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Mwezi:
The night was cool, the clouded sky above them threatened rain and the light had vanished as the sun had hidden itself from the Earth. Despite Malkia's insistant proclamation that they should, in fact, rest up, only the added threat of lightning and the upcoming storm had forced the strange group under the refuse of the reviving jungle.

Both the cheetah cub and the lioness were asleep by then; the smaller of the two bodies curled up, pressed against the fluff he insisted on wearing, seemingly hidden from the world by both adults' frames, while Malkia's head rested on one of his legs.

Despite the admitedly comfortable position (it was warming on levels he dared not admit), Mwezi had found he could not sleep. His golden eyes remain open as he leaned against a tree; he could scent the smell of lions nearby (a pride?), and his previous encounter with the rogue was still fresh in his mind, even though all exterior signs of the battle had been erased.

Taban:
A pair of stormy eyes watched from the edge of the jungle. Beside him, a duller pair of eyes watched with less interest. The rogues didn't seem to have any intention of coming into the lands. The older cheetah watched simply because this was indeed a larger predator. A hungry lion was as much a threat to a cheetah as anything.

Taban, however, fancied himself just as dangerous as a lion. His claws were dulled, as any cheetah, but his wit was just as sharp. "Hmm...." The cheetah leapt himself out smoothly. "Bai Feng. Stay here... inform Lucia and Fubar if something goes wrong."

Bai Feng:
"Hm?" Bai glanced over, "You're speaking with him?"

Taban:
"Rogues all have a story to tell... they pass many prides and meet many individuals. The more we know about what's out there...the stronger we become."

Bai Feng:
"Mind yourself...", The white cheetah warned as he pulled himself up to all fours.

Taban:
"Of course." Taban flicked the end of his tail and walked forward slowly. He wasn't prowling and didn't lower his head. Nothing about his stance would alert the lion to a challange.

Mwezi:
He heard, rather than saw the cheetah approach, and though no actual movement was made initialy, a single ear focused their way for a moment. Slowly, the male's eyes narrowed, just a notch, and his claws sunk into the wet ground bellow. Almost unconciously, his long atil curled and landed over both females that lay curled against him, deep in slumber.

A sleep that escaped him because the lands were not safe. Could not, would not, could not....

He released a mental sigh almost wearily as he turned his head, finally gazing at the approaching.... cheetah? A tilt of his head indicated mild confussion, but that was all. At his feet, the cheetah cub yawned wide and snuggled closer, but Mwezi's eyes were on Taban. He spoke not however, and allowed the other to approach. For now. The narrowing of his eyes and the low rumble in his chest warned the older cheetah to stay just beyond reach however; he had something to protect. If for no other reason than the fact it pleased him to protect them; Mwezi found he always did as he pleased.

Taban:
Taban stopped a few yards away and lifted his head up high. He stood like a noble might be expected to. For a cheetah, while average in size, he had a broader, more muscular upper body.

"Peace. I mean no harm." The cheetah dipped his head a bit. "Strange... for a band of rogues to come this close to a pride's lands."

Mwezi:
The male's languid gaze travelled away from the cheetah, towards the trees that lay beyond, "Ah," he nodded then, as if he'd just solved a particularly vexing puzzle, pleased to note he had been right; a pride. After a moment, his attention returned to Taban, and though he was laying down, with two bodies pressed against his inmaculate white pelt, he somehow managed to look regal. Like a prince, a lord, even though he had no land to rule, "There was no other shelter, and they needed rest," his eyes narrowed, his voice lax, devoid emotion as he whispered the words beneath the words; they needed rest, but I, do not.

Taban:
"Ah." Taban glanced down to the two curled around the male. He winced a bit... a lion...a lioness....and a cheetah.

There was a time he was included in such a scene. The prince of a proud pride, the son of a king and a blind queen. His mane had never come in, and his roar had never sounded.

"A...family I presume?"

Mwezi:
Unlike in Taban's case however, Mwezi was well aware of Rin's species, and not only did not seemp to mind, but the circumstances actualy pleased him. For whatever reason. He had not yet decided why it pleased it, but that was not important right. The lion focused on Taban's words, a slow, deliberate blink coming over his features before he again tilted his head; the way the cheetah's voice almost broke and the small wince he'd allowed to pass over his body was hint enough that he did not mean any harm.

