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Impoqo was huge for a female. Where Surtak may have been small for an Umholi, Impoqo may as well have been a male with her bulk.

She was stocky, and the other females said she could crack skulls with a single swipe of her paw. But, beyond prey beasts, Impoqo hadn't ever made any move to hurt anyone. She hadn't taken to cubs, either, though. It was generally assumed that Impoqo was just weird. Not dangerous, just quiet - save for when she laughed. She followed orders well, she was a good hunter, and for now that was good enough.

It was why they'd sent the striped lioness Nahmba with her, however. Some weren't even sure Impoqo could remember what she was supposed to do long enough to make it back. Nahmba, however, seemed to soak up information like a sponge. While she wasn't a fighter and she rather lacked logic, she still retained information strikingly well.

Between Impoqo's brute strength and Nahmba's chattery nature, no one had thought it was an issue to send just Kamal with the two females. One large male lion, one huge female, and a smaller one ought to have been enough to deter any rogues in the area while the group traveled to the Firekin outpost.

It was supposed to be an easy trip. A few days there, a few days back, and hopefully with nothing new to report.

In the mean time, Nahmba was going to make Kamal regret his very life with all the questions she could possibly ask.

"Do you like working with my son? He has made such a handsome Umholi!"

He itched.

Jasiri's itch wasn't a physical crawling of his skin, but a deep, dark urge to exert power. He'd been wandering with a group of females - following them from afar, really - but they hadn't wanted much to do with him. Jasiri snorted softly to himself, blue eyes slowly following the trio. He'd taken great care in staying downwind from them. There would come a time to fatally strike out at the male - and after exerting his dominance over the females (be it by way of charming smiles or heavy paw), he'd herd them back to the group he followed, and keep them there by whatever means necessary.

Jasiri was cunning, big and broad. He was also of a slightly impetuous nature: so while his plan sounded good in theory, only time would tell if it would all play out as he desired.

For now, he would wait, and he would watch, a keen eye on the smaller of the two lionesses.

It was the kind of accusation that would have made Kamal furious if he could figure out what it was she was talking about. Unfortunately, Kamal's mind was often three steps behind the rest of him, and he simply nodded his head in a manner that seemed like he was paying attention to Nahmba's chattering. Approve of his love of what? He did love a lot of things, he supposed.

"If they are fighting, then we'll leave them to it," he snorted, his brows knitting together. "After all, they spend all their time strutting around think they are so tough. Heh. Would serve them right."

He didn't like that one, that black fellow. Hraga? Smug b*****d. Kamal knew patronizing when he heard it. Hakan and him used to beat up smug young punks like that! He was half surprised the firekin weren't giving them reasons to show them the door...so to speak.

It took a few more steps for him to even notice that there was a rogue lion wandering about in the distance. Kamal turned his nose up. "Perhaps their monsters are spying on them already."

((Sorry about the pause!))

"Would we really?" Nahmba answered Kamal with a wide-eyed fear. Though, when she gave it great thought, that was probably for the best. The Firekin we a large force dedicated to fighting; they would probably confuse the militia.

Impoqo was the first to come to a halt, eyes and ears pointed towards the rogue that Kamal mention. There was a low, "Hm," grunt from the base of her throat and her head bobbed at the disturbance.

Nahmba's eyes quickly followed the other two's. Suddenly full of excitement, she danced from foot to foot. "Do you really think so? He is a rather handsome monster." Nahmba's voice was low and a small churr vibrated in her throat. A monster which was headed their way.

Nahmba nearly lost herself with excitement. But even she knew when it was necessary to keep her mouth closed, and this was one of those times.

"We can't answer that question," she told him promptly. "You can't be trusted." He was a rogue after all; not that this had stopped her in the past.

"Come now, pretty thing, I can be trusted." It was a silly thing for a stranger to say, but then again he wasn't quite sure what sort of group he was dealing with.

His blue eyes darted rom the big, big female to the happy-footed pale lioness he favored before he slowly turned to face the other male. A spy? Well, slightly, yes. He knew of their pride, had been watching it closely. All those females, all that power. It was tempting, quite tempting, and Jasiri narrowed his eyes at Kamal.

"I am no spy," he growled gruffly, eyes darting towards the pale female once more, "just a lonesome rogue."

He briefly weighed his options. The size of the large female worried him - but if he could get the upper hand on the male, well. The females would be a non-issue.

Jasiri shifted closer to Kamal, a sneer rippling across his muzzle. The predatory look on his face might lead one to believe he was mentally preparing an attack: weak points, proper placement of tooth and claw.

Kamal watched the other male circle, the inner cogs in his mind churning at the speed an ant moves through honey. He snorted, relying on the jeering of the two females at his side to realize the fool actually ment to challenge him. At least a fight was something he could understand.

"He's hardly fit for a challenge," the lion scoffed. He'd only just barely considered him fit to be a spy! "You should not encourage him."

But the smug way in which he said it suggested it was more of a taunt than actually allowing the rogue a way out. He was approaching the stranger in typical Kamal fashion: not much strategy or planning, relying simply on his generally repellent attitude to do most of the talking for him. It wouldn't be fair to luck to call it dumb luck that had gotten him the position in the pride in the first place.

It was a bit more of...a casualty of the system. Not giving much thought to the movement, Kamal swung his paw downwards, intent on catching the male across the face. But it was done with such an assurance that made it seem less likely that he actually expected it to hit, and more drive the invader backwards.