Chapter 8

Another two weeks had passed. Hover had kept her promise, and had been teaching me what my mother, Swiftspring taught her, but modifying it to suit someone who could only use three legs. I had a pretty good stealth crouch now, and could manage a run without tripping all over myself.

But, I don't think I could hunt yet. I needed more practice. And, even if I could creep up on prey, and jump on it, how was I supposed to hold the stupid thing down if I could only use one of my front legs?

"Hey Hobbs, see that lioness over there?" Asked Hover quietly as we were walking to the training area. We often walked there together in the mornings, then would part ways when we got to the baobab tree where my mother waited.

The sun was barely up and each blade of golden grass cast long shadows, as the shadows over lapped, it looked like our home was a giant black spider web.

"See her?" Hover asked again. I looked over to where Hover was pointing her nose. A pale cream coloured lioness sat under a broad Yellow Fever tree. Her name was Silentsneak. I recognized her as Stealthspeed's younger sister. I'd never really spoken to her.

She seemed a lot nicer than her older sister. Before Hover came, she had almost seemed friendly. She would smile at me, or jab her sister's side when she went overboard with the insults. But now, she was just another pair of narrowed eyes.

"Yea, that's Silentsneak. So? What about her?" "She's been throwing these GLARES at me! It's creeping me out Hobbs!" Taking another glance at Silentsneak, I saw that Hover did have a point. Silentsneaks dark brown, almost black eyes were following Hover as we walked, her expression was cold, and a little disgusted.

"That's odd! Did you do something to make her mad?" "I've never said a word to her! But, then again, Stealthspeed did say she's weird that way. She told me that her sister isn't right in the head." Something about the way Hover said Stealthspeed's name unnerved me.

For one thing, this was the first time since Hover had joined our pride that I had heard her refer to Stealthspeed with her name, instead of Wildebeest-Breathe. She said Stealthspeed's name as if she was a close friend, not that Hover being friends with Stealthspeed shouldn't bother me…should it…?

"I'll talk to her if you want." "You would really do that?" "Sure I would!" "Aww thanks so much Hobbs! You're a great friend. See you after training!" I hadn't even noticed that we had gotten to the tree. "See you." I murmured. I decided to go see Silentsneak right then, since I knew where she was. I walked over to the lone lioness. She looked slightly curious as I walked up.

"Uh…Hi there Silentsneak!" I stammered, wondering what had possessed me to tell Hover I would do this. I was just going to embarrass myself. I waited for a hissed 'what do you want' or a growl to go away, but instead I got a pleasant smile. "Hello Hobblestep. What can I do for you?"

She inquired quietly. She had a soft, high pitched voice, it reminded me of a tiny bird's call. Her dark brown eyes didn't look so menacing anymore. Contrasting her pale creamy pelt, they looked genuinely happy to see me, and still curious as to why I had come.

"Um…nothing really…I was just…" I didn't really want to ask her what her problem with Hover was, she was being so nice and it just seemed…well…rude. Her warm brown eyes narrowed with thought, and suddenly iced over. "She sent you didn't she?" "Who?" "The loner lioness." "Hover?" She wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, Hover." "Well…Hover's not a loner anymore you know…she..."

"She butted her way into our pride. That's what she did. I mean, why does everyone love her? She's just a lowborn loner lioness! I'm one of our Mane's cubs, why don't I get any attention? Nothing. No one ever comes and talks to me, only HER. Only the oh-so special HOVER!" She had started off at a quiet, angry hiss, but it had grown into a roar by the time she finished, she seemed to have just noticed how loud she had gotten and looked around self consciously, then added in a hushed tone.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't be taking all this out on you Hobblestep. It's just that…oh…I don't know..." Why did lions feel they always needed to have emotional outbursts at me? I did feel bad for Silentsneak though. She was used to living in her older, louder sister's shadow, but I guess she just couldn't handle living in the shadow of a former loner.

I sat down beside her. She was looking at her paws in embarrassment. "If it's a friend you're looking for, I'm here. Though, I don't think the cripple of the pride is what you had in mind…" Silentsneak looked up. And smiled back shyly. "I think I'd like it if we were friends."