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She nods slowly, feeling somehow... pacified as he spoke about his rather... dysfunctional family life. It was somehow uplifting, hearing that someone else had family troubles like her. She'd known others had, of course, but to hear that someone's was just as bad as hers was somehow freeing, as though she'd finally recieved confirmation that all the malcontent with familial matters wasn't hers. Though she doesn't offer comfort beyond a quiet "I'm sorry, Duhu" at hearing his mother might not return. Her own had left to find her brother, Fedha, who had managed to get himself lost. And though she knew they would definitely return, she still missed them like crazy already. Fedha not so much, but Denge and Ithi definitely.

In fact, she felt sympathy enough for him on that regard to let the 'my dear' slip by her without comment or even a look. Doesn't mean it'll happen again, though. It was just a freebie, to make him feel a little better, she hopes.

"Well," she says slowly, after a moment of thinking, "my question would have to be... do you have any big plans for your future, Duhu?"

She waited thoughtfully for a moment, thinking of how she should answer her own question. She had no goals in herr life, no aspirations, nothing to reach for a fight to get her paws on.

"Well, for me... it's pretty similar. I want to travel. I want to see the Pridelands, and the mountains. I've heard a lot about them." She pauses consideringly. "I suppose I woud like to have cubs of my own one day, but it's not a plan set in stone. For now, all I want is to see what lays beyond the borders of my pride." She shrugs slowly. "Next question?"

She gives him a look, one brow arched. It's just a look, but it's enough to let him know he's likely skating on thin ice. Although, it's strange... anyone else would have got the sharp edge of her tongue for that particular question. But not Duhu.

But she could beat him at his own little game. She knew how he meant it - and she was not going to answer it, because it was him she immediately thought of as soon as he'd said it and she'd discerned the real meaning - but the way he phrased it was different. She could just take it literally. Who had she met recently that she'd not disliked?

"First there was Shairi. She's another pink and white female, a cheetah, and a traveller. Her stories were fun to hear, especially about all the places I want to go. And then I met Liza. He's a big male that came here recently and is now my..." she hesitates; it wasn't all that nice, in her opinion, to call him servant, though that was no doubt how he saw himself "... friend and... bodyguard, probably." She shrugs. "And then... there was Limbuko." Her lips twitch in a little smile without her realising it. Oh, he made a different impact on her. "He's the God of Pleasure, and he has a silver tonge and a penchant for kidnapping young flowers, as he called me because of my colouring, out of their homes and flying them across the lands." She pauses thoughtfully, black tuft swaying as she flicking her tail a little. "He's quite the flatterer, though. And of course, there's you and Amleth, my first real friends. You two know I like you."

Her eyes had wandered when she spoke, but now she pulls them back to Duhushi. "And you? What's your answer?" The smile still lingers, but it's not the one for Lim. It's one that says she's curious to which way he'll answer his own question.

"He's not a servant," she murmurs, slowly lowering herself to the ground sphinx-like, crossing her pale forepaws. "At least, I don't consider him one. He just... believes his purpose in life is to serve a female, any female, and I was who he saw first... so... now he's attached to my hip, almost. It's quite sad, really. He's quite a big male, though more slender than usual, but he trembles if I frown. He could squash me with a paw, and yet he's constantly afraid I'll him him." She frowns suddenly, giving him a chagrined look. "But please don't call me a princess. I've had enough of pretending to be a princess to impress Taabu, the snotty Kusini prince." She grimaces at the memory, flicking her black-ringed tail.

"Stay away from Lim? Oh, but he's charming, and he was nice even though I'd been in a foul mood all that morning and took it out on him a little. Besides," she adds wryly, "I think I'm a little too young for love or pleasure, in his opinion. It's just a... friendship. A beginning, anyway." She pauses a moment, and then, just to needle him since he didn't seem to like Lim, she adds, "For now. But in the future... who knows?"

"Yes, you told me about Runai. Does your paw still trouble you that much?" she asks, with a dash of genuine concern. "And how is Amleth? It's been a while since I've seen her. I hope she's all right."

She examines her claws in the moonlight for the briefest moment, then looks back up at him. "Since I'm curious and can't think of anything else to ask, my question is this: why did you ask that question? I know how you meant it, Duhu, and I was half-tempted to cuff you 'round the ear for it." But she smiles indulgently, as one would do to a mischievous cub that one can't stay mad at, softening her words.

