Thalion (11:18:10 PM): Maji watched the waves lap up against the beach...they called the the sea of the gods...the dead sea. He'd never in his life imagined there could be so much water in one place...water that brought death if you drank it but life if you bathed in it. It seemed so surreal somehow... He'd soaked his wounded paw in it already and presently fought the very natural urge to lick it dry.

The pride had allowed him to stay, their king, Rotem, seemed...very trusting. Too trusting perhaps...

Maji shook his head. He'd been that carefree at one point. That free-spirited. But there was a different energy here. Everyone seemed happy...No one seemed to fear what lived beyond the boarders, there was no inner hostility..they even sang and danced at night.

Randy2Love (11:45:39 PM): Eyal had been watching Maji from the shadows for a while. If anyone in the pride was untrusting it was him. He was making sure his intentions were good. Once he's finished with his bath, he steps out. "Maji." He greets as he walks toward the dead sea.
Thalion (11:48:11 PM): The small lion jumped slightly with a short gasp as he turned. Once Eyal registered he gave a slow sigh of relief. "..Ooh Eyal... Sorry I was just thinking. What brings you out here?"
Randy2Love (11:51:19 PM): Eyal gives him a flat look and slides into the water, laying down to soak himself just passed the shore. "I came for a quick bath. What were you thinking of?" He asks lowers his shoulder into the water. Its a scar but he hopes the water will help it heal.
Thalion (11:52:24 PM): "...home." He admitted quietly, his tone heavy. "In a way...I feel like I've abandoned them...there were two others there who... had been pushed to the boarders. Just like me..."
Randy2Love (11:59:35 PM): "You can't protect everyone." He voiced quietly. "You were torn to shreds, there's no way you could have helped anyone. Its best to move on and become stronger so you can become someone who can protect them."
Thalion (12:03:25 AM): "I'm not going back." His ears rolled back, "And with this paw, I don't know if I'm going to make it as a warrior here. You train them hard..."
Thalion (12:03:32 AM): "You're very proud of your students."
Randy2Love (12:05:40 AM): Eyal came out of the water and looked down at Maji, reguarding him coldly. "Then don't go back. Stay here and live your life. Our King and myself understand our injuries. If you wish to train as a warrior I will teach you myself but you are in no way obligated to do so."

Thalion (12:22:04 AM): He chuckled a bit, "I'm not cracked up to be a warrior... I think the cubs would run circles around me at this point." He kind of brusted at the dirt a bit with one of his claws. "...we weren't a war-like pride originally. Heh.."

Thalion (11:18:59 PM): Thalion (12:03:25 AM): "I'm not going back." His ears rolled back, "And with this paw, I don't know if I'm going to make it as a warrior here. You train them hard..."

Thalion (12:03:32 AM): "You're very proud of your students."

