Elam had been travelling with the grey lioness with the rainbow mane for a little while now. He had enjoyed having her around. She was a little bit odd but she was fund to be around. Elam had never realized how much he missed the company of females. The thought ade him miss his banu a little bit more. He had had four wonderful banu. His beybanu a lioness and the only one he had a litter with before the downfall of the pride. Then he had two other lionesses and a leopardess. He felt sad that he had lost them all and hadn't had children with all of them. Elam loved children, he missed his own and wondered if he could possibly track them down. They had been adults when the pride went down and they all went their seperate ways. So Elam had been on his own for too long.
Eris felt completely content with their wandering lifestyle. She was just at home traveling with Elam as she would be on her own, though with company she tried to stay to a linear path. Some times she would veer off to look at something particularly odd before righting herself onto the proper path. Eris had never known strict, planned out travel and likely never would.
The lithe lioness had begun to stray off course once more; this time towards a little gorge. Her soft pawed approach led her to the edge, where she looked down with an almost manic excitement. There was a river and in it she could see more than a few crocodiles milling about. "We should look for a way down...I would very much like to see them up close."
Elam noticed Eris veering away and follwed her. He didn't exactly have a plan on where he was going so the little detours didn't bother him in the least. Coming up to the edge of the gorge and he peered down.
"There are crocs down their Eris." he said. He wasn't sure why she wanted to go down but he wasn't exactly excited to get eaten by crocodiles. "I am sure we could find a place to swim that doesn't have crocs in it." He tried to persuade her to leave the gorge be, but he also knew that if she was determined he would end up following her over the edge.
She grinned. "Your eyesight is very keen today, Elam." Eris padded away from their spot and continued further down the gorges ledge. Obviously she was searching for something, likely a way down, when she came across a log that crossed the gorge in a smaller spot.
"We'll cross her, go further up to get closer to the water and back track. Hopefully they'll still be there..." The grey lioness was mulling it all over in her brain. How long would the Water Gods remain in sight? "...we'll ride their backs to the Ocean, of course. That way we won't have to walk as long."
Elam just looked at her blinking. Ride a croc where did she come up with these things. Never in his wildest imaginations did he ever think of riding a crocodile's back. He shook his head, he couldn't let her do this on her own so he followed her down.
"Okay but we have to find a safe place to cross." he said. He was praying that if he could slow them down enough that by the time they reached the spot where the crocs were they would have moved on and gone else where. If they were still there he would have to find away to convince Eris that this was a terrible idea.
"That's what the logs for." To prove her point, Eris placed both of her forepaws onto the fallen tree and pulled herself up. Were it not for the upturned root system on her end it might have thrown her over the side. The fallen tree was still loose, however, and groaned under her weight.
She looked back at him with that same soft, sweet smile. It was as if no matter her emotion she would be eternally grinning. "Are you coming Elam, or will I go alone?" The challenge was soft, but there, never the less. She knew him to be a male of old traditions, so surely he would follow her.
Elam let out a great sigh. He had only had a soft spot when it came to females. It didn't take much to have him wrapped aroud there toes. He waited for Eris to clear the log before he jumped up on it. The tree protested even louder under his weight. He moved quickly and cleared the log.
"Okay my dear, lead the way." his tone of voice meant to indicate that he wasn't exactly pleased with the choice of activity in the day. However there was a little laughter in his voice. He was having fun despite the choice to follow her.
Eris looked over the edge once more before starting up a rather jaunty walk. She looked back over her shoulder once, and only once. "I just wanted to cross the log. Unless you have a desire to see inside of a crocs stomach, we shouldn't get close...or do you think they would let us? A curious adventure."
There was a tone of whimsy to her voice. Whatever she may have said, the current path they were on WAS indeed leading down hill. It was a small little descending ledge, just wide enough for one at a time, and slippery enough to warrant careful steps. "Did you do much of this in your pride, Smoking Volcano? How much of the world have you seen?"
Elam couldn't help but grin. The female had a way of making him smile and shake his head all at the same time. "No I think you are right we should keep our distance." He said following in line behind her as they made their way down the thin trail.
"No I can't say I did much of this in my old pride." he said sad a little thinking of his old home agian. "Sadly I haven't seen much of the world. I was travelling around a bit before I met you, but well I have to see I have done the most interesting things since I have met you. What do you have in line for us next my dear?" he asked her. For the first time in a long time the Elam felt young again.
Living in a pride sounded terribly dull. This wasn't the first time she had spoken with a lion from a pride, nor would it likely be the last, but Eris was more sure than ever that she wouldn't join one. Her heart just wasn't in it. They seemed to know so little of the world, and being in the rogue lands just upset them. No, definitely not something she wished to be involved in.
Her paws nimbly navigated the steep terrain until she was able to leap onto the softer river bank. The gorge had widened here, but Eris noticed with dismay that the area she wanted to be in lacked a bank at all. It was entirely made up of water. "Carry on, I suppose. We won't be seeing the crocodiles today." Her wistful tone was laced with disappointment. Eris shook her head and turned int the opposite direction. "How about you lead us to this 'safe' swimming area then, hmm? I think I would like that."
"Aw drat" Elam said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice at her saying that there would be no crocs for them today. When she mentioned safe swimming area Elam was happy. It was an activity that he could actually enjoy.
"Right this way." Elam said like he had a clue as to where he was going. He kept his eyes peeled for some sort of good swimming area. This female was making Elam enjoy life again, he would be sad when they parted ways.