Soteria huffed in annoyance as she stared at the ruin before her. At her paws were a few trinkets, a bracelet, bits of a necklace, and beside her hunched the remains of what had probably once been a much larger stone. But something had destroyed it, cracked it down to half her height and leaving smaller pieces littered behind it. It was frustrating to see, for she knew, oh she was certain that this was if not the site, something close to Atlantis. The pride her family had been searching for proof of for three generations now, though it seemed like the search would end with her. Her cousin had lost all interest in it after she had started her family and it frankly didn't look like she would be having cubs anytime soon.When she was younger, she had wanted to find the truth of the pride for the adventure of it. As she grew older, it because a fascination over what she could learn from the remains. What had they known? How had they branded the rock with the symbol she wore around her neck? It was all very curious.
But now... She wondered if that was even the reason anymore. Or if in the end she wanted to find it just so that her parents', her aunt and uncle's deaths hadn't been in vain, that her entire life hadn't been wasted.
Any other creature might have decided at this point that it had been a waste, to give up and start living a different life while there was still time to do so. But then, Tory was nothing if not stubborn.
She frowned over the broken symbols on the rock, wishing she could understand what they meant.
"Mama-shi used to say if you keep frowning like that, it'll stick." A male's voice drew her out of her concentration with a start; she jerked around to see a bird of prey had landed on a log not far from her. He seemed nonplussed that she was a lioness and could very well eat him if she wanted. "Not sure why she'd say that, don't think my beak could freeze up like that."
"But your eyes might," Tory replied, unable to stop herself from pointing out that fact. His head tilted slightly to one side and he blinked as if to consider that point.
"Now that does make more sense... Good thing I don't frown much. Why are you so mad at the rock?"
Tory sighed and shook her head. The bird was young, probably just reaching adulthood, he might not even be fully grown. He certainly asked enough questions to still be a youngling. So she indulged him a bit when she replied, "I'm not mad, I was thinking."
"About?"
"Nosy birds." Her retort was quick and he was just as quick to give her a look of profound disbelief. At least he wasn't dim. "I was wishing I could understand what these symbols meant."
Altair hopped over and peered at the symbols on the stone. Mama-shi had told him about this place, where she had been raised and all that, but she'd never gotten around to teaching him how to read. Not yet, anyway. She had been too busy training him to be a verbal messenger and looking for her cubs and now she was sort of busy comparing notes with her son. Not that he minded, he was happy Mama-shi had found Luthe, and even more so now because she told him that he was going to be Luthe's companion, just as Hermes was hers. Now that, that was a great honor in his mind. It meant that he would be the connection between Luthe and Mama-shi whenever they weren't together. He would really be a messenger then!And by the time he got back, maybe Mama-shi would have taught Luthe how to read the old text and then Luthe could teach him to read.
"I can't read it, either. I haven't learned to read yet." Tory couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. The falcon brushed his wing against the stone, flicking some dust away. "But I know someone who does."
Her heart skipped a beat.
"You do? Could you take me to them? Please?" Did she sound desperate? Maybe just a little bit, but gods! To find someone who could read this, who knew the symbols, that meant that they might know about the pride! She quickly took a piece of thin wood from a hide bag she had once bartered for from a leopard who knew how to make them. Upon the wood were numerous carved symbols, ones she had gathered over her travels. She was quick to etch the symbols on the stone into the wood. The lines weren't as neat as on the stone, but they looked close enough. The bird watched her, his head cocked to one side.
"I suppose I can. She'd like you, I think."
"Thank you, thank you so much." She was eager, of that much Altair was certain. Mama-shi would like her. Luthe might too... Or maybe he wouldn't there really wasn't any way to tell. Altair was still getting to know him after all. From what he knew so far, Luthe was far more formal than his mother. More cynical, too. Luthe knew so much about the world around them than anyone Altair had ever met, even Mama-shi and Hermes. He was curious to know how he would take to this curious lady.
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