[SRP] Swimming in Deeper Waters (Solv & Kazul)

[Princess_Feylin]

Solvtorn

He wasn't a warrior, Solvtorn. He had played at it as a cub, like everyone else who grew up in the pride, but he had never won those games and he had not enjoyed losing and eventually as he reached adolescence he had stopped playing. He had stopped sharpening his claws and begun sharpening his tongue. At first bitterness had made him witty, but then he had learned to be witty and clever at will. He enjoyed being subtle enough to give insult to the burlier lions who weren't as clever as he was and didn't know how to pick up on his barbs.

It was, to him, the greatest joke of all that it was just this trait, his cleverness and lack of fighting skills had brought him the attention of the Warlord's dragon child. She wasn't interested in him romantically, but she did take obvious delight in the sly words he hid in his everyday speech. Lately she had spent more and more time with him, and he enjoyed that. There was a certain amount of prestige in being a favored companion of one of the Warlord's trueborn children.

It did mean that he had to spend a lot of time with her b*****d brother though, and he preferred not to do that. That Odd-boy made him uncomfortable. He was so spiritual, so unwilling to take offense, even when it was offered in no uncertain terms. He wasn't fit to call himself a Stormborn, and yet he did. It infuriated Solvtorn that he was more readily accepted by the pride.

And yet here Solv was, at the beach with Kazul without her b*****d brother and without that strange night-wandering freak she seemed so interested in. That green-eyed lion made Solv every bit as uncomfortable as Odd did, but for different reasons. He was insane, no matter how civilised he pretended to be around people. Solv had seen him one night torturing one of the older herdbeasts. It was too old and gamey to have been good for eating or of any value to the gods as a sacrifice, but the way Ru had killed it...

He was glad it was just him and Kazul that day.

Kazul

Kazul splashed in the salty water below the cliffs, enjoying the sensation of weightlessness. She had never said as much to anyone, not even Odd, but it was nice to spend time with someone whose thoughts weren't always on battle. When she was younger she had wanted desperately to be a warrior like her father, but as she grew up she had realized that wasn't the life she was fated to live. And she couldn't be a Priestess like her sister, who had the Sight. Much of the time she felt at loose ends.

Spending time with Odd had made it seem somewhat okay, since he wasn't a warrior either. And Ru was another lion whose company she enjoyed when she could share it, but Solv was different. He was a lion who had a place in the pride established solely on his wit and ability to turn a phrase. She was more likely to end up like him than either of her parents, and she couldn't help thinking of him as someone she could learn from.

He was also fun to be around, with his quick wit and sharp tongue. It was true Odd didn't like him and Ru wasn't fond of him, but Odd was a non-confrontational lion and Ru was a fighter who couldn't help misspeaking from time to time because of the way his brain worked. Their reasons for disliking Solv didn't apply to her.

"You should come in," she called to Solv from the surf. "The water's freezing, but great."

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Solvtorn

"'Freezing but great,'" Solv parroted back at Kazul. "Do you know how contradictory that sounds? Also, do you know how long it takes for a full mane to dry out? Not to mention the amount of grooming it takes to get salt out of it."

He was aware that it was not very masculine to worry about things like salty manes, and there was no lion in the pride who could honestly call him fastidious or finicky when it came to personal hygiene, but Solv disliked the stiff feeling of salt in his mane and was not about to put himself through that kind of discomfort for a chunky little lioness like Kazul.

"Why don't you come out and we'll see if we can't get you at least down to damp before you have to head home?" he suggested. "I'll tell you a story about when your father was new to the pride."

Solv wasn't quite old enough to remember the Warlord when he first came to the pride, as that had been several years ago, but he had heard more of them than Kazul had, and she was always hungry to learn about the past and about other prides and cultures, though seemingly so that she could reassure herself how much better Stormborn culture was. Solv was generally inclined to agree on the superiority count, even if he was on a lower rung of the social ladder than Kazul because he was a Freeborn male.

Kazul

Kazul pouted, though not very effectively. She didn't really have the right bone structure or facial expressions to pout, and the effect was diminished further by the fact that she had to constantly paddle with her forepaws and kick with her hindpaws to keep her head above water. She had enough fat on her flesh that she possessed some natural buoyancy, but nowhere near enough to allow her to float unaided.

"You're no fun," she grumbled. "And you worry entirely too much about how you look. Given you're a non-combatant in a pride of warriors, I don't think any lioness you win will have been won by your stunning good-looks and muscular physique."

It was harsh of her to put it that way and Kazul didn't doubt he would sulk, but every so often it was important to her to put the older lion in his place. They may have been friends, but that didn't mean he spared her any barb that came to mind if it was directed at her and he thought it was amusing. In reminding him that he was no warrior Kazul was able to get a little of her own back, which was very important to the prideful adolescent.

Still the lure of a story about her father's past was too much to resist and Kazul began to paddle toward shore. She was fearless in the water, and if she wasn't graceful she could at least be proud that she was less awkward than most lions when it came to swimming. Getting past the waves' breaking point was always the most difficult part, and she managed it well this time, which pleased her. It often seemed that the gods and spirits liked to embarrass her by causing her to make mistakes in front of an audience that she would never make alone.

"So, what story are you going to tell me?" she asked once she was on the sand. "It had better be something new."

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Solv

“Not that I would ever speak ill of our illustrious Warlord’s daughter,” Solv said, “but you could probably stand to worry a little more about how you look. There’s a difference between being well-fed and heavy you know.”

