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 Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:56 am
Why the Ocean had called him out so far was beyond him, though. That place inside of him that still refused to be named wanted only to stay at his home lands, where the newcomers had been gathering of late. Indeed, were he honest with himself he would know that there was one in particular he wished to see more of, but as she didn't seem inclined to leave any time in the near future he supposed he could spare a day away to explore above his territory. Perhaps, he considered, there was another guest waiting to be welcomed, or some magnificent work of art that needed to be admired.
Yes, that thought brought a smile to Hadithi's maw as he wandered close to the shore's edge to let the water lap at his dark paws. The cool of the water was nice against the heat of the day, and Hadithi considered taking a nap as soon as he found a well shaded spot.
Rounding another bend, he came across what seemed to be absolute perfection. There was a shallow dip in the shoreline, where the water rose up shallowly over the sands to reach the base of a leaning palm tree. He grinned, padding over happily to the shade the brilliantly green leaves offered. Spreading out at the base, the water tickled and teased his belly and the male settled his chin on his paws. He gave a great sigh of joy; perhaps this was what the Ocean wanted him to find--it certainly seemed like a wonderful bit of natural art.
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 5:22 am
 Tamu was quickly surpassing her father, not only in intellect and wisdom, but also in size. Indeed, she was thankful she wasn't as small as her father, although he had told stories of his 'giant-like' brother. She quite often protested that she'd learnt everything she could possibly learn from her parents, but being the over-protective father, Tambuzi often argued back. And thusly kept her, and her siblings, within the boundaries of their lands as much as possible.
Of course...Tamu was good at bending the rules. There were still some stretches of the beach-coast that she had yet to see and had set off today with the sole purpose of mentally mapping them. She crossed rocky outcrops, shingled patches, and seemed delighted to find thicker forest the further she went. She could only imagine who or what might be beyond those trees. But she didn't have to imagine for long.
Tamu stopped in her tracks, broad smile reduced to a curious smirk as she saw a lion by the water's edge, nestled beneath a tree. He was almost the same colour as the sands, and had it not been for his gloriously dark mane, she might have missed him entirely. With silent steps, she approached.
"Cooling down?" she said with a friendly tone.
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:21 am
The Ocean hadn't told him anyone was coming, but Hadithi looked up without surprise at being joined. His chin and chest was wet, but that didn't seem to bother him, and he offered a friendly, welcoming grin at the ocean-coloured lioness. This wasn't the Mother, he could tell that right away, but she was definitely someone interesting. "Aye. The Sun is hot today, and in its joy doesn't seem to realize what it does to those of us sensitive to such things. The Ocean and Trees knows more about us, though, and so they open themselves to shield us."
The words rolled off his maw easily, as though stating a mere truth rather than some strange mythology. It was, though it had no rhyme or scheme, like a form of poetry. "I had thought I would find something up this shore, and this spot seemed like a wondrous place indeed, but a friendly face is even more treasured. Do you, too, need solace from the Sun?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 10:05 am
Tamu regarded him like he was some kind of precious elder. He just emanated that sort of mythical air about him, as if he'd seen every fable and every myth play about before him. But he wasn't THAT old. Maybe it was just her sense of propriety and the fact she respected all of her elders, no matter how much 'elder' they were.
She listened raptly, quite content to have sat there and listened to him all day. Tamu shook her head as she woke from the little day-dream.
"Oh...! Oh, I don't notice it sometimes. You sort of get used to the two extremes living so close to big water - the searing sun and the cooling breeze. Like squabbling siblings sometimes, trying to beat each other," she smiled, turning her own paw to spinning myth-like words.
"You've come from far away...?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:25 am
Hadithi considered her words. The Sun and Wind siblings? Quarreling at that? ... He could believe it. In fact, it made such truth he laughed--a nice, happy sound rather than a mocking one--and grinned upon her. "How great a thought! It hadn't occurred to me before that they may indeed have such a relationship, but you've put it brilliantly."
