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 Lifting her green eyes from the ground, Wei fidgeted where she sat. It had been a heartbreaking decision to actually leave, and once she knew it was going to be a permanent leave, she was even more torn up about the whole thing. But part of her was glad for this new home- she had no mother in her last pride, no father, and her siblings had always been at arm's length because of no parents. There was nothing to be close to, except for the beliefs she was raised with.
    
    And then Raha came along. He turned her world upside-down quite literally the day he ventured into her pride. It only took moments for him to steal her thoughts and heart away from everything else, waiting for the day when he'd return. It had all seemed like a dream, traveling with him, but now, as she sat alone, she knew that everything had changed. But this place seemed so full of life, vastly unlike her old pride. She had heard whispers before she left of others planning to do the same, and it secretly broke her heart. Being the daughter of the female that had helped reband the pride, she felt a great amount of guilt as she walked past the cliffs one last time.
    
    But she was happy here. It felt like a fresh start, with no prior history here and no family to look at her with disappointment. And, Raha was here with her. The world seemed at ease here, and everyone was so happy. That's all that Wei could ask for, a good boost of happiness to raise her spirits. Smiling, she stood, and started wandering around. Maybe she'd go find Raha, but she really had no idea where he was. And she didn't really mind it, because she trusted that he was here, and she trusted the beliefs of the pride.


Sant' Iris leap around on a banana tree. He was looking for his favorite treat. It was often that you could spot this little lion in a tree looking for them. He smiled as he found on and gently lay on a limb. He happily peeled it and began to eat it. He love his pride so much. They had the best food and the other citizen there was awfully nice. The only thing that he could whine about was the sand. He hated the feeling of it between his paws, He wasn't sure why but he hated the feeling. Times like these he cherish, eating his favorite snack and not feeling the awful sand between his paws.
    
    He look down and around and spot a lioness that he had never seen before. Could it be? The female from the couple, that the pride was busying about. He had hear a lot about them. He hear that the female was from another pride and fell in love with the male and brought her here. He keep quite. He was awfully shy and didn't want to be see, even if he was very curios about her and her pride. He wanted to know all about it but he just didn't have the courage to talk to her. 


    Stretching out, Wei found herself not really wanting to wander around as she had previously thought. As her belly rubbed against the warm sand, it felt so comfortable. True to her cat nature, just the heated air made her want to curl up and sleep, but she didn't want to waste the day sleeping.
    
    Inhaling in a yawn, a scent filled her nostrils and her ears flicked up immediately. Having grown up in a pride, she wasn't on edge, but merely surprised that she hadn't noticed it before. She looked around, sitting up as she did so, trying to find what it was. She was quite intrigued when she didn't see anything around her. Had she gone crazy? Shaking her head, she returned to her lounging position, still glancing around to try and prove to herself that her senses were all still intact.
    
    Squinting her eyes, she saw a tree not too far off. Maybe that's what it was? With a perplexed expression Wei rose, lightly tredding over next to the tree, looking up into it's branches. "What in the world..." The words barely seeped from her mouth as Wei found herself looking at a cub laying within the branches of the tree. "Little one, what on earth are you doing up there?" Her soft, young voice had to strain to get any louder than its natural pitch. She was only mildly concerned about the cub, as it didn't seem to be distressed, but she was more focused on how the little thing could've gotten up there in the first place.


    Sant'Iris smiled as he saw the larger female lay on the ground. He had to admitted that they sand was good for that reason. It was always warm and sound. It felt good on his tummy just not on his paws. He never ever did sleep in the sleep before. Always in the ruins, just lay in it before. Maybe one day he would have to try it. He blink as she got up and wonder what she was doing. Usual most lion/ess would just fall asleep. He saw her sniff around and wonder what she had smelled. Sniffing around himself he caught a hint of banana and looked down to see that he had a bit on his paw.
    
    He gently went to clean it and decide to clean both his paws in face. He had to make sure that there wasn't any banana left and it was very certain if there was banana already on his left paw. He gently hum a light song and began to do so. He had all but forgotten about that female until he hurt a voice and jump. Trying to catch his grip he felled out of the tree landed right on the lioness. He blush and rush off of her, "I-i'm sorry. I didn't see you and you scare me and and" he started to stuttered. Moving back his tail went between his leg. He was awfully scare. What if she was a mean lioness, she was sure going to get him back for falling on her. He gave a small whimper and looked down blushing even more.


    "Scared you?" Wei cocked her head to the side. If anything, he had scared her, being up in that tree. "Well, you shouldn't be scared of me, little one." Smiling, she tried her best to give a good first-impression.
    
    "My name is Wei, little one. Now, what are you doing up in that tree?" Although she saw the remnants of a banana, she didn't think it a good reason to climb up into a tree. Especially when the day was as nice as this, it seemed awfully foolish to spend it in a tree for any reason. There was also the fact that lions weren't exactly made for trees; that skill was primarily reserved for leopards


    Sant' Iris blink. He wasn't scared, he was just shy. He couldn't say anything and always worried that he would do something wrong.  He blink again, licking his lips from the banana particals still on them. He nodded shyly and gave a weak smile. He had to show her that he wasn't scare just shy. Which infact made you look scared. he really needed to be less shy.
    
