Matifu:Days had passed and finally Caspian's paws were healed enough to not only be out and about, but out and about on the sands no less.
Dafina had come to visit when she could, and if it wasn't her then it was Mosi come to check in on him. Once, even Maa-nefer, one of the princesses, a friend of Gaddith, and best friend of Dafina. She'd been bubbly and cheerful and wished him to feel better soon before taking her leave again aftter a while.
While being fairly confident she'd avoided any further large conversation botches, Dafina was just going to stop worrying about it. Not for lack of care, but she just wanted to be herself, and being so out of sorts, especially because of a boy, well, GOODNESS that was so unlike her that it almost HURT!
Four of them were out and about now, accompanying two of the guards in their rounds.
It had been a surprise when Matifu announced she wanted to become a guardian. She'd had to talk it over with her father, since she was the eldest and thus expected to follow his path as a hunter, but he'd been alright with that, and others from their litter certainly had to make up for it, almost. She was excited to finally be making rounds and not just training, too, and it showed.
Dafina:
"I don't think I've been out this far in a long time. No offense meant, but doesn't it get dull patrolling with nothing to look at but sand?" Dafina couldn't help but inquire curiously, having a look around.
Indeed, besides her three companions there wasn't much to look at out here.
Gaddith:Gaddith was more than happy to be the 'brute squad' so to speak. Caspian, the outsider, was finally strong enough to join them. He'd not yet decided whether or not he would stay within the pride or if he'd return to wherever it was he came from. He'd been dangerously secretive about his past and had quietly evaded the subject whenever it came up. He walked lightly, eyes always on the horizonline.
Gaddith had taken note of the male's nervious behavior and took it as a sign to keep his own guard up. There was no need, however, to share his supicions with the ladies. Afterall, one was an artisan and the other a trainee. He could handle whatever came over that horizon.
"That is why you are not a guardian, Dafina. You are not looking for sand." He chuckled lightly. "It's what comes out of the sand and beyond it that we keep an eye out for. The excitement of finding that something and confronting it is what keeps me on my toes."
Caspian:
"A little counter-productive to hope that something emerges." Caspian pointed out. "Afterall, if nothing comes over the sands then there is no threat to the pride."
And that was speaking from his own fears. If something came over that golden horizon, it likely wouldn't bode well for the pride that sheltered him. His uncle would make it an excuse to march his soldiers into the desert... his thirst for territory was never satisfied. NOw that he had a son of his own, his ambition burned ever-brighter.
Dafina:
Well he was right about that, she thought, not at all offended by the truth, blunt or not. It was one reason she wasn't at least, her others she knew were completely superficial, but if the pride needed her claws and fangs she would be ready to lend them so she didn't feel guilty about chosing the road that let her maintain her pride in appearance.
Matifu:
"It's good to hope for peace, but we're used to having to fight for it, at least the others are. My father wasn't even born yet when the last war happened."
Matifu chimed in, in a good mood. Good company, active duty, and recently coming into adulthood had her in high spirits.
Dafina:Dafina nodded, looking over to Caspian. She loved the story of the history of this pride, though parts were tragic.
"These lands were once completely overrun by the vultures that were once it's pride's allies. Pharoh Muroki is the last surviving decendent of the royal family. He came here with Johari and Matifu's paternal grandparents, and a pawful of other lions, and along with the lady of the winds they reclaimed the temple and freed the vultures slaves."
It might not seem like much, but one had to understand the sheer number of birds that had been controlling the place, and the acts that some of the adults then had seen. Slaves, both adult and cub alike, carcasses being left as messages of warning, the ambush on Muroki that left him feverish and ill for days, and days, and days on end, and the danger was not just in the bird's size, but their beaks which were made for riping flesh, and their long agile necks.
Dafina agreed with Caspian, hoping for peace and the lack of need to fight, but as she had spoken with Gaddith that night some time ago, even she wasn't silly enough to think there'd never be a need to fight.
