Today was the day... The day she left the swamps again to go on her name quest. Ying-tai was nervous, not knowing what to expect. A lot had changed since she'd wandered in. The danger had passed... But the pride was now skittish of strangers as a whole. Mle had done well to encourage her to be wary of strangers. One never knew how they would react... Nenetl, though, was a different story, and the white adolescent could hear the dusty-brown lioness singing somewhere in the trees. It was almost haunting...
"Sometimes.. The feeling is right... You fall in love for the first time... Heartbeat and kisses so sweet, summertime love in the moonlight..." The dusty brown lioness carefully gathered this and that, plucking little swamp flowers to decorate Mle's mane with. It was just a silly little thing. She paused, one ear flicking, before turning at the sound of Ying-tai approaching. "Ying-tai! There you are! Help me with these...?"
The little lioness stifled a giggle, before going to help. She'd played witness to Nenetl playing with Mle's mane, often leaving the stone-gray mess of hair very colorful with flowers. "Today's the day..." She paused, cradling a flower in her paw. After a moment, she did her best to put it in her mane tuft. It felt down, looking sad to not be able to stay.
Scooping the forlorn looking flower up, Nenetl carefully put it in Ying-tai's hair. "There you go... Pretty as any flower!" The lioness smiled, and then... Frowned.. It wasn't an expression she always took on. "You'll come back, right?" After saying goodbye to her sister, Nenetl was sad to see Ying-tai leave. Sometimes lions didn't come home from their name quests. It made her sad. Whatever the reason was, hopefully they were happy where they'd gone.
She blushed under her fur, ears back as she smiled lightly. Noticing Nenetl's expression, she frowned herself. "Of course I will! I love it here!" She looked up into Nenetl's sun-gold eyes, offering a smile. "Why would I not come back here...?" Besides, this was a safe place. The pride was protective of the members, young and old. She just wondered, would she meet someone out there?
"Okay..." Nenetl pulled Ying-tai into something of a hug, ears folding back. "Just don't come home with extra luggage." At the confused look, Nenetl said, "Don't come home with a belly full of cubs." She gently batted Ying-tai's nose, offering a good-natured smile. "You're not old enough to be a mother! And you should live your life before settling down... Preferably with someone here."
Ying-tai began to giggle, smiling at Nenetl. "Okay, I won't! Besides..." She glanced around, then looked up at the older lioness. "I don't FEEL ready, either... And what if I had cubs while out in the wid world? I'd be alone..." She frowned. "I don't want to be alone..." It was a scary thought, that she'd be out there on her own for a while. It may have been the one thing she feared in her life.
The lioness raised an eyebrow, but said nothing on the adolescent's fears. Everybody had them, it was part of life. What they were was determined by the individual's life. Nenetl herself feared losing her loved ones. She licked Ying-tai's forhead. "You should go say goodbye to Mle, before you go. He'll probably want to give you a few words of encouragement or something. And.. One thing before you go..."
What could Nenetl have to say...? She quietly picked at a flower, examining each petal. "If it's about strange lions... I know, don't trust them from the get go, be CAUTIOUS. I've been told that since I got here..." It was pretty well driven into her brain by now. The pride didn't want another murderer in their midst, after all, which she could understand. It was just tiresome being told over and over again.
"No, not that, you hear that enough..." The lioness picked out a few flowers, stickihg them in Ying-tai's hair. "I was going to say... Walk with a song in your heart, and you can do anything out there. It helps with the loneliness, at least... Now go see Mle!" She nudged Ying-tai, smiling at the white lioness before turning back to the flowers.
Processing Nenetl's words, Ying-tai couldn't help but smile. She then turned, walking off. She just had to figure out a song to carry in her heart, then.. Ying decided she would worry about that AFTER she talked to Mle, though. Picking her way through the trees, she went looking for the adult lion.
