Name: Ikinya (meaning 'a single step')

Parents: Shirika and Unknown Male

Siblings: None

Mate: Duni

Cubs: Lesedi

Pride of Origin: Shadowland

Personality: Loyalty is the thing that Ikinya values above all else. He is loyal to his pride and to Ikuta especially, some would even call him overly attached when it comes to her. He is more a follower than a leader, prefering to defer to someone else for difficult decisions and this also gets him a lot of flak. Ikinya tends to bottle up his true feelings and never really expresses them (even when they are blatantly obvious and he is called out on them) but he is not cold, he just doesn't know how to properly articulate how he feels, prefering to let his actions speak for him. He is a bit off a goof in that he can come off as rather silly when others poke fun at him, he tries not to let it bother him too much.

History: Ikinya's birth was unplanned for his mother, Shirika, and caused her a great amount of anxiety as Ikinya's true father was nothing more than a rogue male.

He was born some time after Baki assumed leadership of the Shadowland Pride and was one of the first born cubs after. His mother, fearing for his safety, lied to Baki claiming he was his son (as he had mated with several lionesses, not just his official mate) and Baki seemed to accept him but only his cubs with Bahati would ever hold the throne. Ikinya was seen as little more than a tool for the future to be turned into a loyal soldier.

Despite being younger than both, young Ikinya would often trail behind Ikuta and her brother, Ashiki. Both only barely tolerated his presence and he was seen as little more than an annoyance, especially by Ashiki, but the young cub looked up to them both. He especially admired Ikuta and developed feelings for her very rapidly. Ikinya never knew the true extent of Baki's abuse of them both but he did know enough to know he should be afraid of his 'father'.

When Baki  was eventually exiled and Ikuta took leadership of the pride after an intense time of fighting between her and Ashiki, Ikinya became more attached to her than ever. He would often moon after her and insist on coming along with her and Ashiki as they did their duties, they both had long since given up trying to convince him otherwise.

When a wildfire decimated their pride, it was Ikinya who ran back into the flames to save as many as he could. In the end, he saved Ikuat by shoving a burning log off her leg and carried her to safety on his back. He was hailed as one of the heroes of the pride but this was hollow for him as his mother perished in the flames. He threw himself into trying to get Ikuta back on her feet, his feelings by now ran very deep for her, and almost never strayed too far from her side.

When Ikuta was away on business with the Outland Pride, Ikinya busied himself around the pride, getting on Ashiki's nerves more and more because HE was Ikuta's second-in-command, not Ikinya. The two lions never outright fought, but the whole pride knew how tense they were around each other. It was almost a relied when Ikuta returned (Ikinya would only find out much later that Ikuta fell in love with Ekene and birthed him a cub, Winta).

Then Ashiki's cub died and the lion became almost psychotic with the loss, Ikinya thought nothing of trying to throw himself between the two siblings when Ashiki attempted to kill Ikuta. Ashiki was banished taking his mate and several others with him and Ikinya focused on trying to aid Ikuta as much as he could to take the strain of leadership as easy for her to bear as possible. He became her unofficial second-in-command in Ashiki's absence. It was then that Ekene showed up with Winta in tow and demanded that she be allowed to stay in the pride, Ikinya had no idea what brought this on and was even more confused when Ikuta agreed to it.

Winta often got on Ikinya's nerves, teasing him mercilessly about his feeling for Ikuta. Ikinya suffered her in silence but he was never fond of the younger lioness, especially as Winta seemed to be incredibly close to Ikuta. Finally, Ikinya could take no more and a heated argument broke out between him and Winta. When Iluta attempted to break them up she got sucked in as well and it was then that the truth came out. Winta was Ikuta's daughter by Ekene.

Shocked and with both his pride and feelings wounded, Ikinya abandoned the pride and wandered the savannah. He tried to get his head around this new information and struggled to decide if it was worth returning home at all. It was then that he met Duni.

He ran into the teenage cub when he happened across her one day whilst out wandering. She recoiled from him in fear but he assured her she didn't need to fear him. When he asked why she was out alone she told him sadly that her brothers didn't like her and that she had no one to truly call her friend so she spent he time in the savannah. Feeling somewhat sorry for her, he decided to spend his time with her. She introduced herself as Duni and he introduced himself and the rest was history.

When he eventually returned to the Shadowland Pride, he kept returning to visit Duni. The more time he spent with her, the more he came to like her company. She was very intelligent for her age and she almost reminded him of a younger Ikuta...except more alone. She grew older and Ikinya felt his feelings deepen again as they had with Ikuta so long ago. Duni seemed to enjoy his company as much as he enjoyed her's so he never mentioned his feelings.

Finally, however, when Duni was an adult herself, things came out. She confessed her feelings to him and he couldn't help but blurt out his own. They mated and Ikinya couldn't be happier. He loved Duni and far more than he had ever loved Ikuta. Soon Duni announced that she was pregnant and Ikinya couldn't be happier, he'd never dream he's be a father but he' was determined to set a better example than Baki did with him. Duni have birth to a healthy female cub and named her Lesedi. Ikinya fell in love with her instantly.

He kept visiting Duni whenever he could get away from the Shadowland Pride, not as often as he liked however, but one day he returned to find Duni, Lesedi and their pride had vanished without a trace. Ikinya was forced to return to the Shadowland Pride broken-hearted for the loss of his family.

Relation to TLK: Mate of Mufasa and Sarabi's granddaughter