[PRV] One fish, two fish (Ari/Alon/Rotem)

[Andranis]

The way the grasses felt... It was very unlike their birth home. Ari took a deep breath, closing his eyes as the wind ruffled his brown mane. The lion smiled, finding himself enjoying it. It wasn't home, but it'd do. He already felt good here, at balance. Chocolate eyes slid open, before he looked around. Next to him was his twin, Alon - Older, bolder, and certainly the superior twin. He didn't mind, not at all. He was used to being the inferior, the less glorious. He let out a low sigh, turning back to gazing at their new lands. "What do you think, Alon?"

The older lion, current patriarch of the family, surveyed the landscape. Everything was so different from the ruins, so... Well, lush. Grasses everywhere... Finally, he turned to his twin. "I think this is a good place." The pride had been there a while, the twins and their brother and sister having rejoined the pride just after the rest of the pride had settled. And that weird guy who WROTE things...

"I meant more about current events..."

"Oh.." His ears flicked. "I'm not sure I trust those lions on the border... Something about them..." He frowned deeply, tail curling under him. An old scar, a prize from a conflict in the north, twitched, as did the skin and fur around it. A fly buzzed away, and he spared a glance at it, before mirror chocolate eyes turned to the border, where he knew THEY lurked. "I wonder if they'll try to attack..."  

[Thalion]

Simeon circled high on the warm updrafts of the air above the valley. Rotem had been informed of strangers on the borders and while there were no reports of hostility, yet, he had his eagle keep a close eye on the surrounding area just in case. The eagle's sharp eyes pinned on the two brown males moving in, both familiar to the older avian and a sight for sore eyes to say the least.

He smirked and changed his course, angling his wings just so and sending himself into a sharp decent towards his waiting totem. Rotem stood on one of the higher cliffs facing the valley.

Within twenty minutes the middle aged lion was loping for the border with Simeon gliding easily up above him. Lucky bird.... moving from one place to another was just a matter of gliding from one heat pocket to the next. For a lion, navigating the valley was another matter entirely. The territory was still taking some getting used to and sometimes it got the best of the locals.

"Well well!" Rotem called out as he came within earshot. "Look what the hyenas have dragged in!"  

[Andranis]

Alon looked up, spying the eagle. They'd seen many birds flying in their long trek southward, and all had raised false hope for them. He no longer cared if it was the eagle they hoped to find, opting to ignore it as it dove. He started walking, heading for the territory's center. He had no doubts from the smells that this was the right place, but he wasn't about to trust his eyes over his nose in this case.

Ari paused in his own walking, watching the eagle. "Do you think it's hunting?" He watched his twin shrug and continue walking. Ari could only sigh, following behind him. He was tired, ready to rest. All he wanted was to lay on a rock in a river, like he'd done so many times at the sea, and rest his paws in the water. It wouldn't be salty like the sea, but it'd still cool his paws.

Alon gave a snort. "Probably..." He looked up again, spying the eagle following a lion. "Then again..." His ears pricked. Maybe it WAS the eagle they were seeking... He started running, mane billowing as he hurried to meet the other lion.

The younger twin's ears pricked, before he followed after his brother. "I think it's Rotem!" As they got closer, he could see that, indeed, it was. His own mane billowing, the non-scarred twin let out an exuberant roar. "Rotem! You have no idea how glad we are to SEE you!"  

[Thalion]

Rotem, still as large of a brute as ever and just as full of energy, ran at the twins and greeted them with a shoulder bump from each. They were solid still but thin from their travels and dusted from the savannah. It was to be expected. Many hadn't made the crossing and none of them could afford to go back and seek them out. It was a tragic situation, but perhaps there would be some good to come of it.

"Heaven be praised, I didn't expect to see you two again." He took a step back, grinning like an imp with his tail lashing the wind behind him. Simeon landed on a nearby tree and hunched up into his wings to watch the reunion.

Rotem's eyes betrayed him as he glanced past the two, half hoping some of the other departed members had followed. When none appeared he let none of his disappointment show. "It must have been a long journey. I'll have Adara round up the ladies for a hunt. We'll see you both fat by morning."  

[Andranis]

He hadn't missed the look. Ari turned around, looking behind him, before turning back to Rotem. "Yakira's somewhere behind us, she said she'd come meet back up after she did a bit of hunting... She found a stray, as it were, while we traveled.. He was living in the ruins in the far-northern deserts. Odd guy... He says he can WRITE, whatever that means..." It made him think of Kingu, actually. Kingu... Such an odd name in the family. It really popped out. Then again... It had been their mother who chose HIS name, unlike the rest. A call-back to her own homelands.

