Njama's Mama

A lioness design for . After she made the Veldtlands and drew Tanglemane(renamed Arufukitata by her), a lot of her watchers including me thought Njama looked like she would have been from the same pride. I asked, and she said I could design Njama's birth mother as a Veldtlander.

Background:
Tuhuma(suspect/accuse) lives in the Veldtlands as an ordinary pridersister of the Runner Pride. She goes mostly unnoticed by royal family or her fellow pridesisters, and is an average hunter at best. However, a brief fling with a rogue on the outskirts of the kingdom bring her under scrutiny when she is found to be with cub a few months later. As he pride is wary of outsiders and Tuhuma bred without the royal families permission, she and her cub are looked down upon by everyone. The fact that her cub, Njama, is born with a few odd traits not common to the Runner pride(colorless toes, belly fur, single colored muzzle) only justify their shunning of her. Thankfully, Njama isn't yet old enough to understand that she's being treated differently.

As Njama grows into a playful young cub, she isn't allowed to play with the other cubs of the pride so she amuses herself by practicing her her hunting skills by mock hunting bugs and small animals. It is during one of these play hunts near the egdes of the Veldtlands that she spies a beetle and follows it into the forbidden jungle. Realizes her daughter is missing, Tuhuma follows her tracks and is horrified when she sees that Njama has gone in. Knowing that entering the jungle is taboo since the pride fears a strange illness that wiped out all of the animals living there generations ago, even the shadowy pride that once resided there, she is hesitant to enter but finally follows out of fear for her daughter's safety. After some searching, she finds Njama playing by herself and quickly grabs the cub, scolding her for comming there as she makes her way towards the exit.

When they exit the jungle Tuhuma is surprised to see that her entire pride is gathered a safe distance away, eyeing the two of them with hateful and disgusted expressions. Panicking, Tuhuma frantically tries to explain herself but is cut off by the kings roar. She can only cower helplessless as the king list off her crimes to her, from mating with rogues, to having Njama, and finally entering the jungle, cursing their lands and risking an outbreak a deadky disease. For all of these, the king banishes her and her cub, and Tuhuma only has time to grab Njama and run before the rest of the pride chase her away with fangs and claws.

Tuhuma flees the lands and crosses the Great desert until she reaches the greenlands on the other side. She wanders around with Njama for a few days, trying to find a way for both them to survive without the support of a pride. As she's about to give up hope, she hears the distant call of a a lion's roar- a roar that she knows to be a call welcoming rogue lionesses like herself into a pride. When Njama asks what the call means, Tuhuma excited tells her that it means they'll have a new home, so they both head in the direction of the call.

Unfortunately, Tuhuma fails to realize that they are currently in another pride's kingdom, the Westlands, one that isn't welcoming rogue lionesses like herself. When they confront her near the edge of the kingdom, she tells Njama to run as fast as she can, and not to look back.

As the lions of the resident pride set upon her, she can only pray that Njama makes it to her new home before the she is attacked as well...