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A lone lioness yawned in a den somewhere in the Serengeti, the cool night air filling her lungs as she stirred, unwinding herself from around the tiny body beside her and stepping out into the dark, her dull green eyes already adjusted to the dark. Her black tipped tail curled and uncurled, and she stretched out her slender, snow white form before jauntily leaping down from the rocky ledge of the den to land on her charcoal paws gracefully in the short golden grass. Padding away from her home, the lioness winded down to a nearby creek and bent to drink her fill of the cold water, her eyes closed peacefully despite the rumble of sleeping crocodiles and the snorts of hippos. Sitting up, she found herself staring down into her reflection, her eyes locked at her face, half covered by a long cascade of loose, long white fur that fell over her right eye, the left eye marred by a long, pink, crescent scar. With a yawn the lioness, Baridi, stretched again, allowing her head to turn with the wind. When she opened her eyes, she noticed the outline of a rocky outcropping in the distance, back by a small jungle. Her black lips fell into a small frown, and she stilled, her mind reeling back to her cub-hood in the distant past. Her memory brought the lioness back to being an overly fluffy little cub, racing about with her cousins on the sun-heated rocks of the Genge Pride. The affection of her mother, Motolulu, and the caring embrace of her grandparents and great grandmother. Baridi sighed and flopped onto her side heavily, allowing her mind to wander back and let her relive her cub-hood in dreams as she napped by the river, a living hill of snow in the heart of the Serengeti.

A small white cub with a ruff of loose fur atop her head raced over warm, tan rocks. Her charcoal paws pushing her tiny, rotund little body off the ground and sending her flying through the air toward her prize, a long golden ruff of fur waving in the warm summer air. She reached out, claws extended, and grabbed hold of the fluffy toy, tumbling over onto her back and landing against the leg of a larger lion, the gold-tipped tail clenched in her teeth, tiny little playful growls emitting from her cream colored chest. The lioness she had just bumped into turned, her sapphire blue eyes locking on the cub as she lifted the smaller lion in her jaws, placing her down on the dusty ground before her. "There you are, Baridi. I was looking for you." The lioness purred, nuzzling her cub softly and rasping her dry tongue through the cub's long fur. Baridi smiled up at her mother and put a dark paw up against her mother's pink nose, pushing her back. "Momma, enough! That tickles!" She giggled, her soft green eyes closed in joy. "Wait....where's Daddy? Isn't he coming to take me to the jungle today?" She asked, looking around for the distinctive figure of her father. Motolulu frowned softly, looking up at her own mother, Kiongozi, the queen of the pride, who was stretched out on a large sunning rock with her mate, Nguvu, nearby. Kiongozi frowned softly. "Baridi....your father.....he...." She called to her granddaughter unsteadily. An old lioness padded out of the den, her dark pelt and white stomach greying softly with age. "He no good." She snorted, bending at Motolulu's paws to lift up Baridi by the scruff. "You come with me...we play in the grass." She said, her voice muffled by the small cub's white fur. Kiongozi blinked at the old lioness, her mother, and sighed, leaning back into her mates thick mane. Nguvu yawned and snickered lightly. "Be careful, old Hekima." He teased. Hekima rolled her eyes and kept walking, carrying the cub away from the rest of the pride.

When the pair reached the tall grass, Hekima placed her great granddaughter down on a small rock and nuzzled her. "Your father come to the pride this morning....he's having a cub with his mate...they are moving to a new pride....far far away....he cannot come to see you anymore." She said softly, not bothering to sugar-coat the words for the small cub. Baridi blinked. "Wait...what?" She asked, confused. "But he promised! He said he'd always be here for me!" Hekima nodded. "I know...I know....but sometimes these things happen...people we count on have other people who need them more, so we have to just smile and walk through it all, with our heads held high. We can only count on ourselves." She said softly, nuzzling the cub again. "All will work out in the end, little Baridi." Baridi sniffled, tears dripping down her face, and making a small puddle in a dip in the rock. She looked into it at her left eye reflected in the liquid and sniffled again. "It's just not fair. I'm his cub too." She murmured, pulling her tail tightly around her small charcoal paws, staring at the tuft of black fur that crowned the tip of her tail. Black like her father's mane. And her paws, grey like his fur. Her mother, the whitest lioness in the Serengeti, with a tail tip of gold, and her father, the blackest lion in the Serengeti, with burning red-brown eyes. It was no wonder she was colored so funny. The rest of her family was regular lions. Nice tans and browns and creams. She sniffled, feeling isolated and like a freak for not looking like the others, and she curled up tightly. "I feel small and weak." She murmured to her wise caretaker. Hekima frowned. "So grow and become big and strong. All things take time...all will be better." She responded, laying beside the rock.

Beside the river, Baridi's large charcoal paw twitched as she woke up, yawning and stretching. She turned her eyes up to the heavens, looking at the swirling dark blue sky with brilliant points of light. "Hekima....what do I have to grow into now that I'm big and strong, but scared? What should I do? My pride is hungry, our rocky den is crumbling....I wish you were here to help me." She sighed, standing and padding back to the den, looking in through the gloom at the other three adult lions, and the multitude of cubs. With a sigh she padded over to her daughter, Paka, and curled around her. The cub yawned and opened her eyes. "Momma? W....Where's Daddy?"