The sun was beating down. Kimiko looked up at it for a moment, squinting her gold eyes. After a moment, she frowned, before lowering her head and continuing on her way. The savannah wasn't kind to a lone lioness with a limp, something she'd become painfully aware of. She was starting to show bones, something she hadn't done before in any point in her life. From being treated like a princess, to being put in her place, to being a slave, to the broken lioness in a distant jungle... Now she felt like she was reaching her lowest point in life, and wasn't liking it.
Navale was on a quest. She missed her brothers and sister, and wanted to find... Any one of them. The blue and white lioness raced a bit across the grasses, almost like a snow-surrounded blob of a water pool. She only paused when she spied another lioness, hobbling along rather slowly. She slowed to a stop, watching for a minute, before deciding to follow. Curiosity nagged at her mind, making her wonder who this lioness was, where she was going, and why. She also had to wonder... Where was she coming from? Navale fell in step behind the other lioness, keeping a distance away and her paw falls silent as possible.
Kimiko was mildly aware somebody was following her. Probably another rogue lion, seeking to heckle her again. She'd learned to tune them out, stop reacting in fear, even give them a bored look as they tried to harass her. They'd fast learned to leave her alone, finding her lack of reaction unnerving. She only paused once she reached the shade of an acacia tree, collapsing beneath it to rest. Her cubs were long grown up and gone away. It made her sad. She let out a wistful sigh, before one ear flicked back. "I know you're there..." She shifted, crossing one paw over the other.
The white and blue lioness let out a surprised sound, before sheepishly stepping out of the grasses into view of the tree. "I guess I wasn't quiet enough..." As Navale walked over, she took everything about the lioness in. Her body was riddled with scars, signs of a long life, of a rough life, and one she was wary of. Most were very old scars, but a few were new - Signs of someone stealing her food. Her ribs showing was also a sign of lean times for the lioness. She could only imagine the life this lioness had led.
"Indeed..." The older lioness let out a long sigh, looking away into the distance. She thought of the oasis, and then the desert, and then... Everything else. "You move like you're young, but you don't sound it..." Gold eyes for a moment looked to the other lioness, before back into the distance. "Maybe wise beyond your years, as the saying goes..." She then gave a half shrug, watching a cloud drift by. She had no desire to fully contemplate anything at the moment. She was too tired for it right now, desiring only rest. A puff of air escaped her maw, eyes closing in wandering thought.
She sat down next to the other lioness. "Oh, I'm not THAT young, no..." She was no young adult, but in her prime, at least. "I'm just really good at watching others, I suppose..." She looked away for a moment, then back to the other. "Say, stranger... Where are you headed? You look like you could use some company." And maybe someone to help her get food to eat. An ailing lion would do no good in hunting, let alone living. At any rate, Navale herself was feeling lonely. She wanted company herself, in this big wide world of Africa.
Kimiko smiled. "I'm heading nowhere in particular, myself..." She let out a sigh. "I suppose company WOULD be good... And please don't call me stranger..." She cocked her head a bit, looking back at the other lioness. "Call me Kimiko." Once upon a time, a princess... Once upon a time, a slave. "What about you? Heading anywhere in particular yourself?" Other than to follow Kimi now... For a moment, she felt like a leader. Was this how some of her sisters felt? Both litter and half... For half a moment, she wondered if she had a brother out there somewhere, but highly doubted it. Nyekundu'd never brought any male cubs back to the oasis.
She gave a passive wave of her paw. "Oh, I'm also heading nowhere in particular myself. Just looking for my brothers and sister." She let out a light sigh. "When we were adolescents, we sort of all scattered to the four winds. Which is funny, since there's four of us." She shook her head. "Thus is the life of a rogue, though. We're not bound or anything..." She just wished she could find a life more... Solid. "And I'm Navale, by the way." She'd almost forgotten to give her name... "I think my mother may be off in a pride by the sea..." Or was that her mother's cousin? It was someone related.
Kimiko nodded slowly. "I see..." She rose to her paws, ready to move again. "I came from an oasis in a desert... My father wasn't the grandest of lions, and wished to be a king... I have many sisters and half-sisters across the region, and though times are changing... If you go to some prides and mention his name, you'll get a nasty look." She started walking again, her limp both better and worse at the same time from the rest. "I think I may go knock on one of those prides' doors... Seek refuge for the end of my life..." She'd found few places she felt safe. One of the places she'd been, she'd felt a strange sense of security, despite the problems she'd caused. She wanted to see if they could forgive and forget.
Navale listened to the other lioness' words, considering them. What kind of lion would hold such ill-will? She let out a puff of breath, then hurried after. Like a snow-surrounded pond, she slipped back into the grasses, this time close at paw to the other lioness. Where their steps took them, she had no idea yet, but she'd make sure this lioness was taken care of before she continued her hunt for her brothers and sister. They could wait a little longer.
