Struggling in the grasses wet with dew, in the early morning greyness, Ailes threw all his weight into his task, shoving and straining against the large blue boulder that he'd been pushing towards the beach. To be fair, it was more of a rock than a boulder, but after hauling it all the way from his pride's camp, and being so young a juvenile, it felt like a boulder to him. Every muscle in him ached horribly.
But he wasn't one to shirk a responsibility, and he'd made a promise to a strange foreign lion that if he found any blue rocks, he'd bring them to the beach. The lion had said that terrible things would happen if he didn't find the rock, though he'd been vague on the details. Still, that sounded pretty bad. No one in the pride had been interested in helping, so it was up to him. He preferred it that way, really.
Lithophoro paddled along steadily in the cool waters of the lake, enjoying the sensation of treading through liquid. She'd spent most of her life in the dry barren wastes, where the subject of her life's work was found, so it was a rare occurrence for her to be near enough water to be able to swim, much less an entire lake. But as soon as she'd seen this vast stretch, she'd craved to take a dip, and see what was on the other side.
It had been an exhausting trek across to the islands in the lake, for the lake was indeed vast. But she was used to hard labor, and her legs were solid muscle from her experience digging. So rather than be weary and miserable, she felt quite satisfied at the exercise. But finally she reached the pebbled shore, and hauled her dripping self out to flop happily onto the ground. At last, land again.
Ailes finally reached the angled edge of the shore, and with one final mighty push, the blue rock tipped over the edge, and gravity took care of the rest. It rolled with crunching sounds down the slope, towards the water's edge. Ailes took a long breather before following it, to recover some of his strength. It had been a long trek for such a young creature, and he was unused to such exertion. He felt very heavy.
But an unusual sound from the beach caught his attention. The rock should have either slowed to a crunching stop or splashed into the water, assuming it made that far. Instead it had hit something with a soft thump. Puzzled, he peered out from the grasses at the edge of the beach, and spotted the lioness. Gasping, he bolted down the beach towards her. "I'm so sorry, I didn't meant to hit you with it!"
Litho's rest on the shore was short lived, as a large rock suddenly rolled down the slope and hit her in the face. Yelping, she sat up and blinked in confusion, and examined the thing that had attacked her. It was some sort of blue stone, mottled in different hues, with an interesting swirling pattern in it, like circles within circles. Between some of the circling rings were rows of lines.
Suddenly fascinated, she got up and began pacing around it, peering at different angles. What an unusual find! She'd spent her entire life following her mother around, looking for rocks just like this. Bone-stones, they called them, stones that could look like living things. To think she'd find one here, in this wet climate! Hearing a voice, she glanced up and spotted the cub. "Is this your stone? It's beautiful!"
Dashing down as fast as his sore feet could take him, Ailes felt a sharp twinge of regret for hitting the female. He was cursing himself, taking full blame for the accident, even though accident it was. He always lay responsibility heavily on his own shoulders, having been taught that by his parents and learning the lesson far too well. In his eyes, this was as bad as having aimed to strike her.
He was slightly appeased by her attitude, however, and slowed to a halt. She didn't seem angry at all. In fact, she almost seemed excited to having been hit. Still, he sidestepped up to her apologetically and timidly. "I'm sorry miss, yes it's my rock. I didn't meant to hit you. Are you alright?" He didn't see any damage on her, that was good. "I deeply apologize, and welcome you to the Sanq Kingdom of Ardhi'Mrvingo'Patano."
Litho nearly missed the younger male's nervous behavior, she was so wrapped up in examining her new specimen. But she wasn't quite as obsessed as her mother had been, so she did slowly drift out of her work headspace to look at the newcomer. A juvenile it seemed, and very well mannered, speaking more formally than any adult she'd ever met. Maybe he was being extra polite because of hitting her with the rock?
Smiling sweetly with what she'd been told was a winning display of teeth, she ruffled his bit of hair as a greeting. "Thank you, and don't worry, I'm fine. You have a beautiful rock here. It's a fine model of shell-stone, a giant snail if I'm not mistaken. These are often found in softer rock than bone-stones. I'm Lithophoro, by the way." She winked, as if sharing a secret with him. "It means 'I carry the rocks'."
Ailes froze up in surprise at the hair ruffling, unsure of how to react. He was a solitary creature by nature, and tended to avoid physical affection. By this point most of the pride had learned not to engage, so he was unused to being touched anymore. It was a gesture meant for a younger lion, like what an adult would do to a child, but that wasn't the emotion it caused in him. Suddenly he was very aware of how pretty the female was.
Blushing, he nodded a quick bow. "I am Ailes d'Asp, son of Nuit le'Croix by Pwani'wingu," he took a deep breath; he'd never given his whole genealogy litany before, but he'd been practicing, and wanted to give it a try, "whose father was son of Reine le'Croix by Acelin le'Croix, whose mother was daughter of Usiku'mgeni by Ekundayo, whose maternal grandfather was son of Cha'ari by Layilme, whose maternal grandmother was daughter of Ayo'obi by Aziza, whose maternal great grandfather was son of Nogea by Phye'li, whose maternal great great grandfather was son of Rahima."