Gaddith:
"Pah." Gaddith spat, his maw scrunching. Vultures? No lion of his blood would have let those filthy rot-feasting pests take such control. It sounded almost like a bad bedtime story told to naughty cubs who'd been caught wandering too close to the pride boarders. Sinbad hadn't been above making such things up. Birds the size of mountains swooping in and plucking the eyes out of the cubs who decided to wander off, monsters from the ground that would emerge and swallow up naughty cubs who lowered themselves to speaking with outsiders, all that rubbish.
However- the history was important to these lions. He'd learned early on to keep his own doubts to himself. He wasn't a historian, nor was he a critic. He was a guardian and thankfully for him, being a guardian didn't mean learning history or endulging such stories. It just meant keeping the pride safe.
Caspian:
Caspian on the other hand smiled. It sounded like a savage battle. No doubt the warriors and decendants had a good deal to be proud of. Afterall, lions were earthbound. Fighting winged foes must have been a messy affair.
<"My pride claimed its lands from the old natives as well. A long time ago, there was a great battle. Apparently,t here was a time when lion shared the land with all manner of beasts. Birds, wild dogs, hyenas- all of them. My ancestors saw them as savage and drove them off..."> He looked a little conflicted by the history, his maw twisting into a grimmace. <"Not... the most noble of battles.">
Dafina:
If Matifu noticed Gaddith's "reply" she didn't show it, and neither would Dafina. Probably didn't sound very impressive, but just the same, they weren't a pride of warriors, and maybe had he seen the number of the birds he'd change his mind, or if they'd had a few Firekin among them the battle would have been faster won.
Then again, maybe there'd just have been more bodies to pass the death rites over after, too, who could say? Things that COULD have happened were not meant to linger in their thoughts, or they surely would have already come to pass.
"We all have our ways, not all of them right or just in each other's eyes." Was all that she could offer by means of reply, both neutral and meant to be of some sort of reassurance. She spoke what she felt to be the truth. Every creature had their own idea of right and wrong, those that didn't have it brought up into them. His ancestors no doubt saw it as just and noble and what have you, though honestly it might just as well have been their attempt to blind themselves from the wrong they were doing-- that was how she saw it personally. "I do think things happen for a reason, though, not really fate, I don't think every thing is predetermined like that, but surely the trials we go through are meant to test us and mold us."
Matifu:
"If it hadn't been for everything that everyone had been through we probably wouldn't be right now, not even the king and queen! Right?"
Matifu mused, crushed jade eyes on the sands at all times, looking for any irregularities.
Gaddith:
"You lot think too much into things." Gaddith grunted, "There's battles. Two sides that think they're in the right. In the end, it's not right that wins, it's strength. You can have the purest heart in the world but still lay claim to the weakest set of paws that ever touched the golden sands. A pure heart means nothing when it's spilling all over the place."
He glanced over. "Guess in a way, it's whomever wins that gets to say what's right or not." Jerking his chin towards Matifu, his expression brightened. "She's got a point though. Conflict builds character. No one's got an easy life. It's how we deal with problems that make us or break us."
Caspian:
"Right and wrong are universal." Caspian voiced his disagreement gently, as not to offend the mountain of black or the two lionesses beside him. "Even a weak lion can find the strength to fight if he holds true to a noble cause. The strength of the heart can overpower even the strength of the body."
Gaddith:
"Then why are you stuck here?"
Caspian:
Caspian's mouth opened, but out came no response. Cringing, he dropped his eyes back to the sands. Hate it as he did, Gaddith had a point.
Dafina:
Dafina, however calmly she might have done it, didn't feel the same need to temper her tongue when voicing her disagreement. He was much bigger than her, his voice probably terrible if raised in anger-- and she was sure that it was manners and patience and not fear that kept Caspian from voicing things more bluntly as she usually did --but it didn't stop her.
"Is that so, Gaddith? Surely there's some manner of truth to that, or there'd be no wars at all, but character building or not, conflict is hardly all that life is made for, nor does it hardly justify acts which we all know in our hearts for the small voice that TELLS us that they are wrong. Chosing to ignore that voice because the easier or more delightsome road is to commit the wrong anyway, it's cowardice."
