Ulfric swung his tail behind him, pondering his next move. He was not content to play the role of a casual member in this place. He saw weakness and disorder everywhere, and knew there had to be more for him here than simply blending in with the rest of the crowd. Where ambition was normal, he felt he had to excel beyond what was considered all but routine here. He could not just be ambitious, he could not just strive for strength. He needed to show that he was more than all the others, and that he could reach grander heights. But he first needed to work his way up to a point where he could see all that was available to him. Climbing that ladder would be slow and steady for him, but he had never be a lion in a rush. He could bide his time for now, and figure things out slowly, as they came to him, and seize each opportunity to make a name for himself as it came up. After spending so long in the rogue lands, alone and with no one to recognize him for his talents, he had developed more patience than even he had thought possible. He would just keep his focus, and work his way to a solid reputation one lion at a time. The more that started talking about him, the more others would hear. That was what he needed.
Hivya, for her part, was content to keep herself hidden, though running into Ulfric the first time had stuck with her. She was not sure why she kept thinking about him, wondering about him. In reality, he had said nothing to her. A couple of words, and he had been rude, too! But some how he had seen right through her, and made her realize something she had never thought about before. She was hiding and wasting her life. He said she was more than all this, and that was a brand new idea for her to wrap her head around. After all, she had forced herself into hiding most of her life, and told herself that others would only see her as a trophy to be claimed. To find two lions in short order who did not think that, or at least did not show her they thought it, was really killing the view she had of the world. It was making her question everything. So, here she was, walking out in the open again, in the bright daylight. Sure, her pink pelt would be easy to spot, but maybe she finally wanted to be spotted. She wanted to start living, not hiding, and making friends. Talking to others and trying to just be another member of the pride, rather than living in fear of the place she called her home. She had always thought someone would steal her away and she would be made into a slave, or something worse. The more she stepped away from her den, though, the more she saw that she had been wrong.
“We meet again,” Ulfric’s voice cut through her thoughts and made her jump when he spoke, somewhere behind her. She turned and saw him approaching. He was massive, just as large as she remembered him being though now she was not cowering in front of him like a baby. He was just a very burly, big lion, and he bore himself with grace and an intensity that made her want to cower again. She wondered about his history, or if he had come from a place where he might have been king once. She could see him as a leader, easily, though she had never heard of him before, and doubted he was anything special. Maybe she was just scared of him.
“And I’m standing up this time,” she said sheepishly, glancing down at her paws to avoid direct eye contact with him. She had to take small steps, but at least she was taking them. It was more than she had ever given herself credit for being capable of, anyway.
“Indeed,” Ulfric said, humorlessly. He watched her for a moment, then nodded his head as if in approval. “And what have you decided to do with this new found boldness?”
“I… I was hoping I could ask you… if you might help me.”
“I thought you might say that.”
That was a surprise to Hivya, as she had not been expecting to ask him for anything, and when the words fell out of her mouth she had been more than a little surprised by them. But she opted to just roll with it, anyway, and see what happened. Yet now he was saying he had been anticipating this, which meant he knew more about her and the way she thought, and what she might say. Considering he had only met her once before… that was kind of sad. Was she really that predictable, that any random lion who knew nothing about her could just read her thoughts as if they were written on her pelt?
“Well. Uhm. You just seem to know what you’re doing, and how to carry yourself… and you said it before… I don’t. I just want to be able to hold my own here, and not be taken advantage of, and I guess I was thinking maybe… you would be able to tell me something about being confident and strong? Or… If you don’t want to, I understand that, too. You don’t know me, and don’t owe me anything.”
“I do not know you, no,” Ulfric grunted, and he moved to walk away from her, padding slowly but without looking back at her. Her ears drooped and she watched him pass, thinking she had lost the once chance she had at bettering herself. She wasn’t sure she could learn any of what it took on her own, with her habits of hiding. He stopped, though, and spoke without looking over his shoulder. “Meet me here tomorrow. I have things to do today, but maybe I can help you.”
“Thank you so much!” Hivya said, feeling a rush of happiness, but Ulfric was already walking off and did not seem to hear her at all. Or at least he did not care about her thank yous and did not stop to acknowledge them. That was fine: he was going to help her, and that was all she could hope for. She felt a rush of excitement as she skittered back toward her den.
Word Count in Word: 1,087