It was unnecessarily cruel of him to say that, but she had been harsh, too, and first. Even so, Solv knew that she would avoid his company because of it for a few days, but she would be back. No matter what cruel things he had to say to her, Kazul couldn’t resist his willingness to spread gossip and rumors any more than she could resist his cleverness. She was smart and surrounded by warriors with naught but muscles between their ears. Solv could understand how she could feel isolated and thus seek out the few lions who were like herself, himself included.

As she climbed out of the water Kazul’s thick fur succumbed inevitably to gravity, clinging to her figure in such a way that she looked considerably smaller. Perhaps what he had thought of as fat was actually fluffy fur. Her mother was a very fluffy lioness, too, but weird. The whole family was weird, really. It wasn’t natural for so many powerful lions to be related like that. Surely there was something against it in the pride laws, something forbidding the Warlord and the High Priestess to mate.

“You are certainly a demanding wench,” Solv observed. “I will tell you about your father’s first viking as captain. Would that please you?”

Kazul

Solv's words were like a slap to the face. Kazul had not expected him to retaliate as unkindly as all that, and it gave her pause. She stood still for several moments half in and half out of the water as the surf swirled around her legs and dragged at her tail. Neither her brother nor Ru had ever said anything half so painful to hear. One of her half-sisters had been enough of a b***h to point out that Kazul was heavy, but no one else afterward had said anything. No one else had to. She knew.

"I think I've heard that one before," she said shakily.

She hadn't, but she also didn't want to spend any more time with Solv while he was in this sort of mood. She didn't mind hearing the unkind things he had to say about others, but when he went right for her weak points, well, Kazul didn't have to put up with that. Unlike Solvtorn, she had other friends that she could spend time with, and if this was running away, well, Kazul supposed she could live with that.

She wasn't really running away, either, she decided. She was executing a strategic retreat. Falling back to plan her revenge. Or something. Very deliberately she shook the water from her fur as she walked past Solv, shaking her hind legs dismissively at him in much the same way she did after she'd buried a pile of offal.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Solv

Solv wasn't sure if he wanted to let her go just yet or if he would prefer to draw her back into conversation. It wasn't so much that he enjoyed her company as that he enjoyed being able to exercise his control over her by making her come and go at his will. And he could do it without actually asking her to do either, which he considered proof of his verbal manipulation skills.

"Kazul," he said, making his voice sweet and entreating. "Have I said something to offend you?"

He knew he had, of course, but he was curious whether she'd admit it, or whether she would try to pretend she had a thicker coat than she really did and act as though it was nothing. She was a lonely lioness, despite having a very loyal half-brother, and omnipresent freak, and Solv himself to keep her company. He didn't really know what more she wanted, but he could tell she wanted more, and as long as he could convince her that maybe she'd get it from him, he had her wrapped around the tip of his tail. And that was how he liked it.

Kazul

Tired of fighting and yet reluctant to back down, Kazul was torn. She'd made an excellent start of walking away, and she knew it. why else would he have tried to call her back, pretending he hadn't meant to hurt her feelings? She knew that she really ought to stick to her decision and leave him there, but what if she left him and then he wasn't there ever again when she returned?

She managed to keep walking as she considered the problem, but in the end the fear of losing him as a friend, even if he was a very prickly sort of friend to have, was too great and she turned around and made her way back to him, stopping several yards short to let him know she was still unhappy with him and would not be getting any closer.

Her pose was standoffish, as was her tone when she said, "You know better than I, surely, how you meant what you said. And you're not so stupid not to guess how I would take it."

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Solv

That had been unexpected. Kazul had a temper. Solv knew it, and so did everyone else who had been in the pride long enough to remember her as a cub. As a cub she'd been full of demands and more than willing to use physical force to get her way if something she wanted was denied. As she grew up her tongue grew sharper than her teeth and claws, but as an adolescent she had mostly learned to curb all of the above and keep her temper under control. It was almost out of character for her now to fight back when offered an opportunity to do so.

He was almost afraid that he'd misjudged the amount of control he could exercise over her when she continued to walk away from him without even responding at first. She turned, though, and then returned, and he knew he had her. It took a great deal of effort and self control not to smile when he came to that conclusion and watched her seat herself with stiff dignity. Whatever she said now was immaterial. They both knew he had won.

"I shouldn't have said it," he said. "You know it isn't how I see you at all. I just know it bothers you to hear it, and I thought..."

What did he think? He had to pause to come up with something appropriate to put in there which would placate Kazul without causing him to come across as weak. Fortunately Kazul seemed to have something to fill in his blank with.

Kazul

"You thought you'd say it to see how much you could get to me? Do you think I have to stay here and put up with this? You are but the least of my friends."

Kazul didn't know where the words came from. She had been so careful not to give offense since she started to put on weight. It was obvious she would never be a beauty like her sisters, or a warrior like her brothers, and that made her self-conscious, but for whatever reason Solv's needling that morning had reminded her that there were lions in the pride who didn't care about such things, among them her half-brother, her father, and Ru.

"I think you've said everything you could possibly have to say to me, Solvtorn, except for an apology. If you find me tomorrow or the day after I may be in a mood to hear from you, but today I am not interested in hearing your apologies, or anything else from you."

She turned again and left, this time without hesitation or any urge to look back. The remorse would come later.