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Mila Farrell Vice Captain
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 Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 7:02 pm
((More AIM RP!))
"Rouges I figure.... at least two claim to be of this pride. One I knew from my own childhood... a black one. She's decent at least. The others..." He sighed, reaching up to help groom back a bit of silvery hair from his face and return it to the side of his ear, "Were bickering over who I would mate with. The nerve! I cannot tell you how hard it is for me to control myself around such talk." He took a deep breath, trying to regain his tranquil composure, "A leopard was wounded by one of them... I cared for his wounds.... now it seems they've fallen in love. I've kept my distance from the whole mess. Monkeys the lot of them. Thank the rains you returned."
"Two?" A delicate, slight frown, that drops into astonishment as he continues. They were bickering over...that? For once in her young life, Ciyari is quite amazed at the audacity of others of her gender. "Uncultured beasts," She murmurs, tail twitching in vague annoyance. "They're just trying to get a position - probably low-born, poor things." Maji is, after all, a Lord in his own right, if not the future King of these lands; Ciyari is currently acting Queen due to her former 'position' in her 'once-great pride.' The lie has been perpetrated so long that even she tends to believe it now.
"It was right of you to take the leopard in, though," She says, after a moment's pause. They're prosperous enough to help the wounded when needed. "I'd best talk to them, though." It is her responsbility, whether she likes it or not...and right now, responsbility is starting to irk Ciyari. "Has anything else been going on?"
"A dreadful sickness.... very few have lived. Of my....", he hesitated in saying it. "Friends...very few have lived." By friends he meant a zebra, a gazelle, and a waterbuffilo. He'd been alone much of his young life and the other youths of the herds that roamed about were about all he had to play with. It was, perhaps, the greatest reason why only fish met with his claws. "That is why they mistook you for dead, highness. Aside from that life's just as dull as ever."
Suddenly, Ciyari becomes all tender reconcilliation from the frosty iciness from before. "I'm sorry to hear that," She says, and sounds like she actually means it, too. It's more difficult to know if she actually does or not. But she knows she'd feel utterly depressed to loose someone such as Maji or Hodari - the only two friends she has in the world - and so perhaps she really does.
This is, perhaps, what prompts her to hesitantly ask: "Have you seen my squire, Hodari, about?" She'd been trying to work on finding another squire the last time they'd talked, so that she could make Hodari a knight, as well...but, so far, she had not had any luck with the local cubs. Most of the children were rather arrogant and downright rude. But if there was a dreadful sickness....
He shook his head gravely, casting his eyes back down to the stoney ground. "The only male I've seen was not a lion....as I have said before, highness." All he could do was offer a smile. Taking a deep breath he began forward, his silvery blue pelt shining in the faint light that escaped the waters of the crashing waters, "But I had faith that you lived through the sickness and here you stand. Perhaps all he needs is a bit of fait and prayers to the gods. If you wish it, I'll perform the prayers for him rather than for the meomory of my past." He paused in front of her, "I believe that everything happens for a reason. If this is any comfort perhaps his disappearence has a greater purpose than for what we might think."
Maji will probably never know how much of a positive influence he is upon Ciyari. Not only can he trigger her almost non-existant conscience, but he also makes her feel like there's more to the world than out-classing everyone; her priorities go through some massive reassembling whenever she's around him. His speech brings sudden tears to her eyes, which immediately makes her feel silly and flighty. On the pretense that she has something in her eye, she rubs it furiously for a second, and comes up, her eyes slightly red.
Her voice, when she speaks, is slightly muffled, as if she had a cold. "I would be very grateful if you did that, ser. I will also be praying for his safe return." She smiles at him, then - not her normal, almost calculated smile, but a true one. She may have stresses and worries...but at least they are not just her own anymore. "I hope he is brought home safely, wherever he is."
"I can teach you how to do the cerimony, highness, if I'm not to bold in assuming you know not how to yourself. The records upon the walls can tell much... for long months I spent learning how to do it properly." He smiled, turning his head just slightly to the side as she wiped at her eyes, his long ears lowering slightly, "I've... upsetted you?" Rains and storms that would be horrid. He didn't mean to imply that the young cub had gone missing. He remembered her squire- a quiet one who didn't seem to care for him very much. He had taken his leave from his lady's side when Maji and her had made their introductions. He seemed a bit angry as well- or at least that's what Maji had to assume from his observations.
