[SRP] Liege and Lady (Nimloth x Naramie)

[Gelfin]

Standing silouhetted against the rising sun, a lone maned wolf raised her nose to taste the dawn breeze. Something was near. Her nose told her that much. But as for what it was? Only patience and her own eyes could give her that information.

So she continued to move, only stopping to cast her gaze about and smell the air.

Naramie was no young pup. She was old. Her age showed in her stiff movements, in the way the damp morning air made her joints ache. Ah, but age brought some compensation, she thought wryly. She was wary, and cunning. If she displayed any arrogance, it was merely the arrogance of age and more than earned.

The pink maned wolf paused for a moment, spying a white shape laying in the distance. That was what she had scented. Moving cautiously, she approached.  

[Gelfin]

Nimloth lay unmoving, heart, mind and stomach in knots as she considered the things she'd experienced and learned in the last moon. First that disgusting tan leopard she'd had the bad luck to run into and then that cheetah, Zumaradi. Granted, the meeting with him had been a pleasure, but his words had buried themselves deep in her mind.

Was she truly as honest with herself and others as she had always prided herself on? With others... the answer was likely yes. But was she honest with herself? That she could not feel so assured about. And the thought that she was somehow a liar on any level disturbed her profoundly.

She barely registered the sunrise. And for once, she paid no attention to her surroundings, lost in confusion and misery.  

[Gelfin]

Naramie was nearly on top of the white form. Now that she was so close, she could identify it as a leopard female. And with the rising of the sun, she could spy a marking on the cat's shoulder that was the twin on the mark on her rear hip. That, in and of itself, was enough to make her move closer. Such marks were not common at all. And for two such different creatures to bear them...

Shaking her head, she approached and made sure that she moved herself into the cat's line of vision before clearing her throat to announce her presence. After all, it'd be a pretty poor way of ending things to be eviserated because she'd tried to surprise a much larger beast.

"Well, youngling," she spoke in a harsh, hoarse voice, "I can't smell any sickness on you, you're not with child and as far as I can see, you are not injured. So why do you look as if an elephant has just stepped on your mother?"  

[Gelfin]

Nimloth stared dully at the wolf, only jumping a little when the thing spoke to her in an age roughened voice. Without thinking, she responded tot he stern maternal tone in that voice.

"I'm trying to figure out how to tell if i am as honest with myself as I have always prided myself on. I... I don't know how to tell."

Sitting up slightly, she vaguely noticed the mark on the wolf's rump, but didnt' think much of it. And in a small distant corner of her mind she wondered why she was confessing anything to this little withered stick of a beast.  

[Gelfin]

Blinking, Naramie sat down across from the cat and cocked her head.

"Oof! That's rather dry thinking, don'cha think? Look at it another way, youngling, can you tell if you've lied to yourself?"

Narrowing her eyes to study the leopardess better, Naramie decided that though she was an adult, she probably had not been so for very long. The poor thing looked utterly lost. The Gods knew that SHE was no seer, but it didn't take a seer to know that this young cat needed her. At least at the moment.

"Why not explain the problem? We can chase answers together," the wolf ordered gently.  

[Gelfin]

Soft gray eyes grew distant for a moment as Nimloth thought back. Had she ever willingly lied to herself? Example after example of her own willful self deception came flooding back, causing her to flatten her ears to her skull in shame. Granted her examples were mostly things that had to do with how she viewed the world and her own kind, but they were there. All the times she'd seen someone do something that he hadn't liked, but that she'd done herself later or even before. Oh! It was too much.

With a soft moan, she buried her muzzle in her forelegs, too shamed to even meet the wolf's eyes.  

[Gelfin]

Watching the white female's reactions carefully, Naramie found herself smiling rather grimly. Apparently, given the child's reaction, she'd lied to herself quite a bit. Everyone did, it was only natural after all.

"Stop that!" she snapped. "So you've just discovered something un-lovely about yourself. Are you going to work to fix the problem or just sit there and wallow in self pity?"

Forcing her expression to be cold and remote, Naramie stared at the cat challengingly. If she was really as worried about honesty as she'd seemed, she'd rally and meet the challenge in Naramie's eyes.

If she wasn't... well... this was likely to be a very short confrontation.  

[Gelfin]

Head snapping up, Nimloth snarled at the wolf. How dare this old stick take such a tone with her! She felt herself pulling a paw back to lash out at the old wolf and stopped herself. An oddly strangled growling whine escaped her throat as she quivered in confusion.

Why was she getting so angry? Hadn't she just realized approximately the same thing? There was a problem she needed to fix. Forcing herself to meet the wolf's cold lavender eyes, she tried to articulate the problem.

"I don't know how to fix the problem, wolf!" she snapped. "There is a great deal that is unconscious lying. A shading of the truth to match up with my own viewpoints."

Without prompting, her memory took her back to that conversation with Zumaradi. To the little bird that he claimed helped keep him honest with himself.  

[Gelfin]

Only now did Naramie allow her expression to soften. The child was willing to acknowledge a problem. Now they could work together to fix it.

There was no doubt in the maned wolf's mind that this was the meaning behind the twin markings. She had age and wisdom to balance out this youngling's youth and exuberance.

No, she was no Seer. But she would have staked her life right now on the fact that they needed each other, this leopard and she. One did not have to be a mystic to see a heart and mind in pain and to want to answer that need.

"Call me Naramie, youngling," she began in a warm voice. "and if you can put up with a withered old beastie like me, we can work together to fix the problem, yes?"

Some things went beyond species, she thought. This was one of them.  

[Gelfin]

Jaw sagging for a moment, Nimloth quickly snapped her mouth shut and answered with a tentative smile of her own. She wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, but here was someone willing to talk to her and help her if she needed it. Only a fool would pass up such an offer. And, she hoped, she was no fool.

"I'm Nimloth," she replied quietly. "And I think I can put up with you if you can deal with me."

Making herself more comfortable, she motioned for Naramie to make herself comfortable as well. The sun would strike the place where she motioned Naramie to in a little while. And the warmth would surely be welcome to those old bones.  

[Gelfin]

Smiling, Naramie laid down with a wince and a grunt. Stretching out, she rested her chin on her forepaws.

"I'll help you and yours for as long as you may need me, Nimloth. Now," her voice took on an authoritative tone as her eyes twinkled, "How about you tell me some of those self-lies and we'll see if we can't work to correct some of that before breakfast?"  

[Gelfin]

~Finished~