It was just an average day for Seze. To keep herself from getting too bored, she had ventured out into the rogue lands, just to see how things were since she had found a home in the pride of her dreams. The last she remembered, the rogue lands were wild and full of dirty, uncivilized beings. She doubted much had changed in her time away, but she was willing to go on a trip of discovery. It would, perhaps, harden her love for the pride all over again, as if she needed that kind of thing. What a surprise for her, then that she came across a member of her pride, rather than meeting any of the uncivilized beings normally occupying the area outside of the pride.
Small world.
The female was sitting by a pool of water, staring at her reflection with a somewhat sad expression on her lovely, if not a bit large face. In fact, the whole of her was on the large size, though not in a fat way. She just seemed… like a very big lioness. Seze might have been more interested in it if she wasn’t so captivated by her fur. The pale blues and white- it was a stunning coat. The long mane flowing over her shoulders and in front of her eyes, while a bit messy, was lovely as well. A natural beauty, from what Seze could gather, even if she wouldn’t say the female was prettier than she was. That would be a lie.
There was no one prettier than her!
Still… this female came close. A perfect member for the Navi, though admittedly not someone Seze had seen before. She moved forward to greet the other. Of course, it was probably a little rude to disturb her from her thoughts, but she couldn’t help herself- it was so rare for her to meet someone so lovely, and know nothing about them!
“Good morning, sister,” she offered lightly, surprised when the large female sprang to her paws from such a simple greeting. The larger of the two spun around, startled golden eyes falling onto the wing-printed female. Thankfully, after a moment to let the situation sink in, the female seemed to relax. “I apologize,” Seze offered, “it was not my intention to frighten you, sister.”
“I… I’m not your sister,” replied the female. The tone might have come across as short with anyone else, but Seze was too much the mother type not to notice the hint of fright still in the other’s voice. She smiled softly, sitting down while remaining a good distance from her new company. “Are you not? I thought you might be one of the pride, because you have the same beautiful coat as we. But, if it’s all the same, I will still call you sister- we could all use sisters in our lives, couldn’t we?”
“S-so you’re not scared of me?” the female asked.
“Certainly not,” replied Seze easily enough. The female shifted awkwardly, sitting herself down after turning to face the Navi lady. She bowed her head, long strands of a light blue mane dangling in front of her eyes.
“It… it’s nice to meet you….” Clearly this female was not used to speaking to others. She seemed almost terrified. Seze made note of this, doing her best not to do anything that might send the poor dear into a frenzy. This lioness didn’t seem all that used to others. Maybe that was why she had been watching her reflection alone- she just didn’t know how to interact with others. That was fine. Seze dealt with cubs on a daily basis, and they lacked social graces as well. If she could deal with them, she could deal with this lioness, too. The tactics would be the same: soft voice, no sudden movements.
“You may call me sister Seze,” Seze told her, “and what is your name, my dear?”
“…. Nquma…”
“A lovely name,” encouraged the smaller lioness, “it suits you. Tell me, sister Nquma, why is it you’re out here, if you are so afraid of meeting others? Why do you not return to your home? To your family?”
“I… don’t have any family,” replied Nquma, “and I’m not scared! I was just thinking and you startled me.” The larger lioness seemed to wince at her own words, as though regretting the sharp point they had. After a moment, she tried to rephrase herself. “That is… I wouldn’t have been startled if I hadn’t been so lost in thought… it was my fault for jumping, not yours.”
Seze tilted her head. “You don’t need to take any blame- it was only a miscommunication. We were both a little thrown in that situation, but it’s nothing to be upset about, my dear.” She offered the other another smile. Nquma, albeit reluctantly, smiled back.
“You’re right… I’m sorry. I guess I’m used to Isidomu making more noise than he has been…”
“No trouble at all,” replied Seze, “but, if you don’t mind me asking, who is Isidomu?”
At that, the lioness seemed to grow quite disoriented. She gave a bit of a yelp, leaping to her paws as her eyes began to dance around the area. Clearly, whoever this Isidomu was should have been nearby, and its not being there was very displeasing to the large animal. Seze frowned, hoping that the lost creature was not a baby. How she would have hated it if this poor, nervous lioness had lost her child on top of everything else! “Are you alright?” Seze asked, “is there something I can do for you?”
“Isidomu isn’t here!” Nquma yelped, “my ibex! He’s small and very stupid- he’ll be killed if he’s on his own for too long! Please, please! Won’t you help me find him? I know… it must be strange… me having an ibex… but I killed his mother by mistake and I took him in and now he’s gone missing! Oh!”
“We’ll find him together,” the black lioness assured the much larger creature, “don’t worry. I wouldn’t leave you to look alone!”
“Thank you.”
(WC: 1017)