"You must be hungry..." he said softly, "I've been cooking some fish today. I won't mind sharing it with you..."
It's quite a good thing that he added that extra in there, as the gray-pelted lioness might have looked rather silly; and Ciyari absolutely loathes looking silly, particularly in front of someone she respects...and that particular list is extremely short. After one last rub to her eye, she sets her paw down again, taking in a deep breath and composing herself. She shakes her head. "No...you've helped, actually." To prove it, she gives him a watery smile.
The last statement is met with quick compliance. She is, in fact, extremely hungry. She still hasn't mastered the technique of hunting very well...in fact, she's been more of a scavenger the past few months than anything. But she would die before she admitted that to Maji. "Quite," She says briskly, becoming her usual prompt self once more. "If you don't mind, that would be wonderful."
"It's probibly not much compared to what you might be used to." He turned himself and offered his tail to her- almost the equivilant of offering the nook of one's arm to a lady or authority figure for the four-leggeds, "I'm not what anyone would consider a proper lion." He might as well prepare her for his oddity in his diet. It wasn't an unhealthy diet exactally. Fish and fruits as well as what vegetables he could find to create herbs from had kept him very much alive and lean, his coat had a healthy shen to it and he always had enough energy to do what he needed to. It didn't taste half bad either. "You see.... I've befriended creatures like the zebra and the like. Monkeys I'm not too fond of but rains if I can catch them and gods if I could bring myself to kill them. I live off of fish and growing things. The antelope taught me which plants have a spice to them, a zest, and what plants can be used to cure you see. Spices and the like add flavor to the fish so every meal's a bit different. The fruit can be eaten seperately or used to baste the fish. The gems here in this cave can be moved to create light which warms the fish. The silver slabs here and there can be used to cook the fish. How horrid raw fish taste!"
He stopped himself, catching himself in another ramble. "Er... I'm sorry."
She tails the proffered tail with as much grace as if she had been doing this her entire life - Ciyari is an actress born and bred. But she doesn't have to worry too long about that, for the explaination he gives for his diet startles her once again. Today seems to be a day for surprises, and at least not all are bad ones. This one, at least, she can reasonably cope with...she thinks. The thought of eating plants, however, makes her feel a bit queasy. She's not sure if her stomach can handle something like that. But she's going to make a game effort, if only for Maji's sake. A tiny part of her mind remarks, sarcastically, that this is perhaps the first time that she's bothered to do something for someone else's sake, and not entirely her own.
"Fish aren't bad," She says, quietly praying that she's not required to eat...grass, or anything of the sort. "But I've never had plants, or fruit, or...'cooked' fish?" The word puzzles her, and she wrinkles her well-bred nose. "I've never heard of anything like that before." A light laugh escapes her maw, in the almost unreality of the situation. She entertains a whimsical thought that Maji could make the moon rise in midday if she asked him to.
"There are many things that are lost to lionkind written here on these very walls. You see the sun is not only the provider of light but the provider of heat. The gems can be used to catch both light and heat. If enough are positioned to refract the light off one to another then onto a shining surface- say water or this silver stone slab -it will warm up the surface and anything on it. With the way I've positioned the gems and slab in my main quarters the heat is gathered enough to warm the meat. It cooks any germs, foul taste, dirt, or even blood from the meat. If they're wrapped in leaves -as I've done tonight- and added with herbs and juice it provides a baste... er... a flavor that's quite different but not at all unpleasent.." He was very much unlike a lion but with only silent walls to teach him it was to be expected.
For a brief second, she seems to grasp what he's trying to say...then it all disappears into the muddle of her brain. It's a concept so alien to her that she cannot process - cannot begin to process it. It's not in her scope of existance. She shakes her head ruefully. "We never learned such magic in my pride; magic was left for the gods to deal with." Since they control the sun, or something, she assumes they must 'cook' the fish. She really needs a course in Maji's religion. "Your ancestors must have been very gifted."
"I'm not sure." He said sadly, sighing slowly as he spoke the words. "I never knew my parents, I don't know where I came from, if I have siblings, or even if I am a Mistweaver." As they walked deeper into the cave the herbal scent of the cooking fish could be picked up. Faintly at first but as they grew closer it was almost like a wall of scent- thick and juicy, an oddly warm scent. Fruit and ground herbs along with the cooked fish wrapped in damp leaves. "My earliest meomory was waking up alone in this place. I knew everything I know now- how to read, how to write, how to navigate, things like that... I've prayed endlessly for answers but it seems the gods have forgotten me here or they simply don't mean for me to know."