Slowly, his body relaxed into mild indiference again as he pondered the question. Family? Were they family? He blinked again, almost as if confused by the mere word, then frowned; this was not a topic he had pondered or dwelled into, and the way the line of his maw thinned was hint enough of such a fact, "They are... pleasent company," he drawled then, sattisfied with the answer; it both answered Taban's question, and it did not. It went both ways, as most of the things Mwezi did went, "Why would you approach one such as I in the middle of the night?"

Taban:
The cheetah quickly composed himself and returned his expression to the quiet but ambitious look he nearly always held. The answer satisfied him enough, he would have responded in a similar fashion if questioned about his own troupe.

The lion's question had him tipping his head in consideration. "Perhaps because one such as myself...", he nodded down towards the cheetah curled up in sleep, "Was not so different from that one."

Mwezi:
"Indeed?" the word was drawled out, the elegant sweep of his brow indicating he wasn't entirely sure what Taban meant, even though the mental image of an adult male cheetah being a small female cub cheetah that ran around calling someone 'Lord Mwezi! Lord Mwezi!' was vaguely amusing. Enough to warrant a small twitch of the lion's lips; something that was not all too common, for most things did not amuse him, "Somehow I rather doubt Rin's circumstances were, or are, the same as yours," he tilted his head again, the movement almost childishly innocent even if his body radiated power, confidence, rather than innocence, "For one, your actions, words, and body language seem to hint nostalgia; something lost, whereas Rin will not lose what she has gained," again the words beneath the words were there; over my dead body. For someone so noncholant, detatched and posibly unemotionaly, Mwezi could prove to be.... conciderably sharp.

Taban:
"Hm." Taban nodded, "I will not hide the fact that being what I am was not good enough for what my parents mistook me for originally...however." He shot his gaze right into that of the lordly lion before him, "I will show them that it is not blood that determines who is worthy and who isn't. The savanah will know my name still long after their pride has faded from memory." He smirked a bit.

"It puts me at ease to hear that not all lions are blinded by the lie they call fate."

Mwezi:
"Indeed; no need to hide the past. It can not be changed," wise words from one so impasive to the world around him, "Denying the past make us weak; we learn from it, not deny it," then as if in an after-thought, he made note to never fight rogues off again when he was lacking numerical advantage; it was what had caused Rin to stay and what had, inevitably, sparked this conversation he was presently having.

Deep down, he sincerely hoped the rogues he had not killed would stumble into a watering hole and drown, thank you very much.

"Indeed?" he asked again, a brow sweeping to hide within his silvery blue mane, "I find that such affairs require too much energy for their worth; so long the important ones know ones worth, it does not matter that all should know," it was said deliberately, as if he too, at one point, had had the inkling of the notion of doing the same, before swiftly disregarding it.

Taban:
Taban chuckled a bit, "Well there are some that care little about their own name, so let me put it another way for you." He motioned a paw towards the sleeping cub. "Imagine one day, that the youth there beside you grows up and over the course of her life, she manages to become a figure of hope. Just the mention of her name brings a ruined spirit ablaze once more. Her fire burns brightly and brings golden ages upon any troupe, pride, clan, or pack she encounters." He glanced back towards the male, "Would you like to see this come of her some day? Where your....daughter's name becomes written upon the skies?"

It was a poetic way of saying it. He knew very well that no one's name was truely written in the heavens. Everyone had their own ideas about just what was written up there or who was floating about, all of it was up for debate from mind to mind, often from location to location. Still, it posed an intersting question- did the lion wish for the success of someone else or himself?

Mwezi:
"Hm..." it was not a word, but a noise; a rumble deep in his chest as he tilted his head to one side, just so, taking a moment to study the cheetah before him. As far as things went, Mwezi thought himself above everyone; species was of no real concequence to him. Cheetahs, lions, it didn't matter to him, so thus, in a way, he treated everyone in the same way. It was the way things worked for him, "I suposse it is," he finaly allowed the words to slip from his a maw, a brow arching slightly, regaly as his tail flopped over the sleeping bodies that still curled against him.

He was finding that he could get used to that.