Alon returned the shoulder bump, letting out a pleased sound, before looking to the other lion. "It seems like yesterday, Rotem, we were all cubs playing in the ruins... You, me, Ari, Remiel, Eyal..." He paused. "Kingu and Asher..." Not that he'd been fond of his two youngest brothers tagging along. But that was the way their parents had insisted on things - Let your brothers tag along, they'd learn... Or Kingu, anyway. Asher followed regardless of what their mother tried. So sheltered... He glanced around the area, suddenly interested, just a bit, in the terrain. "You know... I think... From our mother's descriptions..." A touch of excitement tickled Alon. "We may be close to our mother's home pride..." It certainly looked like the region she'd described to them when they were cubs.  

[Thalion]

"Ah well, we welcome the stray then." Rotem reasoned with a smile and a quirk of his maw. He sounded like he'd make a fine scribe. Since their original scribe had come and gone, they had a few trained in the art and now it seemed a popular pursuit among the less physically inclined. All the better. The pride needed its history to be remembered for future generations.

His gaze softened as Alon began to recall the good old days. His father had been a little stern than he'd ever be but he'd been kind and fair all the same. Rotem had been rightfully accused of being too playful for his own good. Even as a middle-aged brute he was always laughing, always smiling, and even teasing the other pride members in a way only a cub should.

"Ah such days. They don't seem long behind us." He sighed, his eyes drifting back to the valley. "It's been a long time since we've had any young ones. Not since before the migration, and so many of them have gone... I miss the sound of laughter."

He perked as Alon mused further. "Oh? You think this could be the place?"  

[Andranis]

Alon nodded, eyes almost dancing. "We'd need her here to tell for sure, but... If I recall her descriptions right... I think... Her birth pride may be a bit to the north of here, nestled in the fork of two rivers." He let out a sigh, shaking his head and causing his mane to shift. A bit of dust from the long trip fluttered out of it, billowing and soon dissipating into the wind. "I just hope she's okay, and Father... And our uncle..." To say the least, he missed his family. Where were, they exactly?

The younger twin gave a sneeze, then moved so he was up wind from his brother. No more dust in his face, he hoped... "Tell us, are there at least any new faces within the pride? And have you seen Asher? He snuck away from us in the middle of the night and we haven't seen him in a while..." Asher was the baby, the gem in their mother's eye. Ari was worried about his brother, afraid he'd get hurt out there alone. What if he ran into a bigger lion? Or an elephant? Or worse, a human? They'd never see him again!  

[Thalion]

Rotem waved a paw to clear the dust from the air. His companions certainly gave meaning to the phrase 'beating the old dusty trail'. Of course they'd likely encountered a dust storm or two on their way up. The pride was lucky not to have lost more than they did during the sandstorm. "Well there's plenty of new faces. There were some locals here when we migrated. A small family and their adopted son. All of them are pleasant enough and they fit in well with the rest of the pride.Yakheved has also adopted a cub she found. Strangest thing though, his mane won't grow in fully. It just clings to his head and neck like a zebra's. A little longer..."

He smirked and raised his brows. "Well...why don't you come see for yourselves? I don't want to ruin the surprise."  

[Andranis]

Ari looked at his brother funny, then back at Rotem. "Does he have some sort of curse on him? We ran across a lion along the way... He said he had to have been as old as us, but an altercation with a god left him a bit... STUCK. He was far less than happy, and was looking for someone to remove the curse... I doubt he found anyone by NOW..." Then his ears pricked. Aah, a surprise! That had him excited! He turned to Alon, bowing slightly and sending more dust floating. "Well, then, shall we go see the surprise?"

While his twin rambled about the odd adult-adolescent lion they'd run across, he tried to imagine what this mysterious youth Rotem mentioned looked like. A lion wearing a zebra pelt came to mind... That had to get annoying after a while to wear. Did they remove the head first? His attention suddenly snapped back to the conversation, hearing Rotem mention seeing a surprise. A grin lit up his face, before he shook the rest of the dust from his coat. His massive mane billowed for a moment, before smoothing back down. "I'm as ready as you are, Ari!" He then turned to Rotem. "Let's go, then!"  

[Thalion]

Rotem couldn't help but smile at the eager reactions of the two brothers. It had been far too long since they'd been among family and friends it seemed and it was well past their due to return home. Kingu and his lot would be relieved to see that more of their family had survived the migration and all the trails in between.

The male turned himself about and broke into a run, far faster than a lion of his age should be able to manage, but he'd always been one for surprises and delivering them out. "Come on then! Let's stop gathering dust."