The scorching sun beat down on the resilient savannah that the lone lion wandered on. He was young, only around a year and several months old, and lacked what his brothers had possessed. What had allowed them to stay in their parents pride.

          Rowan, that was his name, only had a sun scorched reddish brown pelt to his name that had a cream shimmer to it along with a darkened brown mask. Those where his only markings, and the masks just made it seem like his brown mane that possessed hits of red seeped into the fur around his face.

          His brothers, Samuel and Dillon, were the gems of his litter. Samuel was especially handsome and when paired with his slightly less handsome brother Dillon, made an excellent team when it came to charming the lionesses.

          Samuel was a piebald, with his dark brown patches tending to be located on his back on the top part of his sides. His paws had some brown, but the rest was covered in white and his mane was long and neat. His mother described his piebald patter as a 'broken pattern' for whatever reason, but then again lionesses seem to have categorized patterns over the years. Some of the younger lionesses described his eyes to be 'rays of the sun just shimmering/twinkling at you', when he had the exact same eyes that he possessed. No lioness ever said anything like that about his eyes.

          Dillon was saved by two things, and those were his mane and the lucky fact that he inherited his mothers vitiligo. His pelt color was the same as Rowan's, the same sun scorched reddish brown with the underlining cream shimmer. He even had the same brown mask. His mane on the other paw was darker and more the color of damp earth with a brass shine to it, and it was long. It drifted over bits of his face like one of the human trappers that he had the 'pleasure' of meeting, with long stands covering parts of his face as if it gave him some sort of mysterious or reserved vibe. It even covered some of his back. Then along his spine was the telltale vitiligo patterns lightly spotting his pelt, and it also crept up his paws and down the bridge of his nose. Like him and Samuel he had the same yellow eyes. 'Like rays of sunshine.'

          Compared to his brothers he was nothing, he was a shadow within the pride. As a cub his sought to gain attention from his mother, a Lioness by the name of Maya.

          She was a somewhat simpler lioness, but still a beauty in her own right. She had the same scorched reddish brown fur with a cream shimmer that she passed onto all of her cubs save for her sole daughter. Her fur had the same vitiligo markings that Dillon possessed, but it was also sprinkled with red specks or dots. Then her eyes, like all of her cubs, were rays of sunshine.

          He could remember with complete clarity the way he would strut about the nursing den and show off, and brag about anything that he had accomplished no matter how small. Maya had never failed to scold him for his bragging, but she had always done so in a light tone and softly as to not draw any negative attention from the other cubs or mothers. She would then give him a lick on the forehead, which he had protested to every time but never shied away from, and tell him stories about her life before she had joined the Pride of Red Reeds. She told him about her father who had founded another Pride known as the Pride of Weeping Willows, which is where she was born. 

          Because of this Rowan always felt like somewhere deep down his mother had understood why he acted in such a way, and it was a comforting thought to him as he wandered the endless savannah.

          Another was his sister, the only female of his litter of four, who had fought with all of her might to keep him from being chased out. Her name was Shenya.

          She was beautiful, and rightly would have been the gem of the litter had her brothers not shoved her into their shadows like they had done to him. Shenya had steel blue fur that faded to a silver at her paws and muzzle. Her back was overlapped with a deep russet patch that began at the base of her tail and climbed until it reached the back of her head before it relented to her steel grey coloration. It faded at the beginning of her limbs, and a red web trickled a bit further. His mother had said that it was a bloodbourne dapple under a red web pattern when he had asked about it, whatever that meant. Her eyes, like the rest of his siblings were yellow like their mothers.

          Every time Samuel and Dillon left to go plot on how to impress the females Shenya had been their to listen to his ranting and encourage him. She had helped him learn how to fight and never turned down his request to spar, and gave him tips whenever she could. She helped him ready himself to show his brothers that he was just as good as them, despite his lackluster pelt, and that his arrogant bragging held truth.