"Well, honestly, there isn't much need to protect me within the borders of the pride... but if I'd met Liza before I met that insufferable Taabu, I'd have certainly been happy to take him with me." She sighed softly, shifting a little at the memory of that meeting. "Well... He said he was a prince, and he was so arrogant and haughty about it... and he was so big. A lot bigger than me. I have a bit of a... size issue. I didn't like him looking down at me, physically or metophorically. He thought I was a rogue." She grimaces in distaste. "I sat on a rock so I was at eye-level, and claimed I was a princess and was going to have him thrown out of the lands for irritating me. Stupid, huh?" She smiles a little self-consciously.

"True, I suppose," she concedes, somewhat reluctantly. "Well, whatever he tries, there'll be little I can do to stop him. He's already demonstrated some of his power to me, and as a mortal, there'd be little I could do about it if he did decide to kidnap me for real. But somehow... I just don't think he's the type to do it. I don't know why..." She frowns thoughtfully at that, honestly not sure why she'd never once thought in his presence that Lim might ever intentionally hurt her.

"I'm glad to hear she's fine. Give her my regards. I hope to see her soon, too. It's been too long." She paused a moment, fixing him with a sharp eye. "But what do you mean, better than you? What's the matter?"

"So you thought you'd put me on the spot with a question, hm? What did you expect me to say?"

If, at this particular moment, as she sat here with her friend, she knew the truth of her heritage, she'd be able to say that she in fact was a princess. Her father, though at this time she didn't know his connection to her, was a self-proclaimed king, so it technically made her a princess. But she didn't know that right now.

She coughed when he called her beautiful, somehow not quite expecting such a compliment from him, although she knew enough about him to know that he was prone to splash out charming compliments if he thinks it'll get him on someone's good side. And it usually worked, with him being rather charming.

"Well, he's gone now, and hopefully he'll stay that way. It's really not worth worrying about any more, unless he makes another appearance." She shrugs lightly.

"It's not that I trust Lim implicitly. It's that... I trust he won't hurt me. It's... hard to explain," she finishes lamely. "Don't you feel that way about anyone?"

She takes a thoughtful pause. "Living in a dream? Yeah, I can relate to that. You should try living here. No pain, no strife, no turmoil... it may sound like ideal living, but it can get extremely monotonous. It's kind of like living in a dream. A repetitive dream." She sighs heavily. "When I'm strong enough and big enough, I'm going to wake up from this dream."

She chuckled softly, appreciation to be seen on her face. "Thank you, Duhu, but I don't think I will. Not only is he older, bigger and more muscular than you, but if he comes around again, I'm hardly going to run out of my own lands for someone else's protection. Besides, by the time I got to you, if I could find the way, he'd be long gone." She smiled. "But again, thank you," she adds softly, with genuine sincerity.

"Of course I'd never hurt you. You're a friend; I wouldn't hurt a friend, Duhushi. And I know you wouldn't hurt me. It's more than trust with you."

Choices? He'd have to decide? She wasn't even aware she was in a competition, to be honest. She thought he was just flirting playfully with her. And, of course, she didn't know how much he cared for Amleth. To her, they were just three friends, and she just felt a little differently for Duhu than she did for Amleth. She didn't realise his position in the middle.

"It is a paradise. And it's isolated. With every stranger who comes into the lands and tells me stories of the outside world, I'm reminded of it more and more. Especially with Shairi." She sighs. "I can't wait until I'm bigger and can explore. Maybe I'll come visit you."

She nodded. "Yes, I've... flown over the Graveyard. It truly did look like a horrible, unwelcoming place. Kind of makes me appreciate the monotonous beauty and tranquility of my home." She smiled gently at him. Seemed his home was a bit of a tender subject. She couldn't know what his life was truly like there, of course, but she imagined that it must be unpleasant just to live somewhere so desolate.

It was probably a good thing he hadn't nuzzled her. She wouldn't have known how to react to that, she really wouldn't. It was hard enough trying to figure out why the friendship with Duhu differed from the friendship with Amleth without recieving messages like that.

"I will come, to let you know I've set out, so you don't come visiting to find me gone. But... I doubt I'll stay there long. Spending time in a Graveyard doesn't appeal to me. No offence," she adds belatedly.