Scatha was perched on a rock. It was tall and thin compared to the fat, round boulders around the area, but she fit over it well enough. In the back of her head a voice was telling her she should not be so near to the Ravine Prison, not without good reason. The Guards would find her and they would give her an earful, she was sure of it. The last thing she wanted was to be told she should go home where it was safe by someone who did not even know how perfectly capable she was.
She could take care of herself.
Dangling down from the rock, she was laying on her stomach with most of her body on its flat surface. Her limbs were spilling over the side of it, all four and her tail all limply reaching toward the floor, though the rock was tall and she couldn’t quite touch the grass below unless she stretched out. As comfortable as she was, that was not likely to happen. She yawned terrifically, heaving a sigh and swishing her tail behind her.
From that direction came a voice.
“That does not look particularly comfortable,” she pointed out, and Scatha almost leaped out of her fur. She hadn’t heard anyone walking up behind her, and prided herself on her ability to do just that. She got up, scrabbling to draw up her paws, and turned enough on the rock to see the lioness standing not too far away. It was difficult for Scatha to label her Druid or Toka: she hadn’t learned all the rules yet.
There was an edge in the air, though, once the two met eyes, and Scatha swallowed instinctively. She shook it off, and tried to smile pleasantly. It came out small and almost shy. Unsure.
“Can I help you?” she asked plaintively, turning to sit so she was facing the other lioness from atop her rock. She felt powerful up here, in a way, but more than that she felt a strange sense of escape. She watched the lioness and felt she was out of reach, in case anything were to happen. She was safe.
Safe from what?
Morgana grinned at her, as if reading her mind, and it only unsettled her further.
“I was just going to the Ravine to press a visit to a friend. One does not usually find ladies sleeping alone so near the prison itself. Are you not scared of some newly released Druid finding you?” She said it with a dare in her tone. Scatha didn’t realize it, but Morgana could not tell what she was, either, and was trying to find out this way. Since she did not see anything harmful in the conversation, Scatha shrugged her red shoulders and shook her head.
“I do not fear those Druids. My brother is a Druid. They’re perfectly fine,” she said dismissively.
Morgana rumbled, but it wasn’t quite a growl.
“They are at that,” she said airily, regarding Scatha with a new expression now. One of curious interest, but no small amount of disdain. She did not much like seeing it, and puffed out her chest a bit as she sat atop the rock. She had the position of power here, she felt, and was young enough to think that because she was taller at the moment she was somehow more important. Morgana should respect her. Then she wondered why she felt slighted at all: the other lioness had not said anything bad. She had to work on her temper, maybe, and she looked puzzled for a moment.
“You said you were visiting someone at the Prison?” She asked, thinking she had found the source of the tension in the air. Morgana was insulted that Scatha had not been more generous about the Druids, as she was clearly friends with them. Perhaps one herself.
“Indeed,” was all Morgana said in reply.
Ultimately, Morgana had no reason to speak with this lioness. She was not useful to her: no Toka could be. It was interesting to know her brother had been branded a Druid and not she, as Morgana had quietly assumed the dragon-like lioness was a Druid as well. There must have been some reason for her to be able to avoid the label, and for her to hold herself up with such importance. What that was, however, Morgana could only guess. Fortunately, she had always been good at guessing games.
“Do you hail from the castle mountain, then?” she asked, after a pregnant and awkward pause.
“How did you guess that?” Scatha frowned.
Really, Morgana had more to go on than just this impression of undeserved superiority she was getting from the red lioness on the rock. She had recently met another lion that had a similar pelt, and he had given her the same impression. It was not too far a leap to assume they were related. She shrugged her shoulders instead of informing the other of this, smiling easily. It was not a smile Scatha particularly liked, and though Morgana was pretty, Scatha felt the smile was no where close to kind or welcoming.
“My mother serves the Queen, and I help,” Scatha said at length, glancing around for an escape. Maybe coming to the Ravine had been a mistake after all. She was not in danger here, she felt, but there was still an uncomfortable need to get away. She shook her head slowly and swallowed her uneasiness down as best she could. “I suppose I should be getting back to them now. It was… a pleasure meeting you.”
She hoped her pause would not go noticed.
It was.
Morgana smiled with that same oily ease, her eyes flashing in an almost unbecoming way. Scatha did not notice, but they were the same color as the Queen’s. She might have seen it if she did not keep ducking her eyes down the second they met the Druid’s. Fear or some sort of unearned respect.
“Indeed, perhaps you should.”
She nodded almost dismissively and Scatha gave up her position on the rock, running off back toward the safety of Mkoani and then to the mountain. She would not stop until she was certain she was no where near the dark lioness, who simply watched her go with a grin on her face. It faded, though, and she turned to continue on her own path.
(Word Count: 1,068 in Word)
