My sister and I stood beside each other as we smiled at our brothers.
"You two are being very brave right now. I'm proud of you." Flame said, smiling with his sharp teeth, his orange mane dirty from how rough he had been playing just earlier.
"Yeah! You two are going to do great!" Ember said before turning toward me. "Are you sure you don't want to wait? Maybe when it hurts less?" He asked me. I frowned a bit. Remembering the injury I had gotten, it had caused my spine to become crooked and made running hurt quite a bit, walking hurt a bit too, but not much.
"I can handle it, Ember." I said.
"Stop being rude to her, Ember. Sister can handle it." Flame said, smiling at me. I smiled back. We heard our father roar loudly.
"Daughters!" He called us. My sister and I both turned around and looked at him. "It is time my daughters." He said, he looked at me, his ears slightly lowering. "Are you sure you don't want to wait for it to hurt less?" He asked me. My ears tucked back, I was a bit upset.
"I can do this, father." I said. My mother jumped off the Sister Steppe.
"Clawmane, ease up on her. If she's confident, let her try. Right, Sunpaws?" My mother turned to my grandmother.
"She should be allowed to try but it shouldn't hurt her." My grandmother said, her voice filled with concern, she looked at me. "Are you sure you won't just take the name offered?" She asked me, limping slightly as she came closer.
"Grandmother, you should try not to move, your shoulder still looks quite injured. But I want to take my huntress assessment with sister, you can see how nervous she is. And I don't want "Weakjump" to be my name.. I want to see how strong I can be with the Pride. Not just my weaknesses pointed out.." My ears tucked back, my grandmother opened her mouth to speak before starting to cough.
"Mother, you should rest." My mother said, pushing my grandmother with her head. My grandmother was coughing as she was pushed along.
"It's time, daughters." My father said, my sister and I nodded to each other before walking along. We both stood in front of the Sister Steppe, all of our aunties smiling at us. My mother and grandmother exchanged glances. My mother nodded then my grandmother sighed.
"Since this is my last day as Hunt Chief, Clawmane and I have agreed that I shall use my last day to name my two granddaughters for their huntress assessments. Lionesses, step forward." My grandmother said, my sister and I stepped forward. My grandmother cleared her throat. "Lionesses. You two stand before your mane, huntchief, brothers, and Pride as no one. As nothing. Under the eye of Sunce, me, and the entire pride, to become huntresses. Do you two swear to take the names you receive throughout your lives? Wherever it takes either of you." She asked. My sister and I exchanged smiles.
"I swear, Hunt Chief, to accept my name no matter where life takes me." I said.
"I swear too, Hunt Chief." My sister said after me.
"Very well. You two will be named in the ways of which you two are strong. The Pride shall see if Sunce, Cansu, or Asra have blessed either of you. All lions present. I ask you to give me your voices if you wish to watch these two lionesses become huntresses." My grandmother said. My father roared, then my mother roared, my brothers, and soon all my aunts roared as well. "Let us begin.. Now let's see if Sunce has blessed either of you, if she has, you two will be able to jump with the power of the sun across the sky. Show us your power huntresses." My grandmother spoke, my sister and I exchanged glances. I stepped aside for her to jump first since I was too nervous. My sister bent down slightly, then jumped as high as she could, the sun got in my eyes a bit as I watched her so I had to look away.
"Yay!" Ember excitedly shouted in celebration, my mother shushed him.
"Great job sister!" My brother, Flame called. My father had to shush him.
"Your turn sister.." My sister whispered to me as she walked past me, I walked over, I bent down despite my spine starting to ache, I jumped as high as I could, but I had no way of telling it was higher then my sister's or not. Once I landed, my sister and I both turned toward our grandmother.
"Very good. Now let's see if Cansu has blessed either of you. If she has, you two will be able to run with the swiftness of the rain falling from the clouds. Show us your speed." My grandmother sat up slightly. My sister and I stood beside each other and nodded to each other. We both began to run as fast as we could. My sister was running faster then me, I was doing my best to ignore my aching back, I nearly fell over when I finally stopped. My sister stopped and walked back over to me, she was purring slightly.
"Are you okay, sister?" My sister asked me, I nodded, we walked back over to my grandmother. We noticed her eyes were narrowed.
