Soali had not been journeying for very long, or very far. She knew not what to do except to keep walking; hopefully finding her true name soon enough so that she could go back home.Home.
The lioness sighed at the thought and couldn’t help the rush of memories that came back to her. Home was where she used to live and play, happily taking each day as it came as long as she had family nearby. The friends she met, the different lions, were all dear to her though she had only met most just once. Each time she saw them, their figure lit up her face with a smile. She was even a bit simple in adulthood (or what the pride defined as adulthood).
But now she had left that home, that place of familiarity. She had never gone outside the pridal bounds and now she was wandering around, having absolutely no clue as to where she would go or what she would do. Or how on earth she would somehow find her name.
Her true name. Now, that’s where it was a bit confusing. Her parents had told her—as did every other pride member, of course—that once she knew it was time, she would know her true name. But how was she sure that she did know? And what if it wasn’t the right name for her?
Soali frowned and shook her head, refusing to dwell on the negative thoughts any longer. When she did this, she closed her eyes, and abruptly failed to see the sudden drop down a steep hill a few inches away from her paws. She missed the earth and, with a yelp of surprise, took a tumble down, head over heels in somersaults.
Perhaps luckily for the distracted lioness, the dark male wasn't that far away. He hadn't been watching her per'se, but he had seen her wandering around with her head in the clouds. It made him smile a little, sometimes females were a little bit foolish, they needed to be protected. Of course, when she slipped off the edge of the hill, he bolted towards her, his tail flickering behind him in a manic manner acting as a rudder.
Managing to reach her after only a few tumbles, the very large dark male caught her gently with his side, nudging her carefully in to a relaxed position though she was on a hill.
"Are you okay?" He whispers, screeching to a halt, a worried look on his maw, though his teeth flashed bright and white between his dark lips. His blood red eyes scanned the female, calmly his nose tilting down to nudge her ever so gently.
One minute, Soali couldn’t tell top from bottom. The sky blended in with the dirt and the ground each time she rolled over her head; it was too dizzying to keep her eyes opened so she shut them as quickly as she could. The sensation of this whole ‘falling down an edge’ thing was beginning to get a bit nauseating.
And the next minute the lioness found herself suddenly stopped, back up against something and her gaze looking up at the very edge she had tumbled down. Whatever it was holding her up was soft but firm. And supportive.
And moving.
With the sudden realization, her eyes widened and she quickly tried to turn around to see the face of her savior. And what she saw was blood red eyes in a black face. The very image of him frightened her for a moment, but then she reasoned that if he had saved her, then he didn’t mean any harm at all.
“I’m okay,” she said softly, casting her eyes down a little when she was staring. “Thank you for saving me.” A small smile crept up on her maw as she turned back to meet his eyes.
Ketu smiled lightly, his long fangs flashing between his pale teeth, he lifted an orange and yellow tipped leg, brushing her head fur from her eyes "I can't see any blood on your head." He murmured, flickering his tail, he tilted his head gently and nudged her again "try and stand." he whispers, his voice gruff and calm,his deep red eyes passing over the young female.
"You seem a little young to be out alone. You could get hurt wandering around like that." He whispers his gaze passing over the adolescent with a worried look, making sure she had no broken bones or blood seeping from any where.
"You seem to be in one piece." He rumbles, sitting down and offering his shoulder to assist her up if necessary.
She blushed gracefully when the much-older lion (as he was a full adult and she only an adolescent) lifted a paw to examine her head. She knew it was because he needed to look. After all, it would be a very bad thing if she ended up having a head wound that wasn’t checked for in the first place.
“I’m fine,” she said again, a bit more firmly. She did feel okay. “I’m just dizzy.” As suggested, the lioness tried to get to a standing position, testing out her weight on wobbly legs. Finding that she could not really support herself on her own, she took the offered shoulder and bolstered herself up. Her legs stayed, for the most part, except for the expected shaking.
Soali glanced up at him again, now that she was steadied. “I have to be out alone. I’m on a quest, from my pride, and the rules are that I have to be alone.” She was a bit confused; didn’t everyone know this? Sure, there were different prides out there, but surely everyone knew about the Naming Quest ritual that she and her fellow pridemembers went through?
He waited steady as a rock as she leaned against him and he checked her legs as she moved. She was shaken, he realized that but she seemed fairly sound on her paws. He stayed still for a while, listening to her words, he was quite surprised she was out alone. Alone and small, and clearly naive of the world.
"A young girl shouldn't be alone, you might be attacked out here, there are things that go bump in the night that won't pause to let you think." His dark brow creased as he looked the young female over, carefully estimating her age. She was so young, too young in his opinion to be out alone.
"I'm surprised your pride doesn't send you with a sibling, a brother could protect you in the harsh lands." he muses, shaking his darker mane from his blood red eyes.
Well, now, Soali wasn’t too sure whether to be flattered that he thought she was so fragile and young that she needed a protector, or to be angered by his assumption that she couldn’t protect herself without someone else’s help.
She was going to reprimand him, deciding on the latter, but remembered that he was actually right. She closed her mouth and held her tongue. It wouldn’t be smart to disagree with something that was so obviously the truth. It would make her seem even more simple and naïve than before, and that didn’t help her at the moment.
“It’s our naming quest, one we are supposed to go alone so we can discover our true names. It might take a while for us to find the name, and we can meet up new people.” She shrugged slightly. “I guess we just can’t really leave home in groups. Kind of defeats the purpose, I guess.” Since when you left home, you were leaving familiarity, and if you went along your quest with a group of childhood friends, well. It could get tricky.
Ketu watched her and frowned. It seemed almost cruel to him that youngsters were told to go on this trip, but it probably built character , taught them how to fight and feed them selves. How to survive alone. Still, this poor girl seemed to be far too alone out here in the big wide world.
"You can meet people outside?" he tilted his head slightly, this naming quest seemed to be a dangerous thing, perhaps the lady needed an escort, someone to protect her and maybe she would find her name sooner? After all was he not a dragon, in need of a treasure to protect?
"If you like, I can help you on your quest. I wouldn't like to see you hurt on this mission."
Again, Soali wasn’t sure how to take this lion. He was very nice, very polite. Very kind. Even to the extent of volunteering to be her escort for as long as she was on her quest! That in itself ran a very high risk because she had no clue how long said journey would take. Not that she would mind the company and protection, of course.
“I don’t know how long it will take me,” she warned. “Don’t you have a family or a pride to live with?” She knew of single-parent families in the pride, and even single lions wandered about. But most of the time, all of them had at least two other lions to call family or dear friends, ones that the lions in question would not like to leave behind unless necessary. Like she did.
“Though I would appreciate your help,” she said slowly. Really, the goods outweighed the bads in this situation. If he came with her, that gave her protection, company, a hunting partner. The bads were, of course, the possibility of him taking advantage of her, or leading her into a trap, or something…equally bad.
But since he seemed sincere, she decided to risk it.
