This was a... Curious place. Ying-tai wiggled her toes a bit, feeling the sand. As she stared up at the dunes, she wondered just why a lion would WANT to live here. It was a stark contrast to the swamps, where everything was wet and green. This was so dry... And plain-colored! She missed the colorful flowers that could pop up, the earthy dark browns and rich greens, and the smell and feel of the water. Regardless... She had something to do here. The white lioness took a deep breath, and started in. Get in, get out, get home, it was that simple, right?

As it could turn out, life was never simple. As Shula was taking her turn patrolling, she spotted a white... something. She could tell from a distance, it wasn't her half-sister, Savitri, nor was it Zii, or anybody ELSE she knew. It was just... SOMEBODY. When the red lioness got closer, she was furhter confused about the gray markings. They almost looked like her mother's markings... "Hey, who are you and why are you here?"

Ying-tai stopped, eyes widening as she looked at the other lion. The lioness was, simply put, HUGE compared to Ying-tai. It was intimidating, to say the least. "I-I-I..." At the rather fierce look, she shrank back, trembling all over. "I-I'm Ying-t-tai.. I'm looking for the lion, Bodaway! My... Father... Said he should be here! That they were brothers in spirit!" She dropped to the sand, covering her head with her paws. "Oh, gods, please don't kill me!"

Shula looked at the other lioness funny, slowly walking up to her. "Your father is my father's brother in spirit...?" She circled a moment, sniffing. The white lioness, much smaller in both stature and girth, smelled of a far-off place that was... MUSTY. "Who is your father...? Maybe I know of his name... Father might be pleased to hear about him." Maybe. Bodaway was becoming far too old to do much of anything, age catching up to him. He'd die soon, she just knew it in her bones. He wouldn't survive another duel with Kosuke.

Peeking at the red lioness, Ying-tai did her best not to freak out TOO much. When she did sit up, she still made her best effort to be small and hard to hit. "Mle'tonoka... But he used to go by the name Zimwi... He's a white lion, like me, b-but he's got a gray mane..." Brown eyes remained on the red lioness, watching her every move. While she was bigger than Mle by now, she was still much smaller than this hulking red lioness.

Shula eyed the lioness, considering her words. Bodaway had told her about Zimwi... And that it was funny how Savitri came out snow whiter than Zimwi after they'd declared each other brothers in spirit. The fact she knew his name, as well as her father's name, told the red lioness that this little lioness wasn't lying. "I suppose, then... That that makes us cousins in spirit..." Shula offered a smile, relaxing her defensive stance a bit. "Though, little cousin, being this far into the desert isn't a wise idea. Let me escort you back to the border, where you'll be safest."

Ying-tai nodded, getting up and following the lioness. How she even knew where the border was, the white lioness didn't know. It was hard to tell anything from anything in the desert, and the sun high in the sky didn't help. "How do lions live here...? It's so hot, and dry, and... Inhospitable!" How could ANYTHING live here? And then a bird flew by overhead, causing Ying-tai to stop and look up. "Whoa..."

Shula smiled at the other, pausing at the border. "Oh, we have our ways... We're a tough lot, Motoujamii... We know how to live here, how to survive." She looked down at the sand, ears swiveling. After a moment, she started to dig, soon tossing a surprised reptile out. She pounced on it, and then ate it. Licking her lips, she looked at Ying-tai. "We eat what we can find to live, and there ARE desert prey animals here for us to hunt." Most life was much smaller, granted, but it was still life here.

Ying-tai could only watch in fascination. She was surprised to learn that something lived in the sand. The lioness looked too robust to be surviving on reptiles, though, so there had to be BIG prey animals out there. "But... Why do you live here? There's so much more out in the savannas, so many more prey animals and so much more water..." And trees, and shade, and LIFE. She couldn't quite wrap her mind around it.

Shula fell silent, before she looked at the desert. "Why do we live here? Because we can. To prove it's possible, and show that we're tough by thriving in a place others would deem inhospitable." She wondered, should she tell this stranger about part of their ways? A piece of their past that Kosuke refused to let be forgotten... "And the old stories say... That the Goddess, Finar-si, made lions here, because it was where SHE lived... So as her children, her Blood, we stayed... And we did well, and are doing well." She looked at Ying-tai, tilting her head. "What about you? Where are you from? You smell... Odd."

All this time she'd been concerned about the desert! Ying-tai shifted a bit of sand under her paw. "I grew up in a swamp." She noticed the confused look. "It's a drastic difference from the desert. There's water everywhere, and big trees, mud, plants... Lots of fish and other swamp-specific animals." She smiled, sighing wistfully. "We do a lot of swimming there, it's really great!"

The red lioness shook her head, making a face. "I'll stay in the desert, thanks..." She let out a sigh, then looked up. The bird was circling, getting closer. "I think, for your safety, it's time to leave." She looked back, one eyebrow up. "I'll let my father know that his brother-in-spirit sent word of doing well. Just let your father know that mine is doing... Well... He's getting old, and won't be much longer on this Earth, but he's lived a long and fulfilling life."

Ying-tai nodded, turning to leave. "I'll let him know. It was nice to meet you, Shula! I'll make sure that if I have any cubs, I'll send them here to visit... Just make sure somebody who knows is at the border to meet them, so they can have their own border meeting!" As she walked away, she kept her eyes on the horizon, making sure to head OUT of the desert. She could already tell when the grasslands were meeting the desert.

Shula nodded, watching the other lioness go. When she was out of sight, Shula let out a sigh, smiling. Bodaway would be happy to hear about his old friend, and she was sure that, when word made it back, the other lion would be pleased to ehar about Bodaway. When she was sure there was nobody else on the border, the red lioness headed for home.