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Yareha was wandering a bit beyond the border, ostensibly hunting, though his body language was far too relaxed and lazy for that task at the moment. A fact that Latitare was also quite aware of. The damned bird had been squawking at him for the last pawspan of time and the lion was this close to hunting him.

"You know, you really should be hunting while you're out here! The pride doesn't feed itself you know!" Latitare told Yareha. Really, he didn't understand why the lion was so difficult to deal with. It was no wonder that the King and Queen had assigned the eagle to him, if he was so impossible. Not to mention the seditious thoughts and the fact that he always seemed to be in the middle of some drama...it was just a mess all around.

"Go circle or something," the lion muttered as he pawed the grasses around him. Nothing interesting, nothing at all. And that probably meant nothing worth hunting either. So what was the stupid bird fussing about? He wished Latitare would just go home to his chicks already. The bird was a devoted father, and Yareha enjoyed the freedom from his spy that the avian's family time gifted him.

As long as Latitare was around, Yareha made sure to stay near the pride's lands and not do anything noteworthy. The last thing he needed was to be trapped with his kids. Not that he didn't love the little rascals, but they were getting older, less dependent on him, and didn't need him around nearly as much as they had. Not to mention he couldn't even consider bringing a lioness back to the den while they lived with him...

The lion shook his head to clear his thoughts. Not what he should be focusing on right now.

"I will, when the thermals are stronger," Latitare retorted. It was, until the day grew a bit warmer, just as much work to flap along down here as it was to fly up there. So he might as well be near enough the lion to (theoretically) have some bearing on any situation Yareha might encounter. He missed his chicks terribly already, though they'd not been gone that long yet, but duty called.

Yareha had decided to give up on getting the bird to shut up when he saw it. Movement! The white lion's entire body language changed in that moment, going from bored and lazy to a trained hunter. Whatever it was he'd seen, it was big and it was dark. Luckily, the rising sun was banishing the shadows from the world, allowing the white lion to get a better look.

Latitare's beak snapped shut with an audible clack as he saw his charge's stance change. Aha, so Yareha had found something to hunt! The avian stretched his wings and climbed for a bit more height, to better see what was going on.

White was, under these conditions, a slightly better disguise for moving through the grasses than black. The lion slunk slowly and skillfully, coming ever closer to the creature until he could finally see...

"Why, it's a lion!" the eagle exclaimed from his position in the sky. He could see the stranger clearly, black with red markings on his back. Nothing like anyone in the Mwezi'Johari.

"I don't think he's from around here," Latitare added, calling down to Yareha.

One day...one day he swore he would kill that damned bird. What in the world made the silly feathered thing think that just because the movement he'd spotted belonged to a lion, that this stranger was friendly? Oh well, there was no helping it now. Yareha straightened out with a sigh and sat back on his haunches, facing the black lion.

"Hello there," he offered with a sigh.

Oh great. Now he had a bad-tempered stranger to deal with, along with his own frustration. Some day this was turning out to be. Still, he should be polite, not take out his anger with Latitare on this lion.

He just hoped that no one got hurt before this was over.

"You're approaching Mwezi'Johari lands," Yareha pointed out. If his voice wasn't entirely relaxed, well, only someone who knew him well would hear the tension there. He tried to keep his tone neutral, simply informing the stranger so that he could know to continue on in another direction.

Latitare had fluttered upwards a bit more at the unexpected growl from the stranger. He didn't want to be low enough that a leaping lion could grab ahold of him. The eagle hadn't expected the stranger to be similar to Yareha in his current mood.

He decided discretion was the better part of valor, and that the white lion would be the better creature to deal with the stranger.

Yareha nodded a confirmation as the stranger repeated his words. The other lion seemed...surprised? He wasn't sure why that should be, as this was a good place to live, with plentiful game and water. Why wouldn't a pride be here.

Ah, well, there was a valid question. Which way was the pride. The white lion hazarded a guess that this rogue wanted to know in order to avoid the place. He seemed edgy and disinclined to let his guard down.

"Over there," Yareha answered, jerking his head over his shoulder, indicating the direction he'd come from. He supposed he should continue to be polite though.

"If you need a drink, or a place to stay the night, we do welcome rogues for that long. Any time beyond that though, well, it's okay if you're interested in joining," Ieiunium hadn't really been interested, but she'd been here for three or four days...the first time. The lion winced away from the memory of how that whole sequence of events had ended.

The stranger didn't look as if he was going to lunge for Yareha's throat anymore and that was good. Latitare continued circling around, keeping an eye on the proceedings just in case. It would be distinctly odd if he had to go summon help to keep the white lion alive this time, instead of to keep him from killing like last time.

Yareha nodded acceptance of the strangers' decision. He wasn't entirely surprised, nothing about the rogue's body language had indicated an interest in the pride, in socializing, in relaxing. And there was something rough about him, that still had the white lion wary.

"You're welcome," he replied automatically. He thought about adding something else, such as a wish for fair skies or easy trails, but in the end kept his mouth shut.

Now if only he could learn how to do that when it actually counted.

So...the rogue wouldn't be staying. Good. The eagle decided it was now safe to descend. A flip of his feathers, and the bird dove down in a steep stoop, pulling up at the last possible minute to land on a rock not to far from Yareha, much to the lion's displeasure.

Not that Latitare was going to change his perch just because Yareha didn't like it. His orders said to stay near, so near he'd stay!