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 Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:16 pm
It was early in the evening and after a rather quiet shift on patrol, Laelia was headed back into the pridelands, humming to herself. So much had been going on lately and she'd stayed out of it after a loud but thankfully private argument with her mother that had her promising to stay out of trouble. She was angry on behalf of the slaves, on behalf of her mother's class. But she was censored by her parents' worries and it seemed to be the main measure of control over her temper.
She was thankful everything was back to normal now, though. Tension lingered in the low class but it was so much better around the pride. And for that, she was grateful.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:24 pm
 Yareha was in a gloomy mood, wandering around the pride with his head hung low as he tried to sort things out. Aysu was mad at him, Iei had left, and he'd had a very public scolding from Thoth and Lela. Not to mention the extra work. The time to pace around the pridelands came out of what he had to sleep, but that was fine, the white lion was having trouble sleeping these days. All in all, it didn't make him that likely to switch his position back to supporting the King and Queen. After all, he'd just been outspoken on his belief that Mazin would have made an excellent King. Nobles who relied on their bloodlines and the nights on which they happened to be born bugged him. A lot. The white lion's muscles tensed with anger and he wasn't watching where he was going. Unfortunately, he was headed straight for Laelia.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:30 pm
It was lucky for Yareha that even in the dimming evening light, he stood out against the grass. Laelia came to a stop and stepped aside just in time, watching a very grumpy white lion brush past her- and she frowned. He really ought to watch where he was going, but he looked so upset.
And then, very suddenly, she recognized him. He'd been told off for being rude and disrespectful to Fuu and Selene, that made him interesting to say the least.
"It's you!" she said while he was still within earshot, shamelessly staring at him. She continued in a rather cheerful but matter-of-fact tone, "You should watch where you're going, you know."
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:35 pm
"Hunh?" It registered that someone was talking, but it took a moment for Yareha to realize that he was being addressed and what it was that they were saying. Then when he considered what had been said, he repeated himself. "Huh?"
He blinked and peered at the lioness who'd stopped him - who, he now realized, he'd almost run into. She was familiar looking, but all that meant was that she wasn't a rogue and if she'd been born one it was some time ago.
"Sorry," he apologized for his mistake and the almost-collision. "How is it me?" He really had no idea what she was talking about or thinking. There were a lot of reasons she could have said it was him, but many of them weren't at all good...
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:41 pm
"You were scolded by the king and queen," she said when he turned around and asked what she was talking about, still sounding more interested than judgmental, "Bit risky being disrespectful to the Lord and Lady who will be king and queen nowadays, don't you think?"
Laelia almost laughed. She knew the dangerous conversation she was starting where he might be sensitive and volatile on the topic, though she was blissfully ignorant to how volatile she could be if he said something she took a little too seriously.
How likely was that, anyway?
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:47 pm
"Oh...that." He didn't exactly want to be reminded of his public disgrace. He supposed it made him as big a subject for gossips as anyone else who had been a key figure in the past couple months.
He shook himself uncomfortably. "I just don't like that they had to bring in some foreign prince because they felt that Mazin wasn't an appropriate choice for King at this time." So his disrepect wasn't really against Fuu, though nothing could convince him to like the guy, but against the fact that he was here.
A large percentage of the pride knew and liked Mazin. The white lion believed that they would have followed and respected him if he'd been given a chance by the high ranking lions.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:52 pm
Laelia kept on smiling as he explained why he acted the way he did. She knew there was support for Mazin, and for all the slaves, within the pride.. but she'd been enlightened to the other side as best as anyone could make a middle class lioness understand it. Still, she didn't hate hearing it.
"I had heard that was your motivation," she said, "It's interesting you haven't let being punished silence you."
Admirable, even.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:57 pm
Yareha looked up at Laelia's tone. She sounded...intrigued by him and his beliefs. As if she shared his beliefs. Well, he'd known there were others, that he was simply the most vocal. He just hadn't really had anyone admit it to him for whatever reason.
"Well, I haven't seen Fuu do anything Mazin couldn't," he pointed out stubbornly. On the contrary, he hadn't seen the purple lion do anything wrong...he was just...a foreigner. A stranger. Not someone with a history and a lineage in the pride.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:01 pm
"He got the higher classes to stop complaining," Laelia pointed out, choosing her words very carefully. She could have said she got the higher classes to stop worrying, which certainly applied to some of the lower classes, too. But the high class lions had the loudest voices when they complained, at least to the monarchy. That was why their worries were heard over the support of the lower classes.
So Laelia figured anyway.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:08 pm
The white lion snorted. "Of course he did. Couldn't have even MORE of the royal family mixed up with slaves, right?" he asked sarcastically. After all, the family was related to a lot of slaves, and not just because Unyezi had forsaken his former rank to choose a mate among the lowest rank.
He really didn't understand what the higher ranks had against the lower ones. He didn't see why it was that the Great Lion cared for some more than others. Weren't they all living under His Eye anyway?
These were the thoughts Yareha did not speak aloud, for they could, if given enough strength, undermine the pride itself. And he was not yet ready for that kind of rebellion, that asked if the moon phase one was born under really made that much of a difference to the Great Lion.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:17 pm
This time, Laelia did snicker. Everybody was mixed up with slaves, whether or not they wanted to be- after all, slavery had nothing to do with blood or even deeds here, it was about when you were born, who needed special protection from the pride. Unyezi, Ulivuma, Imarika, Andama, Amalthea.. all royal family slaves. And those were just the current ones.
"I'm Laelia," she introduced herself finally, stepping closer, head held high and beaming at him, "It's a pleasure to meet you."
She looked at him expectantly. She knew his name but that wasn't how polite conversation went.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:51 pm
He had to smile as she snickered at his sarcasm. Perhaps she wasn't as bad as he'd feared. And she was the first person he'd seen in a long time who seemed to openly share his opinions.
"Yareha Afaer," he replied politely. "I'm guessing you're another rebel, eh?" he asked with a mischevious grin.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:02 pm
"Not so troublesome as you, Yareha Afaer," she said brightly, "But I suppose you could say that."
Laelia was happy not causing any trouble, but she was hardly able to accept the recent trouble regarding slaves. Slaves were meant to be protected and maybe that was a problem, but if marriage could draw the Great Lion's eye to a male, then why not let them be? The Great Lion had never cared about familiarity before, rogues could be high class. But that was not the angle the pride took, they worried about respect. In which case, Yareha was a big problem. But Laelia was OK with that.
She opened her mouth to go on but decidedly said nothing else.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:06 pm
The white lion snorted again. "To hear His Majesty say it, no one could possibly be as troublesome as me," he told Laelia. Actually, it might even be true. No one else seemed to have as big a mouth as he did or spoke as loudly. Or maybe it was that he had a hard time keeping his big mouth shut on subjects like that, and everyone else just had more sense about it.
Well, this was awkward now. They agreed on the current situation it seemed, but what now?
"I, uh, haven't heard much from Mazin lately," Yareha went on, somewhat nervously. "Though I'm guessing he's trying to lie low until everything's blown over."
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:13 pm
His remark, specifically referring to the king, was a little more awkward than the rest of the conversation had been- but that was in part because her grandfather wasn't such an easy topic lately. She rather liked that Yareha didn't know her relation to the royal family, though it was the fact her mother was adopted that made that possible, really.
"No, I think most of the slaves are trying to do that as much as possible right now," she said, "Though he certainly has the best reason."
Poor guy.
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