The puppy was lost. She didn’t know where her family had gone. The herd was moving so fast and it was so large that the ground shook beneath her feet. She could hear her mother screaming for her, but her curiosity had already led her to the edge of the herd. She was swept away with it — lost to her home and her family.

The little puppy whimpered and whined. She missed her mother, her father, and all the other little wild pups. This canyon she found herself in was deep, dark and scary.

”Mom? Dad? Where are you? I’m scared.” The puppy cried. She just wanted to go home.

Lost in this canyon and filled with fear, the puppy was too distracted to notice the animals following closely behind her. It wasn’t until the shadow of one of them covered the dim sunlight shining on her. The puppy stopped and turned around — shocked expression on her face.

The hyenas their lips at the sight of the small pup. Food was scarce in these areas and the puppy would make a good dinner to the three of them. The puppy took a couple of steps back but the hyenas quickly circled her.

The puppy looked around at all three hyenas and started trembling. How could this happen to her? She had just been curious about the big herd. She didn’t mean to get so close — to be pulled away from her family.

Tears rolled down her little cheeks and she shut her eyes closed. This was the end for her. “I’m sorry mom, dad, everyone...”

The growling from the hyenas grew louder. They stepped closer to their prize ready to feast. Suddenly there was a loud roar and the hyenas looked up to see four lions jumping down towards them. A scuffle started the moment the lions landed in front of the hyenas.

The puppy opened her eyes to see the four lions fighting with the hyenas and moments later the hyenas were running for their lives. The lions turned to look at the puppy and circled her.

”She’s scared, don’t get too close, she might run away.” One of the lions said, the voice was female. “It’s okay. You’re safe with us, we’re not going to eat you.”

The puppy was still trembling and scared while she looked at all four. She could see that the lions were all actually still young — very small manes growing around their heads.

”What’s your name?” Another of the lions asked. This one too was female.

”Wheein...” the puppy replied.

”What a cute name!” The third lion said excitedly.

”Nice to meet you Wheein, my name is Hwasa.” The fourth lion introduced herself. “That’s Hyejin, Hyegi and Hwasaja.”

The three lions greeted Wheein and started to move closer to her. She was still a bit scared but the lions simply her face. They told her to go with them back to their home where they had food and water.

Wheein was skeptical but she didn’t really have a choice. The lions asked her how she ended up in the canyon and Wheein explained what happened. By the time she finished, they had arrived at the lions home. Once there, Wheein was greeted by the lion sisters’ family; their parents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

The lions all fed her and gave Wheein a warm spot to sleep that night. She fell like a rock that night and woke up in the morning to all four lions looking at her.

”Good morning cutie.” Hyegi greeted her and smiled. Hyegi was the one with the reddish colored mane.

”Hey! You can’t be flirting with her!” Hwasaja scolded Hyegi. Hwasaja had a brown colored mane.

”Why?! Cuz you wanna flirt with her?” Hyegi shot back and Hwasaja pounced on her and started wrestling each other.

”Stop it you two!” Hyejin yelled at her two sisters. Behind her was Hwasa. Wheein could tell them apart because Hyejin had a black mane and Hwasa’s mane was black too but when the sun hit it, she could see a hint of blue.

”Good morning.” Wheein greeted all four and they swooned at the sound of Wheein’s voice.

”Omo! Omo! She’s so cute.” Hwasaja fangirled.

”I’m the strongest one here...” Hwasa mumbled under her breath. Hyejin raised an eyebrow at her. She could prove her wrong.

The lions brought Wheein breakfast and told her that they would help her find her family that day. After eating, all four lions left with Wheein in tow to find where her home was. Wheein could only describe what it looked like but the problem was that in the savannah everything looked similar.

The trek led them nowhere that day. They went out the second day, then a third, fourth, fifth, and eventually they lost count of the days and time. Wheein grew older, into an adult wild dog and the four lion sisters into adult lions with big fluffy manes.

Wheein had never seen female lions with manes until she met the sisters. It made it easier to tell them apart though since their faces were all identical. The sisters treated Wheein like a queen. They hunted for her, let her get the first drink of water, and did anything and everything for her.

”You’re our queen, the Queen of the Lions!” The sisters always told her and it would make Wheein happy. The sisters were her friends, her family. Spending time with them helped Wheein forget she missed her family even though she thought about them all the time.

Despite all this time passing by—

“Wheein, what are you doing?” Hyejin’s voice startled Wheein and all the photocards she was holding in her hands flew into the air and landed scarcely on the dining table.

“Oh sh — Hyejin what are you doing here?!” Wheein shouted while scrambl