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I can't believe l haven't uploaded anything new for SoR on DA since May. Time sure flies by. ^^
It has been available on Patreon for well over a month now, so I thought it was about time DA got to see it too.
Also, Jamili is back!
Some has been asking me what became of Jamili and when we were going to see him again.
Jamili is a minor character and will show up a little now and then during this series, but he will not be in every part.
And for those of you who wonder, yes I have seen the ending of season three of TLG and I liked it ok.
But it's not canon to my HC. I do however, have some ideas for how I could adapt some part of the content from season three, like the Night pride and Rani (including her relationship with Kion) into my HC without making a mess of the current story. I may write a journal or even make a sketch dump about it at some point where I explain it in more detail. But I have a busy autumn ahead of me, so it may have to wait.

As always, thanks to Truth-lover3712 for helping with the grammar and editing on this.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Aina tried to recall what little she could from the hunting lessons she had had in the past as she crept closer to the small herd of grazing gazelles. But what she could remember was dim, as she had never really paid much attention to their hunting lessons. She had never liked anything that had to do with hunting, since it always resulted in her fur getting dirty and dusty. On top of that, she had not planned on being some measly hunter in the future. She had higher ambitions than that. But now she didn’t even have a pride to help her take down a prey.

Regardless, she made sure that the vegetation covered her and tried hard to remain focused on her chosen target - when suddenly one of the gazelles poked its head up and looked right at the place where she was hiding. One heartbeat they were staring at each other, the next the gazelle bolted away and the whole herd followed unanimously.

“Blast!” Aina growled as she made a desperate attempt to chase after her prey. But in her hurry to catch up to the herd, she failed to pay attention to where she put her paws, and before she knew she stumbled over a fallen branch. Wailing she sat up and snarled frustrated after the disappearing gazelles, while her stomach let out rumbling noises.

Aina had been staying at Rafiki’s tree for several days now and, as expected, they had offered to help her with her “problems”, as they called it. Aina had accepted the offer, and when Rafiki raised an eyebrow at this in surprise she had smirked inside. She bet he hadn’t expected that.

During the first few days, however, she had started to feel feverish, so their offer had to wait. But according to Rafiki, the fever was to be expected, and he had given her something to bring the fever down. In the meantime, all she had to feed herself with had been scraps and leftovers that Makini had managed to find for her. This made Aina feel as if she was some filthy hyena. Still, her hunger had eventually won over her pride and she had accepted the food. But she longed for fresh meat. So she kept trying to hunt, but all her previous attempts were the same; unsuccessful to say the least.

“Well, that could have gone better.”

Aina flinched in surprise at the unexpected comment and looked over her shoulder. It was Jamili. Aina had not seen him since the day she left Pride Rock, when he had shielded her from Vizuri’s attack.

The small wounds he had received in the process were now faint scars that looked like they would fade away soon enough. Not so with Aina, who still had very visible marks on her cheek. Rafiki had said it was healing nicely and she was now out of danger. But if the scars would ever disappear completely was still uncertain. They could fade over time, but due to the infection it may be a very slow progress.

The fact that she would have ended up much worse had it not been for Jamili didn’t stop Aina from getting annoyed by his comment. “Oh? like you could do better-”
But before she could complete her remark, she got distracted by something at his paws. A piece of meat, zebra by the looks and smells of it. Aina couldn’t stop herself from licking her lips. Jamili followed her eyes and pushed the meat toward her.

“I suspected you would be having trouble finding food while being away,”

A part of Aina wanted to refuse it after his remark about her hunting skills, but again her stomach won over her pride and she started to tear into the meat. Jamili’s eyes then went to the gazelles that were now nothing but tiny dots on the horizon. “And for you previous comment; no, I don’t think I could have taken down one of those either. Gazelles are very fast and hard to hunt without a pride and a carefully planned ambush.”

Aina rolled her eyes as she chewed down another chunk of the meat. “I went after those because they were small. It’s not like I can take down a zebra all by myself.”

Jamili shook his head. “No, not a zebra. But there are other animals that are more practical to hunt - even for a loner.” Aina swallowed another bite. “And how was I supposed to know that?”

“We learned such facts during our hunting lessons.” Jamili answered “But I assume you don’t recall much of those.”
Aina held back a growl, knowing Jamili hinted at her disinterest in learning hunting skills.

“Well, I didn’t exactly plan on ending up all alone one day having to fend for myself like some dusty old stray!” She snapped. Which made her think of something else. “Say, I bet that sorry excuse for a princess is content and well fed back at Pride Rock right? Did she even receive any punishment for what she did to me? Or was she excused like all-”

“My cousin has not been seen since the day she struck you.” Jamili interrupted her. This made Aina pause before taking another bite out of her food.

