Ahna was fretting. Her mate, Seth, had left the safety of their home once again. The lioness had a job, after all, and she could not stay curled around Ahna for the rest of their lives. That was not a plausible scenario, no matter how much it would make Ahna feel better.
That did not stop her fretting.
Still, she was not alone in their home. The pride was not a large one, and when Ahna had arrived here, she had no family or friends. She came here on the minor hope that she could find a home here.
She had found that in her mate.
And she found that, in her daughter. The young orange lioness was brought into the pride by her mate, an orphaned cub that was still quite small. So Ahna was not alone. She had Seth, even if her mate was not home, and she had her daughter, Solveig.
Ahna took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves. She placed her head upon that of her cub and looked out into the greater part of the pride. The small orange cub was nestled against her stomach, dozing a bit in the warm morning sun.
Solveig snuffled a bit, trying to return to the nap she had fallen into, but no such luck. She could feel her mother’s distress. She peered up at the lioness with bright, purple eyes.
“Are you alright, Mama?” She asked, sprawling over pale paws.
Ahna looked upon her daughter, nuzzling the top of her head with a gentleness that her nerves did not speak of. “I’m alright, baby,” she responded.
What the little cub did not know is that just before Solveig came into her care, Ahna had been attacked rather violently by several raiders. While Ahna could fight, and win, with some odds stacked against her, there was no chance she could win four on one.
She had tried her best, and had landed some blows on her attackers, she had ultimately failed.
She was quite fortunate that a neutral pride made of medics had been heading in her direction. She surely would have perished without aid. She gave a small shudder at the thought and pressed her nose into the cub’s fur.
She still felt anxiety over leaving the pride.
It made her feel weak, but she had to be strong for her child. She took another calming breath. “I’m alright,” she repeated, when Solveig did not speak again, the cub frowning up at her.
