Slowly, Shamakani awoke, though there was still much sleep left in his eyes. After all, on a hot blistery day in the jungle, what else could a lion do? He looked around and a smile glistened in his eyes when he observed his family. His younger brothers, sisters, and cousins were all cuddled around his mother and his aunties.  Their pride was one of the larger prides in the area, with his father, Shamba, and uncle, Raja, reining as co-kings. Right now, they were both were away on patrol which gave Shamakani time to think about his future in the pride. Being an older male, he knew what was coming, any day now, he would be pushed out of his pride and left to fend for himself or find another family and home to call his own. He could not be upset, for this was just the natural order of things. Shamakani knew he could control a lot being a male lion of his stature, but he could not control the nature of another lion, or centuries of tradition. He quickly pushed that thought to the back of his mind, this was a concern for another day, for today he was still part of this pride, his pride.