Aliya

Aliya is a female spotted hyena who resides in the Outlands.

 Appearance: 

Aliya's main fur color is gray-brown, with darker eye rims, spots, outer ears, and muzzle. She has a wavy main and tail, which are both dark brown with light brown on the bottom. Her legs are very dark brown, almost black, and she has a dark brown heart-shaped marking between her eyes at the start of her muzzle stripe. Her eyes are light purple with pale yellow sclerae.

 Backstory: 

Aliya and her younger brother, Kivuli, were born on the edge of the Outlands to a lone female hyena. Because of her young age, she was unable to care for the cubs on her own, so she gave them to a lion couple who lived in the Pridelands named Ushindi and Halima, whom which she made friends with in the first few weeks of her pregnancy, knowing they'd take good care of them for they had a cub of their own named Kanu. When Aliya and Kivuli were a month old, the Lion Guard spotted Ushindi and Halima with two hyena cubs. Fearing they'd be banished from the Pridelands for being parents of hyenas, they picked up Aliya and Kivuli and had Kanu climb up onto Ushindi's back, and they fled into the Outlands.

A few months later, Halima fell ill with a mysterious illness which only made her able to stand for a really short time, concerning Aliya. After a while, the illness spread to her lungs and eventually killed her. Aliya was devastated by her death, as well as the rest of her family, and after grieving for some time, they buried her at the edge of the Pridelands, remembering how she loved it there.

A few months after Halima's death, Aliya and her family had managed to move on, but never forgot the beautiful lioness. Aliya and Kivuli were eventually old enough to head out on their own, and Aliya moved into a small den not too far from the part of the Outlands where she was raised. She'd only been living there for a few days before she came across four male hyenas and one female hyena, who were feasting on the partially eaten corpse she'd brought to her den. Instead of showing aggression towards them, she told them in a calm voice that they were eating her food. Two of the male hyenas were defensive towards her, but the larger and muscular one of the lot, who Aliya guessed was their leader, told them to settle down before approaching her and apologizing for eating her food. Aliya was quick to forgive him and the other hyenas, and introduced herself as Aliya. The muscular male hyena introduced himself as Duma, and the other hyenas as Saka, Zuberi, Imani, and Teshi. After exchanging a few more words, Aliya went into her den while Duma and his clan left her territory.

The next day, Aliya decided to go to her favorite spot at the edge of the Outlands where she got a good view of the Pridelands. She stayed there for a while, and on her way back, she ran into another clan of hyenas, this one made of all males. Their leader, Janja, coldly asked who she was and told her she was in their territory. Aliya tried to apologize, but these hyenas were unforgiving and hostile, so she took a few steps back before running off, them giving chase almost instantly after. She grew tired after running for a few minutes and eventually collapsed from exhaustion, and Janja and his clan surrounded her. However, before they could hurt her, Duma showed up and warned them to leave her be. At first, they were ready to fight him, but he growled loud enough to intimidate them into fleeing. Aliya was grateful to Duma for saving her and asked if she could do anything for him in return, but he refused to ask for anything and said he doesn't like to let innocent animals get hurt when something could be done about it. After Aliya thanked him one more time, the two young hyenas said goodbye to each other before parting ways. On her way back to her den and upon arriving there, Aliya couldn't get Duma off her mind, seemingly having developed feelings for him.

A few days later, she was on her way to visit her friends, Jasiri and Madoa and their clan. When she reached the edge of their territory, she heard what sounded like Jasiri and Janja arguing. She followed the voices until coming across Jasiri trying to fight off Janja and his whole clan. Not willing to let her friend risk getting hurt, Aliya ran into the clearing and caught Janja by surprise by charging at him from behind and pinning him down. She told Jasiri to run, but she refused to abandon her, so they fought the menacing hyenas alongside each other. However, despite how hard they tried to fend them off, the strength of eight hyenas together was too much for them. They were close to being defeated, until a male voice yelled at Janja's clan to let them go. The voice wasn't familiar to Jasiri, but it was to Aliya, and they both looked in the direction of the voice to see Duma, this time, accompanied by his clan once again. Janja and most of his followers were cocky, thinking they could take them all on, so Duma and his clan charged down the slope which they were standing atop of, and bowled into them. Aliya and Jasiri watched in awe as the two clans fiercely fought, and eventually, Duma's clan managed to chase away Janja's clan, but not before Janja coldly warned Aliya and Jasiri to watch their backs the next time he saw them when Duma's clan wasn't around, calling Duma Aliya's "big-shot of a boyfriend," before running off.

When they were sure Janja's clan was gone, Aliya and Jasiri turned to Duma and his clan and thanked them for saving them. Aliya then introduced Jasiri to them, and they were all pleased to meet her. Jasiri thanked Duma's clan once more before saying goodbye to them and Aliya, then trotting away. Aliya then asked Duma if he was getting tired of having to save her, at which he and his clanmates laugh. Duma then told her that he cared about her, and he was always willing to help anyone he cared about in tough situations. Aliya was touched by this, and told him that he and his clan seem to be really nice, with which he and his clanmates agree. Duma then asked her if she'd like to visit them at their lair sometime, and she happily accepted the offer, then asked if he and his clan were doing anything the following day. Duma said they weren't, so they made arrangements to have Aliya stop by his clan's lair in the afternoon of the next day. Aliya then said goodbye to Duma and his clan before they all headed back to their territories.

After resting up for her visit to Duma's clan, Aliya headed for their territory at noon the following day, remembering the directions Duma gave her. She arrived in their territory after a while, and after heading so far in, she came across Duma's clanmate, Zuberi, who greeted her kindly and offered to take her to the rest of the clan. She accepted, and he brought her to where Duma, Saka, Imani, and Teshi were waiting. After receiving a warm greeting from the rest of the clan, Duma approached Aliya and announced that they planned to give her a tour of their territory, which she excitedly agrees with. The clan showed her around their land, including the area where a small waterhole they drank from was, and after the tour was done, Duma surprised Aliya by announcing that the clan had discussed and agreed on asking her if she wanted to join them. She asked if it will be just to protect her, which the clan is slightly amused by, and Duma assured her it won't be, and the rest of the clan nodded in agreement. Aliya happily accepted the offer and became a member of the clan. A few days later, Aliya confessed her feelings for Duma, and to her surprise and joy, Duma admitted he felt the same way about her.

Before long, Aliya and Duma became mates, and Duma decided to make Aliya his second-in-command. A little while later, they had two cubs, Zakusi and Halindi, and adopted a jackal pup named Tamika.

 Trivia: 

~ She is SpearmintTB's main OC for the TLK and TLG franchise.

~ She originally had the same colors as Jasiri and Madoa and their clan, but they were later changed to her current gray-brown colors.

~ She was also a cream-colored lioness before a hyena.