[PRP] Land of My Fire-Fathers [Saha/Heti]

[ShinosBee]

Man, was it hot! The vast sandy expanse that stretched out in all directions until it kissed the skyline was nothing like the grainy home Saharan knew of. Certainly the sand FELT the same between her toes (though admittedly much hotter) and it looked the same, all tan and sparkling in the high sun, but back home there just hadn't been...well quite so much of it. And no trees for shade, and worse! No lapping ocean to cool her blistering paws in! She'd been walking so far and so long...She grunted. In the name of discovering the lands her family had come from, she would just have to continue on.

The dunes all seemed similar, and no clear marking showed the way. How do I know I'm not just wandering in circles, or worse, towards nothing? What if the pride left? That'd figure. Not like there's much out here to keep you rooted in one place, I suppose. Just sand sand sand. I can understand why some left! Her mother hadn't been very forthcoming with information about their past here, but she'd gotten enough out of her and other rogues to figure this WAS the place, though she had been skeptical. Who would bother to live in this unforgiving land?

As if to answer her, a pungent scent hit her nose. A lone stone peeked out of the sand to her left, and with it came a strong stink of lion. A marking stone for something? She stepped towards it and gave a whiff. PEW! Definitely lion. "Probably to mark the edges of a pride's lands." She mumbled under her breath as she continued to inspect it. "But...where is the pride? It can't be that old...the sand'd have scoured the scent away. But..." No one was around, at least that she saw.  

[Kimaria]

Heti, an apprentice guard of the Firekin, was stalking the borders, playing make-believe. Okay, so yes, it might have been a little childish, but he wasn't the most mature boy, even now he'd left most of his youth behind him. He certainly didn't care what anyone thought of these shenanigans! As far as he was concerned, this was practise! And practise made perfect!

And so he stalked across the desert, pausing every now and then to scent the wind and cast his eyes across the desert. Here, the dunes grew increasingly bigger, marking the sign that he was definately on the borders. It was easy to lose another in these dunes, particularly if a harsh wind blew up to cover tracks. Luckily the weather seemed calm and hot. Just the way he liked it!

And then, ah-ha! Paw prints! His whiskers stood on end, his fur bristling with delight, and with a chuff of joy he struck out at a swift lope. He was going to track down his prey and tackle it and bite it and be the best guard ever!!!  

[ShinosBee]

Saha had spent a bit more time with the stone, scenting it and checking for any claw marks. The smell certainly had enough oomph to say, clearly, that outsiders weren't welcome, but that was typical of prides. The stone seemed natural, worn by the sand and time, and not anything spectacular aside from being the only landmark she could see for miles around. That made it of interest to her. Of course, something like this wouldn't work back home--the jungle was the edge of the border, not the sands. Some lions would claw the trees to mark the edges...this stone though seemed untouched, aside from reeking of lion.

The heat, after a time, drove her to abandon the stone and scuff about in the sands nearby. Were other stones buried here? She dug at the sand a bit, and turned over a few more pebbles. They too stank of lion...yes, she must be close.

A sound made her start--the relative silence of the desert was easily broken. She saw nothing, but couldn't be sure. She turned in the direction she thought it'd come from and slunk up over a dune. From higher up, she could look down between the lumps of sand. Of course it risked her being seen too, but she'd have the elevation on her side, right? Nearing the top, she hunkered low. Maybe a snack? A hare or lizard? That's what lived out here right? Man...she missed the taste of fish!  

[Kimaria]

Oh! And there she was! He summoned the warning roar within and realeased it, allowing it to roll out across the slopes of the dunes. In fact, he was quite proud with how it had sounded! Almost as good as his father's roar in fact. And, if this was true, when he was fully grown, certainly no one would wish to mess with him!

"You there! You!!" He called, quickening his pace.

"Get off these lands, you! These belong to the Firekin. Haven't you heard? We take no prisoners! What isn't good enough for us gets spat out back into the desert!" His words may have sounded threatening if he had said them as if he had meant them. But clearly, from the tone of his voice, he might as well have been a cub playing a game rather than warding off an intruder.

Yes. He as an adolescent with a lot to learn...  

[ShinosBee]

The roar, playful as it was, startled Saha. If she hadn't been hunkered down already she would have, but only for a moment. The ROAR wasn't scary, but it had certainly surprised her after near silence for so long. She spotted the audio-offender immediately, and seeing he was rather young (though admittedly he was huge) she felt at ease enough to stand up.

"Now now! Is that any way to talk to your elders?" Maybe it wasn't the smartest to offend the youth, but her snappy teacher-esque attitude made her take offense to his attitude. Of course when he mentioned the firekin her irritation went flittering out of her mind faster than the blink of an eye.

"Firekin?" She came bounding down from the dune at an excited trot, and got right up to the youth, wide-eyed and leering at him as if he was another artifact just like the stone to be studied. "I see...I've been looking for you! The right colors, and the size...much larger than youth of equivalent age back home...Let me see your paws!" She used her leg to lift his front paw before he could protest, eying the large retracted claws and tough pads. "Perfectly adapted for the heat, look how the fur spreads...probably to keep balanced in the sands."

"...Oh, right." She released the youth and (with one more piercing look) nodded to him. "I am Saharan. I come from the sea--I have ancestral ties in these lands, with your 'firekin'. If it isn't too much trouble, I should like to see where you live, your pride, and learn a bit about the people there." He might be an inexperienced youth, but she was an overzealous researcher, and safety was thrown to the wind when her prize was in sight.  

