When looking at the two young females you wouldn't think they were the same age, because the brown leopon towered over her pale and pink counterpart. Perhaps it was hybrid vigour, perhaps something else, but Estrilde showed no signs that she would stop growing anytime soon. She did have a brief spell of the disease as a juvenile, but it had passed, and since it hadn't flared up again she was considered a carrier.
Isifo had been small her entire life, but in a pride where many lions were sick it wasn't out of the ordinary for a lion or lioness to be small. Despite what her small stature might suggest, she had never been sick to date. She knew the Goddess could still decide to bless her later in life, but until she enjoyed the relative freedom of being considered a carrier (or possibly immune!). Sometimes she allowed herself to dream about roaming the roguelands in search of a perfect partner for the members of the pride that were hard to pair up.
Estrilde yawned and stretched lazily. Learning to become a guard was hard work and she appreciated the time off. It was nice to spend the time off with Isifo. The two girls had grown up together, and while they had picked different career paths they still had much to talk about. Perhaps even more now, when they didn't spend the majority of their time in the care of nannies.
"Have you always known you want to be a matchmaker," she asked. To her it had always felt like that at least. Isifo had tried to match her up more times than she could count... Luckily the boys in question had been about as enthusiastic about it as Estrilde.
"I guess," Isifo said, "You know how mom and dad met, thanks to Uncle Athair? I wanted to make that happen for other people."
She couldn't help it, she just thought it was so incredibly romantic, and she still did. Unfortunately the training involved a lot of hard work, and not a lot of romance at this point. It wasn't what she'd thought it would be... She was so sure she'd be good at it if they just let her try for real!
"But right now we mostly get to memorize stuff," she said with a huff, "And sometimes it's just silly songs and poems to exercise our memory or something."
"Heh, I'd be so bad at that," Estrilde said, "We do a lot of exercise as well, but uh... no poems."
Luckily they didn't spar one on one that often, because while the leopon had grown large she still had trouble realizing exactly where her feet and tail were supposed to go. Her limbs had grown longer quickly, and she just wished they'd stop for a while and let the rest of her catch up. The training forced her to become less clumsy, but it was hard work and it exhausted her completely.
"Hey, how come you've stopped trying to pair me up," she asked jokingly, "Do they keep you too busy?"
To be completely honest, it had happened about the same time as Isifo learned that hybrids were often infertile. But she couldn't tell her friend that, could she? They'd never really talked about having cubs, because ICK, but... Well, Isifo didn't know how Estrilde would react so she fibbed and tweaked the truth just a tiny bit.
"Hey, we're friends," she said and smiled up at the larger girl, "Just give me the word and I'll look for your perfect match."
Oh, now she'd done it! The smile Estrilde gave in return looked a little forced. Their childhood match games had been kind of cute, if a bit embarrassing at times. She wasn't sure she wanted them back, especially not if Isifo decided to pour all her energy into finding her perfect match. The leopon knew from experience that her friend possessed a lot of energy and could be really bull-headed if she set her heart on something.
"Uh, yeah," she said, "No hurry, really. I'll... uh... let you know when I'm ready."
Yeah... Like... never. She trained with a few boys her age, but she couldn't imagine cuddling up with one of them. Just... eww...
And since she wasn't diseased, no one would twist her paw to make her spawn as quickly as possible either.
The look on Estrildes face... They'd talked about boys at times, so Isifo could guess what she was thinking.
"Don't worry," Isifo said, trying very hard not to laugh, "I will not match you up with some snotty brat. We'll find you someone good looking and mysterious from the outside... Don't you glare at me, I'll stop!"
But she kept thinking. Perhaps Estrilde would like another hybrid... Isifo knew that Estrilde was an aunt, and that those cubs came from the mating of two leopons. It was a really interesting set of cubs... One could easily be mistaken for a purebred lion, another looked completely leopard, and then all variations in between. Perhaps that combination somehow had a higher success rate? She wondered if she could ask one of the more hybrid friendly matchmakers what they thought about her theory...
The matter of hybrids, and pairings that produced hybrids, was often discussed. Some advocated that you shouldn't let species stand in the way of a good match, while others pointed out the problem with fertility. Especially if a lion hybrid turned out to be infertile AND diseased. Isifo didn't know where to stand on the matter, and she usually ended up nodding in agreement to whoever was talking. They all had valid points.
"You better not," Estrilde said with a playful growl, "I can take you in a fight you know!"
But the white little lioness was deep in thought, and Estrilde had to poke her to get a reaction.
"What are you plotting now," she asked, "You are not allowed to run away from home to try to find a prince charming for me. I'll tell!"
Isifo rolled over on her back as Estrilde poked her.
"Hey!" she called, "Watch that supernatural strength of yours!"
She gave the bushy leopard-like tail a playful swat. She'd done enough serious thinking for a while. It was annoying how the lessons from her mentors crept up on her like this when she had a few hours off.
"You know I can't take you in a fair fight," she said, and then twisted her entire body to be able to chomp down on that bushy tail. They weren't cubs anymore, but sometimes it was nice to pretend.
"What, OW!" Estrilde exclaimed. It hadn't hurt that much, and she was sure Isifo had been holding back. But still... Oh, it was on! She growled again, made sure no claws were out and threw herself into the play fight. Isifo would probably give up soon, at least as soon as she managed to sit on her. MOAHAHAHAH!
-fin-