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 Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:06 am
They had dwindled here long enough, or so Kidondo believed. The day had slipped into two and then into three and now they had been here a full week. The red lion knew that it brought No comfort to be back and he had to admit he felt bad for being the one to steal her away yet again. Unlike him, No had a good, kindly family. Was it wrong of him to take her away?
He found himself questioning his motives a lot lately, mostly just to pass the time but also because he was beginning to realise the extent of his love for the black cat. He was becoming afraid of losing her to his plots. It was like throwing her to a bunch of hungry sharks. Yes No was the smartest most beautiful and skilled female he had met but she was as mortal as him, one wrong move and he'd have to go on living without her.
He didn't think he could bare it.
But he also couldn't talk to her about it. She might misunderstand him and Kidondo by no means thought of her as weak. Sometimes her strength surprised even him. She had such a courageous heart.
He sighed.
And the moment they left this land of safety they were back out there again.
He counted the lions recruited so far. Rin had been the first. Then her mate Duzi, then there were the two girls they had found here and the young male too. The Pridelands had hid some amazing talent, even if a couple of them were rogues. They would see Nuri on their way back out and then they'd be looking again. Their numbers were growing steadily and healthily. Soon they would be able to return and make their stand.
"Time is running out for you father." He whispered. "And with your death I will eradicate the memory of Finar-si..."
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 9:24 am
"Finar-si?" Came the curious words from the sharp eared lioness sprawled out to the left of him, in the shade of a large boulder. He certainly couldn't be blamed for overlooking her presence. Kibela's blotchy black fur hid her in even some of the lightest shadows. Though, the welcoming and curious, yet strangely cold, crimson eyes which had found themselves fixed upon the red lion finally revealed her location.
"If you don't mind my asking... What might this... 'Finar-si' be and why would you wish ruin upon it when you are so obviously a part of it..?"
Kibela was sharp. Scarily so at times. And though one may mistake her for a seer, she had no such gift. No, her wisdom and prediction came from intense observation. For that was what she did... Observe. Every shift of wind, every twitch of life, sh would watch, and calculate.
Slowly, cautiously, she pushed herself up to her paws, moving out of the shadows. Her slow steps brought her closer to the male, stopping a good few feet from him, just outside of a decent attack range. One could never be too careful. Especially considering she had encountered a lion similar to the one before her not long ago in her childhood.
"I suppose you need not answer... My curiosity may sometimes overtake me. However, a question may do you no harm, blood lion."
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:11 am
He turned an ear towards the sound of her voice but did not move. He had not meant his whispers to be overheard but then again he had not checked the vicinity for life either. It was his own fault for not checking his surroundings. However, maybe this wouldn't be all bad. Besides, given time, Finari-si would soon be forgotten and no one would remember her name.
And if she truly were real? Then let her come down and challenge him, let her prove her existance.
"Finar-si will be nothing." He replied, his tone emotionless. "Nothing but a faded memory remembered only by rotting minds." Like the mind of his father. "You don't need to know what it is because it is not important. Not really." He flexed his claws in the dust, scraping grooves in the ground. Then he stood, raising his head to the sun. The bright, harsh rays danced down the ripple of his fine young muscles.
"But you are right, a question did no harm. To question is good. We must always question. What? If? Why? How? Those are the words that we must continue to ask if we are to change and survive. Why were we born? Why must we suffer? Why are we who we are?" He was ranting now but seemed not to care. Kidondo quite often found himself doing such.
He turned his great, maned head towards her, his noble face that was so passive and yet so strong. "I am Kidondo, once prince of the Firekin, now exile. I follow a path, my path, but I do not walk it alone." He turned to her, his desert eyes silently enquiring for her name.
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:38 pm
"That which birthed me dubbed me Kibela..." Her head tilts slowly as she examined the lion before her. "It seems we have a similar thirst for knowledge..." She said, moving slowly closer to sit before him. His eyes held no deceit or malice. At least, not towards her. "Life means nothing without understanding, and to understand we must question."
Crimson eyes slid shut in thought a moment, before opening half way to look into those wild eyes. She made a sound, as if deciding something, getting up once again to stalk around the exiled prince.
"I seem to hear much about following paths... One seems to be fortunate to have such a thing. We with no path to follow, we who are lost to the world, find no comfort here. One can only question so much when there is little around to question."
She stopped before him once again, tail flicking back and forth behind her slowly, a habit she has formed when in thought. "Who walks with you, No Longer Prince of Firekin? Who are the ones that stalk your wild steps? And where might these steps lead you? I can see it. I can feel it. Your claws... Fangs... They thirst for the blood of their kin... "
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:15 pm
“Myself, for one.” Came the low, almost crooning voice of the dark black cat. She hadn’t been planning for good entrances- but damn, that was pretty classy if she did say so herself.