Her nose twitches oddly, catching the new scent, but Ciyari is attempting to be unobtrusive and not sniff too much. She's not quite certain what to make of it yet, so she doesn't linger too long on it. But lingering long on Maji's words builds up a well of hurt inside her...hurt she long since thought she was past. Her ears tip very slightly back, nestling against her skull, as if for comfort. It's all she can do to keep from sounding particularly bitter, and all at once emotion flickers out of her, like a bird escaping a cage.
"Sometimes the gods tend to forget the ones they're supposed to care about."
"Everything for a reason." He smiled, turning to her, "You returned didn't you? We survived the illness didn't we? Not everything is unfortunate. Perhaps there is a greater reason why these things are happening, highness." He stepped into the main room of "his" dwelling area. A massive room floored with a thick grassy moss- spongey, soft, and almost silky to the touch. A fantastic coolness was in it, very cool during the warm season and warm during the cool season. The walls shone and glittered with small gems mostly of cool colors and some silver patches of stone- smoothe and fantastic. In the very center a small but horribly deep pond could be seen filled with crystal clear water. A few stylish fish swam in the waters, flicks of light could be seen along their sides and atop their heads. The room looked very much unlike a lion's den. There were shelves carved from the stone walls or from wood stacked up on rocks. Bowls of wood lined with leaves held thick colored liquids. Various other bowls laid here and there. Fireflies lit a few areas of the cave up a bit more.
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Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 8:41 pm
*kills her own inability to find a color* Jendayi looked up, her acute ears picking up what seemed to be a conversation behind the waterfall. Of course it could be anything, with the river running just past them and the waterfall thundering down. She had almost forgotten about the cave back there; it had been her hideout as a young girl. Jendayi's nose pricked as she smelled the aroma of cooking fish, but she set her head down.
It was most probably Maji. She would never put it past him to talk to Gods, which was what she presumed. She still stood behind her opinion, the one she had told him weeks ago. If indeed the young queen was dead (which she also beleived, unkowing she was actually less than a hundred feet away) than Maji should take up the throne. Jendayi gave a great sigh and focused her attention back on Mizaku. After this night she would leave, that was the deal. She held onto the moment and somewhere deep inside was happy Mizaku had fallen asleep. She didn't want to keep talking and macke things worse. She wanted this to all be... done.
He dust! *waves*
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2005 3:21 am
[*falls over herself* Thal, so sorry - having no internet sucks gonk BUT! I've found a visitor centre by the youth hostel that has free internet smile So! Here I am - for a short while a least..... ]  Kinyamkela crouched back a bit in submissive action as Maji appeared to lose patience with her. Perhaps she really was ill... lying down slowly, the young lioness laid her aching head on her paws, watching as Kisuli - no, Maji - made his way towards the caves. She would just rest here a little while, as he had said.
She awoke with a start as the dying rays of the sun lanced onto her face. She was alone again. Was the whole encounter a dream? But wait, she was outside now. Clean air wafted past her from the river, and she staggered to her feet, carelessly stepping over to the blessed clear water. As she drank greedily, the water cool against her hot skin, her silvery ears perked slightly. Was that conversation she could hear? She hesitated for a moment, and then shrugged. Whether they were the dream lions again or real, there was no harm in taking a look. Dreamily she padded towards the entrance, snowy tail tuft flicking lightly and turned to burning orange in the setting sun before she entered the shadows of the caves.
Perhaps it was the shadows of the caves that triggered the vision. Perhaps it was the weeks of lying in fever dream, combined with the location of her long-sought after goal. But as Kinyamkela entered, and saw two lions turn their heads towards her, she stood transfixed. It was a young male and a young female, she could see; but overlaid behind them and through them stood the shadows and the presence of something greater. To Kinyamkela, what stood before her was not Maji and another lioness, but instead a mighty King and Queen of Mistweavers.
"Thank the King who brings the Storms," she breathed, eyes seeing through the pair and yet still at them. "Your Majesties... finally I have discovered my legendary ancestors. The myths and stories were true... here indeed are the Mistweavers!"
She fell slightly, forelegs bending to kneel with her head pressed to the floor, ears folded back against her skull in reverence and submission.
