Adanna was roaming the western edge of Tianxia lands. She loved being out on new lands, she was almost done with her mental map of the West House’s part of the pride. She rarely met anyone out by her; she thought it was good. The lord said that everyone should be run off if they pose a threat; on the other hand, the lady said that if they could be useful in the pride, then she was to escort them to the lord and lady at once. A very confusing matter, she thought.
It like any other day out on the roguelands. Boring, uneventful, and hot. Tarik thought that he'd be used to the heat by now, but somehow the past few days had gotten a lot hotter. He pushed it from his mind, though, as he went. He was in his mortal guise yet again - white pelt with pale blue eyes. It was simple, and he was rather fond of it now. He could change it to whatever form he wish, of course, but this disguise was good enough to keep the mortals from knowing more than they ought to. The god gave a yawn as he dragged his paws along, willing himself to keep on moving as opposed to just collapsing in the middle of nowhere.
Catching the scent of an unknown animal, Ada shot forward, running full speed to where the smell originated. It was an odd scent. It smelled like a lion with a fresh and coldness to it. Maybe the lion was from the high mountains, and that was why she wasn’t familiar with it. Or she didn’t know what she was running towards after all. She didn’t worry about being attacked, she was strong and she knew there was a short path behind her that held a route to the dens. It was barely used by lions and their prey, the stranger couldn’t possibly know of it.
Tarik took a seat, a bit upset with himself for losing so quickly to the weather. The weather, of all thing. Still, he was the god of ice, not tolerance. It was normal for him to get tired out in the heat. The adolescent heaved a sigh, glancing from one side to the other as surveyed the area he'd wandered into this time. "Of course," he muttered with a shake of his head. "It looks like the rest of the place. What exactly did I expect anyway?"
She came upon the lion and let a growl emit from her throat. “You are trespassing on Tianxia lands. Why are you here?” She let out her claws and scratched them on the ground. She looked him. A look of shock crossed her face before it became blank. He looked like her, just a little. It was impossible that he was related to her. She wouldn’t let his color affect her, he was just a trespasser. He did seem pretty tired even a little sick.
He'd meant for the question to be rhetorical, so you can imagine the look of surprise on his face when a lioness gave him a sort of answer. Tarik turned and eyed the other carefully, the surprised look already gone. "Just passing through," he answered. It was the truth, after all. He was merely touring around the lands of Africa, not paying any mind to pridal borders or any of the sort. He went where he pleased, where his paws took him. "Is there a problem?"
Was there a problem? Did he not understand? He wasn’t supposed to be here. “Well if you are a threat then yes. If you are a messenger than no. Clearly you are not the latter, if you were you would have made yourself known right away.” She looked him over once more. He didn’t see too hazardous, maybe this was a test of some sort.
The god raised a brow at her. A threat? Well.. he probably could be to some extent, if he wanted to. But he wasn't interested in causing any trouble. Not now, anyway. "Well if 'passing through' is a threat to this pride, maybe they ought to change a few things so a passerby like me won't be a problem." Tarik scoffed and got back up on his feet, nodding his head slightly to try and dismiss himself. "Anyway, I've got a ways to go before I can rest for the night, so I'll be going now."
Adanna quickly cut him off. “Wait. Are you sure that you have to go? You don’t look well.” Mentally kicking herself, she looked him over. He looked way too hot, as if he was completely unused to the temperature. “Are you from the mountains, or like a colder climate?” She didn’t know what made her ask, but she didn’t have to be ruthless.
Tarik stopped midstep, glancing back at her with a confused sort of look. He was usually a lot better at controlling his expressions, but he was too exhausted to bother right now. "The way you spoke a minute ago sounded like you wanted me off the pridal grounds, so I thought I'd oblige," he answered, taking a seat again. Curious, though, that she ask such a thing. It made him smirk and nod in reply. "You could say that, yeah. It's taking some times to get used to this heat, but I'll be fine." Shrugging it off, he got onto his paws again. "If you feel like helping, though, I could use a little water. You're from around here right? Think you could help me out?"
She frowned. She as too quick to jump to accusations. Perhaps she really needed to figure out how she would go about being a guard. “I am sorry. Our pride is still new, and we are a little over protective. We have many cubs right now. I am sorry that you are having issues adjusting.” She thought for a moment about the water. There was the lake, but that was on the other side of the pride, she didn’t want to make him go through the pride. As she thought she remembered her mental map, there was a river ahead, past the hidden path back to the dens. She didn’t need to take him on the path, they could go around it. “There is a river up ahead, it isn’t large enough for swimming but you can drink and wade in it. Hopefully it will cool you down.”
