For weeks the scorched earth had been cracked under the effects of the drought. The soil was pounded to dust beneath the tired hooves of ragged herds seeking increasingly scarce food. The little grass that remained was brittle as straw.
But this morning nature awakened to the joyous trills of birds nesting in the acacias.
The dry grass undulated in the rising wind and rumbling thunder chased its echoes across the sky.
The sky was painted in crimson and indigo - full of dark, colorful promises of rebirth.
The savannah came alive with noises - agitated, nervous, anxious, and anticipating.
The young lion enjoyed the humid breeze running through his mane.
The first drops were heavy and impressive, full of life.  They struck the ground one at a time, more and more, quickly escalating into a hissing downpour.
It rains.

For the very first time, the Young Arthur grabbed the leather covered hilt of the weapon: Its righteous place was now in the hands of the child who answered the call of destiny, not stuck in the rock. It had made him, a mere kid, the king of Britain. He understood the task he had been appointed to would be overwhelming for himself and his followers, as was the weight of the sword. But he could count on Merlin, his guide, and would lead his mission to success; reunite the Britons and find the grail. He was the carrier, it was his burden.He was Arthur, it was Excalibur.

On November 9, 1716, Bellamy and his crew, sailing the sloop Mary Anne attacked and captured the Antiguan sloop Bonetta, which was then en route from Antigua to Jamaica. John King, then aged between eight and eleven, was a passenger on the Bonetta. King demanded to join Bellamy's crew.He declared he would kill himself if he was restrained, and even threatened his Mother, who was then on board as a passenger.
Bellamy allowed King to join him. In the subsequent months, Bellamy and his crew would capture and loot many ships, including the Whydah, a heavily-armed slave galley which Bellamy claimed for his flagship. On April 26, 1717, the Whydah was wrecked in a storm off the coast of Cape Cod, killing Bellamy and most of his crew, including King.
King's remains were tentatively identified in 2006 when had partial human remains recovered from the wreck analyzed by researchers at the Smithsonian Institution and Center for Historical Archaeology in Florida. The remains, consisting of a 11-inch fibula encased in a shoe and linen stocking, were determined not to belong to a small man, as originally thought, but to a young boy of King's approximate age.
This revealed a new part of the history of piracy ...

Again she hunted... She took no particular pleasure in it. When she was young the hunt was just a game, but now it was her duty: she brought back food to her mate and their newborn cubs.

Did she hunt out of obligation, out of love or simply because it was at the root of her nature? She did not know and would not have cared regardless. The only things that mattered to her were hunting her prey, protecting her kin and raising her offspring.

Her life was without surprises, without ambition, and without malice. She merely performed the tasks she knew she had to perform to ensure the survival of her species.