She stepped from across the way of the two, the scent of the pridelands still heavily bubbling in her nose. She shifted the end of her tail as she settled herself, moving behind Kidondo and taking her place a few feet from him. She did not put herself close enough to alienate this other- and truthfully, she didn’t want to distract from the conversation anymore then she had.
Passively, her sleek neck shifted, pale jade eyes flicking over the form of the female in front of her. Privately- she was rather pleased to see another dark coated pride-blood. In so many tans and goldens, they stood out against the green like tar. “For what it has it,” She concluded steadily.
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:49 pm
No. His ears turned their attention briefly to the black cat approaching and inwardly found his heart growing warm from her presence. A quiet purr rumbled from his throat. She always did know how to make an entrance.
He sent her an appreciative glance and then returned his full attention to the other. He'd already made up his mind about this one. She had a sharp mind and she had the right views. He could tell that already from her way of questioning, her way of thinking about things. She was much like him in that way, this Kibela.
"Well then Kibela." He dipped his head as he spoke her name. "It is a pleasure to meet you." And inwardly he couldn't help but think, another diamond. Another diamond hidden away in the darkness. "Everyone has a path to follow. We are born with one, or atleast, that is what I believe. I don't believe in fate, because that depicts only one path. No, I believe in choice, but our path begins when we are born and takes many twists and turns." He paused. "My path, well my path is one that is joined to many. It linked with No's." He paused to cast an affectionate glance her way, "as it did with the other rogues we met out here. We wish to make a difference, we wish to save a dying kin." He turned his olive eyes to Kibela's red ones. "We want to change the future which promises nothing but death." He smiled. "You already know I speak of war. Yes we are here, No and I, to find soldiers, but not just brawny brutes. We want soldiers who can think for themselves, who don't just become mindless creatures who follow orders. Yes, we want to start the pride of the Firekin anew."
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Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 3:45 pm
Where his ears turned, so did curious crimson eyes, studying the black furred lioness a moment before his words once more drew her attention. She listened to his words with growing curiosity before seeming almost... surprised. "You believe it possible that I would make a good recruit? Is there not some strict form of requirement for such an old sounding pride?" She asks, her curiosity quick to return.
While she knew little to nothing about the Firekin now, she already knew that she would be quick to learn absolutely everything she could about them were she to follow these two.
However, she would not be getting ahead of herself, while it seemed he was showing interest in her, he could just as easily change his opinion of her. Kibela's tail gave a slight twitch, before she sat back down in the grass in front of the male.
" Your path seems to be long and full of interesting trials, one called Kidondo... "
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Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:59 am
“It is,” No thrummed from beside Kidondo. “But birth has already passed you through one of them.” She motioned, indicating her pelt. “As far as firekin elitism goes- we care none for that. So long as you are smart and able, we would be more then willing to have you. All the firekin’s strict blood code has done is weaken them.”
And with a curve of her sleek neck. “And I know a thing or two about pridelander blood. It will be a long road, and a hard one. Something that most of this pride cares never to face. But if this paradise is not what you want- if you are looking for a future where you make your own path through the brambles, then that is also enough.”
"I love this land," No continued, looking about. "But it prospers while others die. And I did nothing to make it the way it is; we merely stand on the shoulders of great kings who have ensured it's survival. We want the firekin to be great again- and it will take quite a road to get there."
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Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 5:57 am
He smiled, gently and passively. No had said all that needed to be said. He had nothing more to add except from a small, graceful nod. He had already taken a liking to this female, she was much like himself. He would have been honoured to have her along on the journey.
"You do not need to rush a decision Kibela. I understand that such things cannot be done on a whim. If you have any doubts at all, give it a few days to ponder on them. We will linger here a while if that is what you wish. If you are prepared to leave one paradise to create another then you are welcome." A paradise? Did he really believe the Firekin could become Paradise?
He hoped so though he knew it would never be like the Pridelands in that respect. There was no grass, few trees and little water. Life would be hard and paradise wasn't supposed to be hard. But either way, the desert would always be heaven to him.
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Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:38 pm
" There will be no need to wait. " Came the thoughtful response, as Kibela looked over the two. " Doubt does not cloud my mind in this matter. I will go with you. " Her voice was soft as always, yet sure and confidant. " Nothing ties me to this land. They've no need of me, and I of them. You, however, can make use of me. "
She rose back to her paws. " I know not what awaits along this path. But I dare say I may like to find out. If nothing else, I travel with two who provide good conversation. " Truly, that was the closest she'd ever said to 'I enjoy your company'. Even should the others of this pride the 'blood lion' and the 'black cat' create are fools, these two were worth whatever loyalty she could find within herself.
" You will tell me more of these Firekin, and what you plan to make of them while we travel, yes? " She asked the two, Kidondo and No.. Perhaps she will call them by their names? Yet still she will call them what she had titled them. Atleast until she felt close to them, if such a time ever came that she did indeed feel close to him. All she knew of rulers in the Pridelands was distance to the common people of their land. She could not yet tell how she was seen by this pair.
~Fin
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