Talamh liked this place already. The way the ground felt, the way things smelled, the way things looked. She'd left Satiku sleeping to explore a little, see if she couldn't find someone. Who knew...maybe she'd even run into her father. She knew what he looked like, from the descriptions her mother had given her...but she'd yet to have met him. They'd tried once before but...her mother had Seen disturbing things going on and thought it best to wait.
But now, Talamh was here. The place she was conceived in. And perhaps...the place she belonged in. Perhaps it was here that Earth called her strongest. She smiled slightly. Yes...this was home, if they would have her.
Even with as much as he swam, blood from hunting was something that had to be carefully groomed out of his fur. Mle stretched on the ground, carefully grooming his pristine white coat. He hadn't appreciated it as a cub, when it made him stick out, but now he rather liked it. It kept up the illusion of ghosts in the swamps. He paused, flicking some water from his tail. For as much as he swam, it wasn't green from moss.
The white lion rose to his paws, shaking his fur out. The last bits of blood were gone, leaving him glimmering in the light that filtered throug the trees. He licked his lips, before setting off to find an ideal place to nap off his meal.
The green and gray lioness wandered through the swamp, seeking another face. And when a flash of white caught her eyes, she perked up. A spirit? Or perhaps another lion? Or maybe even an Eidolon, like back in the Mizuka'nyevu? Curious, she let her paws go in the direction she'd seen the white in, moving a little faster than usual.
When she finally came into sight of the source of the white...she blinked. Father? "Hello?"
The pale lion stopped, ears flicking, When he looked over his shoulder, the feathers on his ears waved, the silver feather catching the light. "Oh! I didn't hear you coming! Hello!" He turned around fully, allowing his body to face the lioness and not strain his neck. "You must be new around here, aren't you?" Mle offered a warm, welcoming smile. "If you are, then welcome to the Jini-msemi!"
Yes! It was him! Fate was certainly on her side today! She nodded at the pale lion. "I am, indeed, new." Her speak was slow and deliberate, but held no trace of a lack of intelligence. "Though I was conceived here. My mother is from another pride, but my father lives here. I thought...I might find a home with him. He was called 'Zimwi' when my mother met him."
Something flickered in his orange eyes, causing them to light up. He hadn't exactly shared a den with many lionesses - All of two, in fact - So he knew emediately who her mother was. "I knew the lion Zimwi... He was a lion easily frightened by everything... He came to these swamps a long time ago and found the acceptance he was looking for, and when he found the inner strength he'd lost as a cub... He became Mle'tonoka..." He tilted his head, smiling. "Not long ago, not long before I would guess you were born... He spent a night with a lioness named Codail, and has been wondering what happened... I see now that something very beautiful happened..."
Talamh would have blushed, if her fur was lighter. But the skin under her fur suddenly felt hotter. Her smile grew though. "There...are five of us. I am Talamh, the youngest...and only girl." She laughed softly. "We tried to visit once before, but Mother saw strife and pain, and thought you didn't need any more worries on your mind." This was the lion who had saved her mother. "She said it was safe for me to come here now, though."
The pale lion nodded, smile still upon his maw. "Things have certainly settled down here... There was indeed strife..." His smile turned into a frown, gaze turning to the deeper swamps. "Some new lions came, from a sister pride to the Jini-msemi... And somebody was killing them... It was a dark time for the pride, for all the cubs that we've welcomed in that time and since..."
Talamh bowed her head in respect for the dead. "May they find peace and rest." She raised her head back up, orange eyes smiling. "Cubs? It is good the pride was able to thrive in such dark times." She sat. "Does...the pride still welcome outsiders? I would very much like to stay here. And I have a friend who has come with me, seeking this place too."
"Of course we do." Mle dipped a paw in the water, testing how it felt. "A pride does not thrive if it does not welcome new blood in... Or even relations to old blood, to help tie parts of the pride together." It was a basic principal he'd learned here, something he'd not seen back in the Umande lands. At least, not so readily. The pale lion slowly slipped into the water, ears pricked forward and eyes dancing. When he glanced back at Talamh, he saw his own eyes, a piece of himself. It made him smile all the more.
Talamh felt...at peace. A calm unlike her normal calm. She'd come home. "Let me get my friend. I think Satiku shall be pleased by the news." Home! They were home! She stood. "He is not far from here." She turned to go retrieve him, before something stopped her and she turned her her back. "Thank you, Father. You may not have realized it but...you saved Mother's life. Had you not given her my sibs and I...she would not have lasted much longer."
Mle floated in the water a bit, watching Talamh. He'd saved Codail's life... It made a part of him smile, deep inside, though it left him wondering, just a bit... He wouldn't dwell on it, though. "You're welcome, daughter." He rolled onto his back, allowing the water to carry him. It was a gentle current, one he was used to and knew very well. It wouldn't take him far, only as far as his den - He'd made sure there were some large branches across the top of the water way, just low enough he couldn't pass but still high enough debris could get under. It was his little piece of heaven, and it'd just gotten better.
