ground, her coat whipping in the wind, her own heat beat pounding in her ears. She turned sharply after the antelope and saw her fellow hunters on either side of it; she understood what she had to do and raced forward, the grasses whipping her sides. She drew alongside their prey and lunged at its neck and brought it to the floor...

They feasted well that night. Cinder, her belly full and her heart content, walked out of the cave and lay down outside, staring at the stars. She remembered her time as a cub, clumsy and curious and laughed at the memories. She then turned her thoughts to her mother, her true mother, she had died when Cinder had been born and though Cinder had been tiny she could remember her mother’s smile.

 She often wondered where her mother was, she thought about that now. She stared at the stars and one of them winked at her; Cinder raised her head surprised and stared at it intently. So intently, she didn’t hear the lioness come up behind her.

“She’s watching over you, you know?” Tari said “your mother I mean, sometimes I can sense she around, like another presence in the room”

“When do you sense she is around?” asked Cinder.

“When you are asleep, she looks down to make sure you’re alright, she never left you properly, you do know that don’t you?”

“I do now” said Cinder, she returned her gaze to the skies. “Do you...do you think she’s proud of me?”

“I know she’s proud of you, I am”

Cinder looked at Tari and a tear trickled down her fur, they shared a hug and then they both went inside and settled down for the night.

When Cinder awoke, she immediately went down to the waterhole. She loved being by the waterhole, she as a cub had spent most of her days there and it was a beautiful, tranquil place to think, well, it usually was.  

Mazai was stood at the edge of the water, looking down into its depths. He didn’t notice Cinder approach behind him. Cinder smirked, the opportunity was too good to resist. Slowly, she crept forward and then lunged at Mazai, neatly sending him plunging into the water. She laughed as he came to the surface, spluttering.

“Very smooth, your highness!” She called sarcastically as he skidded and fell over again.

“You ought to respect me! I’m the next in line!” He protested, subtly creeping forward.

“You know that I’ll respect you when- AARGHHH!” She screamed and Mazai caught her legs with a paw and sent her tumbling beside him. She surfaced and splashed him; it was a good shot and caught him right in the middle of his face.

“Why you-“

The two lions engaged themselves in a full-fledged water fight; they were evenly matched and would’ve gone on for hours if they weren’t interrupted.

“Yesterday my son insisted that he was old enough to have a mate, yet here he his today, playing as though he was a cub again” The two friends paused and breathlessly stared around for the speaker.

Raj and Zamani had appeared from around a small bush, like they had so many years ago, Mazai quickly stood up and walked to greet his father. Cinder approached more slowly and bade good morning to the pair. Cinder turned to Zamani.

“I loved your story last night; it was one of the best you’ve ever told. How do you come up with the ideas?” But Zamani just smiled and wouldn’t tell her. She understood, everyone had secrets and she must respect those who didn’t want to share them. All in due course, she thought, all in due course.

“Cinder, you look well. I hear that you have become a very successful hunter” Cinder glowed with pride, her efforts had been recognised by Raj. She vowed to keep up her good effort.

“Yes, I enjoy hunting very much. B...But, all my skills are down to Tari’s teachings!” Added Cinder hurriedly “She is a good teacher, the best!”

“You have come a long way from when you were first brought to my pride, I didn’t expect to come this far. You have the power to great things during your lifetime, great things” He nodded “Mazai, can I have a word?”

Mazai and his father left side by side, Zamani and Cinder watched them go and then headed back to where the rest of the pride was.

“Hey, Cinder! Wake up!” A voice awoke Cinder from her sleep, drowsily she peer around for the speaker. A dark brown lion was crouched a few feet away from her; she relaxed as she recognised him.

“Mazai?” she half-questioned, she blinked “what are you doing here?” Mazai rolled his eyes

 “Why do you think I’m here? To see you, I have something to tell you. But not here, outside” With that, he turned for the exit to the cave. Cinder watched the shadows of the night cling to his body; she peered over her shoulder at the world outside the cave.