"I, humble Kinyamkela, offer myself to be your faithful servant, as long as the RainKing permits."
The old Kinyamkela, weary frm her journey across the mountains and slightly scornful of tales of a queen, would not have said this; but something about the sleep in the rune-marked caves had awoken in her long-buried thoughts, and had humbled her slightly as to the wisdom of hr forebears. As she lay submissive, the storm-rune stood out greyly from the white fur on her back, a little stronger than it had before. Heart racing, she waited for a reply.
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Posted: Sun May 08, 2005 5:36 pm
 Maji paused in his conversation with the queen, turning to the figure coming from the backways towards the enterence. He had been startled by very little in his life, but as the female spoke he seemed to grow more and more pale, his eyes widening and his ears lowering down in a look of shock. He wasn't offended in the least- it was quite flattering that she would think of him as a royal. He sunk back a bit as she bowed herself so humbly... lords she mustn't be well at all! She'd been confusing him for another all day long. No doubt that standing beside the queen made him look a bit better but he a royal? Hardly... no royal would be as seclusive as he, no royal would not remember such an honor, and no royal would be neglcted so by the gods. He took a deep breath, turnig himself about to walk to his old friend and place a paw under her chin, tilting it upwards, "Don't you know me, Kinyamakela? I'm no royal, I'm no king, and you've no reason to bow to me... are you still feeling unwell? Come now... none of this." He offered a paw to help her to her paws again. He would have to put more fish to cook then... so many now to feed and tend to. Lords what trouble had come to these lands of late.
"I'm nothing... and I will never be anything to bow to..." He turned his head towards he queen, gesturing to her, "But you were right in your assumption that this lioness is royalty... the queen lives as I said... now our land can begin returning to their former brilliance. Under her I'm sure everything will be put to right."
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 8:06 pm
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 12:31 am
THe young lioness shook her head firmly, despite taking the paw up and returning to her feet. Her golden eyes flickered between the silent Queen, still overlaid by her ghostly, majestic aura, and her friend Maji the same. At least now she could see him as himself, the cub who had reminded her so much of her brother after so long travelling. He was not a cub now, that was certain; but then, neither was she, she realised with a small jolt.
But the images did not fade, and even though he refused it, Kinyamkela was steadfast in her certainity that he was highet royalty, as the Queen seemed also to be.
"My fever has nearly gone, Your highness Maji," she said softly. "I will soon be well again... and perhaps I may be allowed to stay?" She turned herself towards the grey lioness with the green river eyes, dipping her head. "I would gladly serve those who will accept my service.."
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 10:08 am
((Yay for almost perfect color! xD Mind if Jen joins in? Sorry 'bout the crutches kel! sad ))
 Jendayi felt a great amount of shame for doing this to Mizaku. H hated her and it seemed as if she couldn't take a hint. The lioness was distraught and licked the cub on his forehead, than both cheeks and quietly slipped away towards the waterfall. The soft sounds of the beating river were drowned out as the grey creature carefully placed a paw in the water, then waded in. Her love of the water was an unusual one, probably dating back to when she saught it for protection. It was her safeplace. She dove under, trying to clear her thoughts that were so overwhelmingly fogging her. She was anxious. She wished to talk to someone, get her mind off how much she had hurt Mizaku.
After a few moments of idly floating and watching nervous fish, she realized her breathe was growing short. She choked just a bit, for her own dramatic effect and threw her head out of he water. The anxious feeling had not subsided in her belly. To ease her nerves she went back under, agin feeling the beauty and peace of the cooling water. She spotted a group of small fish and kicked her legs. She clawed at one and then another, feeling the flesh of the creatures break. This time she was more aware of her air and hit against the sand with a back leg.
She found herself closer to the waterfall than the bank, so took the two fish from her paws and held them to her mouth while she dove under the fall and pulled herself to the rocky surface of the cave. Old memories surfaced as she entered the place of her childhood. But, before those memories could reappear, Jendayi stopped in mid-stride. The sound of her wet body was not the only thing she could hear. Voices gave way under the soft crackling of a fire. That was Maji's soft voice, she was almost sure. She took careful steps towards the heart of the cave. She could hear other female voices. Was that just one, or two? The dripping of her pelt echoed in her ears as a female voice spoke. She could only catch a part of what she said and gave a slight wondering. Service?
