Mbeneiyo's Den

MBENEIYO’s PRIDE
The wet season in May was a little-considered miracle. As the usually rough soil molded to her paw-pads, Mbeneiyo turned her muzzle to the sky. Her lips pull back in a sort of a grimace, her canines bared to the rain and her whiskers twitching curiously.
A pride, she noted to herself, identifying a large amount of lion scents around the area. One lioness’s scent was stronger than most, and she assumed the lion was likely the queen.
However, through the screen of rain, she spots a decrepit lump, simply sprawled out between two boulders. At first, she assumes the body is dead, but she soon realizes it's the supposed queen.
A black, patched face peered over the closest rock, and soon, the lioness staggered to her feet with a surprisingly loud roar.
Her stature was similar to Mbeneiyo’s– some sort of genetic mismatch, something about chromosomes, or something– and nearly reached her height. Her tail lashed, and her ears remained pinned.
Mbeneiyo falls back onto her haunches, watching the lion with great interest. The telltale signs of starvation were painted on the queen’s flank, her ribbed protruding in a sharp way.
The queen does not approach her, but her posture relaxes with each second.
Once the skinny lioness’s ears are further upright, Mbeneiyo takes her leave, turning tail and trotting into the rainforest. She has some work to do.
⛤
One warthog later, and she returns to the clearing. The lone lioness hasn’t budged– in fact, she returned to her pathetic slump between the rocks. Upon Mbeneiyo’s arrival, she barely stirs, watching her from the spot.
Mbeneiyo trots over, keeping her head lowered and the warthog well displayed. The other lioness looks skeptical, but Mbeneiyo is no stranger to hunger. She knows how quickly the other lioness will fold.
The lioness’s name is Saro, as she learns later. But, in the brief interlude of clear skies, the two share a meal. Their truce is somewhat uneasy at first, but soon, Saro takes the leap to clean off the blood from Mbeneiyo’s face.
And so, Mbeneiyo meets her partner in crime.
⛤
Mbeneiyo left her pride at four years old, after a nomadic male slaughtered her nieces and nephews. Enraged, and considered too dangerous for the male to keep around, she fled, dead set on earning her own pride. It had only been a few weeks, but her budding bond with Saro seemed promising.
A few days later, she follows the sub-female to where her pride resides. Her pride is in a similar condition– nearly starving, and scarred from invaders. Mbeneiyo hangs back while Saro greets her pride, scanning for any indication of a king.
Instead, she notes the presence of a tight-knit group of elderly lionesses, which she properly dubs the matriarchs. They lay close together, watching over the pride with a careful eye.
Mbeneiyo was aware that Saro preferred patrolling to hunting, hence why the lioness wasn’t queen herself. But she had still expected to see some sort of leader.
It’s a dove gray lioness who spots her first.
Splattered with white and black spots, the elder snarls, alerting every lion to Mbeneiyo’s presence. Saro attempts to calm the lioness, but falls short and yields to the other lion’s authority.
Mbeneiyo rises to meet the lioness– her name is Dove, and she was the wisest amongst the pride– and stands her ground. Dove is only a bit shorter than Saro, but with her dilapidated state, her ferocity was the only wild card.
Dove growls in warning, and Mbeneiyo growls back. She is not easily intimidated.
The pride gathered in a loose circle, eyes wide yet hopeful at the strange foreigner. A snow-white lioness joins Saro, and her gaze judges Mbeneiyo with a fairness she hadn’t expected.
Finally, Dove adverts her gaze, chuffing over her shoulder. Mbeneiyo spots a large, piebald male, who trots over to Dove immediately. He is not as unbudging, and if his stature has anything to prove, it's that he’s had more meals than his fellow pride mates.
Mbeneiyo flattens her ears, and bares her teeth. She has seen a challenge before, and she will take it with open claws.
⛤
With Zkar pinned beneath her paws, Mbeneiyo roars in victory. Saro is the next in line to challenge her, but the lioness is well aware of Mbeneiyo’s potential, and gladly rolls onto her back in submission.
Stepping off the defeated male, and roaring once more, she dares another lion to challenge her power. However, not one steps forward, watching with a mixture of awe and hope.
With no more challengers, Mbeneiyo accepts her newfound place as head of the pride. She has some work to do.
⛤
By the dry season, Mbeneiyo works closely with the elders to improve the state of the pride. She assigns hunters based on their skills, and gladly promotes Saro over Zkar after the lioness beats him in a skirmish. North, the achromatic lioness, settles at Mbeneiyo’s side as her queen, and the three of them form a close bond.
Mbeneiyo brings the teachings of her pride– the ability to climb trees. She's quick to help the cubs learn first, and once the future generation is able to lounge freely in the branches, she teaches her fellow pride mates.
When prey runs scarce, Mbeneiyo notes the pride’s success as higher than ever. Moods improve, and bony frames disappear overnight. She relocates them near the Okavango Delta, where competition and prey are tougher, but the territory poses high yields.
The tree-climbing lions become quite the notable pride, and with their patched king at their head, many lions don’t even dare to approach them. The fearsome Elysian swipes down countless males at the annual arena, and her pride cheers her on without hesitation.
And so, Mbeneiyo brings a new era to the pride– the Elysian Era.
⛤