Turning his head, the large white lion shook his mane out, the silvery blue of his mane falling comfortably around him, the fluff that drapped around his shoulders serving to warm not only him, but Malkia and Rin's body likewise, "I am a King," he said, "A king without a kingdom; but that is of no concequence," he drawled, "It matters little what we have, but what we are. If you are pleased with being a tactition, then that is fine," his eyes flashed in the darkness, perhaps with hindsight for a moment as he blinked, "Do as you wish, and the world shall, in turn, do as it wish."

Taban:
"Indeed it shall." Taban agreed but smirked in saying it. "But it is the tactition's job to convince the world of what it wants... and mold that."

He glanced back shortly as another cheetah walked slowly up beside him. An older creature with a firey red mantle. Perhaps the one thing that stood out about him was the strange 'harness' that remained strapped to his broad chest and wide shoulders. It was made of red-colored leather and golden plated buckles shaped like the heads of dragons to hold it securely in place. It was well worn by now, it had been many years since the coursing cheetah had been seperated from his touring master.

Bai Feng:
"It grows late." Bai Feng said simply, "Kisulisuli will be making his rounds soon... we should be inside the valley."

Mwezi:
"Indeed," was his only answer, an ear flickering when he saw the other cheetah pad out of the darkness to join them; by now he was rather convinced neither male was a threat and so he remain languidly watching, undistrubed by the sudden appearance.

He stared just briefly at the leather the older male wore, but shrugged mentaly; whom was he to say anything? The fluff that drapped over his shoulders was not the most common of objects either, yet he found it strangely comforting and pleasing, so thus... he wore it. Because Mwezi'Mtoto always did as he pleased.

A sniff was released, almost haughtingly before he looked away, "We shall be gone by morning; we shall stay till the cub wakes, then we shall leave your lands," his eyes narrowed a notch though; he wasn't moving anywhere till they woke up. And there was nothing short of a mountain crumbling over them, that could change his mind.

Bai Feng:
Bai Feng looked over towards the lion. While he carried himself with pride, it wasn't nearly as evasive as Taban's had been. He knew he was a cheetah, he accepted the fact, and he'd long lived with the knowlege of what was and wasn't possible for one of his species.

"These are not our lands..." He said simply, his accent was sharp and quick, something from the eastern lands but neither Taban or the strangers would have any way of knowing that. "We will speak to the guard on duty... you should be fine."


Mwezi:
"That is of no consequence," came the answer back, "Despite not being your lands, you reside here, and your honor, if I read you correctly, will bring you to inform of our presence here," indeed, as the cheetah spoke on, it was revealed that the lion had been right; he nodded, as if lost in thought, "That will sufice," he said curtly, and as it was polite, he nodded his head, a curt gesture of acknowledgement towards the other felines, though not a bow.

If Malkia were awake, it was likely she'd have handled the situation a bit more smoothly, for she had the blood of a diplomat rushing through her veins. Though Mwezi did too, it was obvious his attitude would insult at times, where Malkia's, thankfuly, was a damper against his own, "Thank you," it was said as curtly as the nod had been given, almost an afterthought before he turned to look away, seeking the moon that filtered moonlight through the gape of the trees.

Taban:
Taban dipped his head as well. "It was good to meet you. I hope our paths cross again one day. I'd like to see what becomes of your family."

He glanced to one side as Bai walked himself back towards the boarder, fully expecting his young 'master' to follow along. "Where are you headed? If I may ask."

Mwezi:
He remain gaizing at the moon and only after a long moment did he blink, slowly, deliberately, "I don't know," he said truthfully, turning just so; he was looking at the cheetah out the corner of an eye, his ear twitching, "Home," he said suddenly; granted, he had no idea where home WAS or if it even exhisted, but that was no matter to him. At least now. He was in no rush.

Taban:
"Ah." Taban nodded. "Well, home is a place you can take with you, keep that in mind." He turned himself and started back but paused once more, "Good fortune to you. Just follow your feet, they seem to know where they're going half the time."

Mwezi:
"Indeed," this time he actualy agreed with Taban; that much was obvious, and he kept on watching as the cheetah vanished from sight. It was only then that the large lion lowered his head to settle it over that of the two females that curled against him, seemingly undistrubed by the conversation that had taken place.