Her forelock hung low over her eyes and she felt it hard to see clearly. The flickering light of the fire cast shadows and she gave a deep purr, to both calm her nervous body and make herself known to the trio now in view. Her stomach gave a sudden jolt though. This was wrong somehow. She had never had such problems with intruding like this. She put her ears to her skull and gave a slight quiver as she felt what little heat the fire gave to her damp body and how awkward this really felt.
"Maji?" she managed to get out, looking straight at the handsome young lion. She had dropped the fish, unaware of her action until now and picked up the limp bodies. She put them as close as she could to him, but suddenly backed away, afraid of what she had walked into to. She had only dared look at him and the fiery eyed female. Her eyes had not managed to settle on the other lioness.
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 6:27 pm
Layla's motion went primarily unheard in the night, her body barely visible in a pale moonlight. She kept her ears pricked for any unfamiliar sounds, body slightly tense as her mind rolled over what she surely felt was some lack of sane mind in her mentor. Perhaps she'd just gone too many hours without sleep or she may have eaten something gone bad, her habits of burying food for later meals always did seem unclean. None of these explanations truely made sense, but the filled an uncomfortable void in her guardian's logic.
As she slipped along the river's edge, growing closer and closer to a few rocky structures, her ears swiveled slightly to hear a couple distant voices echoing before her. She ignored them, they were far enough to be of little danger to her. She pulled her ears back against her head, her posture seeming far more forlorn than she likely felt. She dipped a paw into the river and soon her whole body was within the cool river.
The water was unfamilar territory, and she was typically very resistant to contact with the odd feeling of being surrounded by the uncontrollable river. Tonight however, it was soothing and she was quickly made calm and level headed once more. Pulling herself, with little grace from the river she shook herself so that her body dripped a bit less and proceded to pursue the familiar noise.
Upon reaching a strange cave she felt certain the sounds had iminated from this place and made slow, uneasy steps through the opening, paying as much attention to her surroundings as was possible.
"Hello?" She felt weak and obnoxious, but she was rather sure she'd heard the familiar voice of Maji.
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 10:59 pm
Maji moved a few steps back from Kinyamkela as she spoke. She said that her fever was going away, but she was behaving differently. At least so he thought until another firmilar lioness appeared in the mouth of the cave, behaving much the same way. Both lionesses had the same expression to their faces, both seemed to see him differently than they had before... he had hoped for something like that, but nothing to this level. He'd hoped that she saw him no longer as the cub that he had been when they all had met him, but as their equil. Now it seemed that he had leapt right over the equil level and decended to a higher rank- and without his knowing. It was all so very overwhealming for him. His eyes went wide as he slowly began stepping back. Servitude? She as speaking of servitude to him? Highness? He was no highness- he was a kid still! He was no prince, no king, no noble... at least he didn't think so. All this was so sudden, they didn't see him anymore, he wasn't Maji- he was someone else and it was frightening him. "No...no please stop..."
He paused as Jendayi came and planted fish near his paws, then backed away, her expression nearly matching that of Kinyamkela. What had gotten into them? Had he changed so much? "Please... I'm no one to be given such a title to.... I'm a knight under her higness... nothing more." He turned, giving a helpless and lost look to the queen before turning back to the mouth of the cave. The black lioness Layla appeared now, He couldn't stand it if she, too began seeking servitude and addressing him so formally. "I'm not, just... just knock it off!" He turned and bolted into the winding paths, hardly paying attention to where he was running to. His paws flew under him, his eyes blinded by confusion and fear, his heart raced faster than the river itself. What was all this about? What was going on?
Leaping from the floor he caught the left wall under his paws, springboarded to the right then up higher into a higher cavity that -as a cub- he'd never been able to reach before. He didn't turn back, he'd never seen this area of the caves before... he needed to clear his head. Finally his paw caught a rock and sent him face-first into a circular room with pure white sand- soft as silk and light as feathers. He laid there panting, hardly caring where he was at the moment or even for the bite that the rock had given to his paw. Turning over his shoulder he watched, half expecting someone to have followed him.
Panting he shakily got to his paws, watching the dark path as he struggled to regain sense of himself, to regain that calm nature that he always masked himself under. What is all this? Why are they treating me like a noble? Can't they reconize me? I was a cub, their friend and even - at least it seem like it to me - their underling. Just a silly cub who could read and write and had never tasted red meat before. Now I'm important? Don't they know me?
