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Faraja raised her head and sniffed the air delicately, the summer heat beat down upon her brown hide - a heat which was barely soothed by the light breeze which ruffled her fur slightly in passing. The heat she could ignore.

But the breeze, the breeze brought with it an interesting though not unusual combination of scents. Blood and water. She could see the watering hole from her place among the tall grass and she was desperately thirsty having traveled far through strange lands. the source of the blood she could not quite place, nor the lingering scent of lion. Most likely a pride had made a kill nearby - watering holes after all were decent hunting grounds. But no scavengers skulked about and no snarls or snores reached her of hidden unknown lions.

She shifted her wait slightly, tail tip tapping the ground in a thoughtful staccato, should she chance it and investigate? get a drink of water...gods knows when she'd come across another one. mind made up the chocolate hued female slunk foreward padding towards the waterhole with the intention of quenching her thirst and leaving just as quickly as she had come.

Paw pads squished in the soft mud beside the hole and she lowered her head to take a sip when a strange reflection caught her eye, flinging her head up she glanced in the direction and saw...damn.

It was a lion, a male soft blue-grey...and red, wounded clearly and not in good shape. Faraja stepped softly forward to better investigate this wounded creature, hunkering down she gazed at his sleeping face, it was like a click in her mind, a pulse of that inner beacon she'd been aimlessly following for so very long. She was ment to help him. Faraja never questioned this instinctual reaction - nor did she consider the lions reaction to her help, she simply et about cleaning and inspecting his wound's making small tsk tsk sounds as she saw their extent.

Faraja was rather intent on her study of the lions wounds, some were rather deep and worrisome and it was clear the poor beast had been through some traumatic event. Perhaps a hunt gone bad? or a skirmish with some neighboring pride? it was hard to say and where was his pride? - perhaps he was a wanderer like her.

Such were teh question racing through her mind when the beast stirred in his sleep and shortly after tilted his head back to look at her. Faraja backed off slightly - now that he was awake she was aware of the danger she had put herself in. But she could hardly have done anything else and she inched closer again. Something in her mind simply told her that this lion would not hurt her, and maybe it was wishful thinking on her part but Faraja had never before question that inner guidance and she wasn't about to start now.

"I didn't mean to wake you"

She responded soothingly, casting her eyes about for something she might be able to drag over for water as he coughed. Despite her question and her desire for answers to these question Faraja shushed the male before he could say anything else.

"shush..you should save your strength"

Still casting about for something useful Faraja finally spotted a piece of broken bark which might work. Standing she picked it up and dropped it in the shallows, flipping it over and pushing one side down with her paws to let it fill with some water. It wasn't much but perhaps it would sooth his throat at least a little she thought to herself as she dragged it back slowly - so as not to spill what she had managed to collect and pushed it close to his head.

Faraja politely turned her gaze as he righted himself to drink, some lions - especially males - she knew were not keen on appearing weak or wounded in front of others. Since she didn't truly know this lion she would err on the side of caution and busily fussed at the ruffled fur on her leg, smoothing it back to smooth sleekness until he spoke.

"My mother always told me that healing was mostly common sense, keep it clean and still to prevent reopening and extra bleeding and most wounds will heal on their own."

She glanced up to appraise his shoulder wound for a few moments before conitnuing.

"As long as it's not weeping overly much I imagine it should heal - though it is deep I don't know if it damaged the muscles, we will have to keep you still to let them heal as best we can"

She mused that over for a few moments, at least they were near a water hole - that would make thins significantly easier and the hunting near such places was generally good so she didn't anticipate any trouble feeding him. The chocolate female was drawn from her musings as he asked another question.

"Oh! I'm sorry I imagine I ought to have introduced myself when you first woke, rather akward I expect to wake and find a stranger standing over you , I'm Faraja...I was told it means Mercy, most back home simply called me Fara"

Klahan...it as a pretty name she thought silently to herself,had a smooth sound to it when she mulled it over in her mind, once more she wondered just how the pale colored lion had been wounded - but that she guessed could wait until the introductions were done with, she didn't want to seem the prying sort.

