After meeting that black lioness, Scatha was ready to get home and relax. She was not looking to run into anyone else, or stop for any other reason. When she saw the dark spot moving toward her, then, she almost panicked. How could that lioness have gotten around her so fast, to approach from the front now? They had only just left one another! It seemed absolutely impossible for Scatha and she wavered as she walked, slowing to stop and staring at the dark shape moving toward her.
It was a lioness, but she soon realized it was not the same one. A heavy breath of air escaped her lungs as she realized this, her legs wobbling a bit from the relief. She had not noticed how tense she had become in such a short moment, her muscles burning in her shoulders and legs. Her instinct had been to turn tail and run, but her fear had also kept her still as a statue. Now that she saw it was just another lioness with a dark pelt she was able to relax a bit.
But not all the way. What if the two were related? Or if this one was worse?
“Hello!” Sharti called, padding up to the red lioness and smiling brightly. That immediately relieved her fears, as the other lioness had not said hello and certainly did not know how to smile, so clearly this one was leaps and bounds better. Certainly not as scary, as she was smaller and she had a friendlier look to her despite her dark fur. Scatha managed a timid smile and nodded her head in greeting, willing herself to relax and to forget Ulozi for now. Maybe she could get something good out of this trip into the rogue lands. She had no stories to bring back to the King, after all, and that was always a shame.
She liked speaking with the King. He was arrogant and angry, but he was handsome…
“Hello there. Are you from around here?” Scatha smiled and blushed a bit, feeling silly for being so scared. The other lioness had not even hurt her! Just… stalked her… for apparently a long time… without her even noticing. But she had not done anything wrong, and Scatha was feeling very silly for getting so upset about it. But that happened to be her way. She often reacted with her emotions first, fully and without any time to pause and think about if the situation really called for how big a reaction she could sometimes make. Thinking about it now, she decided she had no reason to be so nervous, and that other lioness had just been a jerk, and not a real threat. Yeah, that made her feel a lot better. She certainly had no cause to take any of it out on this new face.
“If by ‘from around here’ you mean the woods way over there,” she pointed with her paw and Scatha followed the gesture. It was off in the direction Ulozi had walked, which made her balk a bit but she reminded herself once again that it was not worth dwelling on. She nodded her head and Sharti continued, “then yes, I am! But there’s no pride there if that’s what you mean. That’s just my little temporary home I guess, until I find some place better. What about you? Are you from around here?”
“I’m from that way,” she motioned with her paw in the direction she had been walking and Sharti looked over her shoulder to see, even though she had just walked from that way. She had only been out to a nearby field, though, to hunt some gazelle that had been roaming through. “There is a pride in the mountains and around it, and that is where I live. It is called the Tokakinji. Have you never heard of it, living so close?”
“No, I don’t think I have,” she said thoughtfully, thinking the way Scatha talked was funny. A little more refined than she was used to, which was the opposite of what Scatha was thinking about Sharti’s speech. Neither was put off by it, though, as they were both curious by nature. Scatha liked to learn and to adapt that knowledge into ways to prove herself. Sharti liked to learn and see if there was trouble to be had or an adventure to find. They might have been different in their motives, but it made them amiable to one another and did not allow much room for judgment.
It was far easier talking to this dark lioness, Scatha thought, than it had been Ulozi.
“You should visit us some time. We welcome strangers to our lands, if you do not break our rules. And you might like it there!”
Sharti laughed and nodded her head thoughtfully, though she was not really entertaining the idea of moving any place any time soon. She liked her patch of trees, and the rocky lands nearby. She did not know that it got even more rocky nearer to the mountain, and the Prison Ravine inside the pride. She might have wanted to explore it, but it was not a topic Scatha usually liked to bring up in casual conversation. Who wanted to talk about their pride’s criminals? Not a great selling point, usually.
“I think I’ll stick to my trees and my rocks. I’d better be heading back that way, anyway, because it’ll be dark and I don’t want to start tripping over bushes on my way to my den. So I’ll see you around some time? I mean, if you live nearby we could probably meet up again right? Unless you’re not allowed out any more or something.”
“No, no, I can come out as much as I’d like. And I’d love to see your home some time! Maybe I’ll see you again tomorrow and we can talk more? My name is Scatha, by the way.” She smiled, feeling very glad that she was actually able to introduce herself today. Her last meeting had not gone well enough for names to be exchanged, and she got the feeling she did not want the other lioness to know what it was. Just in case. Sharti, though, smiled brightly and nodded, finding it just as easy to talk to this lioness as Scatha did, and thinking they could probably be friends.
“My name is Sharti. I’ll meet you right here tomorrow!”
(Word Count: 1,078 in Word)