She finished, glancing from Gaddith and Matifu to the male between the two, having seen Caspian lower his eyes.
"None of that, Caspian. Chin up. It seems to me that the gods intend for you to bide your time, if anything. Whatever you say, Gaddith, just because one can use force to assert one's opinion of right or wrong doesn't mean that's all there is to it, nor does it make it alright. I don't mean to suggest that you would condone such a thing, but by your logic a male that can have his way with a female by force, is he right in anyone's eyes, even his own in the deepest part of his heart? Or the rogues that would orphan mere children? Strength comes in all shapes and sizes, besides. If that female can find it in her to carry on and raise her daughter with love, or those children manage to survive, that's it's own type of strength. Survival. Don't you dare think for a moment that it's weak or cowardly."
Matifu:
Matifu's eyebrows had arched just a bit, not much accustomed to hearing Dafina go on like that. She was clearly wound up.
Caspian:
"He's right though." Caspian said quietly, his brow creasing. "If I had strength...even the kind for survival or driven out of doing what's right, I'd be.... doing something." He wasn't about to elude to just what that something was. How many had been hurt because he'd run? How many lives had been spent buying his escape? Surely his old tutor would have been put to the claw for betraying his uncle's scheme that night. There'd been a pawful of guards who had been loyal to his father and in turn, loyal to him. Had they given their lives too? Was this any way to repay them?
He swallowed around a lump and raised his head, eyes growing distant as he pushed his thoughts aside. "Nevermind that. We're patrolling. What should I keep a lookout for?"
Gaddith:
Gad glanced down to Matifu and shrugged one of his large shoulders. It didn't bother him how she saw conflict. It was a nessicary part of life, both a character builder and a way to seperate the strong from the weak. Kings from rogues.
"Ah, we are looking for anyone we do not reconize. Rogues. Might be friendly, might be vulture food."
Matifu:
Matifu returned his shrug with a glance that was as good as any shrug. Dafina felt the way Dafina felt about things, and had Matifu spent more time around her she'd have known that what just happened was simply one of her bouts of debate, mixed with what was meant to be encouragement. Pity that it didn't seem to work on either end, but Matifu's visual shrug was because Dafina seemed just fine afterwards, letting the subject drop with a touch of something flitting across her face. Matifu was too young yet to be sure what it was.
Dafina:
Dafina was quite old enough but still wasn't sure herself just what it was. Uncertainty. Did anything she say get through to Caspian, between that lake side talk and now? She fell silent and simply followed the group after a brief pause.
Matifu:
It was Matifu that saw it-- thoughquite probably not first. The white hide on the sands. At first she mistook it to be her father out on a patrol of his own, a hunt perhaps even, in which case there should be another or two with him she suspected, but as they were on the lookout she did keep an eye on them just in case he hadn't already seen. What seemed odd was that the bit of hide was gone again, and what she'd seen of it seemed to have a streak of gray in the wrong place, for her father's striped mane was in strips, not patches. When it became clear they were beginning to be stalked she wasted not another second. "Gaddith, did you see that?" She asked in as low a voice she could (Probably not needing to. He had been at this longer than her.), pulling away from Caspian and Dafina casually so that she could speak from Gaddith's flank, casually as if the conversation was continuing. If the spying creature was actually many in number she didn't want to be the one to give away that they had been noticed.
Dafina:
Dafina heard, but she also heard the tone used, so she did her best to continue as normal.
Caspian:
It was Caspian, not Gaddith, who first tensed. His eyes narrowed slightly and after a moment, his forced calm continued. Reacting was perhaps the worst thing he could do. A wildebeast would survive a hunt simply because it refused to turn and run. The beasts would often stand and stare at their aggressors rather than flee and panic. Whatever it was, it was following them, but for the moment it was keeping a good distance. There were four of them...whatever it was would either have a lot of back-up or a lot of guts.
