"My naivety will be the end of me."

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Name: Deana

Meaning: Faithful one

Pronunciation: Dee-aww-nah

Gender: Female

Rank: Healer’s Apprentice (formerly), Queen to be (formerly), rogue (formerly), pridelander huntress (currently)

Appearance: Deana is a very pale, almost pink colored lioness. She is small and on the thinner side of things. She has a pink nose, pale blue eyes, and a lighter tail-tuft. She also has bright underfur and lighter rimming around her eyes. She has fuzzy cheek fur.

Siblings: none

Mate(s): Rowin

Cubs: Tojo

Personality: Deana is headstrong, determined, and is known to be loyal to a fault. She’s a natural born leader in the sense that she inspires all around her to action, but she can be impulsive and thus sometimes displays bad judgement. Deana is also particularly maternal, hating the idea of harming anyone and as such often advocates for any lion’s life, even if they may not deserve that advocation. She is fiercely determined to save everyone’s life, but this incessant idealistic view of hers has resulted in more harm than good. Deana also has a habit of being quick to accuse others of wrongdoing. Despite disliking all forms of harm and believing that there is no such need for those things, Deana can be a hypocrite as she is willing to betray all those beliefs in order to protect those she cares about. Deana also has a tendency of thinking she knows best, and therefore goes out of her way to do things as she sees fit, which has often resulted in her undermining others.

History: Deana was born into the smallest pride in a very large territory that hosted four other, much larger and powerful prides. Her parents were both close advisors to the ruler of the pride, and so Deana grew up without want despite the vulnerable position her pride was constantly in. Being the perfect mixture of her parents, Deana grew up wanting to walk in her mother’s footsteps; being that her mother was the pride’s healer, Deana spent all of her time learning from her mother and as an adolescent she became apprenticed to her mother. It was during this time that the pride leader decided to have her became the queen to be of his only son, who was set to rule the pride after him. It was also during this time that war broke out between the neighboring prides and Deana’s pride was placed in danger. Their leader made some unfortunate mistakes that resulted in the death of several of the pride’s members, two of whom happened to be the mother and sister of the commander. Enraged with the outcome of the “poor” leadership, the commander, Keyvan, began a coup and deposed the king, as well as his son and many of his advisors, including both of Deana’s parents. Keyvan kept Deana alive for the sole reason that she could help unify the remainder of the pride that was not on his side. Deana had no choice but to oblige, though she hated Keyvan and sought out every opportunity to undermine him. Still reeling from the loss of his mother and sister, Keyvan began to plot an attack on the pride that had done it. Deana knew that he had lost it- they didn’t have the numbers to take on the larger pride, and she was sure it would result in all their deaths. Doing what she thought was best, Deana snuck away on a busy night to the nearest pride, where she begged the queen to stop the attack from happening by warning the target of the attack. The queen, Nida, agreed to do as much. Thus, Deana became a fugitive. She wandered away from the territories guilt ridden for all the friends she had abandoned. After several moons on the run, she decided to check in from afar. Entering into the territories again, she heard news of the failed attack by her former pride, and also of the awful retaliation of the pride that would have bee subject to the attack. She returned to find nothing and no one, and only rumors that Keyvan and some of his followers had managed to survive and fled to a different pride. On her way back into the wilderness, Deana was hunted down and captured by a warrior by the name of Rowin. Despite all of her struggling, she could not evade him. He took her to the largest pride, where she found Keyvan awaiting her. There she found out that he had made an alliance with the blood queen of the pride, and she had promised him Deana. As soon as she was handed over to them, the queen dismissed Rowin. Deana found out that he had been offered a deal: to find her and bring her back so that he may return home, or to continue living underneath the paws of those who despised him. The Queen then had her guard force Rowin back into his cave, where he was kept under constant watch. Deana was then told by Keyvan that he had no intention of killing her, yet. She had caused him much suffering and a humiliating defeat with her “blabbing” and he would thus make her punishment last a while, until he tired of it. She was then thrown into the same cave as Rowin, where she learned the story of the warrior prince. He had apparently been captured during the time at which his pride and the one they were currently in were at war. Despite peace having returned to the land, the Queen had still kept him prisoner. He apologized to Deana for capturing her, but Deana understood that he’d only done it because he had believed he would be allowed to return home. They were kept in captivity for a little while more together, and Deana began to care for Rowin, although he did not particularly feel the same way. During her time in captivity Deana underwent much harm from Keyvan’s vicious claws. Rowin cared enough that he helped Deana recover after every day of torment and promised her that as soon as he was released, he would free her as well. After many moons of this, both Deana and Rowin were brought to a field and surrounding by the pride’s highest-ranking lions. They were then told that whoever killed the other would be free to go. Of course, things did not go according to the plan of the malicious queen and Keyvan. Rowin, a feared and powerful warrior, instead took the opportunity to take out both the Queen and Keyvan, declaring himself the new king of the pride. He then proceeded to stifle any who dared question him, whether it was a guard, adolescent or pregnant lioness. Deana was shocked by this side, which she had not once witnessed in the caves. It was in the following days that she learned the full story of Rowin: he was indeed a warrior prince, and a cruel one at that. He had been the cause of the war between the two prides and had even brought death to his younger brothers in the process. His Queen mother and the former queen of this pride had both decided that for the safety of everyone involved, he would remain a prisoner here to prevent the cause of anymore bad blood. Despite this, Rowin appeared to be noble still, Deana simply could not bring herself to hate him, since for a long time he had been her only friend. He kept his promise to Deana to free her, and so she left the territory and sought out a land far away from him and all the other prides that she had grown up near. By the time she reached the fabled pridelands, Deana’s secret was showing: she was pregnant with Rowin’s cub. She gave birth to Tojo in the pridelands and there the two remained with Deana praying to her ancestors that there would never come a day in which Tojo would meet his father. She spent most of her time caring for her son and making herself useful in the pride by learning to hunt and helping to heal.

Relation to TLK: Mother of Tojo, pridelander

Original images and background © Disney

Deana and Render © me