Feidhlim had been tracking an unusual scent that he'd found cutting through the area his clan was passing through for a half day now. It hadn't been a dangerous smell, just different. Always keen to do his part to provide for his pride and his mate, the cloud-pale male had set off to track it down and see if it was some kind of food. The scent had been getting more intense, and he'd been careful to stay downwind... He crept forward through some low shrub on his belly, eyes wide as he spotted something pale and furred. He made not a sound as he hunched, then sprang!
There were a few moments of quiet shuffling and muffled tussling about before stillness retook the little valley. Somewhere above a bird questioningly began to tweet again, as if testing the silence. Slowly the tumble of white fur pulled itself apart, separating into two distinct forms - one large, and one terribly tiny. The large one was bent over to be on face level with the smaller, speckled one, and a quiet murmur went up between them.
"Terribly sorry about that...You're sure you're alright?" Feidhlim was looking the smaller figure over intently, eyes wide and worries. Spirits, he'd nearly crushed her!
"I told you, I'm fine. You just startled me more than anything," The little one, called Zorn, replied. She was busy patting her fur back into place, smoothing unruly tufts and dusting off where he'd bowled her over. A sigh slid from the lion as he sat back on his haunches.
"Thank goodness. Shani would have had my hide if I'd hurt a cub," He half mumbled to himself.The both of them valued young ones more than anything, and the thought that he might have accidentally hurt a child...it was beyond considering. His mate wouldn't have had to skin him then, he'd have done it himself. No one good ever hurt a child.
Unfortunately for said lion, his words had a rather...adverse effect on Zorn. Her eyes were wide as she stared up at him, mouth agape but working furiously to join together sounds into words. A cub. He thought she was a cub! How...how DARE he?! She lashed out with a (rather tiny) paw, bapping him none-too-lightly on one thick forelimb. "I am NOT a cub!" She shrilled, all righteous anger and indignation.
Feidhlim, for his part, was stunned.
"I am an adult! A grown up! Not some orphaned babe!" Zorn went on, all but vibrating out of her fur. "What, did you think I was some...some oversized type of cat like you? A lion? Pah!" She twisted to whip her clearly untufted tail at his nose. "I'm a serval. A Serval! You know, a properly sized sort of cat!" This was...clearly a rant she'd gone on before, if her sudden fervency was anything to judge by. She began to pace before Feid, not even looking at him as she went on about how no, she was not undersized, she was very mature for her age AND actually fairly large for her species.
After more than a few minutes of this the lion finally sighed and with one big paw to block her pacing path, he brought the little feisty thing to a halt.
"I never said you were small. And I'm sorry for calling you a cub. I've never met a serval before," He admitted with (hopefully placating) ease. She fumed up at him for a moment longer before the apparent genuine lack of smugness behind his eyes won her over. She huffed, plopped back onto her bum, and furiously groomed herself over once more in an attempt to calm down.
Once she caught her breath Feidhlim smiled and attempted to begin anew. "I really am sorry though. I should have looked before I leapt. Did you know you're in my pride's lands? Not that they'd mind, I think." He knew how to handle other lions, or even other big cats or dogs...but what harm could a lone feline barely bigger than a cub be? Even if there were a few, how much could they eat? He didn't feel compelled to drive her off--aside from her outburst there'd been nothing even slightly concerning about her.
Then again, probably 80% of the time he'd been talking to her had been a rant.
She huffed and regarded him a long moment before bobbing her head in mild agreement. "I guess I probably shouldn't have been trespassing. I did know it was a pride's lands, but I didn't see anyone around. And I was curious." She'd been born in a pride, a lion pride even. It'd been near the sea, but had broken apart long ago, when she was still too young to be technically called an adult. She'd not gone into any pride lands since, but they'd always been interesting to her. She'd understood how her original pride had survived, living with the sea to supply for them, but how did a mountain people thrive? She'd finally gotten too curious and gone to have a look on her way through the area.
"Well, I suppose that's reasonable. I didn't know other creatures were interested in prides but I suppose I would be too." He was curious as a cub about how others lived. The change from the mists of his home to the peaks of the Ela lands had been enough to cure him of that wonder though - he was content where he was, but he understood youth was a different time. And even if she was an adult, she didn't seem as old as him. Or maybe it was because she was small...well, smaller. And he wasn't about to tell her that.
They spent some times trading questions back and forth from there, with him mostly telling her about where and how they lived. The idea of moving regularly was strange to many lions, but she seemed to be fine with it - then again, rogues were known to wander endlessly, so maybe that was why. Or maybe it was a serval thing.
Eventually the sinking sun alerted Feidhlim that he'd been gone for QUITE a bit longer than planned. He had to get back, to his clan and his family. The scent hadn't been a threat at all, and they would be worried if he didn't report in. On a whim, he invited the serval back with him. No reason not to share a meal just to be sure she knew he was sorry for attacking her, right? And seeing a pride was probably better than just hearing about it.
Decided, the pale pair headed back towards the distant clan together.
((Words: 1121))