[Kimaria]

"Pfff." He huffed, narrowing his eyes a little. "You ain't my elder. You ain't a Firekin!" He wasn't supposed to give respect to anyone outside of the pride...right? He was pretty sure that's what his father had said. Particularly if they were older! They should know better about the dangers of trespassing, after all.

"Firekin? Yes, yes, Firekin. You know, big, scary lions that stomp on trespassers." He blinked, drawing his head back a little, feeling suddenly self-conscious. What was she gawking at? "What? Who? Me?...Why?" And then she was lifting his forepaw and he stared mutely as she examined it, describing it as she did so. They were just paws...paws weren't special! Well clearly this female was suffering from the head-sickness. Too much heat can melt your brain! Clearly this poor female suffered from such a terrible ailment!

He realised that she was speaking to him now and blinked to clear his thoughts. "Woah, woah, woah. You can't just come blundering in here. You could be anybody! If you have family here you should know we don't let just anyone come in. That's why I'm here." He slapped a forepaw to his chest. "To stop intruders!" He shook his head. "You need to prove yourself first, and that ain't no easy feat, lady."  

[ShinosBee]

The youth's insults went right over her head as she was busily inspecting him and thinking at a break-neck pace. Oh this was so exciting! She'd found the pride, found a member, and WHAT a member! He was as she expected, if a bit bigger. How huge would the adults be?? She had to know...

"Oh yes yes yes I HAD family here, but not now. I'm not sure why or when they left exactly, but they did. And I'm back. And of course you're a guard, hmm?" She raised a brow. Maybe a trainee guard, or if a full one, not very long at the job. She could tell the signs of a novice when she saw one.

"Now about this rite of passage, hmm? I've not got all day, so if we could get on with it? Or do you need a witness? Otherwise you could just say I passed or failed and that'd be that, yes? If I were you I'd want to report me to your pride's leaders right away. Strangers on the borders and what not? Or is it something I can do here? If it's to do with going so long without food or water I assure you I've been doing that PLENTY of late and certainly could go a mite longer. Or would you rather I hunt you something, maybe? A show of skill on the sands?" She was far too excited to want to waste time with this. True it was an aspect of their culture, but she wanted to see the PRIDE.  

[Kimaria]

Heti wasn't sure that he really believed her story. After all, who in there right mind would leave the pride? Who would forsake their Firekin ancestry to become nothing more than another rogue wandering without purpose? Unless they were Huria, of course...but Huria had not been in existance for long and the female before him was of Firekin colours.

He was frowning thoughtfully now, his tail swishing side by side.

"I'm a guard, yes." He replied after a moment. "Soon to be fully-fledged." He lifted his head higher with pride and set his paws firmly in the sand. Then, with a small snort, he held up a paw in an attempt to cut off her query. "No, we can't just get on with it." He replied. "For a rogue to be accepted here, you have to fight a duel and win. However, since you're an adult and I'm not, any duel between us wouldn't count..." He glowered a moment and added. "Though it should, because I reckon I could beat you no problem." He huffed, blowing strands of mane from his eyes.

"If you behave, I'll take you to the oasis. You can drink there, then we can find someone to duel you."

She certainly had the patience of a Firekin...in that it was minimal!  

[ShinosBee]

Well that was unfortunate. She'd been told to expect the Firekin to adhere to a rougher style of life than she was used to, but it disappointed her to learn that the rite of passage was a fight. A fight! So barbaric. It frankly didn't suit her at all. But...perhaps, if that was what was required, she would do it. What else could she do? Though she had no intentions of joining the pride permanently. Temporary visitors didn't need to fight, did they? Maybe there'd be someone who could give her real facts (aka an adult) at this oasis he spoke of.

"Perhaps you could. You certainly have the build for it." Her brain shifted gears back to a studious one. What a sight it'd be to see two fully grown specimens of these lions go at it. It would probably be quite the barbaric show, but it'd be a great chance to see some techniques and study how they used their larger bodies. "Then again, I hear being overconfident can make it easy to get beaten unexpectedly." That was her version of a joke, and she smiled at him.

"Very well then, lead on. I'm certain I'll be able to behave even better than expected." After all, she came from a pride that wasn't based on might for right, but wits. And that meant that there were more intelligent lions than dull ones where she was from. It was the smart thing to do to mind one's manners. But...it was a little hard when you were so full of excitement.

"By the way, how do you find your way out here? Is it a marking system? Or do you follow alignments with the sun at different times of the day? Or perhaps you've just memorized the way you came from to find the way back?"

Clearly she was going to talk the whole way, like it or not.  

[Kimaria]

To be honest, Heti had no idea what the rules were about someone who just wanted to visit. As far as he was aware, no such thing had happened before, but there had to be a first time for everything. Perhaps, under these circumstances, he should have sought out one of higher rank - perhaps even No or Kidondo themselves - but the thought would not cross his mind until later.

"Tell that to my father. Think I'm confident? You really need to meet him." He chuckled to himself. He took after his father in many things, but his dad did tend to take things to extremes. Heti knew he was a good guard and he was proud of that, but ask his dad, he'd tell you that he was the best guard in the world. Heti had grown to teasing his dad for such egotistic comments now, not minding at all the glares it earned him. "He's the best guard in creation, apparently, and if he loses then you must have cheated somehow. Never tell him I told you that, though."

He blinked, casting her a confused look. "Find the way...here? Well, no idea. I just guard the borders, I don't leave them. Ask a water-seeker, they'd know. You sure do have a lot of questions, don't you, lady?"

Luckily for her, Heti seemed happy enough to oblige her chatty nature - for now, at least.