Faraja nodded slightly, she had always thought the advice rather sound - and in any case she'd never really had any reason to doubt it.

"hmmm..perhaps"

She remarked on him attacking her and although she personally believed the beast never would have done so, Faraja after all believed she had been sent to help him and why be sent by her inner light if he had just been meant to attack her? Still she decided not to argue that particular point with him - whenever she'd mentioned her inner guidance before most lions looked at her like she was batty. She'd learned to keep such things to herself.

"I was pretty sure you were in no shape for such things"

She amended after a few moments - not wanting him to feel as though she didn't believe him, she glanced away somewhat embarrassed that he thought her name beautiful and managed a barely audible thank you. Thankfully he seemed to desire a change of subject as well - or perhaps she thought he just needed to work out what had happened in his own mind, sometimes sounding boards helped when something rather terrible had happened to you. She nodded.

"the thought had crossed my mind...although I didn't want to pry"

Faraja listened raptly to his story, even if she hadn't been truthfully interested it would be somewhat rude to have him poor out his injuries and not listen. Fara was indeed interested however, her attention was not faked. A flicker of sympathy flashed through her eyes - although she quickly squashed it somehow thinking the Lion would not want such pity.

What she could do for him Faraja decided was simply help him get better - and hopefully the gods willing, he would indeed have a home to return to. How terrible would it be after all to return from such a ritual successfully only to find it all for naught? A hundred condolences sat at the tip of her tongue, comments akin to 'I'm sure they made it out' and 'you did everything you could' but those were shallow words and would mean less then actions. Instead the lioness turned her attention to answering his question.

Pursing her lips she padded over to tak another close look at his wounds, eyeing them critically.

"Perhaps if we keep your strength up you could be moving in a couple of days, although it would still be sore, it will take quite some time to heal completely"

She paused for a few moments before glancing at him.

"but you are a warrior and so I'm sure you are somewhat used a goodly deal of pain and stiffness, a few days then of good food and plenty of rest. I will go hunting shortly - the meat will help replenish the blood you lost and help your body recover"

Faraja nodded slightly as he spoke his childhood adage, it had the sound of something taught religiously throughout his Pride. She wondered briefly if she herself would be so brave when faced with such grievous wounds concluding only that if the cause was great enough and she believed strongly enough then...perhaps she would be. She could hope so in any case.

"That has the sound of a lesson hard learned"

She remarked gently - such a lesson after all may be taught and talked of often but she had the feeling it was one of those things that while you knew it...could only be truly learned with experience, she had little doubt that the Lion before her would indeed live up to the adage however as he had much at stake. Stretching slightly she glanced around, daylight was fast fading, the heat of day subsiding somewhat. It was a good time for hunting. narrowed eyes were too busy pondering the best route to take for this hunting trip and so she missed his inaudible mumble about repaying her.

"Please stay put"

She cautioned Klahan with a voice firm and yet pleading at the same time, she could not exactly demand that he remain still...but she could ask it of him strongly and hope he would comply, the chocolate colored female was quite clearly fretting over him reopening wounds which had started to close.

Faraja noted the heavy strained look on his face - poor beast she thought to herself - to be born of such a proud pride and now so gravely wounded, the fate of those he cared for unknown. It was perhaps that she thought which hurt the beast more then his physical wounds did. He was spirit sick - and of course there was no cure for that but time and the roads it would uncover for him.

"Sleep Warrior and dream of strong times so that your body will recall such things and your heart bring such strength into being"

She told him gently - she'd heard such things said to other wounded as a cub and believed quite firmly that positive thoughts helped on to heal all the faster.

"I'll return shortly"

She stated after a few moments before giving him a kind look and bounding off into the tall grasses surrounding their water hole. She would hunt and when he awoke hopefully she would have something waiting on him.