Rinh'Kofi
Rinh’Kofi was a wanderer who often got a little too close to the borders of strange prides. Sometimes, it worked well enough and she even managed to make a few friends and a few invitations to join their prides. And occasionally, she would be chased out like a flea-bitten wild dog before she could utter more than a couple of words. Prides were strange, the eternal rogue believed. Their beliefs and customs differed as greatly as did their… preferences. Some wished only for certain colors, others liked having specific companions, a few were fond of taking slaves – oh and there were so many kinds of slavery as far as Rinh could tell!
While Rinh was considering all the prides she’d seen, she was actually moving closer to a certain purple lioness’ pride without realizing. Bagha’Kali had a considerably noticeable coat but she managed to be the first to spot the other lioness. According to the pride’s customs, visitors were welcomed as long as they kept the pride’s location a secret so she walked over to the brown lioness with no hint of wariness or defensiveness in her posture.
“Hello! Passing through?” she asked in a friendly tone, wondering if perhaps the stranger was interested in joining the pride.
“Oh hey!” Rinh returned the friendly greeting after briefly admiring the other lioness’ colorful coat. Scent markings and other signs had long warned her about the proximity to an unknown pride so Rinh had expected to be approached at some point. So far, so good. This colorful lioness looked friendly enough.
“Are you part of the pride that lives here?” she was curious as usual and a little careless as well, as if were to think about it. But Rinh refused to live a half-life that she couldn’t enjoy so risks came with the territory... no pun intended. “Are you here to chase me out?” She grinned, clearly amused but in a friendly way. It was even funnier when one stopped to consider how nice the other lioness had been so far.
“Ah yes. My pride is close.” Kali answered with ease, running the pride’s rues in her mind. “Oh no, not chase you out. Our customs wouldn’t allow it.” She paused as she considered the best way to summarize the Kizingo’zaa approach to rogues.
“We are a friendly pride, you could say. We welcome strangers to stay or just visit for as long as they don’t reveal information about us to other pride or passing rogues.” She paused, trying to read Rinh’s expression. “I must warn you though that any sort of killing, hunting included, is strictly forbidden inside the pride’s borders.” Best to point out the most important rule before anything else – even if the brown lioness didn’t look like the type to stay.
Ah, pride’s and their customs. What did these lions do, Rinh wondered, that would force them to be so secretive? And honestly, how troublesome it was for the hunters to go all the way to the borders to hunt. Not practical at all! She kept those thoughts to herself, however, and in a way she had to admit being somewhat intrigued by the idea of a pride where violence was abhorred… well, inside the pride’s borders.
“So anyone can visit? And then leave?” she asked to be sure, wondering if she could get a free meal out of this funny little pride. It was a risk she probably wouldn’t take though, entering an unknown pride like an idiot was the best way to lose one’s freedom – and sometimes, one’s life.
“Of course anyone can leave. We don’t take slaves here!” Kali replied with a small amount of indignation, still smiling. As if her mother would’ve brought her for a pride that allowed for such barbaric customs. Well, unless someone was an obvious risk to the pride's security. In that case, she supposed some might be "encouraged" to stay in the pride.
“We just like to keep to ourselves so we avoid unnecessary publicity.” She wondered how much she could explain. In all honesty, she’d never met a rogue at the borders before so simply knowing exactly how much information she was allowed to give the brown lioness was a rather complicated task in itself.
“Just checking, just checking.,. Many prides do.” Rinh chuckled openly, obviously amused. She liked this lioness. She wasn’t sure she could trust her yet but she could tell they could be friends if their circumstances had been different.
She wondered if she could snag a free meal out of out of the friendly purple lioness but even Rinh had some amount of caution in her. Entering an unknown pride’s borders bordered on reckless no matter how friendly their inhabitants might seem. She studied the purple lioness in silences, losing herself in the pitch dark eyes of the other lioness. How unusual…
No, Kali didn’t know. It was such a foreign concept to her that she had trouble comprehending it. Sure, her former pride had a strict class system and the ones below tended to serve those above. But there was no abuse, as far as she knew and anyone was free to leave if they so desired. The choice was there – that was the important part - but few ever did decide to abandon the beautiful lands.
“Many prides are filled with idiots.” She said at last, also doing a silent study of her own. She found the other’s markings to rather interesting even if she would’ve preferred the colors to be brighter.
Rinh laughed in a good-natured way, clearly at ease.
“Tell me about yours then. I’m Rinh, by the way. Rinh’Kofi.” She looked deep into the purple lioness’ dark eyes, looking for any signs of deception. She didn’t find any.
“I’m K-… Well, here they call me Swiftkill. I’m a huntress mostly but a pretty good fighter as well. Not that I have any real fighting experience… just practice and stuff.” Without any lingering threats to the prides, there were few who dared to approach such a numerous group of lions with unsavory intentions. “Can’t tell you much about it but… ah well, why don’t you just come with me? We can go see if what the hunters caught in the morning. Just for a bit, you know, no strings attached. I can introduce you my family. My little siblings are adorable.”
A huntress and a fighter? Well, she was big… bigger than most females Rinh had ever seen in the rogue lands. She had to admit she was curious and the prospect of a free meal was tempting.
But everything seemed too secretive, too risky. More than one name, hoe weird was that? And she would’ve left – with a friendly goodbye, of course – if the other hadn’t mention her family. Cubs? Wow, she would introduce a complete stranger to the pride’s cubs, her own family? Her doubts melted away with her caution and Rinh took one step forward and smiled widely.
“Alright, lead the way then, Swiftkill.” She couldn’t say the name without chuckling.
Kali could tell the other lioness was struggling to make a decision so she was happy when Rinh finally agreed to visit the pride. And even if her gypsy name was apparently funny to say, it still felt odd to hear it, Kali decided.
“Follow me then.” She joined in on the chuckling, looking just as amused.
- FIN -