“… She left?”

Jamili nodded. “Yes, Vizuri left the same evening you did but she’s not come back yet. No one has seen her since, not even her parents have. The trackers think she is still in the area, but she obviously doesn’t’ want to be found.”

Aina snorted at this. So Vizuri was off sulking somewhere. But at least that meant she was in a similar situation. It would seem there was some justice in this world after all. She gave Jamili a quick look to see his reaction. But like always, she couldn’t tell how he felt about his cousin being gone or the event leading up to it. Jamili instead changed subject.

“If you would like me to, I can stay around for a while and teach you how to hunt more suitable prey.”

Aina thought about this while she gulped down the last of her meat. If she wanted to stay around the tree, she would have to find a way to get enough food. But she still hated the thought hunting, just look what a mess this attempt made of her fur. As if carrying these the scars was not bad enough already. But then a thought daunted in her mind. Maybe there was a third option, Aina thought with a smirk as she swallowed the last piece of zebra.

“Yeah, that would be a very sweet thing of you to do, Jamili. But do you know what would be even kinder?” Aina said using her honey sweet voice. “I’m honestly not sure I was ever meant to be a hunter in the first place. I mean, you just saw how hopeless I’m at it.”

Jamili raised an eyebrow at this. “Yes, you’re bad at it. But that’s to be expected if you’ve not practiced.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think my talents simply lays elsewhere.” Aina kept insisting as she got up and flashed a bit with her eyelashes toward the young lion. “You could just continue to bring me a piece of meat from Pride Rock, like you did today. That way you wouldn’t have to waste time on training a hopeless hunter like me.”
But to Aina’s big annoyance, Jamili shook his head at this. “No, I will not do that.”

“Why not?” Aina asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. But it was getting difficult. “Wouldn’t that save us both a lot of trouble?” Again, Jamili shook his head. “No. It would save you the trouble to learn. But it would not save me the trouble of walking a long way back and forth from Pride Rock. It is long enough as it is, and doing so takes almost a whole day.”

“So? Am I not supposed to be able to count on my friends?” Aina kept asking. “Or aren’t you my friend, Jamili?”

“I am.” He answered. “But that doesn't mean I’ll let you use me. Because I know that’s what you are trying to do right now.”
Aina blushed in embarrassment and anger. His voice was not hurt or angry, but had the same neutral tone it has always had. And so once again Aina couldn’t tell whether he was upset or not.

“I can stay and teach you how to catch your own meat,” He continued, “or I can go back home and let you continue with your business around here. It’s your choice.”

Aina thought about it for a brief moment. But she then realized there really wasn’t much of a choice. She couldn’t keep relying on the luck of finding enough scraps to live by. Unless she wanted to return to Pride Rock and face Vizuri’s parents, she needed a way to remain fed – which, against her pride, meant to follow Jamili’s hunting lessons. “Ugh, fine! Stay and show me how to do it then.”

But Jamili kept looking at her like he expected something more.

“Please?” She added between her teeth.

Jamili then nodded and turned around. “Very well then. Follow me, and I’ll show you some easier prey and how to catch them.” But he halted only after a few steps and looked at Aina again over his shoulder. “That reminds me. You should really let your mother know that you plan to remain around here for a while. She asked me to tell you to send her a messenger, if I found you.”

But Aina was not in the mood to be told what to do anymore this day, not by Jamili nor her mother.

“You can tell her to mind her own damn businesses.” She growled as she strode past him. “Now, will you show me how to do this or not?”
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As much as I love making these stories, writing Aina's character and reasoning can be really painful at times. xD

Also, I think I may as well mention. Vizuri has not left the Pride Lands yet at this point. She is still within the borders, but it's fairly close to when she finally made the decision to leave.
Why do Jamili still want to help Aina after what happen with Vizuri? Well, the short answer would be: because he is a weird and kinda complicated guy.
Jamili tends to look at the bigger picture of things rather than to let his feelings rule him. He wants Aina to change for the better and he don't think that can be accomplished by blaming and being angry at her her. That's pretty much what everyone else has done and it hasn't done any good. Also, he kinda has an endless penitence. However, just because he offers to help Aina doesn't mean that he is not upset or angry with her for what happen, he just don't show it.

