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Olentri sat in the spot where Gaige had left her. She had half a mind to just get up and leave. However she knew that she did that it wouldn't matter that she had been able to handle herself out in the rogue lands. All that would matter is that she directly disobeyed an order from Gaige and the hell fire that would fall upon her from that would be more than she cared to deal with.

She let out a loud huff. The whole thing was rediculous. She wondered who Gaige would send her way. She was sure that she would be a better fighter than anyone he could possibly send. Not to mention she was going to have to rework her approach to prides now that she was not on her own.


Shaitani had been no more pleased to be awoken from his sleep by Gaige then he had been to find out his new orders. It wasn't his place to babysit overly stubborn cubs, but the Big Papa had thought it suited him. Typical. He made one crack at the guy, and now he would be doing his dirty work for an eternity.

The very large, very red leopard moved silently through the open space near the base of the Kokari waterfall. When he approached his charge, he looked at her critically, trying to see exactly what had pissed Gaige off so much. "Ready?"

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Olentri saw the leopard coming her way and she was about to loose her s**t. As he got closer she couldn't keep her reaction to herself "You have to be freaking kidding me." She let out. This was unreal Gaige must have pricked the brightest freaking snoop there was in the whole pride.

"You are the one that I am suppose to go out there with?" she asked not hiding her contempt for the situation at all. This was the worst thing ever.


"Good morning to you too, Sunshine." Shaitani curled his lip. As if he wasn't already sporting a mild headache from being woken up early, now he was anticipating a very pink, very female migraine. "Yes, and if you want to go at all you'll suck it up, shut it up, and pack it up. We're moving."

He turned away from her, moving out into the dense jungle with a flick of his tail. Gaige was going to owe him big for this one.

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Olentri fell instep quickly not because she was following his order more that she wanted to be walking beside him not behind him.

"You are here only to make sure that I am capable, not to lead me. I will take the lead, I will make the calls, you only interfer if you think there is danger... actually don't even interfer then. I may have chosen to be a snoop but I can hold my own in a fight with the best of them." she said her voice dripping with disdain. She picked up her pace so that she was no longer beside him but infront of him.


"Then you should have made the call to shut up, and move." Shaitani pointed out sharply. "The faster we get through this, the less time we have to spend around each other." The longer he was around her the more he could see what Gaige had been talking about. She was going to get herself, or someone else, killed. Hanging back, he motioned forward with his paw; "By all means, lead the way. I'll go make myself scarce so that I can watch you without interfering."

The red leopard moved himself further into the jungle, just far enough so that he could disappear from her view. Once he was there he covered himself in muck and leaves, helping to discolor his pelt and tamper with his scent.

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Olentri was shocked when the male so willing fell back. Perhaps he wasn't as bad as she had orginially thought. It was possible that if she had just spoken to him instead of starting off on the defensive she might have gotten further along.

They had travelled for quite sometime, there was periods of rest and times for eating bit Olentri kept herself and never picked a conversation. She too had muted her colours with some mud, though her coat wasn't quite as visible as his. Finally after what seemed like a week she found someone to snoop on.

Olentri had put herself in a stategic posion, neep into some shubs. Sure she was paying for being that deep in the bushes as she felt several twigs digging into her thread. She slowed her breathing and didn't move a muscle as she listened. For the most part it was boring but as she listened she learned the two males she was listening to had recently attacked a leopard colony. She took in all the information she could and waited till the two lions had moved on before she extracted herself from the bushes


Shaitani wasn't quite as satisfied with the simple venture as the female seemed to be. True to her credit, she had done an excellent job at spying on the traveling lions, but he had seen more than a few loop holes to bother him. Once they had obtained an area of safety, he allowed himself to speak, albeit in muted tones. "Now that you've gathered some intel, what is your next step?"

To him it was obvious, but Shaitani wanted to see how she would go about it. For his part the male stayed low, keeping his stomach close to the ground so the lions wouldn't catch him if they decided to come back.

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Olentri turned towards the leopard for the first time she was speachless and it dawned on her that perhaps Gaige on some level had been right... though of course she would never admit that to anyone. She thought on it for a moment before stating her answer.

"I am but a snoop. I shall search out and see if I can find this colony they attacked, but I will not approach them. Once I have gotten all the information I will bring it back to the pride." she declared. She swallowed hard hoping that she had thought through the scenerio correctly.


"Good." Shaitani nodded, a little bit of a smile showing on his darkened maw. "I would also suggest either bringing a familiar or a leopard with you. Since they're a colony of leopards, you can get more information by allowing them to trust one of their own. Or a familiar. Generally larger predators don't view smaller species as a threat."

He brushed some of the muck away from his face. "We need to find out why the lions attacked, how the colony faired, if any of their own was wounded-" He waved his paw to encompass all the rest. "This is good information. You've done well."

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Olentri smiled enjoying te praise. Her father was never one to praise her and her siblings it wasn't something he believed in.... it felt surprisingly good.

"Are you up for finding the colony with me?" she asked. She figured since they were already out and he was a leopard that it sort have made sense for them to continue along there was and search these other leopards out. She recognized now the benefit to having him with her.... had she come out on thei mission alone she would have had to go all the way back to the pride to get someone to come back out and look with her. It was much easier this way. A realization that she wasn't likely to share with anyone else.


"Of course." He had been meaning to look for leopard colonies in the area anyway for his own personal gain, so this was really killing two birds with one strike. "Lead the way." He motioned and stretched, standing with a little satisfying pop in his back.

Hopefully the young female had learned something today, and could use it to further herself. She was smart, something that even Gaige had seen, and Shaitani had a good feeling about her. Stubborn, yes, but a strong one she would be. All they needed to do was to guide her, which was what the Kuuza was all about.

And who knew? In time she might even be a Big Mama herself.

Wouldn't that be something.