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Running and giggling at the same time was hard to do, the little goddess had figured out fairly quickly. But sometimes, it was worth the trouble! Like now, with Auntie Aida yelling after her while sitting on the back of her (slightly amused) mother some ways back.

Ahh, peace and quiet at last! Who'd have thunk such a small cat could make so much noise? Féa giggled again, glad to have lost the boring adults who had been in the middle of lecturing her. For a prank. That wasn't even all that fun too, honestly! So what if Aida wouldn't be able to get the berry juice out of her coat until they encountered another lake? A bit of stickiness never hurt anyone, and the red colour really suited her spots!

Still gloating over her victory, she nearly failed to see the lioness in the high grass until it was too late.

"Eek!" Féawyn was fairly sure she'd been paying attention. Hadn't she? It didn't matter much, because the lioness on the ground didn't look like she'd take much damage from being rammed into by a cub. She looked like she'd already taken all the damage she could - thin, tired and not at all very healthy.

Should she go get her mom? But her mom would be coming any minute now, surely, she'd never actually gotten lost or anything like that.. and this lion looked like she needed help. Like, a lot. Was she already dead? How did you know if someone was dead or not?

"Ohmigosh, she's dead! She's dead! MOOOOOOM!" Well, even the dead would have heard that ear-shattering scream, at least.

It was a zombie. Féawyn stared at the not-entirely-dead lioness with large, terrified eyes while her mother and surrogate aunt honed in on her and the other.

"Féa, what happened? Are you alright?" Henya was used to her daughter's mischievous ways (she liked to chalk it up to the little cub's age whenever Aida started casting blame, really) but she was fairly certain that even her sometimes wayward daughter couldn't manage to do anything in the short amount of time she'd been out of her mother's sight that'd possibly make the lioness in front of them look that bad.

And she did. Look that bad.

A quick scan of her daughter revealed no visible wounds or wrongs, so she chalked the screaming up to surprise. But the lioness.. she had nearly too many to count. Her starvation was obvious, fur matted and tangled, and Henya found herself softening in pity for the poor creature. She'd never been very good at the whole 'Wrathful Goddess'-thing, anyway.

"And what about you, dear? Can you talk?" She approached Kasida with a slow stride, making sure to keep every movement obvious. They needed to do something, and quick, if this lioness was to survive - and Henya couldn't leave her here, not with her daughter and her own conscience to hound her for it forever.

"Ah well, I'm Henya of the Home and this is my daughter, Féawyn and my friend Aida." She stepped aside slightly to showcase Féa and Aida, both hiding behind her larger frame. "My daughter and I are both goddesses, though I assure you you have nothing to fear from us."

"Why'd she be scared of us? I don't get it!" The smaller goddess grumbled to the even smaller creature on her back.

"Féa, be quiet!" The temperamental cat hissed back, enraptured by the encounter and not about to let the cub draw unnessecary attention to herself. The other lioness might look sickly, but that didn't mean that she couldn't make a desperate move if she got too agitated.

"And what about you, dear? I dare say it's rare to see a lone lioness this far out." Build up slowly, Henya, and get her to trust you before you offer your help. Being a goddess didn't always count for much in the way of kindness, and she feared that their collective reputation as a race might make the sickly lioness withdraw from their kindness.

"Oh dear!" Henya stepped into the other lioness' comfort zone to steady her with her flank, "Maybe you should lie back down and rest for a bit?" She didn't look too steady on her feet, and the older goddess worried that a fall might damage the lioness more than it should. As emaciated as she was.. Well, there was a definite risk of serious damage.

"My family and I are simply wandering these lands for a time, but I'm certain we can escort you to wherever you need to go. You are a slight thing and it'd be no problem to carry you." She smiled as kindly as she could at the lioness, hoping the poor thing would take her offer. Gods tended to be larger than the average lion, and as starved as this one was, it really wouldn't be a problem. "I believe I saw a river a ways over - perhaps we could go there and freshen you up before we talk?" And find a place to leave them while she went hunting for something to eat, too and then a place to sleep for the night.

"Good!" Henya beamed, practically projecting happiness, and laid down on the ground, wings as flat as close to the dirt as possible, "Now, dear, are you steady enough to get on yourself? Féa, go help the nice lady, will you?"

The little goddess grumbled a bit, but drew close to the starved lioness to steady her. Well, as best she could at her size. Sometimes wings came in handy. "Like this, yeah?" She looked to the lioness, stretching her wings to compensate for lack of height.

"Oh, uh, that's fine! I'm sorry for screaming so loudly and stuff." She fiddled with the dirt underneath her claws and looked embarrassed. "I'm glad you're not really dead, though."

Henya laughed softly, glad that the newcomer seemed to be getting on with her daughter - Aida was still looking mistrustful and keeping her mouth shut, but the older goddess had no doubt that she'd be nagging her ear off soon enough.

"By the way dear, I don't believe we ever got your name?" She shifted a bit, positioning the slight lioness more to her liking before rising up from the ground. Hmm yes, about an hour in that direction.. Lucky the poor dear wasn't so heavy, but they'd fix that soon enough if Henya and her meddling ways had anything to say.

"Kasida - what a lovely name. Well Kasida, welcome to the family." Henya laughed softly while her daughter rolled her eyes and her familiar snorted softly.

It would be nice to have someone else to look after the small ones, even if only for a little while.

((Fade-out?))