Sona-sugandh's sense of time was, to put it mildly, a mess, to the point that she barely had one at all. Her grasp on the passage of days, weeks, months, was tenuous at best, as she herself had ceased to age quite some time ago, and she lived in her own little world besides. Even changes of season were hardly noticed, irrelevant as they were to her save for the fact that rain was fun to play in. And if she wanted rain that badly, or any other weather, she could always go somewhere that had just what she wanted. Mostly, though, she stayed in her own little valley, hidden from the rest of the world where she and her friends wouldn't be bothered by adults. Yeeugh.

The only trouble, then, was that her friends had a troublesome way of growing up on her and becoming adults. This was her only real measure of time, and one that filled her with a mix of dread and seething indignation. How dare time steal her friends? Ruin them? Why couldn't they just stay young forever? How many times now had she had to fix Umngane and Umshomi? And they forgot her every time, and had to start all over again. It wasn't fair! And now Kupotea was getting bigger and bigger, and before too long...before too long, her precious purple friend would have to go. All too soon, she'd be too old. Before that happened, though, she needed more friends - maybe if she had more friends, maybe if she was happy, she would stay longer. Maybe...

The goddess had been restless for days, distracted, and not even her favorite games had worked to chase away the mood that had come over her. Whether she could fix what was wrong with Kupotea or not, she needed more friends. Maybe that would make her feel better. And so she left the valley and returned to where she'd taken Nzuri from, where there had been not only countless cubs, but old lions in droves. Surely, any one of them would welcome rescue from what she was certain was misery: to be old and full of aches, with death practically just breaths away. This was a gift, one that only she could give, and they were so, so lucky that she was so willing to give it. Not that she ever asked, of course - she knew that she was right, that this was for the best, and that they would be happy together. There was no point in asking whether or not they wanted this. Besides, gifts were meant to be surprises, weren't they? So it was better this way!

On this visit, the wingless goddess didn't dally as she had before, disguising herself as just another cub and frolicking with the pride's youths. No, she needed a new friend, sooner rather than later, and it was best to just get down to business. So she slipped among them all unseen and took a good, long look. As desperate as she was to collect a new companion, a gift that took so much power to bestow merited using careful consideration before she made her choice. Most of her friends now were girls - poor Umshiso was the only boy. Should she get another, so that he wouldn't be the only one? Yes, she would start there, a neat little decision that narrowed down her otherwise impossibly large pool. By cutting it in half, she'd save herself at least some tedium when it came to this task (which, while important, was not fun at all when there were so many choices as to make it more like work than a game).

A boy, then. But which one? There were still a frustrating number of options! So, what else did she have and not have? Umngane was gray. Umshiso was a sort of tannish-gold. Kupotea was purple. Nzuri was brown. More color, then? That might be fun! Hmm. But which color? Did she want a red friend? A blue one? A green one? Pink? Sona paced all around, here and there and back and forth, until her paws were tired, and she hemmed and hawwed over every old or even old-ish lion the Pridelands had to offer. It took a great effort not to talk to herself all the while, which might have attracted some attention, a voice out of thin air! It would have been ever so helpful to be able to consult with herself in such a way, but...

Hmph. Pace, pace, pace. Grumble. Oops! Oh, well, at least that one was asleep. They probably didn't notice. Maybe. Hopefully. All the same, she scurried off elsewhere just in case. She hadn't looked in every den yet, anyway, so it was probably about time she checked a few others! And, ooh, who was that?

This one was so very nice and yellow, and she was awfully partial to yellow. After all, she was yellow, and so was her mother! Granted, she'd come across all sorts of shades of yellow and gold around here, but this one was especially nice. She crept ever so slowly and carefully closer to the sleeping form of the lion, until she was very nearly touching him. Close enough to compare her shade of yellow with his. It was difficult to tell for sure in the dim light of the approaching dawn, and maybe a bit of it was wishful thinking, but their shades of yellow were very close, and she found that very appealing indeed. And on top of that, he had a little bit of blue, and she liked that, too! None of her friends right now had any blue. And were those scars? Oh, the poor old dear! Yes, yes, this one was just the one for her. Absolutely perfect!

Sona stifled a giggle as she wriggled with glee at finding just the right one, and called up the power that would make him young again, and truly the perfect friend. In a matter of moments, a tiny cub slept before her, and she gently scooped him up so as not to wake him. One quick hop and they were both gone before anyone was the wiser, off to paradise.