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Keani was on the beach. The young male liked to spend pretty much all of his time here. He was born well after the tsunami and didn't have the same fear some of the older members of the pride had of the water.

The sky had caught Keani's attention this morning. It was as if it was a polar opposite of his pelt, it was blue with little white fully clouds; while he was white with blue clouds. The only thing he was missing was a bright yellow sun.

The sun was hot today so Keani moved a little further down the beach to the waters edge and stuck his front paws in it. He streched and layed down allowing the waves to lap up over his toes.

Uncert - Can't find her cert right now

Life was just so... boring.

This was the view of Solenn as she wandered across the sandy shore and peered at the grains as they seeped through her splayed paws. It wasn't that she hated it here, nor did she dislike her family... But it was just so quiet! She wanted excitement, she wanted to test her mettle, and for that she needed to be allowed outside. Unfortunately her father had caught her attempting to cross the borders before and now she was in a bit of trouble. Simply put, the young lioness was 'grounded'.

Thus, for now, she was back by the ocean to contemplate her fate. She had always liked the sound of the lapping waves, they were peaceful and comforting. It gave her time to think at the very least, but in good weather during the day it was usually busy. Unsurprisingly, today it was bustling with activity. Hmmmm, maybe she could find a former explorer, someone who had come from the outside to give her tips?

Or maaaaaaaaaaybe someone who was related to someone who might have been. Someone unlike her father, someone who might like to tell stories!

Keani spotted the brightly coloured lioness heading down the beach right towards him. He smiled warmly at her, he didn't have to many friends in the pride he spent most of his time with family, although his family was huge. He figured now that his mane was growing in fuller he needed to branch out and make new friends.

He hoped that by giving the female a warm smiles she would come his way. He wasn't sure what he would say to her if she did come his way. Perhaps she woud have something to say that would spark a good conversation. Keani just didn't want to make a fool out of himself. He was starting to think of females more and more. He had to get comfortable talking to them.

A winning smile always caught her attention, that sense of familiarity and warm welcome were something that her family had always instilled in their young. Her father might have been gruff, but her mother was a boisterous and loveable soul who would have been rather disappointed if little Solenn had decided to ignore such a greeting. Thus, the petite lioness took a mild detour from her own path and meandered towards Keani, pausing nearby to offer him a wave of her paw in greeting. He certainly wasn't new to the Bahari, his fur was much too curly, but he seemed like he hadn't really gotten out much. Maybe one of those families that liked to keep their cubs in check until they came of age? She had no idea, some families were a little more suspicious than others.

"Hellooooooo!" she called in a sing-song voice and closed the gap at last. "Don't you look smashing," she observed and tilted her head to the side. "You look like you fell out of the sky," she coninuted and offered a grin of her own.

Keani was pleased when she came his way. He rose up from his laying postion but stayed close to the water so that his feet were still being hit by the water as gentle waves rolled in.

"Thank you." he said happy that she had complimented his fur, it was his favourite part of himself, a few in his family had the clouds but it was a still a fairly unique look.

"I suppose that would make me an angel" he said with a chuckle.

"My name is Keani, what is yours?" he asked. He felt pretty good about himself so far this conversation thing was going okay

"Hahahaha," she gave a little snort mid laugh and shook her head, she had to give him credit for that line. "So smooth," she remarked and tapped her paw against her cheek, "I guess you might very well be a water angel," she mused and then placed her paw on the sand once more.

"You can call me Solenn," she replied and took a seat, coiling her tail around her paws. "Most folks call me 'Sol' though," she added and then made a comical face, "Even though my name isn't all that much longer but we always have been a strange lot," she mused.

"Is this your first time out here or do you just sort of...come out when no one else is around usually?" she asked, indicating that she didn't recognise him.

"Sol it is then." he told her. It was true that he name wasn't much longer but Sol just rolled of the tongue so well. Keani wondered if there was any way to shorten his name, Kea or Ani he supposed but he wasn't overly fond of either of those.

"I try to come down to the beach often. I do seem to come when no one is around. My days are spent training as a Nyagumi. My grandfather is one so he is pretty strict about my training schedule." Keani told. Even though his training and work took up a lot of his time he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Keani was proud of what he was doing for the pride.

"What about you, is the beach a place you like to be?" The lioness was older than him so it was possible she had been here for the tsunami that took out a good chunk of the pride before Keani was even a twinkle in his daddy's eye.

"Ahh, so your grandpapa can be quite stern too," she mused. "My father is a little like that, he'd prefer that we all found our calling and practiced it rather than floating about without a direction," she confessed with a chuckle.

"But no," she said after a few moments of contemplation. "The beach really isn't one of the places I go to often anymore," she continued and glanced briefly towards the waves. "Not that I don't like it, it's just that... I find the horizon to the west far more interesting," she lifted her paw to point towards where the border would be, quite a trek away. "I like to imagine what lies outside, I've heard some stories and it sounds rather exciting," she expllained.

"All those different prides, all the other species... I want to meet them."

Keani listened to her talk of what lied outside of the pride to the west. In all honesty Keani had never thought about what might be outside the pride. He had everything that he wanted and needed right here no need to go somewhere else.

"Maybe you could find a job that lets you go out into the unknown?" he said. Keani honestly didn't know of any jobs that would need her to leave the pride but you never knew something might come up.

"I don't think I could ever leave the pride. I have all my family here." he said. As he mentioned his family as if they had heard him he spotted his mom standing at the edges of the beach waving him to come home.

"Ah speaking of family, there is my mom now." he said gesturing with his chin. "I am sorry to caught our meeting short Sol but if I don't go know I will get lectured all night." he said a little bit of a laugh in his voice.

"Perhaps our paths will cross again soon.

"Ahh, I don't want to leave forever...I just want to see it," she said with a reassuring smile. "I love our home very much, I just know there's a little more out there to see and explore and it wouldb e a shame to miss it," she added gently. Nevertheless it wasn't long before the younger lion's mother made her presence known, albeit it subtly and very politely and she couldn't very well deny him the right to return to his parent's side.

"You're right though, maybe there is something I can do that will let me leave," she said thoughtfully and motioned with her paw to let him know he was free to depart. "Perhaps the next time you see me I'll have that job and some new stories to tell, huh?" she remarked merrily.

"Until then though, good luck with that training of yours!"

Keani nodded his farwell before running up the beach to his mother. He knew he was getting older and there would only be so much more time that he lived with his parents and spent this amount of time with them. So he had to enjoy it while he had it. Although he had to admit that it was nice to talk to someone new, and a female at that . He woudl definitely be keeping his eyes open for Sol in the future.