Quinlan loved magic- it was far more mysterious than anything else in the whole of the universe. If only he had been born a God! He knew their powers had to be related to magic in some way- how else would they be able to do the things they could do? He had heard they could heal the sick, mend wounds and create objects from nothing. He had heard they could fly, cast spells and put curses on animals who deserved it. That they could create illusions and walk around like one of them, without anyone being aware of it. They could do so many strange things, of course it was because of magic. Well, so he had heard. Honestly, he had never met a God before. If he had, he wasn’t aware of it. Their magic had kept them from him.
One day, he would get to see magic for real. He just knew it was out there waiting for him, he just had to see it for himself.
Maybe he could meet a seer- they had some kind of magic in them, even if it wasn’t anything like a God’s. Seeing the future was mysterious as well. Though, much like a God’s power, he had never met anyone who could see into the future. He had never REALLY met a seer. It was alright. Not knowing if it was really real helped make magic that much more interesting. How boring it would be if things were concluded one way or another.
The fun was in not knowing the truth.
So he wasn’t upset when he failed to meet a seer. Instead, he had stumbled upon a white and gray spotted lion, who looked rather displeased as he sat in front of a small pool of collected rain water. Tilting his head, the magic-lover ventured forward, stepping beside the stranger and offering a smile.
“What’s the matter, big guy?” He asked lightly. Clearly, not lightly enough, as he managed to make the other lion jump, and nearly out of his mane too. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you- I just wanted to know how you were doing, since you looked a bit glum…”
“Oh… uh… sorry… I guess I’m a little jumpy…. I didn’t see you there…”
“It’s alright… are you okay, then?” Quinlan asked, still without his answer. The other lion nodded slowly, almost dumbly, before looking back at the small pool. Yeah, that was convincing.
“It’s okay,” the lion said faintly, “it’s just… the pride I was born in doesn’t exist anymore… I really don’t know what to do with myself now… and it kind of sucks.”
“Oh, I see. That sucks. I wasn’t born in a pride, so… I guess I don’t know how that must feel. But I do know that I’ve lived in these kingless lands my whole life, so I can tell you first-hand that they make a good home. Maybe not what you’re used to, but still! You can have a perfectly happy life here.”
“You think so?” sniffed the sad lion.
“Take it from Quinlan- this place is magical!”
The lion smiled, apparently taking kindly to this stranger’s attempt to cheer him up. It was nice that someone out there wanted to try and lend him a paw. The rogue lands had seemed so cold before. Now… it seemed like it did have friendly lions in it. Maybe others who would help him feel like he was at home again. There might not have been any water, but the company was more than enough.
“My name is Lorne… thank you for trying to cheer me up. You don’t even know me and you want to help me feel better… it’s really nice. I didn’t know there would be such kind lions out here.”
“Well this isn’t ‘out here’ to me- it’s my home. And you’re welcome in it,” laughed Quinlan, “Lorne, I think you’re looking at this the wrong way. Instead of thinking about what you lost, why don’t you consider what you may have gained by being out here? There’s so much around you, and you’re not seeing any of it!”
“You think so, huh? Well… will you show me around a little? If you don’t mind… I would like to change the way I see this place, and if anyone would be able to help me do it, I think it would be you.”
Quinlan was the one who lit up that time, happy that someone actually wanted to spend some time with him. Normally they thought he was a little weird. If he didn’t babble on too much about magic, maybe Lorne wouldn’t be one of those lions. They always thought he was too into something that didn’t make any sense. Well, how could it make sense if they didn’t want to listen to it? They were the confusing ones, not him.
He just needed to play their way- no rambling for him until he knew Lorne could handle his brand of ‘crazy’.
Lorne, meanwhile, was waiting on an answer.
“Oh!” Laughed Quinlan, “I forgot I didn’t answer out loud- I would be happy to show you around, Lorne my friend! I hope you don’t mind if I’m a little… flighty. I guess I’m not really used to being a tour guide.”
“If you can deal with my gloomy attitude, I can deal with you being flighty, promise.” Lorne was pleased. He had been so sad about losing his pride, and this was the first time he felt he could lift his spirits a bit. This lion was kind and happy, and as far as he could see not trying to pull the fur over his eyes. As long as he didn’t attempt to kill him at some point, they might even be friends.
The two moved off together, though Quinlan couldn’t keep his promise to himself- it wasn’t ten minutes before he was explaining to Lorne how much he loved magic and wanted to know if it was really real.
Lorne enjoyed hearing about it.