Like my stories? Consider to supporting me on Patreon and get accesses to previews and story part weeks before it's uploaded on DA. www.patreon.com/irete

Description
Next: www.deviantart.com/irete/art/S…
Previous: Scars of Redemption: Part 3

I can't believe l haven't uploaded anything new for SoR on DA since May. Time sure flies by. ^^
It has been available on Patreon for well over a month now, so I thought it was about time DA got to see it too.
Also, Jamili is back!
Some has been asking me what became of Jamili and when we were going to see him again.
Jamili is a minor character and will show up a little now and then during this series, but he will not be in every part.
And for those of you who wonder, yes I have seen the ending of season three of TLG and I liked it ok.
But it's not canon to my HC. I do however, have some ideas for how I could adapt some part of the content from season three, like the Night pride and Rani (including her relationship with Kion) into my HC without making a mess of the current story. I may write a journal or even make a sketch dump about it at some point where I explain it in more detail. But I have a busy autumn ahead of me, so it may have to wait.

As always, thanks to Truth-lover3712 for helping with the grammar and editing on this.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Aina tried to recall what little she could from the hunting lessons she had had in the past as she crept closer to the small herd of grazing gazelles. But what she could remember was dim, as she had never really paid much attention to their hunting lessons. She had never liked anything that had to do with hunting, since it always resulted in her fur getting dirty and dusty. On top of that, she had not planned on being some measly hunter in the future. She had higher ambitions than that. But now she didn’t even have a pride to help her take down a prey.

Regardless, she made sure that the vegetation covered her and tried hard to remain focused on her chosen target - when suddenly one of the gazelles poked its head up and looked right at the place where she was hiding. One heartbeat they were staring at each other, the next the gazelle bolted away and the whole herd followed unanimously.

“Blast!” Aina growled as she made a desperate attempt to chase after her prey. But in her hurry to catch up to the herd, she failed to pay attention to where she put her paws, and before she knew she stumbled over a fallen branch. Wailing she sat up and snarled frustrated after the disappearing gazelles, while her stomach let out rumbling noises.

Aina had been staying at Rafiki’s tree for several days now and, as expected, they had offered to help her with her “problems”, as they called it. Aina had accepted the offer, and when Rafiki raised an eyebrow at this in surprise she had smirked inside. She bet he hadn’t expected that.

During the first few days, however, she had started to feel feverish, so their offer had to wait. But according to Rafiki, the fever was to be expected, and he had given her something to bring the fever down. In the meantime, all she had to feed herself with had been scraps and leftovers that Makini had managed to find for her. This made Aina feel as if she was some filthy hyena. Still, her hunger had eventually won over her pride and she had accepted the food. But she longed for fresh meat. So she kept trying to hunt, but all her previous attempts were the same; unsuccessful to say the least.

“Well, that could have gone better.”

Aina flinched in surprise at the unexpected comment and looked over her shoulder. It was Jamili. Aina had not seen him since the day she left Pride Rock, when he had shielded her from Vizuri’s attack.

The small wounds he had received in the process were now faint scars that looked like they would fade away soon enough. Not so with Aina, who still had very visible marks on her cheek. Rafiki had said it was healing nicely and she was now out of danger. But if the scars would ever disappear completely was still uncertain. They could fade over time, but due to the infection it may be a very slow progress.

The fact that she would have ended up much worse had it not been for Jamili didn’t stop Aina from getting annoyed by his comment. “Oh? like you could do better-”
But before she could complete her remark, she got distracted by something at his paws. A piece of meat, zebra by the looks and smells of it. Aina couldn’t stop herself from licking her lips. Jamili followed her eyes and pushed the meat toward her.

“I suspected you would be having trouble finding food while being away,”

A part of Aina wanted to refuse it after his remark about her hunting skills, but again her stomach won over her pride and she started to tear into the meat. Jamili’s eyes then went to the gazelles that were now nothing but tiny dots on the horizon. “And for you previous comment; no, I don’t think I could have taken down one of those either. Gazelles are very fast and hard to hunt without a pride and a carefully planned ambush.”

Aina rolled her eyes as she chewed down another chunk of the meat. “I went after those because they were small. It’s not like I can take down a zebra all by myself.”

Jamili shook his head. “No, not a zebra. But there are other animals that are more practical to hunt - even for a loner.” Aina swallowed another bite. “And how was I supposed to know that?”

“We learned such facts during our hunting lessons.” Jamili answered “But I assume you don’t recall much of those.”
Aina held back a growl, knowing Jamili hinted at her disinterest in learning hunting skills.

