Ianthe's paws noticed a distinct difference in the ground. Maybe it was a small shift, and it had taken her a while to actually realize it, but the ground just felt different. The plants were different, but she had taken more attention into account the different looking flowers, some that she had never seen before! She couldn't help but bother Zuri about it.
"Do you see that? They look funny!" she said. She knew that they were at least in a new area, which was comforting. It seemed like this trip was taking such a long time. At least Zuri didn't seemed too bored by it yet. Not that she paid close attenion, poor boy. "Do you think we're getting closer than we used to be?" A silly question, but she was always full of them.
The changes in their enviornment had not gone unnoticed to Zuri, either. The ground was... different. Not that it was drier, because the parched dust of the savannah was often quite dry, but that it was looser under his paws, less packed together. He put his nose to the ground and pushed some of the dirt around, then sneezed. Looking up to see what Ianthe was talking about, he nodded. "According to that damn bird, we should get there today." He sneered. At least the bird had gotten them close enough that it had finally left. It was a horrible bother.
Ianthe nodded brightly, a smile not far away from her face. "Yes!" It was something that she had to put all of her faith in. There were close, oh so close! It was all she could do to not rush forwards and try to see if the ocean really was right in front of her. That would be kind of rude to leave Zuri behind, and who knew just how close it was? She could easily tire herself out before she got there, and then she wouldn't have the energy to enjoy it like she wanted to!
So instead she kept to where she was, keeping her nose up into the air to try and catch that salty smell that she had heard of so many times. "Do you really think the air is a saltyish smell?" she asked Zuri, always asking him questions for reassurance. She leaned on him more than she realized.
Zuri had to admit, he was getting excited too. It was hard not to, with Ianthe's constant emphatic cheerfulness and anticipation. She was contageous, even to him. He nodded. "Probably, I don't see why anyone would lie about that." He noticed her squirming, and trotted up the pace a bit. He grinned back at her, uncharictaristically childish. "Come on, I'll race you!"
Her purple ears swiveled around to face Zuri. What, really? She hadn't really expected that, but it seemed like a fun idea. She quickly tried to match his pace, catching up to him within a few strokes. "Really?" she said, nearly chirping with pleasure. SHe nodded, agreeing to the fun little run. "Alright!" She couldn't help it, and she quickly picked up her own pace, knowing that she'd get a tiny head start, even if she wasn't a fast runner. Take that, Zuri! She grinned, happy to feel like they were getting closer and closer to what had eluded them for so long. Finally! She was tired of never getting what she had always wanted; to see the ocean. Hopefully it wouldn't let her down!
"Yeah -- HEY!" He grinned and dashed after her, the sand flying under his paws as he did. He ran hard, finally pulling shoulder-to-shoulder with the other dog as they ran. "Ha!" He said triumphantly, so focused on trying to outstrip her that he wasn't even paying attention to their surroundings.
"Oh no!" She couldn't help but say that outloud, since she did want to win! She pushed herself just a bit further, not really thinking that if this did continue on for a while, she would tire herself out and no really be able to join the ocean like she wanted to. She was concentrating more on the fact that she wanted to beat him, but the ground seemed to get kind of sluggish. It was weird, and making it harder for her to run. What was this stuff? She looked down to see sand, but it mostly just looked like lumpy dirt with no grass growing on it. How weird! She tried to keep up her pace, but she was slipping behind Zuri as her attention was split between the weird ground and beating Zuri at the race, her sides heaving as she tried to catch her breathe.
Zuri staggered too, having a hard time balancing as the dirt became less and less packed together. His paws slipped and slid on the sand, and finally went out from under him completely as he landed with a WHUMP on the ground, making a Zuri-shaped dent in the sand. He picked himself up slowly, carefully positioning his paws and then shaking the sand from his fur, and spitting it out of his mouth. "PTOO. Gritty." He made a face and looked around. They had covered a good deal of ground, and as he took a deep breath, tired out from racing, he realized the air did have a tinge of salt in it. He scrambled up a slightly rocky dune, trying to see what was on the other side.
Ianthe had fallen behind him, but she wasn't too far away. She paused for a moment to catch her breathe, letting her heart slow down from eating so fast. Were they getting close? It seemed like the ground below their paws was telling them so. It was so lose, almost like water, with the way it got between your toes, swiveled around your feet if you stepped in too deep. Maybe this was something like it? Like, a greeter to what was to come? She padded up to Zuri, still feeling a bit tired from their run. "What are you looking at, Zuri?" she asked, looking more at him first while she stood by his side, before she herself tried to peer over the rocky edge. It was kind of hard to see, since she wasn't at the best location, but it looked like the sky went on for forever. How weird!