“Mazai, it’s the middle of the night!” she protested, he looked over his shoulder.

“I don’t want to be overheard. Look, if you don’t want to know then fine, I won’t tell you. I wouldn’t want to disturb your sleep with something that might change your whole life”

He turned, and again, headed for the door. Cinder curiously got to her feet and, careful not to disturb Tari or the others, she followed Mazai outside.

He was waiting for her by the water hole; she sat down next to him and watched their reflections on the mirror-like surface of the water.

“Mazai, what is it?” She questioned, he was scaring her now; he wouldn’t of gone though all the drama if it wasn’t something important. He took a deep breath, he was trembling.

“Cinder, you know my father spoke to me today in private? Well, he said...” Mazai paused “he wants me to...”

“Mazai, you can tell me” Cinder said, Mazai nodded.

“I know. Father wants me to choose a mate, a lioness from another pride. But I don’t want her as a mate, I want you!”

Silence seemed to fall on the savannah; Cinder blinked “You want...me?”

“I don’t know this princess, but I know you! I can trust you, we’ve been friends for so long and I thought we shared something!”

“We do Mazai, but it’s just friendship!”

“But friendship can easily morph into love, can it not? Cinder, I don’t want to force you into anything. This is why I’m giving you a choice. What do you say?

Cinder was at a loss of what to say, she had never expected this!

“Mazai” she said carefully “I don’t know what to say, this is all so abrupt” she stopped and thought about what to say. “I have considered this before, but I thought it would be a long way in the future, I’m not sure I’m ready to have a mate. I will one day, just not now”

“Well, for you, I’m willing to wait” Mazai touched the side of her face with his and with that he went back into the cave, leaving Cinder with her thoughts. Cinder smiled, she seemed to glow in the still moonlight and she also went back to the cave and settled down. Above her, a million stars wished her luck as she drifted into a dream-filled sleep.

The next day was a boiling one, the sun shone all its power down onto the African plains. The pride lay around on rocks or the ground, trying to sleep off the worst of the heat, Cinder was with Tari, near a large boulder. She and the pride were not aware of the nightmare that was about to unfold.

Not too far away, among the dry grass, a stray spark from seemingly nowhere, created a tiny flame. It danced playfully along the grass and suddenly a whole clump caught fire, this spread over a large spread of land leading to where the pride was sleeping, oblivious to all.

Cinder awoke to loud cries and screams; she instantly sensed something was wrong. She leaped up and coughed as she inhaled a large amount of smoke, the air was boiling and everywhere was red and orange.

The pride was in chaos, the members were running to and fro, trying to escape the deadly flames. Cinder looked worriedly about for Tari, she couldn’t see her! Cinder ran toward the cave entrance, calling for her friend and adopted mother. Suddenly she heard a yell; she turned and saw Mazai caught in some grasses, unable to defend himself against the flames getting closer and closer...

Cinder acted upon instinct, she slashed at the grasses and ripped them from around Mazai’s body. He pulled himself free and shook the grass from his coat; he nodded in gratitude at Cinder then disappeared into the smoke, searching for his father.

Cinder was about to follow him when a scream reached her ears, she turned and saw a horrific sight. Tari was trying to rescue a small cub from the fire but the flames were creeping up behind her.

“TARI, GET OUT OF THERE!” Cinder yelled as she raced over

“No, I need to rescue Kawora! Help me, quick!” Cinder snapped into action and quickly studied their situation. Kawora was on the edge of a cliff with flames closing in on her, she was paralysed with terror. Cinder saw a way out, she was about to shout it out to Tari when Tari suddenly leapt through the flames and picked up Kawora. Cinder screamed in terror, Tari quickly called to Cinder through gritted teeth.

“CINDER, CATCH!” She threw Kawora safely through the flames and Cinder managed to catch her. Cinder placed her down and checked if she was ok. Smoke was making vision pretty bad but Cinder was sure Kawora was uninjured. Kawora’s mother then raced over