[FIN] Dark Clouds (Chiba & Lailah K'chol)

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Lailah K'chol was avoiding Stellaluna. Well, truth be told, she was avoiding lessons with the Shaman, which was much the same thing. Yes she knew it was important, but some days, like today, she just couldn't focus. It was dark outside, with clouds covering the sun, though no sign of rain in sight. The young lioness loved weather like this, though she couldn't have said why.

Some said that this sort of day was depressing, lacking only rain to make it completely miserable. Lailah would have liked rain though, there was something utterly freeing about water pouring down out of the sky without a care in the world.  

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Lailah was startled out of her reverie by a flash of yellow in front of her and she looked up to see a familiar looking young lioness. Chiba, her cousin. One of Uncle Yareha's daughters. They'd played together as cubs and a little bit after. But nowadays it didn't seem like Mom wanted them to spend as much time near their cousins. Or was it near their uncle? Aysu could be maddeningly silent on issues sometimes, even though her adolescent children were surely old enough to know.

"Good afternoon Chiba," the older lioness called out.  

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"Just taking a breather," the white lioness replied with a smile. "What about you? You seem to be having a lot of fun out here."

She'd always liked spending time with her cousins, even if sometimes they drove her crazy in the age-old way that young creatures did to older creatures. It was something normal. In a way that her family...wasn't always.  

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Running? An interesting choice of pasttimes. She wondered if that was a hobby of Chiba's or perhaps some sort of training. It didn't matter too much yet, Lailah supposed, as her cousin was still just a juvenile.

"It's not the smallest pride in the world, but you do seem to always run into someone," the white lioness mused. "Are you a fast runner then?" she asked. She could see the benefits to speed, or conversely, the ability to hold a pace for long periods of time. Both were quite useful to both Guards and Hunters.  

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Lailah smiled at the younger lioness. It was amazing how Chiba's exuberance made her feel so much older. Her cousin had so much energy!

"That's good to hear," she replied. "Speed is very useful for both Hunters and Guards, from what I've heard. Do you think you'll be one of those when you're older?" She realized she didn't actually know what class Chiba and her siblings were in. Then the white lioness remembered that because they hadn't been born into the pride, they would be undergoing the same ritual as all former rogues...but not until they were adolescents. So...soon.

Which then made her question somewhat relevant because no one knew what the younger lioness' choices were yet.  

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"Yes I'm the Apprentice Shaman right now," the older lioness answered. "I've never been hunting, so I couldn't say if it's fun or not. But speed isn't something that's come up in my lessons." The religious leader of the pride generally didn't seem to need to be the fastest or strongest. She didn't even need to be physically fit from what Lailah could tell.

But she supposed that in an emergency the Shaman could need speed to get to someone fast. She just couldn't imagine what sort of situation would require it.  

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...now THERE was a question. Did she like the job she'd been selected for when she was born? It wasn't actually something Lailah had thought about before. All she knew is that the old Shaman and her apprentice had died a long time ago. Then Stellaluna had become the new Shaman, but no one had come forward to be an Apprentice. So it was declared that the next girl to be born in the High Class would be that Apprentice. Enter Lailah, eldest of her siblings, firstborn after that declaration.

Needless to say, she hadn't really been given a choice, but this Apprenticeship had been a fact her entire life.

"I guess so," she asnwered at last. "I'm fairly good at remembering what I need to, and none of the other ranks have really appealed to me."  

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Well, nothing like a fun game in the present to take one's mind off brooding on the past and future! Lailah smiled at her cousin.

"Sure! First one to the water hole is jackal-food!" she told the yellow lioness. "Go!" The white adolescent took off running as she spoke the last word, looking over her shoulder to see if the younger lion was coming.