"Why is there a lioness on my doorstep, Altair?" Tory suppressed a sigh as she causally listened to the lion within the cave growling softly at the bird. Apparently Altair had forgotten to mention the fact that his friend didn't like surprise guests. And surprise was definitely the term for it. They had come a long way to get here, she hadn't even thought that lions lived up in mountains like this. Granted, it wasn't too high up, not high enough for there to be the cold white substance she had heard stories of, but it was rather chill and there had been times where they were climbing along places so narrow she almost felt her heart stop beating. Of course, it was just another adventure, if she could just keep that in mind."Because it'd be rude to bring her inside until you said she could come in," Altair replied, shrugging in such an honest way that Luthe couldn't tell if he said that because he was s cheeky little b*****d or if he truly meant it. He had to close his eyes to stop himself from further studying the frustratingly innocent expression on the bird's face, for if he did, well, he'd probably want to pummel him. If just a little bit.
A soft, feminine snort drew his attention, one ear flicking towards the entrance to his home.
"It's rude to eavesdrop."
"It's hard not to when you've left me out here," the female replied and he had to force himself not to grumble over it. She had a point and that made it all the more annoying. He'd have to take Altair all the way into the back of his den and then he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on her as well. There was just no winning between the two of them. He schooled his features so that very little, if any of his frustration showed and left Altair's side. He did, however, make sure the bird got a nice good glare from him. Mzaa had certainly left an adult of hatchling mentality with him. He couldn't help but wonder if Hermes had been just as exasperated with Altair as he was.
Tory watched as the lion approached her and took a slow even breath as she mentally appreciated his form. This male had certainly been sculpted by the gods, there was no doubt about that. He was so tall, taller than any lion she'd ever met, and unlike others she had met he was not bulky. It was almost as if he'd been caught somewhere between a lion and a cheetah, though it was obvious that there was still a great power in his form. He probably had to live all the way up here because females threw themselves at him. And he seemed rather sure of himself, even arrogant. Ugh, she hated males like that. He had better not expect her to just lie down for him. All she wanted was information on Atlantis and then he could go about doing whatever it was he did.
He stopped before her and it bugged her just a little bit that she had to look up to meet his gaze. There was something in his eyes, in his face. Almost as if she was looking at someone much older than he appeared. Honestly, she couldn't help but think she was older than he was. But his bearing... She tried to ignore it and focus on the matter at hand."Since Altair isn't going to give me a straight answer, perhaps you could tell me why you're here," he said, the timbre of his voice soft and deep, almost like the rumble of thunder so far in the distance you could barely hear it.
"I met him in a ruined prideland. He said he knew someone who could read these markings," she replied and drew a few pieces of wood from her bag, each one thin and small enough to carry, each one marked with symbols she had found in her travels. One of his eyebrows rose when he saw the etchings, causing hope to rise in her. "They're from a pride called Atlantis, I'm sure of it."
"It's not Atlantis." His immediate reply washed over her like cold water. For a moment, her mind couldn't even comprehend the words.
"What? No, there's no way it isn't. I've never seen any writing pattern look like this. It's far too complicated to be any other pride!"
"Atlantis is just a story told to cubs for entertainment. It doesn't exist, it never did."
Luthe actually felt a weight of guilt settle over him as he watched the hope die in her eyes. What he said was true and yet it wasn't. He knew the term, Mzaa had explained the sort of nickname for her birth-pride when she had told him about her own cubhood. Technically, there had never been a pride called Atlantis, not to his mother's knowledge and the only other creature who might know better would be the gods of prides or history. The pride she had grown up in had been called the Neled Orod, not Atlantis, though there had been times where others had used the fanciful name in reference to the pride. It was a sort of shield. If no one knew the true name and location of the pride, than no one could seek it out and cause trouble, in theory.
Of course, that never stopped angered gods.
But that was beside the point. The Neled was gone, destroyed when he was young and her members scattered like seeds on the wind. Once, after his mother had left this most recent time, he had tried to See what had become of her pride. He'd gotten small snatches, very brief and jumbled ones that he was almost unable to figure them out, but he had managed. Some of the members, it looked like they had found one another and were now living in a land he could barely make out. The pride had been shattered. There was no way he was going to let it be set upon by strangers while it was still trying to rebuild.
When her head dipped, Luthe opened his mouth to apologize for having to break the news to her. The words, however, died in his throat when her head jerked up again, a fire blazing in her eyes. Good gods, he didn't think he'd ever seen a female look at him in such a way, not even Katerina! This one... her features were mostly composed but for the frown on her maw, but her eyes... Without thinking, he actually took a reflexive step back.
"It. Is not. A story," she said, stressing her words carefully. "If it's just a story, where did these symbols come from, this one," she paused in her words to gesture at the pendant she wore that he hadn't noticed before. "These bracelets. No normal pride could have made these."
Luthe studied the broken stone around her neck, his eyes narrowing slightly over the symbol. He recognized it, it was in fact one of the first things his nyanya had taught him, a symbol for what he was. He could make out the sun and the lightning that pierced it. Of course, it was an old symbol, not easily recognized or even used anymore, but still he gestured to where he had drawn it on his own walls, his history.
"It's old, but it's not Atlantis." The symbol itself was actually even older than the Neled, from what he recalled from his nyanya's teachings. "The sun represents the gods, the lightning is a connection between earth and sky. That symbol means demigod, or mortals with a mortal parent and a god parent."
The female frowned over his explanation, staring at where the symbol was on his den's wall. The markings there were done in dye, not carved, and did not look weathered with age. His head tilted slightly when she shook her head.
"Why should I believe you? You could be making this up." All he could do was shrug. "Besides, gods don't exist."
Now that he was intrigued by. She believe in Atlantis and yet not the gods? Had she not heard the story that Atlantis was in fact the home of the gods and not a pride at all? Apparently if she had, she wrote that off as just a story.
"Believe what you will. That writing is not from Atlantis, it's from a small, isolated pride that was called the Orod. You probably found the writing in different places, yes? They had to move several times in the beginning before becoming stable, a place where they lived until the pride dispersed. I can teach you how to read it, or you can leave, I don't really care." And yet he was bothered by the fact that a part of him maybe just did care if she stayed or left. Altair hopped over and stood next to him, his eyes narrowed slightly in his own version of a frown. He huffed a bit at the bird and Altair fluttered off, now doubt to hunt some poor, unsuspecting preybeast.
The female sighed, an annoyed sound that made him smile just a little bit.
"Fine, I'll stay so that you can teach me. I'm Tory, by the way."
"Luthe. Here, let me look at those carvings again and I'll see what the rest of it means. Then I can show you some others." He drew her into the cave then and got to work.
(WC: 1,854)