Gaddith:
Gaddith caught sight next but only reacted in the quirk of his maw. Perhaps he'd have a chance to see what the others were capable of. He -should- be concerned about the possible threat, but instead his firekin blood was sent boiling. The thrill of a challange, the tension before battle, all of it went surging through his body.
"Relax. Just keep going. If they mean to attack, we'll either see it make a run for the pride's boarders or come out over the sands after us. Either way, let it act first."
Dafina:
Matifu had taken on a different look to Dafina, who had watched her grow up, and thus was able to notice such things that the intruders and Caspian might not. She was inarguably made for this, for being a guardian. The cheerful, almost naive air that usually hung about her had vanished in an instant, her eyes fierce and keen though the enemy certainly wouldn't see that at their distance. Dafina was not a stranger to danger or fights, so she didn't get nervous really, so much as she wondered. They must be Caspian's pursuers if they really meant the group harm, simply because the Dawnwalkers didn't have enemies, least of all enemies that would come this far with such a small party. Or perhaps they'd finally made some? How seemed unfathomable, but that wasn't her job to wonder.
Matifu:
"Say what you want about biding time, but I do wish they'd not waste ours with it." Matifu said quietly, playfully exasperated. She was a bit nervous, yes, but she had had practice! She knew how to fight even though one might not think it with her small attitude. Dafina actually shared that sentiment finaly, wanting them to make their move so they'd know already.
Caspian:
Caspian's steps halted as a familar scent met him on the wind. His eyes went wide and his head flew upwards. The disciplined calm had melted into genuine concern. Oh no...
Anglides :
"You have been trained well....", A silky, deceptive voice called out over the sands. Caspian's hackles slowly rose up and his posture tightened. Slowly, he turned his head, claws sliding from their sheiths.
Standing tall and proud as ever, a dark gray lioness greeted the small party by kicking a pitiful pile of fur and blood down the side of a small sandy hill. Maw and paws still bloodied, the lioness offered the group a toothy smile. "Caspian. I must say I'm impressed. Suprised. Impressed. And amused."
Caspian:
The youth's eyes went wide as reconition fell over his eyes. The bloodied elder, barely alive, lifted his head to offer an unspoken apology. Kornelius...
Gaddith:
Gaddith, never one to exchange pleasantries, took a few strong steps forward, shaking his mane out and throwing his shoulders back. The none too subtle display earned a snort from the female.
Dafina:
Dafina and Matifu, along with the other two, tensed at the same moment as Gadith and Caspian respectively. Dafina first, for she was now the nearest to Caspian, and his reaction triggered hers. What had he noticed? Then there was Matifu squaring her shoulders, securing her footing more firmly in the case of a side ways attack, and baring her fangs in a fierce snarl.
Dafina hurried towards the beaten lion to see if there was anything that she could do, the first signs of worry surfacing in her eyes but her calm retaining a fierce hold.
Matifu:
"Who dares intrude on our lands? Tell those cowards you brought with you to show themselves." Matifu spat, not daring to leave the other three-- or two as it were --unguarded.
Anglides:
"Calm yourself..." The lioness lifted her chin and glared down her nose at the younger lioness. The deceptive pleasantries having died completely from her tone. "My name is Anglides of the Tullamarine pride, serving under high highness Miraz. We've come for the traitor-" She jerked her chin towards Caspian. "My companions and I will leave this territory in peace if you hand him over so justice shall be done."
Kornelius:Kornelius coughed weakly and shook his head. For all the damage he'd suffered at his captor's claws, he managed enough strength to lean up on one shoulder. "Don't listen to them... they serve a traitor...they'll not leave without carving themselves some 'honor' from your hides."
Matifu:
"As if we'd even consider it." Matifu glared at the lioness, but she had already seen, she knew that she wasn't alone.
Dafina:
"Shush, you should save your strength." Dafina's ear twitched, for living in the desert one certainly knew well enough how to listen in it for those that weren't so accustomed.
Chamchela