“Well, I didn’t exactly plan on ending up all alone one day having to fend for myself like some dusty old stray!” She snapped. Which made her think of something else. “Say, I bet that sorry excuse for a princess is content and well fed back at Pride Rock right? Did she even receive any punishment for what she did to me? Or was she excused like all-”

“My cousin has not been seen since the day she struck you.” Jamili interrupted her. This made Aina pause before taking another bite out of her food.

“… She left?”

Jamili nodded. “Yes, Vizuri left the same evening you did but she’s not come back yet. No one has seen her since, not even her parents have. The trackers think she is still in the area, but she obviously doesn’t’ want to be found.”

Aina snorted at this. So Vizuri was off sulking somewhere. But at least that meant she was in a similar situation. It would seem there was some justice in this world after all. She gave Jamili a quick look to see his reaction. But like always, she couldn’t tell how he felt about his cousin being gone or the event leading up to it. Jamili instead changed subject.

“If you would like me to, I can stay around for a while and teach you how to hunt more suitable prey.”

Aina thought about this while she gulped down the last of her meat. If she wanted to stay around the tree, she would have to find a way to get enough food. But she still hated the thought hunting, just look what a mess this attempt made of her fur. As if carrying these the scars was not bad enough already. But then a thought daunted in her mind. Maybe there was a third option, Aina thought with a smirk as she swallowed the last piece of zebra.

“Yeah, that would be a very sweet thing of you to do, Jamili. But do you know what would be even kinder?” Aina said using her honey sweet voice. “I’m honestly not sure I was ever meant to be a hunter in the first place. I mean, you just saw how hopeless I’m at it.”

Jamili raised an eyebrow at this. “Yes, you’re bad at it. But that’s to be expected if you’ve not practiced.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think my talents simply lays elsewhere.” Aina kept insisting as she got up and flashed a bit with her eyelashes toward the young lion. “You could just continue to bring me a piece of meat from Pride Rock, like you did today. That way you wouldn’t have to waste time on training a hopeless hunter like me.”
But to Aina’s big annoyance, Jamili shook his head at this. “No, I will not do that.”

“Why not?” Aina asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. But it was getting difficult. “Wouldn’t that save us both a lot of trouble?” Again, Jamili shook his head. “No. It would save you the trouble to learn. But it would not save me the trouble of walking a long way back and forth from Pride Rock. It is long enough as it is, and doing so takes almost a whole day.”

“So? Am I not supposed to be able to count on my friends?” Aina kept asking. “Or aren’t you my friend, Jamili?”

“I am.” He answered. “But that doesn't mean I’ll let you use me. Because I know that’s what you are trying to do right now.”
Aina blushed in embarrassment and anger. His voice was not hurt or angry, but had the same neutral tone it has always had. And so once again Aina couldn’t tell whether he was upset or not.

“I can stay and teach you how to catch your own meat,” He continued, “or I can go back home and let you continue with your business around here. It’s your choice.”

Aina thought about it for a brief moment. But she then realized there really wasn’t much of a choice. She couldn’t keep relying on the luck of finding enough scraps to live by. Unless she wanted to return to Pride Rock and face Vizuri’s parents, she needed a way to remain fed – which, against her pride, meant to follow Jamili’s hunting lessons. “Ugh, fine! Stay and show me how to do it then.”

But Jamili kept looking at her like he expected something more.

“Please?” She added between her teeth.

Jamili then nodded and turned around. “Very well then. Follow me, and I’ll show you some easier prey and how to catch them.” But he halted only after a few steps and looked at Aina again over his shoulder. “That reminds me. You should really let your mother know that you plan to remain around here for a while. She asked me to tell you to send her a messenger, if I found you.”

But Aina was not in the mood to be told what to do anymore this day, not by Jamili nor her mother.

“You can tell her to mind her own damn businesses.” She growled as she strode past him. “Now, will you show me how to do this or not?”
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As much as I love making these stories, writing Aina's character and reasoning can be really painful at times. xD

Also, I think I may as well mention. Vizuri has not left the Pride Lands yet at this point. She is still within the borders, but it's fairly close to when she finally made the decision to leave.
Why do Jamili still want to help Aina after what happen with Vizuri? Well, the short answer would be: because he is a weird and kinda complicated guy.
Jamili tends to look at the bigger picture of things rather than to let his feelings rule him. He wants Aina to change for the better and he don't think that can be accomplished by blaming and being angry at her her. That's pretty much what everyone else has done and it hasn't done any good. Also, he kinda has an endless penitence. However, just because he offers to help Aina doesn't mean that he is not upset or angry with her for what happen, he just don't show it.

Like my stories? Consider to supporting me on Patreon and get accesses to previews and story part weeks before it's uploaded on DA. www.patreon.com/irete