"I hadn't said to stop." My grandmother said sternly, my father growled at her and she sighed. "Very well.. Let us see if Asra has blessed you two. A Huntress with the gift of Asra, hunts with respect. Bring us something to prove yourself huntresses." My grandmother said, my sister and I ran off but we separated in two different directions. I continued running until I saw a rather fat goose. I stopped running, I bent down then quickly pounced on it, holding it down, I was a bit surprised when it wasn't squawking or even attempting to fly away, I bowed my head slightly, remembering to show respect to anything. I closed my eyes and did what I needed to do. There was no sounds, but the bird was at peace now. I picked up the bird and carried it away. I went back to my Pride, seeing my sister with a mouse in front of her and smiling, I walked over and gently placed my bird down.
"Both of you have passed." My grandmother sat up, roaring as she spoke. "As the Hunt Chief of this Pride, I hereby say that the lioness with the mouse shall be known as.. Sunjump. Those who agree, let me hear your voices." My grandmother said. Both my brothers roared, my parents roared, then my aunts roared. I swallowed nervously, thinking my name would be something like "Slowrunner" or "Dirtjump" or something bad. My grandmother turned to me. "And for the lioness with the goose. I say her name shall be.." I felt my heart beating hard, I was scared and worried. "Sharpbite. For winning a fight as just a cub, and respecting her kill despite using her teeth. Those who agree, give me your voices." Everyone roared at the same time, I could just feel how proud their were of me.
"Everyone is agreed then." My mother said. My brothers ran over to us and gently nuzzled us, we nuzzled them back. Holding back tears as my father slowly jumped down.
"My sons. While I am sad to see you go, it is the rule of Pride Law that you must. I hope you two find your prides, and be mane until your sun falls. Cansu light your paths." My father said, my brothers nodded toward each other before walking away.
"Cansu light your paths." My mother said.
"Cansu light your paths grandsons." My grandmother said.
"Cansu light your paths." My aunt's all said.
"Cansu light your paths brothers." Sunjump said, clearly trying hard to fight tears.
"Cansu light your paths, brothers.." I said, tears going down my cheeks. My father took a breath then sighed.
"Pride. Dismissed." My father said. I stayed where I was. Already missing my brothers. As Astra's eye rose, I got up, I went over to the water hole and began to drink from it. I jumped as I heard growling, I quickly spun around but not before being pounced on by a large male lion.
"Gotcha!" The male growled before suddenly stopping, he seemed confused. "Wait you aren't a male. You're a female." He said, I was still pinned under him, too scared to even roar. "Why do you have a mane?"
"I-I was just born with it.." I said scared.
"Oh, I'm sorry." The no mane got off me and gently pushed me up, I got up and looked back at him.
"Are you.. Here to challenge our mane?" I nervously asked, the lion chuckled, he was mainly black with a grey mane.
"No, I'm sorry. Your mane and I are old friends, we used to sneak up on each other all the time. But I was only a cub when he left." He said. "Oh, where are my manners. My name is Smoke. I was born in the stretch. Let me guess your name. Uhh.. Crookedspine?" He smiled. I shook my head. "Loudpurr?" He tilted his head. I shook my head again. "Redmane!" He smiled even brighter, I began laughing. "Hey! Stop laughing at me! What is your name?"
"It's Sharpbite." I said.
"Interesting name. I like it." Smoke smiled at me. "You're an interesting lioness.." I blushed a bit.
"You seem interesting too.. But you've only known me for less then two minutes." I said.
"That doesn't matter, I can think you're interesting. To be fair, most females would've just tried to bite me or call for their mane. But you seem.. Calm." He smiled at me, I smiled back. That's when we heard my father roar, he ran over then suddenly stopped.
"Smoke?" He asked, I noticed how much smaller Smoke was compared to my father. "It's been forever! You've grown big!" My father purred as he walked over.
"I came here to mess with you but accidentally pounced on this lioness instead of you." Smoke chuckled.
"Well, it would've been funny if you didn't pounce on my daughter. But maybe another time. You should get out of here before the rest of the Pride come and mistaken the situation for you challenging me." My father said, standing beside me and purring.
"Yeah, I will. Wouldn't want to cause you too much trouble. Hopefully I'll see you a different time." Smoke said, he smiled at me before walking away.
"What do you think of Smoke?" My father asked.
"He's great.." I said. My father laughed before taking me back to the Sister Steppe.
