When word had reached him that four more Hongshan had shown up - And by then they had all been settled, so that spoke volumes about how engrossed in work Ogon had BECOME - he had expected many things. To have to tend to wounds made by their time with the Nergui, to see emaciated lions, to see shells of former selves with the spirit of who they were still clinging fiercely to the carapace of who they were now. What he hadn’t expected was to get out-right tackled by a bone-thin but still VERY strong lioness, sending his entire world tumbling over itself, with Singh and Kiran in the background cracking up, and Umiriti having the presence of mind to at least sound CONCERNED. “What in the HELL?!”

When she’d come to the Firekin lands with her mother, there were many things Alamea had expected. She wasn’t about to dwell on those, because what she hadn’t expected was to see markings like Godlom’s wing markings on anybody. She’d heard whispers about the ‘Nergui children’ in the pride, some of them VERY hard to miss because they’d gotten the familial markings from their father. And then her eyes and laid upon the gold and speckled lion with his boney wing markings, and her blood had boiled. She saw red, and went right for this lion she found so very offensive. “NERGUI!”

Well now he was bored. Ogon gave the lioness a flat look, staring up at her from where he lay on his back in the sand. “Yes, be more creative, will you? I’ve heard that one PLENTY.” He gave a shove, sending her tumbling. Her strength, while something to behold, clearly had its limits on how long it would last. “I’ve also heard lions thinking I’m going to POISON them, end their suffering from some injury, etcetera…” He waved a paw. “I’m fully aware what my pedigree is and what it means to most, and frankly I don’t care. Are you here to be looked at or not?”

His lack of real reaction seemed to make her more angry. Scrambling back up, Alamea glared at the wing-marked lion. “Your kind robbed me of my brothers and sisters!” Her claws came out as she advanced closer, making the gold lion back up. “They DROVE my pride from its native lands! ENSLAVED us! Ruined us!” She reached up to strike at him, finding her paw blocked by his own. “MONSTERS, ALL of them!”

Ogon’s ears folded back as his eyes narrowed. “I was born and raised in these lands, if you MUST know!” He covered her mouth with his paw, ignoring the angry bite he got for his effort. “Who my father is, or was, and where he came from, has had little impact on who I am as an individual, other than to prove to others that pedigree means NOTHING.” He withdrew his paw, shaking drops of blood off of it. “Now if you kindly don’t MIND, you are HERE to be EXAMINED because you just came from a dreadful situation and need medical attention, kindly STOP your prattling and SIT DOWN.” He stood up, using his full size to his advantage to glare down at her.

Though she glared at him, Alamea slowly sank down to her haunches. Even she had to admit, she had come out in life very small. But though she was small, she was fierce, and made a point to snap and snarl at the medic as he poked and prodded at her. Finally she had enough, standing up to round on him. “Are you DONE yet, Nergui? I TIRE of being poked at like I’m some fascinating something or other!” Behind them, the three lions she’d barely given a passing glance to snickered and laughed, causing her to turn and scowl at them. “What are YOU laughing at?” Two stopped laughing, turning back to other tasks, while the other, a male clearly much older, simply looked at her with amusement.

”They are looking at somebody who is clearly acting like she’s a CUB.” He let out a huff, walking over to an alcove to check some things. When he returned, he looked her over. “Over all, your health is pretty good, given the situation you came from. No unrecoverable injuries, no signs of ill health, you just need..” He looked at her ribs, the most obvious thing. “To eat. Relax for a while before you dive into training. Have you picked a career you wish to go into?” These were important questions for a lion entering the pride. There would be others for her later, he knew, but that would probably come once they’d settled a bit.

Alamea let out a huff of her own, glaring at Ogon. She didn’t move in a threatening manner as he gave her a glance over, only narrowing her eyes at his comment about eating. “I’m so terribly sorry that I didn’t get to EAT amid slavers.” She shifted, then settled back on her haunches, eyes opening and then narrowing in confusion. “What do you mean by career? Like Braak or Emkurcar?”

”What is even…” He sighed, rubbing his face. “I guess? There’s a lot to pick from. Soldier, guard, hunter, historian, teacher, medic, cubsitter, watcher... “ He watched in mild amusement as her eyes grew wide at all the options. “You look like a fighter, though, given how long you’ve survived in the conditions you lived in, so MY advice is to be either a soldier or guard. Then if you meet another Nergui…” He grinned. “You can beat the s**t out of them.”

She gave a snort, tail lashing across the sand. “What, a Nergui like YOU?” The paw that hit her in the back of the head made her startle, eyes wide. When she whipped around, she was surprised to find the old lion with the pelt on his back there. “What? What was that for?!”

”I’ll not have any talk like that while I’m around, kid!” Giving a scoff, he turned and went back to the place he’d been working in. “You show respect to the lions who can patch you up, you hear me? I’ve known Ogon since he was a cub, and he’s NEVER done anything that would compromise his place in the pride.”

”Thank you, Singh.” His tail flicked, gaze returning from Singh to Alamea. “I must emphasize that despite my pedigree, I am no Nergui. I am a FIREKIN. This is where I was born, this is where I was raised, this is the world I know, and it is the world I cherish, no matter what others say about me.” He paused, then went and found something new to do. “One of my sisters, though…” He glanced over. “You’re dismissed.”

Alamea stared at them both for a moment, slowly rubbing the back of her head. Finally she let out a huff, standing up. “Fine, fine.” As she left the medical dens, she contemplated what the future might hold for her. She wasn’t sure she believed ENTIRELY in seeing the future, of course. Rapha Oma had never given her real reason to believe, and Nebo had only given her the barest IDEA of it. Otherwise… She really didn’t know. She stopped and looked about, noting the way some lions looked at her. Whatever the future held, she decided, she was going to try and take it one day at a time. It had worked when she was a slave, after all.