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Description
NEXT: www.deviantart.com/starling26/…

Dark clouds. There where always dark clouds these days, heavy with the threat of a desperately needed rain that just never fell, no matter how much the parched land below begged. Or maybe they weren’t rain clouds at all. Maybe they were the other kind of dark clouds – a visible cluster of the normally invisible dark clouds that followed the miserable. There where a lot of miserable souls in the Pridelands these days, so Ushindi wouldn’t be all that surprised if that was true.

And it felt better to imagine they where the wrong kind of dark clouds than the right ones, and the Spirits where just denying them rain to punish a King too far gone in madness to change or care.

Ushindi walked the familiar dirt path alone, dust kicked up by a strong breeze and clinging to her deep brown fur, but she didn’t care. She was one of the few lionesses Scar allowed to wander alone, without the watchful eye of the king himself or his army of hyena. It was a privilege she supposed, to have the kings trust like that. His ever loyal lieutenant, trusted to patrol the borders without him ever having to worry she might run…

Her grey eyes roamed the land. Right now the boarder of the Outlands where closer to her than Priderock was… just a few more steps, just one paw after another… it would be so easy.

Ushindi turned away from the border, mouth set in a line and glared at the skull again on her way past, daring it to fault her some more.

As tempting as it was to think about leaving… she couldn’t.

It would solve a lot of her problems though, wouldn’t it, she thought with a wry smile to herself.

She knew her pride sisters didn’t trust her. In fact, most of them avoided speaking with her at all if they could help it. The only ones who went out of their way to have any interaction with her where Sarabi and her aunt Sarafina, and even then it was limited. Ushindi liked it that way really… Scar couldn’t ask her for information on the lionesses if none of them would even speak to her after all.

Still, it didn’t stop the whispers and looks from hurting. Her father had always told her that lions lived in prides for a reason – they were social creatures. It wasn’t that they couldn’t survive alone, rouges where more than proof they could, but they didn’t like to. Life on the savannah was hard enough, but in a pride there was security, family, friends.

She may still be part of the pride, but Ushindi couldn’t remember the last time she had ever felt the sense of friendship, family or security you where supposed to in a pride.

Looking towards the dark clouds again Ushindi shook her head. No, leaving wasn’t the right option. But was there a right option in a world that felt full of bad ones? It seemed like every choice she made, every turn she took, led her down a darker path.

How had it come to this?

Ushindi finally came to sit on a large boulder, still within sight on the border but far enough away not to be a temptation anymore. How had it come to this? Oh… she remembered exactly how this all started, all too clearly…

Description
NEXT: www.deviantart.com/starling26/…

Dark clouds. There where always dark clouds these days, heavy with the threat of a desperately needed rain that just never fell, no matter how much the parched land below begged. Or maybe they weren’t rain clouds at all. Maybe they were the other kind of dark clouds – a visible cluster of the normally invisible dark clouds that followed the miserable. There where a lot of miserable souls in the Pridelands these days, so Ushindi wouldn’t be all that surprised if that was true.

And it felt better to imagine they where the wrong kind of dark clouds than the right ones, and the Spirits where just denying them rain to punish a King too far gone in madness to change or care.

Ushindi walked the familiar dirt path alone, dust kicked up by a strong breeze and clinging to her deep brown fur, but she didn’t care. She was one of the few lionesses Scar allowed to wander alone, without the watchful eye of the king himself or his army of hyena. It was a privilege she supposed, to have the kings trust like that. His ever loyal lieutenant, trusted to patrol the borders without him ever having to worry she might run…

Her grey eyes roamed the land. Right now the boarder of the Outlands where closer to her than Priderock was… just a few more steps, just one paw after another… it would be so easy.

Ushindi turned away from the border, mouth set in a line and glared at the skull again on her way past, daring it to fault her some more.

As tempting as it was to think about leaving… she couldn’t.

It would solve a lot of her problems though, wouldn’t it, she thought with a wry smile to herself.

She knew her pride sisters didn’t trust her. In fact, most of them avoided speaking with her at all if they could help it. The only ones who went out of their way to have any interaction with her where Sarabi and her aunt Sarafina, and even then it was limited. Ushindi liked it that way really… Scar couldn’t ask her for information on the lionesses if none of them would even speak to her after all.

Still, it didn’t stop the whispers and looks from hurting. Her father had always told her that lions lived in prides for a reason – they were social creatures. It wasn’t that they couldn’t survive alone, rouges where more than proof they could, but they didn’t like to. Life on the savannah was hard enough, but in a pride there was security, family, friends.

She may still be part of the pride, but Ushindi couldn’t remember the last time she had ever felt the sense of friendship, family or security you where supposed to in a pride.

Looking towards the dark clouds again Ushindi shook her head. No, leaving wasn’t the right option. But was there a right option in a world that felt full of bad ones? It seemed like every choice she made, every turn she took, led her down a darker path.

How had it come to this?

Ushindi finally came to sit on a large boulder, still within sight on the border but far enough away not to be a temptation anymore. How had it come to this? Oh… she remembered exactly how this all started, all too clearly…