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 Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 4:40 pm
 Even though he was not the vizier and likely would never become a vizier, Ilyas did feel it was his duty to visit with his congratulations and best wishes whenever a pad fathered a litter of cubs. It was a practice begun what felt like ages ago with a highly unsuccessful visit to the den of Vizier Tariq'ra'd, who had terrified him without realizing it. Ilyas had only managed to introduce himself to one cub who had wandered a bit afield before fleeing to safety.
Since then his visits had gone better and he had learned not to be afraid of the dark vizier in time, but mostly he did not visit that den. The den of one of Tariq'ra'd's sons, however, did not hold any fear for Ilyas. Anwar'Mazin was an interesting character from what Ilyas remembered of him, and very clever. He reminded Ilyas of his father - Anwar's, not Ilyas' - but he was younger. Younger than Ilyas, anyway, which made some difference.
He wasn't visiting because it was the litter of another vizier's son, however. He was visiting because the mother was sister his beybanu, Afsar and he wanted to give Afsar a good report of her sister's health and children. The visit went well enough, though Zarha told him that one of the cubs, a banu named Badiah, had wandered away a bit. She had asked him to send her back if he saw her.
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 5:00 pm
Badiah wouldn’t have blamed her mother for sending someone after her. She thought she wandered more than any of her other siblings, and she certainly came back with the most scuffs, cuts, and bruises. Most of these were innocent – Badiah had a love for roaming and exploring, and each day new brought her to the edges of rougher landscape. Sometimes though, she came back with a swollen cheek or scratched ear from sort of tussle. So she could hardly be mad at her mother for worrying, but she knew no acceptable way to soothe her; and no, staying close and safe and ‘behaving’ was not in the least acceptable.
This day was no exception, and Bad had been out for better than an hour attempting to make her first kill. It was a success, and she sat before the dead lizard she’d batted to death with satisfaction. She nudged it a few times to make sure the reptile was in fact deceased and not just tired again, then grinned. She leaned down to sniff it – she din’t really want to eat it, but this would do – and with a nod laid down in a likely patch of shade, relaxed and contented with herself.
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 5:14 pm
Ilyas had no intention of mounting a large scale hunt for Zarha's missing cub. The pride was a large place, full of places for a cub to get into, and yet it was also a very safe place. It was unlikely the girl would have come to any sort of harm while she was out. The worst she might have done was given insult to someone if she was the sort to be forward or outspoken. Even then, most people understood that banu of that age were just learning their places and their manners still and didn't hold them too rigidly to the pride's standards.
So it was something of a surprise for Ilyas when he actually came across a cub which looked like she was probably related to the litter of cubs he had just come from visiting. Already he was forgetting most of their names, since they had all been rather squirmy and similar and mostly silent. Not completely, of course, but none of them had really distinguished themselves. None of them except the missing Badiah, who was memorable for her absence.
He watched silently for a few moments as the cub nosed a dead lizard before clearing his throat to catch her attention.
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 5:33 pm
Badiah jumped in statement to her feet, her thought instantly leaping to the conclusion that she would have to defend her kill. But that was stupid – even she didn’t want the mangy dead lizard – she was just proud to have killed it. She turned on heel and narrowed her eyes speculatively at the swirl-hided male that she had somehow not noticed coming up on her. Adults rarely bothered her, and she normally had no trouble hearing their huge bodies stomping all over everything, but this one had crept up on her, and how long had he been there anyway?
Bad tilted her head slightly to the right and lifted her chin a notch – mimicking the haughty, expectant look she’d seen a Pad give his Banu a few days ago. She imagined she didn’t look as silly as he had. “Yes?”
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 5:41 pm
Ilyas might have raised one eyebrow if he had been human reacting to Badiah's body language. First to her startlement, which was amusing enough that raising one eyebrow would have been the least reaction he could have. Second to the way she carried herself so haughtily. There was no need to wonder whose daughter she was. Ilyas had forgotten how difficult it could be to be around the absurdly proud. People like Anwar'Mazin and Zarha. He considered his duty by them discharged, and probably would not return to the den unless specifically invited or accompanying Afsar.
