Uru sat beside her grandmother, listening as the Queen told yet another tale. The weather had not been kind lately and that meant that the pride was mainly forced to remain home, with exceptions of those few who went to make sure that there was plenty of food to eat.
Busara finished her story and smiled fondly down at her granddaughter, feeling slight pain that Uru could not know the truth, how much the Queen wanted to reveal what had happened in that den the day a new star had been born. But she could not talk about and so Uru blissfully was ignorant of her true identity.
Busara laid down and Uru mimicked her. The cub's gray-blue eyes were wide as she peered at her grandma. "Can you tell me about the Star Dancers?" Uru asked, her tail flicking with excitement. Busara's eyes were soft at the child request, the Star Dancers were part of the Galelands lore, but it seemed to make Uru glow whenever the Queen told about them and thus Busara could not help but comply.
The Goddess had given her body in order to repay her debts to the Thunder One. The lions who had sheltered her and provided her with food and news were now experiencing a time of plenty. It was hard to imagine that these were once lions who were bone thin with no real hope left.
But things soon started to fall apart and the generations began to rebel. The Goddess tried to be patient, but finally it proved to much with an insult of the lion Ngiri. The Goddess turned the elements on the Gale.
A massive earthquake sent part of the land into the sea which created Gale Outlook, a tsunami crashed into the land and swept unfortunates out to sea where the sharks were merciless, fires and drought struck...it was a land of true hopelessness. But yet there was hope.
The Goddess spared twenty-eight lions. Fourteen were male and fourteen were females. Though they came from different backgrounds, the lions did have one thing in common...they believed in peace and they worshipped the Goddess. With these twenty-eight chosen from the hundreds who had had fallen, the Goddess built a new world. She named these lands the Galelands and this time there was once more peace and zero bloodshed.
When the twenty-eight died, the Goddess rewarded them for their loyalty and pureness. Seven lions and seven lionesses were selected to become Wind Leapers, they were carefree of nature and desired freedom but were loyal to the bone. She let them become the Winds of the Gale, to dance and play above the land for eternity.
The other fourteen were given a truly special honor. They were taken into the sky, where they could dance amongst the heavens, serving the Goddess and enjoying their own kind of freedom. It is said that lions who prove themselves may end up obtaining one of these two sacred positions when their time has come.
Busara let her voice fade to silence as the story ended. Uru was looking up at her with bright eyes but then the cub yawned which made the Queen chuckle. "It's time for your nap." "But I'm not tired!" Uru protested as Busara gently nudged her in the direction of Jani. "If you nap then you just might witness the Goddess in a dream." That cut off the cub protests and she scampered to join her snowy-pelted mother. Busara watched the cub slowly drift to sleep and once more felt a pang of longing for her true child, but the Queen shook her head and settled down for her own rest.
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