From her own point of view, Selene was quickly running out of freedom. She couldn't sneak away by herself so easily anymore, she had someone designated to make sure that didn't happen. The more Uchanjaa was around, the less she tested her boundaries and the more she realized she could wander and learn on her own.. but having a shadow still somehow ruined the independent and self-sufficient feeling she required to consider it really free.
That evening, she had gotten bored of her brothers and hadn't been able to convince her mother to go anywhere with her so she had led her guard to the waterhole. Still barely on speaking terms, they kept their distance and while they were somewhere public and safe, Selene was happy to ignore him.
She sat by the water's edge for few minutes, staring in, before getting up and deciding to investigate the plant life around the waterhole.
Like Selene, Mazin had very little time where he was truly unsupervised but it was for the exact opposite reason. He and his siblings were in the low class, they would officially become slaves when they were old enough to be considered responsible. Luckily for him, he had a large family that was easier to sneak away from and he was smart enough to pick common area where it wouldn't be so odd to see a cub wandering alone.
He'd been playing by the water when Selene arrived and then he'd stopped and stared. Despite their fathers being good friends, they hadn't really had much chance to meet or play. He knew who she was, of course, but he doubted she really knew him.
Still, he couldn't help but stare.
Selene wandered around the water's edge, her nose in the grass. It all seemed pretty well the same, boring old stuff but she didn't get time to decide if she was bored of it or not before she nearly ran face-first into Mazin.
"Oh!" she squeaked.
Mazin clued in to the fact she was headed his way just too late to stop staring or get out of the way. They were almost head-to-head before he reacted and it was lucky that he did or they might have run right into each other.
"Sorry!" he said hurriedly, scrambling backwards a bit, cursing himself mentally for getting caught staring and getting in the way.
"No, that's OK," Selene responded quickly, straightening herself up before looking him over. She knew who he was, she'd seen him before- or his mother, or both. He was the son of a priest, one of the gray ones. They all looked so similar.
"You're a priest's son," she said, still undecided on which one and hoping it would prompt him to inform her.
He shuffled awkwardly when she said it was OK, though he knew anybody else would have scolded him for letting it slide as he did. He was a slave, and a young one, he was supposed to be polite to everybody but most especially the heiress. Her thoughtful look at him distracted him, though, and soon he was staring again- until she made a statement that seemed to demand clarification.
"Ukene," he said a little too quickly, "My mother is a midwife and my dad is a guard."
Suddenly he felt silly adding that on but he liked to mention his dad, too. He loved his dad, he'd thought about how he'd liked to have been able to be a guard like him.
"Yes! Badiri," she said excitedly once Mazin explained who his parents were and she remembered exactly who they were, "Our dads are friends, my dad used to be a guard, too!"
It was silly to mention but she was far more secure in bringing it up. She also remembered learning that her dad's friend had a litter of cubs that were in the low class. Apparently they were closer to her age than she had realized!
"What's your name?"
Mazin nodded fervently but seemed to nervous to say anything else on the topic. He knew his dad was friends with the king and that they had worked together previously. He simply wasn't sure if he ought to say he knew that already when she seemed very keen on sharing the information she had.
"Mazin, my name is Mazin," he said introducing himself and, shyly attempting to prove he knew something, "And you're Selene."
Selene snickered at the funny face Mazin was making as she spoke and again as he introduced himself. She didn't mind his manners, as far as she was concerned he was being perfectly friendly and that was all that mattered. Plus it was funny.
"I am!" she said brightly, "You don't have to be so nervous, you know."
She wasn't sure it would work but it was worth a shot. She smiled at him and took a step closer. Would he want to play? It would certainly be more fun than wandering around here trying to entertain herself. And he'd probably be more fun to play with than her brothers.
Mazin shuffled his paws a little more when she tried to reassure him and stepped closer, clearly trying to befriend him. He glanced around, there was nobody really around- until he spotted the royal nanny not to far away, keeping an eye on the goings on, though far from staring.
"But," he looked back at Selene, "I- I'm a-"
"Slave?" Selene cut him off, still smiling, "So? My uncle is a slave, some of my cousins are, and my sister."
She nodded again, satisfied with her list of relatives she had in the low class. She didn't see a big deal with playing together, they weren't isolated by class even if they were supposed to respect it.
"That doesn't mean we can't play," she said, taking another step closer.
Mazin was aware of the other members of his class, he knew there were plenty of connections to the royal family in there and he felt even sillier being scolded for thinking it was a big deal but.. it was supposed to be! Wasn't it?
"Sorry," he murmured, taking another step back but doing his best to perk up a bit, even if he looked uncomfortable doing so, "You want to play with me?"
A smile never leaving her face, Selene nodded.
"We can even be friends!" she said optimistically, hoping that would make him feel better about playing with her. Friends were more equal than just two random cubs playing by the waterhole, right? Seemed perfectly reasonable to her.
"Come on!"
Selene turned back around and bounced off back to the water's edge where she had been splashing around. With another lion around, they could actually play in the water.
"Friends?" he repeated, finally smiling. Selene's final attempt to get him to loosen up seemed to work. He would like very much to be her friend! She seemed nice, and she was a princess and she said she wanted to play with him.. that was all good, right?
"OK!" he said, following after her.
Fin.
