Bedwyr was glad she decided to go on a hunt with this random male lion she met not too long ago. Well, a few hours now, she realized, looking up at the sun and noticing how far it had moved. It was surprising, really, as she had not been paying attention as she hunted and then ate with the male, Jalidi as he had introduced himself, and then spent quite a lot of time just talking to him by the edge of the watering hole. It was quiet here, and though they had not managed to catch anything big, it was a meal enough for the two of them. She had let him have more, as he seemed to be hungrier than she was.
And with how far he had travelled, she was not surprised.
“So this land of all snow… how do you get off the island? You said that your home is in the middle of a lake…?”
“Oh, yes,” Jalidi, rolling onto his back and looking up at her at an odd angle. She watched him passively, not relaxing quite as much as he seemed to. She was just a bit more uptight, she supposed, but she was raised as a knight in a family of Kings. It was sort of required of her to be proper and aware at all times, not rolling over and chewing on grass for the sake of it. She folded her paws in front of her, as daintily as she knew how, smiling at him despite herself. It did look like he was having a lot of fun, and that he was very happy in his leisure. In her company. “it is! But in the winter, it freezes completely solid. Because it doesn’t really ever fully dethaw, even in the spring and summer there are floating chunks of ice we can get across. It’s a little more dangerous that way, though, so most of the time it’s just the guards or the fishers that do it.”
At least, he would think so. There were a lot of lions that were far braver than he was, of course, and maybe they left the pride all the time without him being aware of it. He was beginning to think he had spent far too long in his cave.
Maybe everyone that told him going out and getting some experience away from the pride had actually been right. He never would have believed them but, then again, he managed to get out this far.
And things had suddenly started going pretty well.
“That sounds incredible!” Bedwyr said, shaking her head in wonder, “I would love to see it! Perhaps we might be able to learn something from the way your pride does things? In my home, we do not have ice or snow, so things must be so much different!”
“Well what about your pride, then? What makes it special? Like, I mean, what’s your favorite part of it?”
“Well… at the moment, we’re at war. It’s hard to really find something I like about it, when it’s being torn apart from the inside. It’s not the… best place to be. But I love it, and I am very dedicated to it. I would do anything I could, to end the war. I try to work as my father guides us to: to promote peace and understanding between us, instead of war. If he manages to take the throne from the current King, perhaps then we would have peace…”
“Oh,” Jalidi said quietly, not thinking his light hearted question would take such a sad sounding turn. His ears flattened a bit against his head, getting lost in his fluffy mane, seeing the sorrow on her face as she thought of her home. It was clear she really loved her home, and it really was a tragedy that things seemed to be so bad there right now. Sure, not everyone got along in the Frozen Isle, but at least it was no where near as bad as war. Civil war, at that: with each other, rather than some outside. That was heartbreaking to think about, and he could never imagine his home having to deal with something like that. “I’m sorry…”
“Oh, no, I’m sorry,” Bedwyr said, perking up and realizing that she was being a massive downer. He was giving her such a cub like look, she did not want to upset him any more than she already had. “I didn’t mean to bring it up like that. And it didn’t answer your question at all. But uh. If I had to pick one place I like, it’s the castle mountain. Somehow, when you’re up there, surrounded by family and loyal friends, you sort of forget how bad things can get down below. Though that’s… not really fair, is it?”
“Everyone needs to get a break every now and then,” Jalidi said, as diplomatically as he knew how. He offered her a reassuring smile, turning over so he was facing the right way up. “I know! How about you come to my pride for a little bit? I can show you around, and you can see if anything there might help your homeland? I don’t know if there is anything for you to learn there, but only you can really figure that out, right?”
Bedwyr smiled, looking thoughtful for a moment before nodding her head.
“I think I like that idea, actually. I’d love to see your snowy home, and cross that ice lake you mentioned. And really… maybe a break from war and sadness is what I really need. It is hard for me to admit, but I suppose I’ve been longing for this adventure, getting away from the pride, so I can clear my mind. When I return, I hope to be stronger than ever. And maybe with some kind of idea on how to help.”
Jalidi had a lot more questions in his mind, but opted not to ask any of them. He did not want to stay on this rather sad topic. Instead, he scooted a bit closer, and the two fell into a peaceful, understanding quiet.
Word Count: 1027