Blinking in confusion for a long moment, Litho suddenly broke out with spontaneous laughter. "Wow, what a mouthful," she exclaimed. "Do you have to say that everytime you meet someone new? That would really suck." She considered. "Well, I'm Lithophoro, and my mom was Coryth, and I think my dad was named... Tandu?" She cocked her head thoughtfully. "Yeah, I think it was Tandu."
Her cheerful mood was linked to the rock, however, and her attention quickly returned to it. She ran a gentle paw over its surface, trying to feel the texture. It had been worn very smooth, possibly by the movement of the lake water, like the rocks on the beach. This one was nothing like those dull pebbles, though. "Do you have any idea what you've got here, cub? Ailes, was it? This is a real find."
Ailes relaxed visibly at her words. Finally, someone who didn't care so much about family lineage. He hadn't cared either, when he was a little younger. Alas, the innocence of youth. It surprised him that she didn't even know her father's name for sure. There were people who didn't know? It seemed so. Fascinated, he felt himself drawing a little closer to her, hoping some of her carefree spirit might rub off.
He didn't get the fascination with the rock though. First a strange adult had been looking for it, and now this girl. Was it really so special? It was just a pretty color, is all. "I was told it's very important," he answered truthfully, "but aside from that I haven't a clue. It is awfully pretty, isn't it? Took me forever to find it." And just as long to drag it bodily from his pride to the edge of the lake.
Latching onto his comment, Litho suddenly fixed on him and leaned in closer. "You were trying to find it? So you do understand!" Perhaps this young one knew something about rocks afterall! Finally, a fellow digger! Exhilarated at having a potential pupil, she straightened up, and her tone took on a bit of her mother's voice, that warm voice that had been her chief instructor all her life.
"This is what is called a bone-stone. Bone-stones are rocks in the ground that take on the shapes of bones, plants, and even shells. Specifically, this is called a shell-stone, because it looks like a seashell, see? No one knows why they look like this." She tilted her head, pondering. "Maybe they're the leftover bones of long dead rock creatures. That's what my mother always thought. She thought maybe there had been rock monsters, and the gods killed them off long ago."
Not understanding all the words but fascinated by them nonetheless, Ailes reverently ran a paw over the smooth stone as well, mimicking the female. It was mostly smooth, with pockmarks here and there, and the circular markings were indented as well. He'd been told this rock was important, but until this moment he hadn't realized what the markings meant. But this, this was amazing.
"Shell-stone," he repeated, tracing the circles. "A seashell? Like from the sea?" He knew that word, he was told that his mother's pride was by the ocean or 'sea', a vast lake with a sharp taste and huge fish. He hadn't visited yet; it was only a vision in his head. "What's a seashell-stone doing so far from the sea? Are there lakeshells?" He didn't know why there wouldn't be. "It looks more like a really big snail to me."
Litho had never considered the word seashell as meaning from the sea before, but it made perfect sense. She shrugged to the question. "I'm sure there are lakeshells, and rivershells too. My family would find these shell-stones everywhere, even far away from water. Maybe there was a sea there that dried up long ago, before the gods killed off the rock creatures. Or..." she tried to puzzle it through, "Or maybe, the gods turned the shells to stone?"
That made a little sense. She'd never actually thought about it, she had just trusted her mother's wisdom and learned it by rote. What a useful new lion she'd found, teaching her to have new thoughts! She tested her weight against the stone, and was disappointed to find it awfully heavy, more than she expected. "Too heavy to take with me. And I don't think I could swim with it. I guess it can be the start of your collection, then."
"My collection?" Ailes didn't know what she meant. He had never intended to keep the rock for himself. "No no, this rock is for someone else. A big blue lion, he said he needed it to stop big trouble from happening." The idea of the female taking it suddenly made him possessive, and he kept his hand on it proprietarily. He didn't even know what the big trouble was, but he had an obligation.
"I promised the lion I would get the stone to the beach, so he could come and get it and stop the bad trouble." He tried to sound and look determined, and more confidant than he felt. "And the rock is now on the beach, and it's going to stay here until he comes for it if I have to guard it night and day." He would, too. He didn't have anything else to do, the only importance in his life was to follow through with his promises.
Litho's jaw hung loose, she was so startled at the personality shift in the cub. What had caused this? He was so serious all of a sudden! Waggling her paw hastily, she reassured him, "Don't worry, I'm not going to take the rock. I couldn't anyway, it's too heavy for me. And," she grinned ruefully, "I don't think anyone else would want a silly rock, so it's probably safe here, laying out on the beach."
She didn't know what to make of this talk of big trouble. Heard from a cub, it sounded like just nonsense or wild rumors, she'd heard the like before. Still, if it got people interested in bone-stones, maybe it was a good thing. But this cub's attitude was getting to her, so she stretched out her legs. They felt refreshed. "Well, I'll take my leave, kit. You have fun." With that, she headed back to the water and dove in, paddling steadily for the far shore. Strange formal cub, she thought.