He let his hind quarters fall to the ground and his head hang a bit. So ashamed was he of his actions now, running from his problem but what was he to think of it all? "What are you trying to tell me?" He whispered to perhaps no one at all, "Why....do you never answer me.... when I'm so lost."
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 5:20 am
She was mildly releived to see Maji and, even though in the company of other unknown lions, she dropped her defenses a bit. She watched him, narrowing her eyes and laying back her ears as he spoke and suddenly bolted. This was so unlike the cub she'd known, but he'd grown and clearly there was something weighing heavy on his mind.
She watched him jump up between the walls and was quickly leaping up to follow. His gray coat was difficult to follow, but her eyes remained locked on Maji as she grasped the unfamiliar rock as best she could.
Reaching the cove she looked at him with respect, she'd never realized how quick the lion was on his paws. Layla too was panting a bit as he'd given her quite a better run for her money than any boar or fawn she'd chased down. Seeing his head lower a bit she closed the space between them and sat, keeping a safe couple inches there for comfort. She kept her tight posture, but looked down, somewhat worried about what was pressing so hard on his mind.
"Maji..." she stopped as she listened to his whispers, knowing they weren't directed toward her, "what's wrong?"
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 9:02 am
Maji could hear pawas after him, claws scraping against the stone walls and the overhang of the secret path that he had taken, then the sound of sand being pushed against itself with the weight of another coming up behind him. Taking a deep, shuddering breath he attempted to compose himself back to his elegant and tranquil nature. He wouldn't answer for a long while, taking slow, deep breaths with his eyes tightly closed to he could drow nout the world for a moment. His shoulders shivered with the emotion but soon that too came to a stop. Finally when Maji let out a long sigh he turned himself around, "...Layla... I'm so sorry for that outburst... it was unlike me and very indecent... cowardly at best." He reached up, running his claws though his mane to further calm his nerves.
He turned to watch the mouth of the entrence, his ears lowering just a bit - not in anger or sorrow, but perhaps fategue. All this was so very trying on his nerves. "They're all behaving so odd.... it's like they don't reconize me any longer. They don't see -me-. Kinyamkela was one of my oldest friends, she's not well... I know thta much. First she mistook me for her brother, and now she's calling me "highness", and "magisty." Do I look like a king to you?" He sat back on his hind legs and opened his front paws questioningly, "Do I look so different that I command such respect? Then Jendayi seemed to react the same way at seeing me."
He sighed, realizing that he'd begun to ramble again, shaking his head he rested his paws on the ground again, curling his tail around him. His eyes rose to meet those of the black lioness, "What do you see?"
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 1:02 pm
Layla's deep purple eyes narrowed more as she examined his expressions, attempting to be as perceptive to the lion as possible. Her body seemed to remain motionless, except for the occassional twitch of her ear to pick up a far off echo.
The other lions he spoke of were strangers to her, though she mentally shifted their seemingly peculiar actions in to memory, in case she should need to question them later.
Her mind wandered over how she knew Maji and what she knew about him as she maintained eye contact, apprieciating a certain calm that his blue eyes brought.
"No need to apologize, something is bothering you and you needed to think. If anything I should apologize for following you when you seemed to wish solitude..." she allowed a moment of silence, lowering her eyes for a second before meeting the lion's once more, "I've never lived in a pride and my family is a leopard that has taught me little of structured living. If you are a king, that is great and you seem fair and level so it may fit you well...however I see you as Maji, the one who taught me to fish as a cub and who offered me a home should I need it. You've grown, but I wouldn't recognize a king if they were standing before me..."
Layla stiffened for a moment, laying her ears against her head. She felt awkward and incapable of providing the lion with the information he sought.
"I'm sorry if you were looking for some other answer..."
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 5:13 pm
Jendayi was shocked to see young Maji flee like that. She paused, not knowing wether to follow him or not. The other young female was still there, accompanied by the other. Jendayi felt the stress under maji tighten and buckle, and took a few steps farther into the cave. Her white paws turned an ashy gray and Jendayi marveled at the beautiful symbols along the wall that danced and played in the firelight. Jendayi gave a quick nod to the two females, "I'm sorry, let me find him." She gave an apprehensive step then tried to track the darker coat. Jumping quickly over the fire, she flicked her ebony tail, perhaps a quick farewell to the lionesses.