He returned her mimicked look with a great deal more ease, adding to it a certain amount of flat-eyed boredom which clearly conveyed that he was not impressed by her display. With banu this young it was best they learn quickly what their role in the pride was to be, and he considered it doing his part to remind them of it. The last thing the pride needed was any sort of kajira. They were just more trouble than they were worth. He didn't see why people like Tariq'ra'd and his sycophants liked them so much.
"You're Banu Badiah, daughter of Pad Anwar'Mazin and Beybanu Zarha?" He used the fullness of who she was more to remind her than anything else. The reminder might serve as a spur to send her home without his having to say anything.
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:09 pm
Bad held the posture for a moment while her mind ran through a few processing loops. She tended to pause and stare this way from time to time and she had the notion it made some lions think she were a bit daft in the head, but she didn’t care enough about other’s opinions to rush herself. It was another value she had lifted from her mother: thought was paramount.
Finally, her ears folded back and she battled formality by dismissing it entirely and sitting on her haunches with a flick of her tail. Her posture might have resembled that of a scolded cub, but her words were less placating. “Yes. You sound like my mother when she’s about to go on some lecture by the way. What’s your name?”
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:19 pm
Ilyas wasn't fooled. He'd been a cub himself once, and he had been his father's firstborn son. He knew all about seeming to give in while retaining thoughts of rebellion. It crossed his mind more than once to let the banu know that, and alert her to the fact that her behavior was inappropriate, but that probably would have come with subsequent visits from one or both of her parents to confirm her behavior or something. He couldn't remember ever being chastised by someone outside of his family. Maybe it wasn't done. No, it was, just not to pesars.
"Manners," was all he said. She ought to know them if she was allowed to roam about, which meant she shouldn't need more of a reminder than that.
"I'm Pad Ilyas, son of Vizier Faiz," he said formally. "And speaking of your mother, she wants you to go home. I believe your excursion for today has ended."
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:41 pm
Bad was young yet, but she had already deduced that the easiest way to take advice such as Ilyas’s was to ignore it entirely. Adults tended to take silence as acceptance, and consequentially leave her alone. However, knowing silence was the best course of action didn’t make holding it for this stranger easy when she could barely keep from talking back to her mother most days.
She rolled her eyes about a quarter circle and looked off to the side, clearly finished with him. “Got it. You can run off and do whatever now.”
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 7:16 pm
Ilyas was not going to get into a fight with a little girl. That was not how adult pads dealt with things. So he was not going to give her another verbal reminder of what was expected of her manners-wise. But that didn't mean he wasn't very tempted, just this once, to cuff her across the ear just to make it very clear that rudeness had its consequences. He didn't though.
He also didn't move. He refused, perhaps childishly, to make it look as though he was being dismissed by her. So instead he merely sat down and waited. Smiling placidly he said, "I'll just watch to make sure you get off all right."
It was the best way he could think of to deal with the situation and the cub. He didn't envy her parents the raising of her. But maybe she'd grow out of it. He'd been told that banu did that. Act out as cubs, when they first realized the role they would have to play, and then adjust when they were older.
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 7:34 pm
Badiah glanced at him from the corner of her eye and thought about a few sarcastic responses, mostly about thinking him for the extra service he was doing for her, but she was about tired of him. His was a predominating attitude, and she much preferred battling it in her peers, who at least were her age and could be bitten and scratched. He was simply too big to slap like she wanted, and too old to change his mind about anything.
She stood and leaned backwards, stretching her forelegs mechanically while she gave him a look of undisguised disgust. Then she walked a few paces, picked up her dead lizard by the tail, and set off for her den at an easy run with her trophy trailing the dirt between her feet.
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