did I aspire to be. Nor am I a broodmother! I simply earn my keep here, bloodying my claws as necessary, and raising the next generation to do the same. Rinse, lather, repeat...blah, blah, blah."
She then releases her hold on you and lets you stand up properly before she just saunters off back into the snowstorm without a care in the world. Those bandages around her ankles and wrists...they're the work of humans! And they've been on for long enough that maybe they're not meant to actually keep her protected in any manner but to remind her of something. Maybe she was caught in a trap. Maybe she came from captivity. It would explain why she's simply used to a place so oddly cold in the middle of this kingdom...
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The second lioness claimed on the same day as Mbali, "Barafu" is the Swahili word for ice, which was earned both for her nature and her unusual history before joining King Isiphepho's pride. Barafu never said where she came from, but she hinted that she'd lived her whole life in the coldest mountains ever seen before, which was like something out of a nightmare for King Isiphepho and his pride. As a result, instead of the hot savannah frequented by the other members of the pride, Barafu preferred anywhere that wasn't even remotely warm; she claimed it was because she was acclimated to freezing temperatures now, and she wasn't sure how to cope with blistering summers or even the passage of seasons from colder times to warmer. Ironically, her children never suffered ill side effects and seemed to have fair immunity no matter which kind of environment they settled in.
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