"I'll be fine with just a drink," he replied with a laugh. "You'll have to lead the way, of course." Despite saying that though, he started walking on ahead of her, anxious for a drink. "I'm Tarik, by the way," he called back to her, stopping for a moment and looking back to see if she was hurrying over. She may not have been thirsty, but he definitely was. It'd been morning since he last had any water, and while he could make some using a little bit of his power, normal water always tasted so much better. "And you are?"
She led him around the bushes that hid the path, and onto the well worn path to the river. “I am Adanna.” She replied with a smirk. She didn’t recognize the name at all. She looked around checking to make sure that she was in the right direction. “Tarik? What pride are you in? I don’t recognize your name. Is it like your mother’s uncle’s best friend’s name or something? It doesn’t seem very common.” Small talk was a good way to judge a person according to Adanna. If he talked, then he would be answering her questions, unintentionally. She wouldn’t interrogate him, but she would get something so she could remember why he was around their lands.
"It's just a name," he answered, shrugging. "And I don't belong to any pride. I'm a wanderer, a vagabond, a traveler, a...nother word that means the same thing." So he ran out of synonyms. Word games were never his forte anyway, so he laughed it off. "Besides, what about your name? I've never heard it before either." Then again, he wasn't around other lions all that often anyway, but that was just a minor detail.
“A rouge?” she suggested as she listened. “Mine means I’m my father’s daughter. I was his only daughter, and his favorite child. It isn’t very common either don’t worry.” She noticed that they were still half a mile away from the river. “Do you need to rest a little? We have a half mile left. There isn’t a rush unless you are very dehydrated.” She smiled at him. She seemed to be revealing more than he was. She was going to have to change that.
"Yeah, that," he laughed as they went. He listened to her explanation, nodding a little when she'd finished. Tarik shook his head at her question, squinting a bit as though it'd help him see half a mile away. "No, I'm alright," he replied. "I'm not that dehydrated, but I'd rather get to the water sooner. If that's alright with you, I mean." Adanna seemed a little more pleasant now than she had when they first ran into each other only minutes ago, which was a good thing. "So how long have you lived around here?" he then asked, wanting to keep the small talk going. It helped with the walk and kept the awkward silences at bay.
With a nod of her head, she quickened the pace. So far he was getting more answers out of her. “Only a short time. Maybe a week or two. How long have you been on your own? Surely you have a mate or some form of family.” She was curious. Maybe she could find a link between their coloring. It was probably nothing, but the thought of her having a nephew that she didn’t know of was frightening. She didn’t want anything to do with her former family, but if it caught up with you then that’s life.
Tarik gave an odd sort of smile and shook his head. "No, any family I might've had is long gone. At least as far as I know. By my knowledge, it wasn't even my own mother who named me." And then he shrugged and let the memory of his past guardian slip back into the very back of his mind. "Basically I've been on my own for most of my life." He kept up with her easily, and even got ahead of her at some points. His stride was a little bigger than hers, despite being younger. "Anyway, so once I get past this river. How much longer until I make it out of these pridal lands?"
She thought for a moment as they reached the river. “I’m sad to hear that. If you are good at anything, hunting healing, you’d be welcome to join. Here it is.” She walked over to the edge and stood in the water. It was really chilly. She squealed and laughed. “If you go North, South or East you will run into more of our pride, just different houses, or tribes. Just head straight west and you’ll be off the entire pride’s lands.”
Tarik approached the edge of the stream and dipped his head, lapping at the water for a while and taking his fill. The liquid was refreshing indeed, and once he'd finished he lifted his head and offered the other a smile. "Thanks for your help," he said with a nod. "But I don't think I'll be of much use around this pride, so I'll be heading back to the roguelands." At that he turned and started heading west, though he did look back once more. "I'll think about it though, and come back if I'm ever in search of a pride." And then he was off on his own again, ready to wander just a little bit more..
With a nod she too headed off back to patrol. She defiantly was going to ponder him. She would love to know who were his parents. He didn’t say that he would never come back. Maybe she would get to ask him at a later date.