She found herself blindly going through the cave purely on instinct, smelling the scents that had been trapped on the floor quickly as she ran past and racking her brain for images of where young Layla had run previously. At one moment, she became perplexed as to how Maji had cleared a very tall jump, but didn't think too much on it and merely jumped the gap. Her large body sprang to the higher cavity, hoping to make it. Her frontlegs cleared it and she groped for a secure hold for her claws. She was finally able to pull her body up and onto the ledge after clawing her way.
She approached the strange, soft sand carefully. She dipped a paw into it, then let her muscles ease and trotted into it. Her body was fatiued and she only looked at Layla and Maji, feeling very stupid for struggling to make a jump they quite obviously managed.
She caught the last part of what Layla had said, "Answer? Maji, what is going on?" she paused, "And... and more importantly, who was that cub? she.... she was different." Jen didn't really like how she used the word 'different' but it suited the way that girl made her feel when she saw her.
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 3:29 am
'Kela sighed minutely as Maji silently backed away and then fled. The ghostly image flickered and began to fade as he left the company of the Queen, and both the others that appeared pursued him, either in hope of currying favour or genuine worry. But Kinyamkela just lowered her head, closing her bright eyes and knowing that chasing after the confused young lion was not going to help. She could not help what she saw; perhaps she could have been more circumspect in what she said. Her visions were not for everyone, she suspected.
Looking up once more she turned her head to the silent Queen. "My lady?" She blinked slightly as she realised the image was fading around her as well, leaving only a young self-possessed grey lioness perhaps a little older than herself. But she was still irrecoverably the Queen, 'Kela realised, even as Maji was royalty. But she would mention it no more to him if he became upset by this. Perhaps this Queen would still accept her offer of service.....
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 6:58 pm
Kali had explained that she was very new to the lands and had just recently found a home in one of the many caves. Excusing herself she had left him to the tending of his guests and went to go explore the area better, peering at every piece of vegetation, getting to know it, sniff at it.
She had found one, extremely interesting tree, probably just an ordinary tree, something about it had caught her attention. She paced around it three times sniffing at it, leaning against it, and eyeing it with interest. The tree was of a large scale, completely leaning over till it was near vertical with numerous branches cluttering the area surrounding its keep. Amazingly, the tree was in no way uprooted, but instead was being held up by its many fallen branches. She found it oddly perplexing why her attention would be so urgently called towards it, but gave into exploring it. The wide trunk was overrun by a blanket of ivy, completely covering the suspended area of the tree visible to her. Pushing at the ivy, her weight caused the cover of ivy to fall in where her body had rested previously, landing her into a darkened area. Peering about, she scanned the area of where she now appeared to be located. The place wasn't dark, the ivy providing enough sunlight to be able to see without strain, and blocking enough to escape from the suns rays. She looked around to her left and right, noting that the shelter ran for the length of the tree's enormous trunk. The many fallen branches acting as beams and one particularly large branch led to the roof of the structure, unsheathing her claws, she raked at the roof of ivy until she was able to climb out to the top of the tree. Climbing gracefully out of the new opening, she now stood nine feet off the ground, her vantage point allowing her to see for a considerable distance ahead. Disappearing back into the structure, she explored the length of the trunk. Running for a large twenty feet across and five feet high, she had stumbled across an extremely well hidden, well covered, and protecting den. Pleased with her findings, she noted that the only openings were the ones she had made for herself and that it was an extremely spacious yet private dwelling. Heading to the edge of her new home closest to the trunk, she began scraping the dead, fallen leaves of the tree into a large and comfortable bed. Turning twice before setting down, she laid herself down to sleep in her new home.
Waking heavy-eyed from her sleep she stretch her relaxed muscles, hoping to wake them into activity. "What a relaxed sleep," she mewed to herself, "haven't slept that well for a long time." Opening her mouth into a large yawn, she licked her paw and began washing herself for the day, keeping her coat clean. Heading towards the exit, she decided to go visit the handsome little cub she had seen the only a while ago. Her paws seemed to know where they were going, so she let them carry her to her destination.
Arriving at the cave where she had seen him last, a bit of a clamor seemed to be taking place, lions crowding the area. Adding the their numbers she approached a younger female lion, gray in appearance, toting a spiral shaped necklace. "May I ask what's going on, and where I might find Maji?" She questioned in a manner lacking of formality, but instead in a friendly manner.
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