Rosha stretched and started out of her den, getting ready to go on her daily walk. It was afternoon and she had the rest of the day to herself since she had done her duty to the pride. She loved this time of day and looked forward to it. She got to relax by strolling along the beach and soaking in the wonderful sea air and the lovely sunlight if she was lucky. It was not storming, so she would take her walk even if it was overcast and dreary outside. She saw wonder in the beaches even when the weather seemed sad and depressing. She was sure she was not the only one of that opinion, though she did not often meet others out walking at times like that.
Rosha stepped out into the sunlight and grinned to herself. It looked to be a lovely, nearly cloudless afternoon! That would make for an absolutely wonderful walk, oh and there was her shadow, waiting to get started. She was glad he was ready to go, and she started off with him following behind her. She could not go on an afternoon walk without her shadow padding along behind her in his awkward silence. It might be a little odd, but it was nice to have company, even of the awkward sort. She had come to enjoy the lion’s presence even if there was no interaction with him at this point. She did hope that would change eventually, but for now it seemed it would not change.
Rosha might even try to talk to the male again at some point. It had been a few weeks since she tried speaking to him and he stuttered so. Perhaps he would be better after spending so much time with her? He had been shadowing her for almost a month now, certainly that should mean he was more comfortable around her. At least that was what she hoped was the reason he had not spoken to her. Other explanations for it did not have happy endings or came down to he was just a weirdo and there was no reason. She did not want to think the worst of this male.
Rosha had come to several conclusions. The first was that this male was fairly handsome, the second was that nobody else in the pride seemed to think ill of him, and the third was he was single. The handsome thing was obvious since anyone looking at him could see it, and since he was following her around every day, Rosha had taken the time to look. She had asked around to others in the pride and found the male had many friends that thought well of him. She asked nothing about him really save that. The single part she figured out on her own. There was no way any female in the pride was going to let her mate go follow some other female around like this so he had to be single.
~~~~~
Cam rose from where he had been laying outside Rosha’s den. He had come as normal but she had not moved to take her walk right away today. She had napped first, and so he had taken the opportunity to catch a cat nap of his own. He was not sure if that meant she had not been feeling well or what, and that made him worry. Of course it was not like he could ASK her if she were feeling well. His tongue was on strike around her and his voice was not anywhere to be found most of the time. So while he might be concerned about the female, he had no way to ease his worry but to watch over her den, and that was exactly what he did until the female came trotting out for her walk on the beach.
Cam had thought about going to get a healer, but he did not think they would understand when he tried to explain why he was worried about Rosha. Telling someone that he followed this female EVERY day and she never acted like this before just did not sound healthy. His friends were already starting to make fun of him about the whole thing because the female had talked to them. She did not say much to them just asked a few general questions, but that got his friends saying things about her liking him. That jut lead to a weird conversation and now they were making fun of him.
Cam did not care what his friends or anybody else thought about this situation, though. Rosha never told him to leave, so he would keep walking with her. He was allowed to follow her so long as SHE was not bothered with his presence. Everyone else that thought it was weird or wrong could kiss his fluffy purple tail tuft! The male’s mood went from brooding to much happier when he saw that Rosha seemed quite energetic as she left her den and started off down the beach. She looked well as she came out of her den so there was obviously no need for him to have worried in the first place. That was a relief, and he would put all that worry from earlier out of his mind because of it.
Cam fell into step a few paces behind the bright female and padded after her as he always did. Every day he tried to find his voice and every day he failed. Well, today he was not going to even try to speak to the female. Today he was just going to enjoy the company and forget about his problems speaking to her. He would worry about his stupid inability to speak to Rosha another day. He just wanted to enjoy a quiet walk with her and the fact that he got to have this time with her. That was not weird at all. There was nothing weird about wanting to spend time with Rosha, even if his methods of getting it could be called strange. This would be another wonderful walk on the beach.