He moved over some, that she could join in him in the shade if she so desired. "Far away? No, I would not say that. I live upon this shore, further back that way." He nodded his head to the stretch of beach he'd just traversed, opposite the one she'd come across. "It is a bit of a walk, but I was happy for it; the day is pleasant and merry, and there is much beauty upon this stretch of beach."
Blue eyes gazing over her, he tipped his head to one side and said, "You live upon the sands as well, then?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:03 pm
Tamu smiled even more broadly at his compliment, padding over to sit neatly by his side, a little reserved. She didn't want to sprawl out in front of a stranger, no matter how pleasant that stranger was. She followed his line of sight as he nodded further down the beach, which was beyond her father's imposed prideland borders. But...if this lion lived by big water also...could he be family? However distant, he'd be another step closer to fully understanding this pride she'd been born into.
Tamu had to quell the uprising of feverish questions for now, it was considered impolite to simply barrage a stranger in probing enquiries. Maybe if she answered his question, he would want to know more about her first.
"Yes, a little bit further up that way actually," she said with a kind of excitement, nodding in the opposite direction. "Theres a small pride there."
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:26 pm
"Really?" It was a rhetorical question, but one that was voiced with a good load of enthusiasm. That others lived along the beach was good to hear and his thoughts actually weren't far from Tamu's own. He didn't have the reservations she did about questions, having had a fairly... lax... upbringing, as was his culture. So, completely content in the presence of this stranger, Hadithi found himself wriggling a little in excitement; once more he displayed that air of childishness that most marked him for--it was hilarious that this was a lion others would someday consider a 'king'. "There's a pride down our way as well... well.. There will be again."
That statement may have been ominous had it not been for the bubbly happiness of his tone, "There was when I was a cub, but most of them passed on during the Great Sickness. We're trying to rebuild now," Hadithi nodded slightly. "What is your pride like? Are they Ocean marked, like you?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:45 pm
As observant as Tamu was, she didn't notice his excited wiggling. She might have giggled too much if she had done, and that was another thing considered impolite. But she did notice the change of tone in his voice as he asked all the questions she would have pinged at him.
"You come from a pride as well?" she was equally as excitedly curious. "I can't believe how similar things are. We are small now, trying to get bigger as well. The first royal cubs in a long while were born into the pride a while ago."
Tamu was proud of what she was - a princess of the Bahari'mtoto. But her father had cautioned them all on being subtle. To give away that you're royalty to the wrong lions could mean trouble. This fellow didn't seem troublesome though...
"Yes, many of us bear the ocean's paint, my father and I being the darkest so far. My mother is like the ocean spray, and I even have a sister like the seaweed. What are they like in your pride? The members still with you..."
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 4:48 pm
Hadithi listened to her words with apparent rapture. Another pride so closed and marked by the sea, even suffering as they did? While he wasn't happy for their losses, in themselves, it was good to find someone so similar. The term 'royal' wasn't one he really knew, for he himself would never use the word 'king', but he nodded in kind as if he'd understood. "We bear the Oceans mark as well," he touched his paw to his forehead, "But its much less pronounced in me... my sister, however, is covered with the waves."
He chuckled softly, "And that is all we have left, in truth. My Sister and I, but more have recently been called to the Shores, and we welcome them with open paw."
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 4:49 am
Tamu smiled. What Hadithi lacked in the ocean's mark, he made up for being the colour of the sands.
"No matter how small the mark, you're still a child of the big water and always welcomed on these shores," she said pleasantly, and her first attempt at diplomacy.
Her features seemed to furrow slightly then. Only two had lived on? That was not dis-similar to the Bahari'mtoto's origins, being as Mlinda was the only royal survivor. That bubble of curiosity rose to the surface again - could this fellow have come from a pride that were separated from the first Bahari'mtoto? Maybe he wouldn't know.
"Yes, we have had lions wander into our little piece of paradise too," she smiled. "We'll be great again one day."