    He nodded at the name and blink again. He pointed to the banana, thinking that she should of know by his messing paws that he was cleaning off.  He smiled, as she look up at the tree. He wonder if she was impress by his tree climbing skills. he was always been good at it.

    "Silly boy. What if you fell out? It'd be just awful." Rearing up on her hind legs, she put her front paws on the trunk of the tree. It was soft, and it'd been a long time since she felt the smooth sides of a tree. Closing her eyes, she remembered her old pride, the old trees by the water, and how she used to struggle so hard to get to the lowest branch to just sit by herself.
    
    "What is your name, little one?" Trying to strike up conversation, Wei thought that talking to more cubs would help her practice for one day when she would have cubs. The mere thought of it made her blush; she was still fairly young, after all.


    Sant' Iris blink. He wouldn't fall out he had been doing this for awhile and got use to not falling out of it. He shook his head and blink at her. Looking at the other bananas he grab one and started to peel. He licked his lips and said, "W-want ...one?" he said very nervous. It was the first time he talked but he had to be nice and ask . She might be hungry and he didn't want that.
    
    He smiled and gently answer her question, "It's Sant'Iris" It was all he said and he thought it was enough. Talking just wasn't something he did. He hope she would be ok it with. He gently peeled the banana and started eating it.


    "You know, I've never actually had one." Eying the yellow fruit curiously, she wondered what it actually tasted like, "I hadn't actually ever heard of them until I came here." Smiling, she nodded her head at the little cub. "Sure, I'll try one. Might as well, since I'll be living here from now on."
    
    Taking her paws from the tree, she flicked her tail, trying to smell as much of the banana as she could before actually trying it. She couldn't eat something that smelled bad, right?


    He blink once again. It semm like this whole time he was just blinking. He was so supirse that she never had one. They were so good, how could anyone not of have tried them. He smiled, thinking to himself that it might of been the reason that she was not from his pride. he grew up with them and she just came here. He hope that she would like them, but he didn't have to worried because they were tasty.
    
    He smiled and took another bite. " S-so how do you like it?" he said looking down at her. it was werid to be looking down at someone as he was use to looking up to older lions.



    Staring at the banana for a few moments, she finally decided to try it. It was so....squishy. In her old pride, there wasn't anything as squishy as this. And it was so yellow, too. Her pride seemed to only have things in cool colors, like blue, gray, and brown. The flower patches were the real sparks of color, and she had always gone out to sit in them and stare out at the lapping water.
    
    Thinking about it, her eyes looked rather sad. She missed certain things about her pride, mainly the basis of it, but in recent times, it had become something unknown to her. There was no longer a sense of family, and everyone had gone deathly quiet. It seemed as if a plague had started to take residence in the pride, and she didn't want to start a family with such a depressing and gut-wrenching feeling looming over everything.
    
    Looking back up, she focused more on the present. "It's....different, but good." She smiled, looking up at him. "I don't think I could eat it all the time, it's more of an acquired taste for me. Maybe it's just because I'm from such a different region." Grinning, she licked the remnants of the strange food from her paws, feeling the odd texture slide down her throat.

    Sant'Iris looked down at her for a few moments befoe taking a few bites of his own banana. He wonder if she liked it. She might not if she was taking this long to answer him back. Maybe she was so use o the food from her land that she wouldn't like the ones here. He didn't mind, banana was something that you like or dislike. Most lions really didn't like them, but he could live off of them. Which is werid because most lions loved the taste of meat.
    
    He smiled as she talk and nodded his head. He figrue that she wouldnt like them as much he did, because most lions did not. He smiled and took another bite of his and ask her a question, "What kind of food did you eat in your lands?" he said tilting his head.


    Thinking about the taste, it really was quite odd. It was....sweet, something Wei wasn't used to. She had grown up on a meat-based diet, with different bitter herbs eaten when she was young.
    
    "I used to eat a lot of water buffalo." She smiled at the small cub, remembering her past. "They would come to the lake that we lived on, to get water in the dry season. Many would stay, so we lived well there." When she was young, it was the nannies who would always feed her and her siblings; there seemed to be a lot of missing parents in the pride back then. She didn't blame her father, but rather, blamed her mother for not sticking around at all. She felt that she had abandoned the pride. dumping off litters of cubs every once in awhile.


    Buffalo......, he had heard about that meat before. By another friend. He wonder how it taste. It must taste good if this was the second time hearing it. He wonder if it was like antelope, like from his land. If it was then he would love it. It was funny. everytime he meet someone they always tend to talk about food. He wasn't sure why maybe food was one thing that everyone could talk about because everyone had to eat.  He smiled and leap off the tree. The time had few by and he was surly going to be late for his lesson, wich wasn't good. He smiledand said, " It was nice talking to you but I should be going. We can talk about food another? he ask, wondering if he would ever see her again.

Sighing, Wei shook off the memories of her past. She was somewhere new now, and she didn't need to reminisce. "Your lessons...?" The thought didn't really register with her at first, but she quickly realized what he meant. "Oh! Yes, you shouldn't be late, little one." Smiling, she looked down at the little cub. She just loved watching them grow. "And yes, we can talk another time." Flicking her tail, she curled up next to the base of the tree. It seemed like a good time to just sit and relax.