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Halili was wandering to and fro today, sometimes carrying messages, sometimes just walking. She was only a juvenile after all, and did not have as many chores to complete as adults of the low class.

It didn't surprise her in the least to see a cub wandering around, at least, not in this part of the pride. The older lioness wasn't certain who exactly the younger girl was, but she figured she'd find out soon enough!

"Well hello there!" she called out cheerfully.

Halili smiled back at the cub. "I'm Halili and I'm everywhere often," she answered. It was true. She spent a lot of time running messages all throughout the pride. It was a great way to learn her way around - not only the locations but the people likely to be in them.

"I haven't seen you before either. What's your name?" she countered.

Hamaniya, hm? She seemed like a nice enough cub. Even though Halili's own father was known to avoid discussing people, she'd heard the name Yareha Afaer before. Usually with a negative association. She didn't understand all that was involved, but the juvenile had the idea that she probably shouldn't mention Hamaniya's father to Uchanjaa.

"My daddy is Uchanjaa," Halili replied. "And my mother Kibetinyota." She smiled at the cub's question.

"Because I am of the low class, I run messages all over the pride to help people out. So I might be sent by a Priestess to the eastern border, then from the eastern border to the northern, and so on," she explained.

"I enjoy helping out the pride however I can," Halili replied with a smile. Her expression widened into a grin as she continued. "But I do like running messages in particular because I get to run everywhere in the pride."

The juvenile thought for a moment, then made a show of looking around before she leant in confidentially. "It's harder than you'd think, being a runner. You have to run fast, to get the message there quickly, but not so fast that you arrive out of breath. You have to compose yourself so that you can recite the message clearly and smoothly. You cannot forget a single word either. Not everyone can do it."

Not everyone would do it either, but Hamaniya didn't need to know that.

Idly, Halili wondered what class Hamniya was born into. No, wait, that didn't seem right. She thought she recalled something about the cub and her siblings coming into the pride from somewhere else. In which case, it was entirely possible that every cub in the litter was in a dfifferent rank. The whole idea was so foreign to Halili, but it rang true in her memory. Still, weird. And she was pretty sure that neither Hamaniya nor any of her siblings were low class. The juvenile was certain that she'd have met them before now if so.

"It can be a lot of fun," she agreed. "But you're right, it takes a lot out of you." She smiled at the cub. "No one will make you do a job that you're not suited to, you know. That's not how the pride works."

"I think you're the only one who can say for certain," Halili replied, still unsure what class the cub had. "I volunteered for this, but I would have had to do something anyway, being a low class lioness."

Hamaniya had been here for a while by now. The juvenile hoped the cub understood enough about the Mwezi'Johari. She didn't have anything against her rank, but she certainly didn't want to have to explain it to someone!

Halili blinked and winced mentally. The cub would be high class. Well, she was still a nice kid regardless. It wasn't her fault that she'd been placed so well.

"That's true enough," she replied. "With a rank that high, you'll be able to do almost anything you want." The juvenile could see how some of her fellows in rank found higher ranked lions to be...annoying, to say the least. But that was why she had volunteered to run messages - it was a job she enjoyed. As long as a slave enjoyed their work and found contentment in it, she had no reason to complain about her superiors.