Bedeinka was coming back from her adventure in the rogue lands. She would wait in Mazu until she found out if she was pregnant or not. If she was not she would go back to the rogue lands and find another male. For now she was happy just to be able to come back home after so long. It had been far too long since she had an opportunity to see her beloved nephew. She was thankful that her trip was short.

As she wandered she caught sigh of a handsome young leopard and a cub. They seem to be stopped at a near by pond. She had barely noticed them, but the leopard caught her eye, something that didn’t happen very often. He glanced at her, his eyes filled with distain. That was the look she would normally give him. Interesting, she thought. Perhaps she could use him to her own means.

She went over to the pond and took a sip, her eyes glancing up at him once in a while. He watched her carefully, probably thinking she would attack or something. However she wasn’t the barbaric type. After she was done getting her water she looked up at him fully and smiled as gently as she could. “Hello there my lovely leopard. How are you and your adorable little son doing today?” She spoke cheerfully to them, something she had to try real hard to achieve.

Ekaitz was having trouble sticking with his father. This was the first day of their travels away from his siblings and mother. He was worried sick about them, but at least he had his papa. Though that wasn’t saying much. When ever there was another leopard around his papa would go and flirt with them completely forgetting about poor Ekaitz. His father promiced to play with him though, he would just have to be patient.

When the lioness walked up to their pond Ekaitz watched her carefully. He wasn’t sure yet how he thought about other species. His father had told him that leopards were far more superior to any other species. He personally thought that all species were equal, but he would never say anything to his papa. His papa needed to think he was better to get through the day, Ekaitz thought to himself.

He grinned at the lioness. She seemed nice enough, much like his mother had been. “My name is Ekaitz!” He said with a loud voice and a huge grin. He was proud of his name, after all he was named after his papa’s father. “How are you doing today madame? Me and my papa were just traveling around.” His father had taught him manners at least and he was doing his best to show them off.

Bukaera was checking out a lovely leopard when he heard the footsteps of the lioness approaching. He looked at her and glared. What was she up to approaching them? He glanced back at the leopard but he was gone. Drats he wanted to make some friendly conversation with him too. He watched the lioness carefully as she drank from the pond. He was about to tell his son to get going when the lioness spoke.

Such a sweet sounding voice, though almost too sweet. It sounded like she was doing her best to sound innocent. Only those plagued with sin actually had to try to sound that sweet, he knew from experience. He was up to ignoring her when Ekaitz spoke. Great. Now he had to stay and make sure his son didn’t say anything important.

“Our business is our own.” Bukaera said in a calm tone. He didn’t want this lioness to talk to them any further. She could plague his son’s innocent mind and he had no intention of that. “Let us go now son. Perhaps we can find others of our kind to talk to.” He pushed his son away from

“My name is Bedeinka little one.” She said with a smile. When the leopard got up to leave she followed. “I come from a pride that has plenty of leopards. There are leopards on the council and some as guards.” She said as she followed him. “You and Ekaitz are most welcome to come vistit the pride any time you please. There is soon going to be a bonding between our king a lion and his royal guard a leopard.”

She grinned as he stopped. As she thought. He didn’t approve of different species getting together. Or more importantly a leopard getting with another species. Perhaps he was the one she needed to break apart King Nahasi and Juan. He was handsome enough to do the job, she just wondered if his personality would work.”

Ekaitz stopped with his dad and watched the two adults. When the lioness talked about her pride he got excited. Other leopards! Other leopards for him to play with. “Papa! Papa please let us go! I want to meet other leopards. Is there any leopards my age?” He asked hopefully.

Bukaera sighed as he came to a stop. This wasn’t good. He should just let himself let it go. If a leopard wants to mate with a lion than good for them. He shouldn’t stop them. But a tinge of jealousy came over him. A lion should not be able to be with a leopard no matter what. It didn’t matter if he was a king or a god.

“Your pride does sound interesting. I would like for you to take me there.” He said with a sly smile. He would see about these two getting together. He decided that if they were meant to be he wouldn’t be able to break them apart, but if he could break them apart they were obviously always meant to be separated. “My name is Bukaera by the way lioness.”

“It is very nice to meet you both.” She noticed the look in Bukaera’s eye. Everything was setting into place. She would bring back the handsome leopard to perhaps try and woo Juan. This would crush Nahasi’s heart and he would find a proper mate to be his consort. “My poor nephew doesn’t know what he is getting into. I believe that species should stick to their own kind, but Nahasi thinks other wise. I’ve tried to talk to him, but he doesn’t listen.”

Ekaitz kept quiet. They were talking about boring grownup things. He wanted to know more about the pride, but he didn’t want to know who was marrying who in the pride. That stuff was gross. Instead he distracted himself with a butterfly and chased it around, stalking it and pouncing on it. Typical cub stuff.

Bukaera watched as his son went off to follow the butterfly. What an innocent soul unlike him and the lioness. He knew she couldn’t be that sweet. “What if I told you I could try and tear the two apart?” He said with interest. This was the sort of thing he was interested in. “I would hate seeing a handsome leopard giving himself to a lowly lion, no offense of course.”

He hadn’t been apart of a pride for a long time, not since he ran away from his old home. He needed a place to settle down and raise Ekaitz. This placed seemed a decent place to do that, at least for now. If it wasn’t as perfect as it seemed he would just leave with his son. “Are there cubs Ekaitz age to play with, ones who are leopards?”

She smiled. He seemed to be on board with her idea. Something she loved. “Yes, plenty of young leopard cubs for him to play with.” She smiled. “Now how about we get going. It’s not too far from here. I was just heading back. I was on er.. a mission.” She said with a half smile. Her own little missions, but a mission non the lesson. “Little Ekaitz, come along now dear. Auntie Benienka would like to take you to her home!” She called the little leopard.

He was a little bit away but he hurried to his new ‘aunt’ and stopped next to his father. “Are you two done talking about ikie grown up things yet?” He asked in a tired tone. He was getting really irritated not being able to participate in their conversations especially when his father was the one who told him never to talk to a lion. “You better not talk about it the whole trip there because than I might just go crazy!” He said completely over exaggerating.

“Don’t worry son. We’ll keep the adult talk to a minium. Your new aunty is going to take us to her pride. We will be staying there for some time. I am going to be meeting the king and his soon to be escort.” Bukaera explained. “You are welcomed to come with me to meet the king. Wouldn’t that be exciting to meet a king!”

Bedeinka watched him control the situation. If anything this Bukaera was a good father, she decided. Though she knew he could be better. She could see herself settling down with someone like him, except for she would never disgrace herself and be mated with a leopard. It would be an abomination against the pride. No neither would Bukaera for that matter. They were on the same page when it came to other species. She couldn’t help but wonder what the little one would be like in the future. Will he follow in his father’s steps or go in a new direction. She would watch him carefully to see how he grows and help mold him into a leopard like his father.

WC: 1,645