Carefully she made her way through the dry grass, being cautious of any snakes or scorpions that may be at home in it. Raising her head to the sky, Mana looked up at the vast sea of blue above her hoping for clouds to offer some sort of relief to not only her but the rest of the plains.
The brutal Savannah sun beat down on the small lioness’ head and back as she made her way to what she hoped was the direction of a watering hole. Her hare companion was thirsty but still too weak after a vulture attack to even think about moving from the shade of the tree and brush that the pair seemed to call their home. So it was just the cream feline heading out. Luckily for her that she had been born with pale colors so she managed to stay a little cool despite the blistering heatwaves. In her mouth she carried a rather large piece of bark that had fallen from the tree she called her own. Mana hoped her idea of using it to carry water back to her injured friend was not a foolhardy one and that it would prove to be a good one.
Taiga lay beneath a tree which grew a short distance from a watering hole. He stared through half-lidded eyes out at the still water. His body ached and burned, wounds he had not cared for previously now hurting more. He did not think he had been hurt this badly, but ignoring his wounds had likely made them worse. The water so close taunted him, mocking his weary body for being unable to move. The large lion had lain there for some time, willing his body to move but fatigue had set on fast and so his body did not seem to want to listen. Tai exhaled heavily, eyes closing against the dust that was kicked up from this action. Staying here for too long was not an ideal plan for him, he wanted to keep moving. Perhaps a short rest would help though, ease the weariness that was taking hold of him.
Bright blue eyes lit up as what was left of the watering hole came into view. Her sluggish pace turned to one with a bit more step to it, almost a skip if lions could even perform such a movement. Mana held the piece of bark a little higher, pleased with herself for being nearly halfway done with the task she set out to do. As she approached her carefulness waned and as she leaned forward to fill the wood with the murky, warm water that her footing was a bad one as her paws were placed on mud. As she pulled her head up from filling the shallow dish, she noticed a black body in the little shade that a nearby tree provided as she turned her head.
Mana placed the water-filled sheet of wood on the ground before calling out to it, “Hey! You alright over there?” But as she turned her body completely though, her bad footing got the best of her, sending the lioness tumbling into the mud and water, coating her mostly clean fur in the disgusting mixture.
Taiga’s ear’s flicked forward at the sound of footsteps, though didn’t bother to look. It was probably just something coming for a drink. He continued to lay there, sitting on the edge of sleep. Just as he was about to drift off something would pull him back to consciousness. A small sigh escaped his maw as he attempted to shift in to a more comfortable position, managing to at least move his head a bit. He was just drifting back towards sleep when a voice snapped him out of it. With effort he raised his heard, bleary eyes searching out the voice’s owner. By the water’s edge stood a pale lioness. “I am fi—“ Taiga cut off as the female slipped and fell in to the muddy waters.
With a grunt he rolled on to his stomach and managed to pull himself to his feet before hurrying as fast he could to the edge of the water. Mud squelched beneath his paws as he neared, stepping unsteadily over the muddy ground. “Are you okay?” Taiga raised one wet, muddy paw towards the female, unsure if she needed help getting out.
Mana’s ears flattened against her skull as embarrassment flooded her. Eyes remained closed the entire time as she just laid there in the mud, unsure of how she could recover from such an event. That was until she heard the lion’s voice. Her head raised as her eyes slowly opened. “Y-yeah, I’m okay.” As the smaller body moved up to try and pull itself out of the mud, it slipped again but this time Mana grabbed a hold of Taiga’s paw with both of hers out of a reflex motion of not wanting to fall again but not realizing exactly how hard she may have just grabbed him.
Taiga was glad to hear the female okay, having been worried she may have harmed herself, either as the cause of her fall or from it. In her attempt to stand though the female slipped once more, this time grabbing hold of Taiga. His claws dug in to the mug as her weight pulled on him, but with nothing to hold on to he found himself going down as well. Water suddenly flooded in to his nostrils, causing him to cough and sputter as he rolled and pulled his head up out of the water. He blinked away water and mud from his eyes, looking quickly towards the female to make sure she was alright. He was unsure if he may have inadvertently harmed her in his fall. “Are you hurt?”
A groan came in response to the question from under him as the lioness pulled her head out of the water, attempting to wipe water from her face with her paws as futile as it was considering they were just as wet and muddy too. As a result, streaks of brown found themselves on her face. “No, I’m alright.” Mana replied finally in actual words. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to pull you in as well.” Her ears were still turned back in embarrassment as looked over at him. Out of nowhere though she started to...laugh. She couldn’t help it, he looked absolutely ridiculous with his mane in his mane in his face like that and mud on him. “I..I’m sorry.” Mana managed to get out between her laughter. “I’m..Mana.”
Taiga cocked his head to one side, confused as to why the lioness had suddenly started laughing. Had he said or done something amusing? Whatever it was it seemed to be quite amusing to her. “Mana, it is nice to meet you.” An interesting and nice name, and Taiga felt oddly glad that she had, without promt, shared it with him. He shifted unsteadily in the mud, attempting to pull himself from it while at the same time make sure he didn’t fall again, making him even more unsteady on the soggy ground. “I am Taiga.” As he made it to his feet he once more offered a paw to the female. Being in the muddy water was not the most pleasant of things, and he could feel his paws sinking.
“Nice to meet you too Taiga.” Mana pulled herself up at least onto her paws even though they were unsteady from her giggles that still seemed to come out as she used him to lean against as she made her way out of the muck. At one point while getting out she slid a few inches but at least she didn’t fall all the way back in, taking him with her once again. “So what brings you out here? Thirst? Lazy?” Of course she finally noticed the wounds on his shoulder and back as she had moved passed him on her way up. “Searching for someone or something?”
Taiga managed to extract his paws from the mud, with a bit of effort, and follow hew out of the water. They managed to get out without falling again, which Taiga was quite glad for, and then Mana started to question him on his reasoning for being there. He thought for a moment. “I am searching for something, though I do not know what. I came to rest here out of weariness.” Upon saying that he realized just how much the water and mud was taking out of him. What energy he had was dwindling quickly. “I’m sorry, I need to lie down.” Taiga managed to drag himself back under the tree, to where he had been laying earlier, before collapsing on to the ground. “It’ll just be a short rest..” It didn’t take long for him to drift off as exhausted as he now was.
( Word Count: 1489 )
