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Days spent in the Jungle were warm and humid, yet often shady. A lone goddess, still determined to keep her true form at all times and to keep her mind off her troubles, was wandering on a relatively new path she had discovered. It didn't seem she would find whatever she had come to the Jungle for, and was starting to wonder how much longer she would spend here. At least today, she'd decided rather easily. Mtima'safi had as much time as she could want to take for this trip, and in a continued effort to make up for past mistakes she would not rush away.

"I've always loved jungle flowers," she murmured to herself, stopping to admire a particularly bright patch that littered the Jungle floor. Little effort was put into paying attention to who was about or whose territory she might be in, and for right now she was content to take a moment for just the flowers.

Matojo had recently made the same discovery, that his siblings were better away from their mother. Mezi especially. Where as before it had been a novelty to spend some time with his brothers and sisters, now... he sought out Kafiri from time to time, came on walks with Mezi, and when they had to sleep as a family he tried to curl up next to one or the other or both. He'd try to see if his other siblings were as nice away from their mother in time. At the moment he was content with what he had.

Which is why it annoyed him so when they came across something that was as freaky as they were. Wasn't he allowed to just go on a few walks with Mezi without weirdos? It made him frown and narrow his eyes. Something was wrong about it.

"...I don't know. But it's got a tuft-tail." Like a lion. he'd been told that much and that was one blackmark against the unknown thing right there.

The purple cub hadn't noticed the tuft-tail until his brother had pointed it out. A wave of mixed emotion crashed over him as he stared at the yellow creature with new eyes. There was some fear, for lions were supposedly far more powerful than leopards. Mezi had always pictured an angry male, with his mane jutting out of his neck and drool dripping from his overly long fangs. This lion, however, seemed so soft and gentle. It must be a trick. Lions couldn't be trusted, right? "What do we do?" His whisper was hoarse, an obvious tone of urgency in it. He had never met a lion before, and he hadn't ever heard that they had wings. It just made them all the more intimidating.

When the yellow goddess spoke, howeer, the tone was far more soothing than Mezi had been prepared for. He was taken aback slightly by it, so much so that he pulled one of his front paws in the air, as if to back up. If he had been using his brain, he would've turned tail and ran. His ego didn't allow that, though, and a bubble of courage burst in his chest. He would face the monster bravely! Plus, he was curious. Just not curious or brave enough to speak. Instead, he stared as his brother expectantly, as if you say 'you do it'.

Mtima couldn't help but smile at the cubs when they looked up at her. They didn't look like they'd met a lot of strangers, or like they cared much for her. It was somewhat odd, but it was clearer when Matojo introduced them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Matojo, Mezi," she said kindly, and with a small bow of her head, "I'm Mtima'safi, and I am certainly not a leopard. I'm the goddess of souls, but essentially a lion." With a grin, Mtima stretched out her wings and resettled them comfortably on her back. She couldn't help but enjoy showing them off a bit.

"And the trees are too close to fly in when you're big." Matojo pointed with a claw at her wings, raising an eyebrow in a way that clearly suggested she was daft. If Mezi wasn't going to be scared by this Mtima, well, he wasn't going to be either. It'd be like treason. If she'd been a leopard...well, then she'd have been nice. But she wasn't she was a goddess or something.

Which was what, exactly? Matojo had never heard of goddesses. Maybe it was another word for - "...Are you a freak? You're half-bird as well as a lion."

Still completely unsure of what a god was, Mezi was taken aback by her reaction to the word freak. He had been called one enough to know its cruel sting, but to hear it coming from something that claimed to be a lion and not half bird seemed almost hypocritical. After all, it was a lion's fault he and Matojo were freaks. For some reason, Mezi held the entire species responsible for this, including this bird-lion-god-thing. "Apparently we don't know," he said dryly with a smug look on his face. He was proud to sound cynical, since he had met many a cynical leopard. It seemed to be a common trait, and one he was quick to adopt in an attempt to conform.

For once, Mezi was now at a loss for words. He had nothing left to say. He didn't have a witty comment, snide remark, lie or question to pop out with. There was something about this Mtima character that was bothering him, setting him off. She was different from anything he had ever met, at a level that almost seemed higher than simple physical characteristics. It was something more, but he couldn't put his paw on it. Casting a confused glance at his brother, he tried to put his feelings into the look, tried to tell his sibling what he was thinking without giving it away to the lioness, if that was possible. Then, looking back at her, he had finally come up with something to say. "What makes you think we know what a goddess is, anyway?"

Mtima was not terribly impressed with the attitudes of the two cubs, though Mezi's smug questioning was better received than being accused again of being half-bird, and thus a freak. The goddess frowned, and wasted no time defending herself yet again.

"For the last time, I am not half-bird, and I personally would not consider anyone a freak for being a half-breed," she declared firmly, and to emphasize her point she stamped her paw on the ground. Mtima did not want to pursue that particular point any further, though she would be happy to explain more about gods.

"I thought you might know about gods because- well, when an immortal has cubs with a mortal, the cubs are most always seers," she explained vaguely, "So, if I had cubs with an ordinary lion, they would be ordinary lions but would be seers. They can see things, the past and the future.."

"Is your kind of crazy contagious?"

"Maybe where you come from, they have different words for half-breeds. Here? Freaks. So don't tell me I'm wrong. It probably a dialect thing and trust me, me n' my brother here know all about half-breeds."

"And never heard of seers before. You need to work on your problem with assuming vague little explinations will do. If you haven't noticed, we're cubs. Means we haven't seen so much of the world. Vague explinations and assumtions just aren't going to cut it" - birdbrain, he added mentally. He was well aware he was being more than rude, but she'd tried his patience with her strangeness. Matojo had just wanted a nice walk with Mezi damnit and he didn't like her oh so kind condescending ways. If he was going to accept seers existed, she'd have to get used to the word freak.

Besides, if she got nasty, he her wings were a hindrence in the jungle. They were small and fast. And Mleli might not liked her cubs much but he was certain she'd not let them be hurt by this so called immortal.