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 Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:32 pm
As leader of the losing team - though he didn't consider it losing since their last stand had been of epic proportions - Azar had taken a bit of time to assess the capabilities of those who had served with him. Particularly, of course, with those who had been sent ahead to cause distractions or take out some of the enemy before they could reach the stronghold. After all, he had not been there to see what had played out and wasn't able to determine their strengths and weaknesses without the opinion of others. The results of this questioning had been somewhat mixed, Naseera having avoided capture only to be tripped up later and some of his team getting tagged out before even having a decent chance to gain the upper-hand. Perhaps he shouldn't have been shocked over this, but with the element of surprise as his team's advantage, it seemed odd that they hadn't been able to at least take one down before the horde descended.
And then there was Adiel.
Azar could be somewhat dismissive of outsiders and downright rude at even the best of times. A strange thing, perhaps, since he had rogue blood in his veins from his mother's side. Hee clearly believed that having been born on the sands made some sort of difference - made him better than those who might seek to join at a later stage in their life. In any case, he had actually been rather positive about the Hongshan since their coming. The first group - led to the borders by Nawvlee - had seemed frightened and weak at first, true, but they seemed to have quickly adapted to life amongst the dunes. They seemed strong of heart and just as able as any sand-born Firekin. So, when he'd discovered that he had a large number of those Hongshan on his team he had felt quite confident that they would be strong allies. They had experienced true battle and that was a knowledge that the younger generation of Firekin - himself included - could not say.
But Adiel...
He played over Teketeza's words again and again in his mind. The grey lion had been right about a lot of things. Games could not compare to real war when they fought for their lives and those of others. When there was the possibility that they would not be coming home. But without turning claw and fang to one another and declaring duels to the death there wasn't much that could be done about that. Azar'bijan hungered glory just as most other males would, but games were the only way they could make preparations at this time. And then there was the other thing the grey male had said; 'they are broken and useless'. He growled a little at the memory, concerned that maybe Teketeza had been right. For some of them, at least. What if their war had broken them? What if they froze up on the battlefield and put Firekin at risk by breaking lines or not acting when necessary? Well, if something was broken Azar was going to damned well fix it, especially those under his watch. They might not form a squad when real war came to them but as their 'game' leader, he felt it his responsibility to try and beat out the cracks and prepare them for when that time came.
And that's why he was looking for Adiel. For, if word was to be believed, she had been affected badly by the whole scenario and that just would not do.
His steady tread took him across the compact sand across to where the Hongshan gathered in their 'quarter' of the Firekin pridelands. He hadn't really been here since the newcomers had moved in and the smell of strange lions had the fur on his shoulders prickling. Whilst he was familiar with Nawvlee's group he was not so familiar with those who had arrived during the attack on the borders. The memory of that filled him with rage; anger directed at himself for being elsewhere.
Exhaling sharply, he lifted his ears and glanced around. "Adiel?" His voice came out as a bark. "Is Adiel here?"
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 4:09 pm
Adiel was just returning to the Red Quarter herself. She had spent the afternoon in a daze, much as she had spent ever since the games had completed. She knew she messed up. She didn't need to have that explained to her. But she couldn't stop the feeling. That fear had burrowed itself so close to her heart now that it seemed like it would never leave. She missed her home, the place that had once given her direction. She missed her teacher.
She missed being useful.
Of all places to go that day, Adiel had spent a better part of it consulting Elcca. Like many of the Hongshan she wasn't particularly trusting of the strange female... but she was also one of the very few lions in the motoujamii that professed to have similar foresight as she once did. In the Hongshan, lions with prophetic abilities had counseled and mediated the pride. They were a source of balance. Direction.
Elcca was all fire. Full of theories of how to restore her abilities, but none of them practical or tolerable.
So she returned home empty handed. But not to an empty home. She recognized the large lion approaching immediately, and she shrunk into the tattered grey pelt she wore. Azar. And he was calling for her. She doubted that he was here to celebrate.
"Yes...sir?" she said quietly, inching up but coming only so close.
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 10:09 am
Well that was good timing.
His head turned around to look at her, the ragged pelt on her shoulders making her recognisable even at some distance. Thankfully, she had already started closing the gap between them and he turned and shifted his bulk slowly to face her.
"Don't look so frightened." He snapped gruffly. "I'm not the one you should be afraid of." He certainly wasn't about to try and tear out her throat like the Nergui would - or supposedly would, anyway. Even still, he puffed up his chest and growled as he approached, balancing his weight evenly on his paws as he looked down at her.
"I don't think I need to explain to you why I'm here." It wasn't a question and his red eyes looked straight at her. "We need to talk about what happened during the war games, Adiel. I know you can fight, so why didn't you? Do you want to be killed? Taken prisoner? Do you want lions like Teketeza to proclaim how useless and weak you are?" The words came out with a demanding tone and his tail flicked from side to side as he did so. To be fair, Azar'bijan probably meant this to come out more kindly than it did. He just...wasn't very good at coming across that way.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 8:51 am
Adiel winced as he snapped. Of course she had suspect why he had come, but... maybe a small part of her had been hoping it would be something unrelated. The last thing she needed was a firekin breathing down her neck about the shame she'd caused them. She was worried enough about what her own people thought of her. Sure, they were sympathetic. But she hadn't seen Sijari or Roho cowering. They had stayed strong.
"I..." she started, wondering just how far she could push beneath that old pelt before she ceased to exist. "It was just that I..."
What had happened? She remembered following orders and following the group. Tarsa had been abrupt with her, but that hadn't been why she had gotten scared. It was just the waiting. She remembered the quiet waiting while the Nergui searched every crevasse for them. She remembered Eviel and... "It just didn't feel right. What happened wasn't a game and... I still remember how it..."
Azar wasn't likely to appreciate her stammering. She swallowed. "Maybe I am weak. I didn't used to be. But maybe they took that too."
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 2:59 pm
Azar's mind was focused on one thing: work. If he wasn't talking about work or prancing on about how good he was at his job he was generally eating or sleeping. His workaholic tendencies had increased the last few months, too, first due to separating from his mate (though he'd adamantly deny this, of course) and secondly, because of the Nergui threat. All he did lately was patrol and train and grumble about how his son had abandoned the Firekin to go investigating rogue lands. He'd told Heti what he had thought about that, of course, by the young lion had gone anyway.
Maybe he wouldn't even come back. Just turn tail and run.
Anyway, enough about that. This wasn't about him or Heti. This was about Adiel.
"What happened has happened, there's nothing you can do about that." He replied with a hint of impatience. "Your old home is gone but you are not. Does that not tell you something? What is the point of surviving if you're just going to cower and hide when the monsters come to take another home from you?" Not that that would happen of course. The Firekin were indestructible. Basically immortal. He growled, long and low in his throat. Perhaps he thought that being stern with her might encourage out any fighting spirit she may have once had. "If the Nergui took your strength, you may as well be dead. I won't stand for that. You might not be a guard, but you were under my watch during that game. I don't have weak people in my team."
He snorted sharply. "So, what are we going to do about that?"
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