Randy2Love (12:05:40 AM): Eyal came out of the water and looked down at Maji, reguarding him coldly. "Then don't go back. Stay here and live your life. Our King and myself understand our injuries. If you wish to train as a warrior I will teach you myself but you are in no way obligated to do so."
Randy2Love (11:30:16 PM): (Yay)
Thalion Koi (11:32:43 PM): "I am no warrior." Maji laughed quietly, almost bitterly in spite of himself. "The last time I raised my paw in combat it was in vain. The mistweavers are not war-like...our power resides in our minds and spirit....or it did."
Randy2Love (11:37:09 PM): "You don't have to be one. I said if you wish." He responded starting to walk around the older lion. "You are by no means a broken lion. You still have your spirit. The only thing you are lacking is your totem to give you strength. You need to find what you have lost and reclaim it and I do not mean your pride."
Thalion (11:38:31 PM): "My totem?" His brow creased slightly. More a look of confusion than one of anger. "...find what I've lost? Impossible..."
Randy2Love (12:07:40 AM): Eyal let out a sharp growl and continued to circle him. "A totem is your guide. It teaches and protects you. What you've lost isn't your home its your pide."
Thalion (12:10:21 AM): He looked to the side. "...a guide." His nose wrinkled up into a sneer as he forced himself up. Quickly, and his body screamed in protest. The older lion supressed a snarl. "...no. I've put my faith in guides and gods for far too long."
Randy2Love (12:15:05 AM): Eyal came to a stop in front of him, his own teeth bared. "You've put your faith in nothing if this is how you've turned out. Totems are important to our pride and to our way of life." His stern gaze softens slightly. "Until you have something to believe in you'll nothing more then an old miserable lion."
Thalion (12:17:17 AM): "...faith?" He tensed, "All my life... every minute of every day of my life I lived in the shadow of the storm king. Praying, offering tribute, protecting his lands. My blood, my pride, my honor all laid at his paws. And where has it gotten me? Shunned from the very pride I lived to rebuild, betrayed by my own blood, labeled a b*****d. If I'm to follow another off a cliff I pray I'm struck blind first."
Randy2Love (12:20:08 AM): Eyal suddenly turned on the wounded lion. He lifted his paws in the air and came down on his side trying to knock him to the ground. "Then why do you still live!? If you have nothing left then why do you stay alive now? Your wounds can be the death of you! You don't have to follow our ways. You don't have to find a totem but you must believe in something or else you will die... from your own lonliness and your own miserable thoughts." He growled, turning his feirce eyes on the other. "I am not telling you this to make you afraid. I'm telling you this to save your life and your existance."
Thalion (12:27:46 AM): Maji made a wheezing sound as he hit the ground. It wasn't a hard blow, but he was still recovering from the punishment his body had issued for his sharp movements just prior to his outburst. As Eyal spoke his eyes only fell to the ground.

To conform seemed...strange. Unthinkable. He'd followed one road his entire life- and it'd led him here. Perhaps a second chance? Perhaps not.

He closed his eyes, lowering his head just enough to send his pearly mane cascading over his eyes. "...."
Randy2Love (12:33:36 AM): The sound hardly bothered Eyal. He was a seasoned warrior. He knew how much abuse a body could take. He'd pushed himself to the brink of it more then once. He stared down at the older male, with a cold indifference. "Eventually you will have to make a choice. Do you die as a terrible and bitter fool? Or do you die with your head held up high knowing that the place you are is where you belong." He looks out over the water. "You can do whatever you will, Maji. But, whatever it is you do at least get some pride. Instead of sulking around like your on your last leg. I have seen lions in far worse condition then you, walk with the heads held high and a powerful gaze..."

He heaves a heavy sigh and leans down, cleaning one of Maji's wounds with his rough tongue. "Get up, old man. You need to drink after sitting in this water."
Thalion (12:44:37 AM): Maji didn't look up, but he made the effort to shift himself back to his paws and push away from the ground.

"...when I was young, I met a young lioness...she claimed to be the queen of my pride, the lost princess. I had no reason to doubt her. Faithfully, blindly....I pledged myself to her. In time- the two of us...well." He lowered his head a bit more. "...she got pregnant. But before I saw the cubs, she ran."

His eyes peered slowly up through the curtain of white towards the imposing male. "...that...is what I lost. Not my pride, my heart."
Randy2Love (12:50:12 AM): Eyal took a step back as he told his story. His ears flattened and he looked away. "Your heart... Is something in time that will heal... If you let it." His gaze fell on the older male. "Sometimes you have to let your past go to make it well again..." He nudges Maji's side to help him up. "Things that are lost can be found once again... Loosing someone like that... It feels like it takes away so much but if you let it hurt you then it shall. Let her go. Let her run away with her cubs because she was not the one for you. She doesn't have your heart... if you take it back."
Thalion (12:52:00 AM): He pulled away from the male and began walking on his own, a heavy limp hindering his every step, but he stubbornly pushed on. "I care very little of what happens to her...but I wanted a family. I wanted to see my children and pass to them what I know, what I've learned..." He glanced back to Eyal, "Imagine having your own daughters stolen from you, before they could look up to you and call you father, seek your knowlege and your strength...continue your story and remember your name." He looked forward once more. "That... is not something that heals."