Where did she come from? The question had finally been asked. The tan lioness settled down with her hare mother, the den was warm and comfortable and though she could hear the faint fall of snow outside the world seemed to be silent. She was finally going to find out why she had been raised by the mint coloured lupine rather than by a lioness. Why she was who she was.
Mentha looked up at the lioness, she had forever considered her her daughter but of course she had not given birth to a lion, for one, that was impossible. She knew this, yet it was so very difficult for her to admit that Onaedo wasn’t her child. Taking a deep breath the pale hare smiled “I will tell it, as I remember it.” She takes a deep breath and recounts the day she found the lion cub..
The morning had started out as any other morning. She had risen from her hiding spot. Hares hardly ever lived in groups they were a lone species really, there were a few exceptions of course, like this pride for example, but she had been born in to a small family, that once they were grown they went their separate ways.
The mint hare had lived a solitary life until she had found the lion cub. Lions were of course the natural predators to hares, though they very rarely hunted them, hares, she had been informed, were low yield for a lot of work, so though lions would hunt them there were very few that could actually capture them. When she had come upon the tiny creature, she had almost run away. Little though the lion cub was, she was still a lion. Perhaps the child had even been left for just such an occasion, a willing prey beast looking to help the helpless.
She had stood for a long time, her ears swivelling in every direction, her eyes wide and alert, but nothing came forth, nothing arrived. The cubs parents were no where to be found. The hare knew enough about lion society that usually cubs were left with some sort of baby sitter even when their mothers were out hunting.
The wind had changed and with it came the scent of death. As much as she had wanted to run at that point, some, morbid curiosity had pulled her down in to the basin where the cub lay in a tiny, clearly frightened ball. Upon approach she had at last seen why the cub was alone. Th embody of a female. She seemed to be alone, there was no scent of other lions here though the scent of hyenas was heavy in the area. It seemed the mother had succumbed to a different set of predators. The hare had moved ever so carefully towards the tiny cub.
Onaedo had been so very small, her eyes were barely open and even though she was a lion cub the hare was still larger than her. It broke her heart, she wondered why the hyenas hadn't killed the cub too, when she realised the mother had dragged herself back to the den where ever only cub was left helpless. Heart heart screamed and without another moments hesitation she nudged the tiny cub in to wakefulness.
“Come with me.” She remembered keenly those were the only words she had said to the cub when she had roused her. The little cub had stumbled and wobbled as she followed the hare. Mentha had not even remotely thought about what she was going to do, how she was going to look after a lion cub, she just knew she had to. Her mother had looked after her to her last breath and she couldn't forget that devotion. She would do her best to help the lioness that had given her life trying to return to the only thing that meant more than her own life. Her cub. The tiny pale female had caused her a lot of bother after that. What did you feed a predator was after all a very perplexing issue and how did you keep something so small and helpless alive. The little thing didn’t even have a name, or not one that she could remember any way. She had decided that the cub looked a little bit like an antelope and so she had dubbed her Onaedo.
The cub had grown slowly and remained small. She became the child's mother despite their obvious differences. Somehow she had managed to raised the lion cub all the way to adulthood without either of them being eaten and eventually they had joined the pride in the snow.
Mentha settled down beside the lioness and smiled gently. “So now you know.” She whispered looking up at the lioness whom she classed as her child even if they were not related. The lioness was her daughter and she would challenge anyone to say any different.
Onaedo looked down at the hare, she had never asked the mint coloured female to tell her the tale before, perhaps it never occurred to her to ask before now, which ever way it was it had been told now. Now she knew where she had come from and that someone had died for her. Of course she did not remember the mother who had given birth to her but her sacrifice. She would never forget it. She smiled lovingly at her mother hare and started to groom her ears “Thank you for being my mother Mentha.” She whispers a smile on her lips though there were also tears in her dark eyes. Someone had died so she could live, someone she never came to know. Settling her head on her paws the soft tan lioness gave a sigh. “Thank you.” She whispered in to the void, hoping that the mother she never knew could hear her words some where.
The mint coloured hare gave a nod and settled down comfortably resting her had against the child she had raised. “I have always been glad to be your mother.” She whispers closing her pink eyes to hide the tear she felt rolling down her cheek.