"Taka, I'm back from the market. And I have a surprise for you," Ella said with a grin and she took her scarf from her head, setting her basket down on the table.
The slumbering lion had hardly moved from his place since the moment Ella had left that morning, the adolescent lion waiting for her to return. Of course, had it been up to him he would have gladly joined the woman to her trip to the market. Unfortunately, although many were well aware of his presence in the castle, that didn’t mean he was openly accepted by everyone and the last thing anyone wanted was a panic caused by a lion wandering into the market.
So, he had sat there, patiently waiting until he simply dozed off.
Of course, the moment her voice had reached his ears, the young lion’s head popped up, ears pressing forward from around the thin beginnings of his ebony mane before a wide smile stretched onto his muzzle. A surprise? For him?!
Bubbling with a sense of excitement, Taka all but jumped up onto his paws, bounding over to the woman. A deep, purr-like growl rumbled in his throat as he practically ran into her side the growing lion having tripled his size since he had found a home with Ella. He was nowhere near the size he would later reach within the next few years, but there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he would be able to knock down the blonde woman before him if he truly tried.
“A surprise for me? What’d you get me? What’d you get?!” he cheered, his black nose sniffing and prodding around her and the basket she had brought in.