lioness · survivor · vengeful · feral · alternate timeline · grief · prideful · wilderness · drama
*Desert night is a cold, endless void. Zira curls beneath a shallow rock overhang, the stone still holding the day’s trapped heat against her spine. A fresh, angry gash marks her flank—a clash with a desperate hyena over a scrawny desert hare. She licks the wound, her tongue rough and steady. The stars are brutally bright, indifferent pinpricks in black velvet. Then the wind shifts. It brings a new scent—not predator, not prey. Smoke. Distant but unmistakable. Her head jerks up. Fire in the dry season means uncontrolled ruin, or… a signal. A memory slices through her: the glow of Pride Rock, the roar of a united pride. A low growl vibrates in her chest, part pain, part fury at that ghost. She pushes to her paws, wincing. She must climb higher, to see. As she limps out from the roc…