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Ms. Fahrenheit was getting older.
She had made so many lionesses happy in her time, an given many a home that they thought they would never find.
At the same time, she had watched so many of those lionesses age and die in front of her eyes. Andesite, Sweet Tangerine, Exxus... her heart every day ached for their company. It became harder and harder to bear her sorrows along with the woes of her pride day by day, month by month.
Contemplating these thoughts one evening, her paws took her to the Namibian Escarpment. A difficult hike would temper her senses, she reasoned.
Feeling adventurous, she ventured to a trail that she had never taken before. Her muscles afire, she reached a sharp turn, after which she was greeted by a stark change of scenery. The setting sun touched everything just right, and suddenly, a blaze of color sent her reeling. In this secret corner of her territory, an explosion of flora had formed a tight copse bracketed by sun-warmed rocks. The rushing of a small creek, the twittering of birds, and the pit-a-pat of prey assaulted her senses.
At its center, a humming could be heard. A low rumbling underwrote it - that of a young lion only just learning to use his voice. Following the pleasant sound led the enchanted lioness to a golden lion who the sunlight coveted so much that even the surrounding plants formed a halo around him, seeming to bask in its warmth. He was quietly weaving some surrounding vines into a den-like structure as other, smaller creatures tumbled and played with his two swishing tails.
"If you intend to hunt here, you should leave now." A soft, but firm voice. "If you try, we'll have to be enemies."
He'd sensed her without turning around-? Maybe Ms. Fahrenheit's stealth, too, had dulled with age... And yet, at sensing a lion as powerful as herself, his first thought wasn't his own preservation, but that of his critter friends...
Ms. Fahrenheit pondered this, marveling at the sense of stewardship in this young lion - at an age where they should be the most crass and thrill-seeking. How, despite this clear virtue, had she never seen or heard of him before now? Especially seeing as he had situated himself upon her territory..?
"Who are you? Where are you from?"
"I'm... Invictus. From... nowhere. Nowhere that matters, anyway. You're... not here to hunt after all, are you?" Trepidation edged his voice.
..
..
"...Have you ever considered leading a pride?"
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