Amefungwa was basking in the flowers. A rare (very rare) frown was resting on her lips, making them curve just so, downwards. She waggled her paws through the air, pretending she could paint it with the clouds up above. The crickets had been talking to her, as usual. She loved that they were always at ear to guide her...but now she was starting to worry. Apparently...she had big things on the horizon. One paw came down to drag the 'wrist' of it through her fur. Hmm. Her tummy was rumbling.
It had taken a nightmare followed by a surprisingly pleasant dream to bring about his latest epiphany. He had never been without a muse in the first place- the confusion of having one 'speak' to him had been taken too literally- or perhaps too ideally. It was hard to say. Neither side could agree on just what the source of the problem had been, but both agreed that they had never been without a consant source of inspiration.
Excitement put a bounce in his lope as Shandor moved briskly through the pride, his dark eyes darting between the distant forms of the members as he crossed through rock, beachgrass, and sand alike. It didn't take long, however, for him to pinpoint the salmon-colored female laying listlessly on her back.
What a waste of time.
He slowed his pace and hardened his features upon aproach, making not a sound until he was close enough to simply lean over and touch his nose to hers.
"I believe... I have found it." "I found it, actually."
Amefungwa would have leapt in place with surprise if she'd been on her feet. Instead her whole body just bucked, and unfortunately for Shandor, that meant her head came flying up to clonk his, forehead to forehead. "Owwww...! Wait! You found it? Really?" She scrambled up to her paws, eyes wide, and a smile to match despite her throbbing head. "Tell me! Tell me tell me! I don't care which of you does it just tell me!"
Shandor fell back to his haunches and brought both paws up to his forehead. Ow... perhaps that wasn't a good idea... well how could he have known? Because she was a clutz? Perhaps... Because she was hard to predict? Then how was he supposed to have known!? A good point.
Swearing under his breath, he rubbed at the sore spot between his eyes and finally dropped his paws back to the sands. "Fine....but I would rather show you. Sit down."
She stopped her bouncing in place and sat back on her haunches. The light in her eyes was gleaming bright, and her tail lashed side to side. "Show me? Is it a bird?" She looked up and around. "Or a bug? Oooh that'd be so cool! We'd match! How'd you figure it out? Did ti come find you like you imagined, or did you go find it?"
Shandor's expression was dull as she rambled on. Without a word or warning, he reached a paw up to press it against her mouth. Heavens, she was a mood-killer.
"There was a time...when two walked on the outside. Two minds, two bodies but always together."
"One red as the setting sun-" "The other blue as the first light of day-" "One dark night, fire from the sky split the two and shook the foundation of the earth- "Lost and alone, the blue wandered...soon finding that the red had joined him-" "Not in body but in mind! "Shandor became the two combined."
He sat back and raised a brow. "Tales. Stories. Histories and rumors."
She looked at him sideways. Then she rotated her head to look at him at a slighter angle. Then she blinked. "So...you used to be two lions, and then you became one, and both of you used to be...stories? That's funny. I never met a lion with stories as a muse. I wonder how that'd work. I mean, then your muse would only be around when you called it? Huh. That'd be...really convenient actually!"
She squinted a bit. "So one of you used to be red like me?"
"There were two brothers... not long ago." His expression grew grave. "Their mother perished from illness... they were alone, needing one another to survive. When blue fire split the sky and they were parted in body- they became one in mind." "We keep each other alive... reason and poetry together. Not one without the other." "But we both enjoy the tales we hear... tales of lions sprouting wings, tales of scaled beasts running on clouds. That sort of thing."
"Well yeah, I like stories too! But...do stories have a spirit?" She looked about to say something, perhaps that stories couldn't possibly be his muse because they weren't anything physical...but then a smile broke over her face. "Well I guess you'd know! If they're your muse then you'd know better than anyone!" She launched herself at him, hugging him tight and then turning a little circle in the flowers. "That's so great! Now you can stay here forever!"
That wasn't entirely a fair question... did stories have spirit? More spirit and soul than a cloud or a drop of rain. Stories moved the spirit of the listeners and preserved the brave souls of those they spoke of. He opened his mouth to say as much only to have his comments disolve into a startled yelp.
The gesture, a strange one, had his eyes as wide as saucers and his shoulders tense.
"I suppose I can..." He offered, swallowing some of his surprise.
