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Training Anezka to be a lawspeaker was both more and less challenging that Tomi had anticipated. Had he been training a cub there would have been difficulties with comprehension some of the time and with attention. This was certainly not the case with Anezka. Her attention to detail was acute almost to the point of obsession, and she was old enough to understand more complicated subjects.

Her problem, mainly, was that she wanted so very badly to be good at this that she tended to over-compensate. He hoped she would eventually break that habit, or else she would become the most tiresome non-geriatric lawspeaker in the pride. He supposed there were worse things than tiresome lawspeakers, but since he had to deal with the other eight 'speakers more than anybody else, his personal preference was for colleagues who were not tiresome.

And speaking of tiresome...

Solv had been lying in wait for Tuomas for the better part of the morning. It was Wodensday, and it was no secret that on this day each week the lawspeaker went to the cliffs to stare out at the ocean, regardless of the weather. Sometimes Solv wondered if he kept this routine so that anyone in the pride who needed to find him knew of at least one time and place they would be guaranteed to do so, but mostly he preferred to believe there was something clandestine and sneaky going on and that someday he would ferret it out, to his own benefit.

"Lawspeaker," he called, stepping forward when he was certain Tuomas had seen him.

When he approached Tuomas his manner was polite almost to the point of being deferential. It irked him to adopt this mien to deal with someone younger than himself who wasn't even born in the pride, and had actually been a thrall for some time. And yet Tuomas outranked him and was considered worthy of respect and veneration.

Since Solv was about to ask him for a favor, it would behoove him to overlook this gross unfairness in the world and be polite.

"Yes, Freeborn?" Tomi said wearily.

He did not want to deal with Solvtorn today or any other day. He was a tiresome individual with ambitions beyond his abilities. In the Stormborn a lion could earn a higher rank if he merited it. Solvtorn desperately wanted a higher rank, and in some respects he was even worthy of the ranks he sought, but he wanted them for the wrong reasons. He was also deeply flawed personally. Everyone knew it, or at least sensed it.

"If you want something, say so. I am not in the mood for idle conversation today."

It didn't take long for Tuomas to tick Solv off. The purple-maned lion wondered if he shouldn't perhaps take this opportunity to bugger off and leave the moody lawspeaker to his brooding, but that would mean that he'd just have to seek out some other lawspeaker and ask him the same question he meant to ask Tuomas. Another lawspeaker would probably have less difficulty brushing him off, or so he hoped.

"Very well. I want to know why you have taken on Anezka as your apprentice." And not me. That part went unspoken, but it was impossible not to hear, just the same.

It was a sore spot for Solv, who had not even known that any of the lawspeakers were considering the possibility of taking on apprentices. Had he known, he certainly would have presented himself as a candidate. But he had not been informed, and he felt both slighted and cheated.

Tomi would have stared at Solv for the very boldness of his statement and the accusatory tone in which he made it, but that would have undermined his reputation as a lawspeaker and therefore a figure of authority to be respected. Instead he fixed him with one of his better piercing stares and waited silently for Solv to become conscious of the faux pas he had committed.

At length, when Solv began to fidget, Tomi decided that he had waited for long enough to put him in his place and remind him of their relative positions within the pride. Only then did he deign to respond to the freeborn's impudent inquiry, making certain Solv knew that he was answering because it suited him to do so. And he wasn't really answering the question anyway.

"I don't see how it is any of your business who I take as an apprentice, Solvtorn Rostovson," he said. "I also don't see why you would think I would answer that question."

Solv hated the lawspoeaker in those moments of silence. He hated him for playing this game Solv could not possibly win. Even if he did win, he wouldn't win because he would beat and thereby humiliate the lawspeaker. He might have enjoyed doing that, but he didn't. In truth, he couldn't. Not with the way Tuomas stared at him.

It was made no better when the silence was broken though. Then the lawspeaker gave him that withering look and put him most firmly in his place. The disdain in his voice made Solv feel like a foolish cub. Solv hated him for that, too. Nevertheless, he pressed his suit and made an honest and sincere effort to sound reasonable.

"If the lawspeakers are looking to take on apprentices, the entire pride should have been informed so that any interested parties could present themselves for consideration."

Dammit. Technically Solv was correct. However, Tomi had not violated any of the pride's rules. Technically.

"If the lawspeakers as a body were seeking apprentices or if one of our number was thinking to retire, it would have been made known to the appropriate parties. However, that is not the case in this instance."

He did not say anything more on the subject. It was none of Solv's business and Tomi had already told him more than he needed to know about the matter. If Solv wished to know more, he would have to ask, and if he asked Tomi would tell him that he was prying into affairs which were none of his concern.

"Good day."

Solv stiffened. So that was the way Tuomas was going to play it. Maddeningly, there was nothing Solv could say if the lawspeaker was going to claim that Anezka's apprenticeship was unofficial, simply a matter of a lioness wishing to further her education. Unless that wasn't the truth, in which case Solv could claim to have been denied an equal chance to prove his own merit.

He wanted to say something to that effect, to warn Solv that he was not going to be so easily dismissed and ignored, but the lawspeaker was already bidding him a brusque good day and moving past him to continue his trip to the cliffs. At least he was predictable, Solv thought as he trailed after Tuomas.

"Lawspeaker," he said, testing a theory. "Will you train me as you are training Anezka? Or else refer me to another lawspeaker who will do so."

Tomi's eyes narrowed in annoyance. The lion was following him. Tomi was much too young to think of Solvtorn in terms of impudence, but that was all right. He knew he wasn't dealing with an impudent child. Unfortunately. He was dealing with a rude and determined adult.

"No," he said bluntly. "I will not train you and I doubt any other lawspeaker would be willing to do so, either."

Before Solvtorn could press him or argue or try to cite some instance which he would try to use to force Tomi to train him, the lawspeaker continued speaking. It was cruel, what he was about to say, but Tomi was never in a good mood on Wodensday and so deemed it necessary to be hurtful. Perhaps it would rid him of this nuisance for good.

"We find you ill-suited to our work. You are petty, foolish, and you command no respect, regardless of your abilities. Furthermore, none of us can stand you." With that he shouldered past Solv and called back, "If you follow me, I will throw you over."

Solv had not expected the lawspeaker to give him a reason. That would have been unlike a lawspeaker. They were as bad as priestesses in some ways. Hoarding their knowledge and making it nearly impossible for one who is not actually trained in their ways ever to enter into their society.

It was not the fact that he received an answer that left him stunned though. It was the answer he received. Tuomas had spoken to him using the language of a lawspeaker, but the manner of a reaver, brusque and to the point. It left no doubt in Solv's mind where he stood. It also hurt significantly more than he had expected it to.

"Fine," he snarled toward the lawspeaker's retreating back. In a low growl he added, "You will regret this. I will make sure you regret this."