Cheza: 'Play' (Swahili)
(CHEH-zuh)

Age: Kiara's generation
Pride Affiliation: Hidden Vale (birth), Ndona Pride (choice)

Father: Unknown
Mother: Unknown

Siblings: None

Mate: Runju
Cubs: None

Likes: Learning, hunting, spending time with Runju
Dislikes: Being told what to do, pain, suffering

Personality: Cheza is extremely happy and bubbly, but that's only when she's around people she knows and is close to. With others, she is cold and aloof, and rarely lets them past her icy wall. Her eagerness for learning is frowned upon by her friends, but she never lets that get her down. Not only does she love to learn she loves to hunt, as it keeps her feeling alive. When it comes to true love, her devotion is all given to Runju. She is his, and she loves him like no other.

Bio:

Born in the Hidden Vale to lesser parents, Cheza was never truly destined for anything of great importance. She was a beautiful cub, and her parents doted on her. Family and friends all crowd around her poor mother after the birth, and Cheza becomes the highlight of the evening. When the crowds disperse, a lone stranger comes to Cheza's mother and slits her throat, leaving Cheza screaming in her arms. Her father finds them there, Cheza starving and crying, and her mother slumped where she lay, fully dead and gone.

Cheza's father takes her to the Pridelands, where there is less murder. Kiara, who is an adolescent, becomes quick friends with her, and helps to raise her. Cheza is given to a wet nurse during early childhood and never really knows anything other than her life in the Pridelands.

She makes good friends in the Pridelands, but is only young cub when Simba and Zira go to war, and the Outsiders join the Pridelands. Among these cold looking strangers are no new friends, and they are often harsh to her. Cheza soon learns to avoid them, and can either be seen hiding with her father or crouching in a small crevice in the pits of Pride Rock.

When she is an older cub, her father leaves, and it is doubted he will ever return. Cheza is broken; she has no family, and Kiara is occupied with the duties of ruling a kingdom. She becomes cold and secluded, and devoted her time to study and hunting rather than playing with friends.

When she is a young adolescent, a former rogue, only a young male with a small mane, comes to the Pridelands. She is instantly taken by him; he is handsome despite his youth, and his charming demeanor really draws her to him like a magnet. It also turns out he is an expert when it comes to lore and hunting, and so Cheza approaches him and asks if he will teach her. It is then she learns his name is Runju, and he more than delighted to be her mentor.

The two of them get on well, and Cheza not only feels a burning love, but an unwavering respect. She doubts he feels the same though, and decides not to bring anything up. During her Msako Sherehe, her first hunt, Runju saves her from the trampling hooves of a wildebeest after a wild dog startled the hooves. This does not come without price, though, for Runju recieves a scar on his leg. Cheza is broken; it was all her fault! Despite Runju's protests and reassurance, Cheza's viewpoint will not be swayed.

When she is a little older, Cheza has a chance to repay the debt owed to him. When they are walking by the gorge, Runju trips and sends them both wheeling over the edge. The male manages to grab hold of her and successfully gets a hold on the walls of the gorge, but Cheza lets herself fall, knowing he will not make it up without her.

Luckily, it is the rainy season, and the rivers running in the gorge cushion her fall. She makes it out alive with minor injuries, and returns home to find Runju mourning her loss. The two reunite and Cheza admits her love for him. Runju kisses her and embraces her, and tells her he feels the same. Weeping, he asks her to be his mate, and she doesn't turn him down.

The two find a small cave on the outskirts of the Pridelands, and it is there they stay, living out their lives together in blissful joy.

And when they die, their stars shine together, the brightest in the whole sky.

Bases (c) Wolfgirl50

Relation to TLK: Lives in the Pridelands, was a good friend of Kiara