"It was seriously, like, the cutest thing ever, Hermie, you totally should have been there." The voice was absurdly cheerful as an interesting lioness walked across the savanna towards the feeling of another god's influence. Tari was in a mortal form again, but this time only her wings were missing. She hadn't changed her remarkable size nor her mane, markings, or jewelry. She didn't like it, not at all, but ever since her encounter with the young male from the Ukuucha, she had decided it was best to avoid showing her true colors so to speak.
She walked along with her faithful companion at her side, telling him all about the wedding she had seen, though the couple hadn't exactly known they had a witness.
"Like, he gave her my feather and she gave him a scale, I think it was from Li-baby. Sure smelled like him."
Her dearest friend just gave her a bit of a clacking chuckle.
Pahale was quickly making his way away from the Kizingo lands. He'd gotten what he went for and more there, and in the light of day his actions seemed less romantic and more...well, wrong. He was happy to put the land behind him along with the strange lioness that had so charmed him. He didn't want to think about what he'd done, in the den, in the dark. And thankfully soon enough something amply distracting appeared. A giant lioness. He'd heard of gods before, and their massive size. He suspected this might be one, for she did tower over him, but he couldn't be sure which domain. He approached her slowly, cautiously, and bowed low.
Tari blinked when a male approached them and bowed before her. Both goddess and secretary bird stopped and blinked.
"Oh, hello there. Um, like, what's with the bow?" Tari asked, tilting her head a bit to one side before glancing at Hermes. The tall blue bird shrugged a bit.
"Perhaps it's his greeting, Babe," he replied, adjusting his wings slightly.
Hmm. He was starting to think this was a younger goddess. she hadn't liked his bow. That hurt his pride a little. Weren't gods supposed to enjoy being revered? That's what he'd been told at least. He eyed the bird beside her. He'd never seen one like that before. "Ehem...I was bowing because you are a goddess. A higher being, to be revered by myself, as a mortal. Isn't that...the way of things?" If it wasn't he was genuinely interested. He would have to take word back to his pride that not only had he met a god, but she hadn't taken kindly to the traditional ways of behaving around her!
Tari blinked a couple of times.
"Oh, oh, I..." She sat down and rubbed a paw at her head. Her wings faded into being with gold sparks falling off of them.
"Well, like I've been hiding my wings 'cause it kinda puts off some mortals and I really like mortals, so I didn't realize you picked me out. It's really kind of you to bow, really," she replied and flashed him a smile.
"I'm Tarishi and this is Hermes." Hermes nodded his head with the introduction.
Amanda: The male looked on in quiet awe as her wings formed. Stunning! They were quite large, and probably very powerful. He wondered what it would be like to fly. "You didn't know I'd figured it out? But, my dear...you are huge. No mortal lion would be so large. You hid your wings but stayed giant. It was easy..." He hated to rain on her parade, but surely she should know why her illusion had failed. "Goddess Tarishi...forgive me, I do not know what domain you are associated with?" He eyed the bird. It wasn't familiar to him from stories either. "I am Pahale."
"You obviously haven't met a Firekin. I'm kinda normalish for a goddess, just a bit bigger than the fire-giants," Tari replied, holding up a paw to show how tall a Firekin would be against her, just a little bit shorter. She giggled a bit, he'd called her his dear, it was kinda cute. This was what she loved about mortals! They never ceased to surprise her.
"Just Tari is totally fine. Oh, and I'm Messengers," she added, the smile still on her face.
Hermes' feathers ruffled a bit at the eyeing. Almost as if he read the lion's mind, his beak clacked a bit.
"Never seen a secretary bird before?" he asked, his crest rising as his head tilted in questioning.
He looked close at where she motioned to. Fire giants? He'd never heard of them. By the size she gave, he didn't think he wanted to meet them either. Fire was deadly. "Messengers? That is a good domain. Useful. If you do not like bowing, what do you like? Forgive my forwardness...I had been told gods enjoyed praise. Bowing and the like. If I am in the wrong I would hate to continue to do it." He turned to eye the bird again. It was so tall and gangly! "No, never. You are a strange bird...so tall and thin. Are you perhaps related to the flamingos?"
"Oh, no, it's not that I didn't like the bow, I just didn't expect it. It was kinda rather charming, really," Tari replied with another sort of giggle. Hermes gave a small roll of his eyes.
And then both goddess and familiar stared at Pahale, Hermes' beak hanging open. When he started sputtering, Tari threw her head back and laughed.
"You- You-! I am not related to flamingos! I'm a raptor, not a loud pink upstart!" His feathers were ruffled angrily at the insult and the sharp beak snapped shut with a threatening clack.
"Oh, Hermie, be nice. He doesn't know any better," Tari giggled back, trying to get a hold on her laughter as she reached out with one paw and drew her bird into a hug.
"He's a very good hunter, really. Snakes and little preybeasts and even a baby gazelle, once, though he won't tell me how he got that one," she added, nuzzling her friend's feathers until they smoothed back down as his anger fizzled out.
"My little secret, babe."
Pahale bristled. Okay, so he'd been wrong! He said he'd never seen one before, it wasn't his fault that he'd made the most reasonable and logical assumption he could given what he HAD seen and DID know. "Well I know that now. There's nothing wrong with flamingos. They're very tasty." And now he might have just potentially said this god's minion was a snack. Not good. His eyes widened, it was clear his composure was wounded. "I mean, not that you would be tasty. Perhaps you would. But I would never try to hunt you, because you are a god's creature. I mean...!" He paused, puffed himself up as regal as he could, and frowned, silent. No more talking, he was tripping himself up too much.
"Awww, Hermie, look what you did, you made him all flustered. Say you're sorry for being snappy," Tari said, looking down at her companion.
"But, babe, he-"
"No buts, apologize." The goddess made a face that looked like it was trying to be stern, but it was the face of someone who had never been stern in her life, so the effect was rather lost. Regardless, her bird let out a bit of a sigh and mumbled an apology, though he didn't sound too happy about it.
Figuring that was the best she would get, Tari returned her attention to Pahale.
"Guess that's the best you'll get. To be honest, I don't think he'd taste very good. Birds don't have much meat on them and Hermes has even less so. He'd probably be too tough."
"Can we please talk about something besides eating me?"
Pahale snorted and eyed the bird again. He reminded itself it was a god's creature. That meant he should respect it. "And I am sorry too. For saying you were a flamingo. And considering eating you." He looked back to the goddess. "I am glad to hear that my actions are as you would like. My pride strives always to merit the gods' approval." A Thought occurred to him then. "You would probably intercept a great deal of talk, yes? Could you perhaps tell me if you'd seen or heard of a lion that looks like, me, but female? I am trying to find my twin."
"Eh, forget about it," Hermes replied with a small shrug as Tari slipped her paw from around him. They looked to one another when he asked about his twin and both goddess and bird shook their heads once before looking back to Pahale and repeating the action.
"Sorry, we haven't seen her. I've been trying to reacquaint myself with the prides of the land and so I've really only run into mortals on their pridelands, not so much here out in the roguelands. But if you tell me where your pride is, I can direct her back to it if I see her?" She really did like helping people. It wasn't really her field, and to be honest if she felt a Calling while she was helping the lioness back, she would have to attend to it. But still, she liked to help.
He nodded. "That would be a great help to me, and ease my mind largely." Having a goddess on his side would make him feel that his mission wouldn't fail at all. "My pride is far to the south, and the west. Hidden behind a range of mountains, in a thick forest." He also gave her the pride's name. "My sister is called Pichale. If you would listen for word of her...it would mean a lot to me. Thank you."