He turned around to look at Ianthe, and waved a paw down at the strip of dark blue stretched out below them. It was fairly far off, maybe several minutes' walk, but he could still see that it was moving. "Look, Ianthe, it's moving! Like..." He paused, but couldn't think of anything else he'd ever seen that moved like that. Lapping at the ground, then pulling away. "You said it's big water, right?" It did look liquid, though the sheer smount of it made it look darker than any watering hole he'd seen.
Ianthe's pink eyes finally were able to see more than just the bits that touched the sky on the horizon. She watched it peacefully, taking it all in. Was this really the ocean? Or was it something else, sort of like the sand? It did look like water, but she didn't think it would look like this. This...was more than she had expected.
"I don't know...." she said. "I mean, it looks like water but....it's so big!" She was actually facing it, but it was still hard to believe. "Do you think this is it?" It looked like it, but she always seemed to depent on Zuri to tell her yes or no in certain situations. "If it is.....wow...."
Zuri shook his head. "I don't know. I can't imagine it not being the sea, I mean.. if it's not, then what is it?" He offered her a smile. "Either way, we should go down and see it close up, to make sure." He took a few steps down the steep dune, slipping a bit on some rocks as he went, then glancing back up at Ianthe to make sure she was following him.
The princess had been out collecting the sea's gifts already, and, unable to find her sisters or Aten to talk to, was growing bored. Idly, she padded along the borders of her pride's territory, not really expecting to see anything, just for lack of anything else to do. Surprisingly, she DID see something -- two somethings, in fact. Squinting up at the two purple figures coming down towards her, she frowned. They certainly didn't move like any lions she'd ever met before. What on earth were they?
Ianthe meekly followed after Zuri, growing more nervous by the moment as she struggled to climb down the steep dune. She tried to keep her paws in the places that Zuri had placed his, but it was hard when she couldn't quite tell exactly where she had been. So instead she did her best, moving quite slowly.
"Eeek!" She couldn't help but cry out when she slipped lightly bumping into Zuri. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she said, quickly gathering up her footing again. "This sure is tricky," she said, her face a bit contorted as she tried to concentrate on getting to the sandy beach below. Slooowly...slooowly...almost there....just a bit...there! With a small grunt, she lept off of the little area that she was on and landed on the sand below. Finally! "Well, at least that's over." Now, where were all these pretty things she had always heard about?
Zuri leaned back up against her, trying to keep her from tumbling over him down the dune. But, though it was slow going, they eventually made it. From down here, the water looked somehow even more impressive. And the air! He lifted his head to smell it, eye catching on a greenish shape perched on a rock. He narrowed his eyes at it. Was it watching them?
Miani tried not to laugh as the two wild dogs tripped and stumbled down the dune, lifting a forepaw daintily to her muzzle to cover a smile. They were apparently so focused on the water that they didn't see her... until now. Whoops! Figuring that the pair were too comical to be dangerous, the lioness slipped off of her rock and padded over, a friendly smile on her face.
Ianthe sighed with relief when she felt Zuri next to her. Heeee, they were pretty much here! It was everything that she had dreamed of, wasn't it? Her tail wagged happily as she peered around, her eyes glancing over the green form for a couples times before it registered taht it was moving. She quickly grew concerned as she looked. She didn't know much about lions, since she really only talked to other wild dogs, but that missing bit of knowledge would make her imagination run wild. Only when she noticed something of a smile did she listen up a bit. Maybe they were nice?
"Umm....hello," she said, bobbing her head shyly. "May I ask you something? Is this...the ocean?" Stranger or no, she couldn't help but ask.
Zuri relaxed next to his traveling companion, as well. He'd met a few lions, and it was fairly easy to tell when they were dangerous, because they tried to kill you. This one did not look at all like she wanted to kill them, so that was good. He remained silent, letting Ianthe talk to her.
Miani grinned, nodding her head softly as she reached the pair. Her many bangles and pendants and earrings clinked together as she did so. "Yes, this is the ocean. You're on the outskirts of the Bahari'mtoto pride lands." She answered serenely, sitting and curling her tail around her forepaws, still looking amused. Then it was her turn to ask a question. "What exactly... are you? You're not cats." She observed, tilting her head.
