Goldenheart should be happy in her pride, among all her friends and family, but like many of her pride mates she had found herself restless. She had heard so much of the outside, and she had felt she must to go see it with her own eyes. Hearing stories just was not the same as experiencing those happenings yourself, so the brown lioness had told her family she was going out for a while. She prepared for her journey as best she could and then struck out before she had time to be terrified of what she was about to do on her own.
Goldenheart had kept moving to keep herself from thinking about how many things could go wrong out here with nobody knowing what happened to her. If she thought like that, she had decided, she would never get anything done and never enjoy her life. Worrying took too much energy and drained her mentally, but she found herself worrying less and less the further she got from the pride. It was different being out here than it was thinking about going out. The lioness was really happy with her decision to venture outside the pride, and she was honestly enjoying the challenge of fending for herself without anyone around to assist. She just had to keep her mind on the enjoyable instead of the not so pleasant.
Goldenheart had found plenty of unpleasant things like not having someone to talk to whenever she wished. With a big pride even when her friends and family were occupied, there was always SOMEONE willing to talk even if she might not know them by name yet. She could always find that stranger that was also a pride member that would be willing to pass time talking to her. It was a wonderful thing about a pride to which out here she had no access. The most she had encountered recently was a toad to which she did not want to get close enough to speak just in case.
Goldneheart had no idea what might be dangerous in these strange lands. Okay she had SOME idea from the stories she had heard, but that still was not all encompassing. There was plenty of which she was certain she did not have any knowledge and could be harmful or even deadly. She did not want to end up dead because she lost all her caution while away from home. She was a firm believer in the concept that even though you knew some did not mean you should pretend to know all. So far it seemed to be keeping her alive rather nicely.
Goldenheart figured if it worked, she would not change her strategy. So as she went, she kept her eyes open and wandering to all the different things around her. She also kept her ears alert just in case something headed her way that she could not see. The lioness was pulled out of her thoughts by a loud, unpleasant sound and leaped onto a rock to better see in the direction from which the sound originated. Her eyes fell onto a hippo in a watering hole, and she decided to keep moving quietly away from the watering hole. That hippo did not look happy, and she did not want to be the target of its unhappiness if it decided to direct it somewhere.
Goldenheart knew hippos were very dangerous, especially when agitated, so the lioness was going to get far away from this one just to be safe. She really did not want to end up trampled or mauled by a hippo. If she survived such an encounter, she was not sure she would be better off than if she died from it. The damage would likely be devastating to her body, and she likely would not make it back to her pride before it killed her the long hard way. It was a horrible line of thought, but it kept the lioness moving away from the angry hippo instead of trying to go calm it down. She could be quite motivational to herself when necessary.
Goldenheart did not stop when the snorts faded, but kept going. The lioness’ paws were protesting the fact that she did not stop back there to rest, but she knew she had to get a long way from that creature back there AND she had to find another watering hole if she was going to rest. She might be okay on food for a while, but the lioness certainly needed water. She thought she smelled another watering hole not TOO far away, so maybe she could make it there and rest for the afternoon. AS much as she would like to keep moving and seeing new things, the lioness also knew the value of resting when necessary.
In a few days, Goldenheart was going to need to hunt, but for now it was a game of find water that was easy to access and rest there. Every day she was out here brought interesting things like the hippo from which she needed to retreat quickly. The lioness found a new watering hole not that far and breathed a sigh of relief. There’s a nice out cropping of rocks, and not much else. She pokes her nose to the water carefully and smiles when she sees it is too shallow for any lurking predators to hide well. This was actually much better than what the hippo had been using.
Goldenheart drank heartily and went over to check out the rock outcropping. She liked the shade that this outcropping provided, and she was going to take full advantage of the shade and sleep for the afternoon. It was so nice to see she had this whole space to herself. She could relax, recover, and get the first real, peaceful rest since leaving the pride to explore. Now she just had to hope it stayed peaceful and solitary for a while. She checked around one last to make sure nothing was hiding out of sight before settling down under the rocks and closing her eyes. Her paws felt immediately wonderful. The pressure being taken off of them made them feel instantly relieved.