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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:07 am
"As is any child of the earth, but especially those of the water," Hadithi nodded with a grin, not missing that hers had been as much an invitation as his was meant to be. "As we well found out. We came from the lands inward originally, but the Ocean called us come stay.. and so we did. We had been searching for it for a long time, though we didn't know it. I remember the land, when we first came to these shores before the sickness, the first sight of it that I had and when I fell in love."
He looked out across the sea as he said this, eyes closing as the Wind ran its fingers through his mane and fur, kicking up buts of fluff here and there but he did not mind it. It was fine that this happen-it was nice, despite being somewhat against his grain. Until now, Hadithi truly hadn't realized how much he had needed to get away from the air of that male Misae had brought with her; as glad as he was of visitors, and as much as he had come to care for the daughter, he did wish the male gone. Nyota wasn't violent or even rude but his unmasked distrust and disdain of their lifestyle was hard to deal with so consistently.
"As will we. We will not die.. though things may be hard for a while yet, once more these shores will sing with the Stars," His voice was quiet now, almost a whisper in and of the noise of the tide itself. As they had this time, his ocean blue orbs stared off across the sea, watching the push and pull of the tide and the way that it throbbed in time with the pulse of blood through his heart.
Finally, almost suddenly by the silence that had drifted between them but Hadithi broke it so smoothly that it seemed natural as anything else he had done, the lion turned to her again. "You mentioned a Royal. May I ask what that is?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:34 pm
He made everything so sound musical and mythical, Tamu felt almost envious of him. She embraced her pride's traditions and beliefs, but always there was that slight tint of being 'real' that bugged her. How much of it was REAL? She didn't want to fall into the trap of believing all of her pride's pecularities are simply fanciful folly to please her family.
Tamu shook her head as the breeze that graced Hadithi found its way to her thick fur too.
"Mother doesn't say much of the early days, but all the stories say we came straight from the sea. Not sure how much is true," she scoffed a little.
She seemed a little surprised at his question. Of course, since she had grown up in a pride that practised royalty, thats all she'd ever known and all she ever assumed of other prides.
"You don't have royalty? A royal bloodline?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:47 am
"Of course you came from the Sea," He smiled softly, having no problem believing that, "We all did. Everything, all life, originated beneath the waves before they receded and gave us dry land to explore. That is why the Mother is of the Sea, and why we return our bodies there in death." His tail flicked upon the shore, and he considered the world 'royal bloodline.'
After a moment, Hadithi shook his mane and ran his tongue along a dirty spot of his coat before answering once more, "I do not know this term.. 'royal' you use. There is the bloodline of our Family, though.. those who descended from Her first son, Hazunika. Those of us touched by the Ocean's Mark, such as I and my sister, are direct descendants, and at least one of us usually takes leadership of the Family, though our counterpart is generally Adopted Family. Is this perhaps what you mean?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:58 am
Tamu almost felt ashamed at what she'd said. Hadithi believed it so vehemently, and yet she was unsure, she was shakeable. She stared down at her paws for a moment, looking at the grooves her paws made in the damp sand. She didn't continue that topic any further.
"Thats pretty close," she smiled. "For us, a royal bloodline is the family and descendents of the first lions, those who founded the pride. They lead us, do what is best for us and help with decisions for the pride."
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 10:17 am
Perhaps Hadithi understood what she felt, but he didn't comment on it. Rather, he saw her look down in a somewhat sad fashion. Despite not knowing this lioness, he leaned out slightly brush his cheek against her leg in a comforting gesture and dropped the topic as she had. "That is... fairly much what the Nganolinda and Wimbolinda do for us. There are others whom help them, but they are the main guides of the Family, the pride. They keep our stories and songs in heart, and keep track of the families bloodlines and such... So perhaps they are our Royal Line, as you call them." He smiled upon her again, inviting her to share in the peace of mind, "It is no easy task they undertake, either set I would think, but a needed one. They must be respected, I wager?"
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