"Bahari...." she played with the word in her mouth, her nose scrunched a bit as the weird words tickled her tongue. She'd try to remember that, but she wasn't really one for prides and all that. Those were lion things, right? "Okaaay, well, whatever that is, I hope we're not in trouble or anything."
When the lion had confirmed that this was the ocean, Ianthe strangely kept calm. It was probably because she wanted to act not so silly around someone that she didn't know. Other dogs were okay in her eyes, but she was still a tiny bit suspicious in he rmind.
"We're wild dogs!" she chirped, feeling quite proud of herself all of a sudden. It seemed so obvious to her, but if the lion had lived here her whole life, she might know now just what a wild dog was. Ianthe thought she might be the only one that wanted to see the ocean, except maybe Zuri.
Zuri gave Miani a superior look. After all, he knew that SHE was a lion, but she had no idea what they were. Huh. Ignorant cat. He glanced from Ianthe back to the lioness. "Don't worry about it, it's not as if they can claim the whole ocean as their own." He said challengingly, giving Miani a long look.
Miani lifted her eyebrows at Zuri's comment. "Of course you're not in trouble." She said finally, smiling at Ianthe and pointedly ignoring her companion. "You're not even on pridal land, and we generally welcome visitors, provided they don't endanger the pride." Her tail flicked thoughtfully. "Wild dogs, hm? That's interesting. We don't get many of you around here."
Ianthe grew a bit confused on the conflicting opinions. It was obvious that Zuri seemed a little...uncomfortable? Maybe that wasn't the term, but it was obvious that he wasn't too pleased with the lion. She didn't quite understand, but she herself didn't fully trust the lion either. It was just something she couldn't explain.
"Oh, well, that would be nice," she said quietly. "I've always wanted to see the ocean, so I'd be a little heartbroken if we wouldn't be allowed to." She didn't have much else to say, but her eyes soon were pulled away from the lions' fact to the trinkets that she had adorning her body. It was weird, but gave her a few ideas (all relating to flowers, of course!). Did all sea lions do this? Maybe, she wasn't sure for certain, but it was a bit...distracting. She didn't know what to say on the fact of the wild dog thing, so she chose to not answer it, in fear she would say something wrong.
Zuri tried to relax. Obviously the lioness meant them no harm, he was just overreacting. Still, he could see that she was making Ianthe a bit nervous, and that made him feel oddly protective of her. "Right, then." He said after a time, standing and moving closer to Ianthe. "If it's all the same to you, I think we'll have a look around on our own."
The lioness shrugged. "By all means. Only don't go on the cliffs over there-" She motioned a paw in the direction of her pride's dens. "Only the king and queen are allowed there." She spoke in a more businesslike tone, since the dogs obviously weren't interested in smalltalk. Getting to her paws, she shook sand from her fur and began making her way back towards the pride. "I hope you enjoy your visit." She added to Ianthe, giving her one last smile before moving on.
Ianthe nodded at the parting female. "All right then. Thank you!" she called out in return before brightly turning to Zuri. Her smile grew obnoxiously wide, a bit more of a bounce in her step. "Can you believe it? We made it, we really made it!" She sat where she was, a bit of a glimmer in her eyes. "It's so amazing, I almost can't believe it!" She rubbed her shoulder up against Zuri's in a bit of play, excited to get moving. "So, where do you want to go first?" They could wander off for a bit, looking around before trying to find some clean water to drink and maybe a meal. Now that they were here, it felt like they could maybe slow down a little. Travelling like that, especially running after a bird, sure got tiring.
Zuri grinned back, his own tail wagging as well. Though it had always been Ianthe's quest to reach the sea, he felt the same relief and happiness as she did at finally arriving. "I don't know." He answered, sniffing along the beach with his tail held high. "How about we just go this way, and see where it goes from there?"
Ianthe's tail swayed behind her, pink eyes taking in the sights of the water crashing on the sands. It was really weird to see, from a concept that she couldn't really understand, but it was pretty none the less. Plus how loud it was!
"That sounds good!" she called out. She couldn't help but trot around like a playful pup, tripping a bit here and there where the sand sunk a bit deeper than she was expecting. "We can see everything we want, but do it at our own pace," she said with a bright smile. "That way we don't have to rush anything." Not like their journey here, which went by all in a blur. Here, she'd see everything she wanted, and maybe even more.