The day that they all became full adults was one of the best days of his life. Rowan had beaten his brothers in a sparing match, one after the other. His brothers were not bad by a long shot, but he had the edge of more experience and two lions tactics compiled into his fighting style. His own, and his sisters. That gave him the edge he needed. Shenya and Maya congratulated him, along with a few other of his pridemates, and he felt like he was on top of the world.

The next day was the time for the King to decide who was to stay, and who was to go, as was the way of the Pride of Red Reeds. His father, the previous King, had passed a year before and took with him the sense of talent over looks. King Kama, his fathers successor, wanted his pride to be composed solely of handsome and beautiful lions. Kama had been found wandering their lands as a young cub before Rowan was even born, and taken in.

As expected under such criteria, Rowan didn't make the cut. Shenya had matured into a lioness of firm beliefs and spoke out against this, but there was nothing she could do. The King's words was law, and so his sister had to watch him flee from the only home he had known and out into the scorching savannah where he was at a disadvantage, as he had grown up in a more damp environment. One of his pursuers had managed to land a few swipes on his ankles when he stopped briefly to catch his breath. The injury had slowed his progress, but he had managed to escape the territory before anymore harm could come to him.

For days Rowan had unsurely stuck near the edges of the territory he had become so familiar with. He hoped that someone would come for him and tell him that it was just some sick joke, or that he would wake from this nightmare. He knew that most males left their prides upon reaching adulthood to seek out a pride of their own, but he had wanted to stay with his sister and mother in their marshy home.

Hunger had plagued him as his ankle injuries slowed him when he tried to hunt small game, and for four days the only meal he had was a dying rabbit. Rowan filled his belly with marshy water in hopes that it would ward off his hunger, with little success. He moped about due to his failures, and after the fifth day he accepted that he was going to die at the border of his old pride. Maybe he would finally get to know his father, King Stephan, in the stars above he had thought.

On the morning of the sixth day his sister found him lying in the shade of a willow just past the pride boundaries and had set him straight. Shenya fed him and brought him moss soaked in water until he had had his fill, before she fiercely scolded him. She told him that this could not be the end of the cub who had wanted to prove his worth, this could not be the end of Rowan.

And Rowan had felt deeply ashamed of himself, and he vowed that he would make something of himself. That he would find a new pride. It was then that his sister had gotten a look in her eyes, and she had told him not to find a new pride. This confused him greatly, as he didn't know what she could mean. Shenya told him to build his own future, and to form a pack strong enough to rival the Pride of Red Reeds.

Then his sister had left him to return to the pride, and left his last question to her unanswered. 'Will I ever see you again?' He had asked. His question had been swept up by the wind, and slowly he had turned and trekked away from the border and into new territory.

His sister's words had carried him to the savannah, but he felt as if he was on his last legs. Rowan didn't want to lean on anyone else for the rest of his life, but the rowan lion knew that he would have to if he was going to survive.

As he traveled the wounds on his ankles had grown infected, which made it all the more difficult to attempt to hunt. He had survived thus far on half eaten carcasses by following vultures. Rowan knew they would never fail to lead him to food.

Food was not his concern now. It was his thirst. He had not stumbled across water since yesterday, around mid afternoon, and now the sun was beginning to retreat and make way for the night.

It was why Rowan was seeking some solace with his thoughts and memories of his mother and sister. He was trying to encourage himself to continue onward. After all he was still Rowan, and he had beaten his adored brothers in sparring. Surely he could find himself some water.

He shook his mane and drew in a breath before he continued on with renewed vigor. He was Rowan, and he was going to survive.
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(I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but I think it'll certainly help any reader visualize the characters, so each time I introduce a new character/lion I'll probably post a picture of them at the end of the chapter. Even if I didn't really describe what they look like. Please tell me if this is a good/helpful idea XD.)

Lions and Lionesses':

^ King Stephan

^ Maya

^ Samuel

^ Dillon

^ Rowan

^ Shenya

^ King Kama

Fun Fact: Kama means 'golden one' so when I saw the golden pelt when I was making him I was like 0.0 - that's him for certain. When I name characters I literally just look up 'Names that mean [Blank]' and scroll through sites and names until I find one I like.