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Being on their own had been good for the two of them, Latitare mused as he flew ahead, scouting the territory before Yareha. They didn't spend every waking moment together anymore, and there were even stretches of time when the eagle would go off on his own for days. But he always returned and the lion never complained. Their companionship was such that they were partners - equals, and neither depending heavily on the other. They worked together as friends, but that didn't mean they were attached at the joint.

Latitare had returned, having once again failed to find any bird willing to partner Kilua. It was discouraging, but he preferred to think of it as avoiding a potential mistake.

Movement below jolted the eagle out of his reverie, and he circled a bit lower.

It was, he determined after losing a bit more altitude, a lioness. Her brown fur made it more difficult for him to distinguish her from her surroundings, but the little he could see seemed...familiar. It wasn't until he dropped lower still that recognition set in fully.

Latitare immediately wheeled and began flapping madly to regain the height he'd lost and get back to his partner. Yareha had to know!

There were days when he didn't mind being beholden to no one and having nothing in mind to do, but on other days the white lion simply found his status as a Rogue boring. He had nowhere in particular to go, nothing to do unless if he felt like it, and frankly, hunting didn't usually take that much of his day. He was, after all, a skilled Hunter and he didn't have to feed anyone but himself and occasionally his eagle.

So when Latitare came streaking in and insisting that he go in a certain direction, Yareha was more than ready to go with. He wasn't sure what had gotten the bird so excited, but it was definitely worth a change to the endless monotony his life had become.

It wasn't until he got within sight of the lioness that he realized why the eagle had been so excited. He recognized her too. That snooty Princess that had laughed at him, less than a moon before his eviction. What was her name? He couldn't remember.

What in the world was she doing all the way out here? They were far from the Mwezi'Johari and frankly, he couldn't imagine what would drive a Princess to leave. Especially on her own.

But he did remember their last encounter. Maybe the Great Lion had arranged it so that he could reverse their roles at last.

"Hello," he called out once he was fairly close.

Yareha hadn't stopped moving while the lioness stared at him. Instead, the lion continued walking forward at a normal rate until he stood within comfortable conversation range. Gone was the cocky confidence she'd displayed the last time they'd met, he noted. There was more maturity there, but also some uncertainty in her stance.

Well, that wasn't entirely unexpected, not given the wholly unlikely event of them meeting here today.

"It's a change of pace, seeing a familiar face all the way out here," he replied casually, choosing to overlook the long pause between his call and her response. Yareha wanted, desperately, to know what brought a Princess out from the pride, and he wasn't going to let her out of his sight until he found out!

Latitare's view was a bit different. He'd been shadowing his friend from above, as was his usual choice whenever Yareha was speaking with another feline. However, the eagle knew exactly who Princess Andama was. And if anyone had asked him, he'd have said that she was the least likely member of the royal family to leave the pride. Which made it all the more concerning to find her so far from home now.

He also remembered the last time Yareha and Andama had spoken. It may not have been bloody, but it had only been barely civil. The bird was slightly worried about what could happen this time, without the restrictions a pride imposed on the two.

Swooping down, Latitare settled himself on Yareha's back and gracefully bowed to the lioness from his perch.

"It is good to see you well, Princess Andama." He could feel the frown in Yareha's muscles, but ignored it for the time being.

Yareha had nearly twisted around to whack the stupid eagle when the lioness - Andama - spoke again. To...Latitare. Hmmm. Well, he still wasn't thrilled about the damned bird interfering, but he'd forgotten that his partner had known the royal family in a different capacity, independent of Yareha, long before they both left. And if the pretty little princess was more willing to respond to the bird, well, Yareha supposed he couldn't argue with results.

Besides, hadn't he already had a lesson about letting his temper rule him? It was situations like this where having a partner truly came in handy, if he didn't lose his cool.

"Nice of you to introduce us," he retorted instead, angling his head so that Latitare could hear him more easily and pretending that they were playing by some pretty high rules of polite society. Because damnit, he wouldn't be ignored!

The eagle breathed a small prayer of thanks to the Goddess of Birds that Yareha had not acted on his anger, this time. There had been some rocky moments on their journeys, and Latitare had known he was taking a risk, being quite familiar with the white lion's temper. But so far everything was working out. Yareha wasn't acting excessively rashly, and Andama looked like she might be willing to cooperate.

"Of course, please forgive my oversight," he replied. They really hadn't ever met, not formally. Just that...near-incident back in the Mwezi. Well, maybe the Princess would be willing to play along...though Latitare doubted it. He could always hope, though.

"Yareha, this is Princess Andama, daughter of King Thoth and Queen Khathelela. Princess, this is former Hunter Yareha Afaer." He didn't bother describing his partner's lineage. He was sure both lions already knew as much as they needed to in that respect.

Blue eyes blinked in surprise at Andama's words. He supposed it was a logical fact, but the haughty young lioness he remembered from the Mwezi'Johari hadn't seemed like the kind of person who would give up a rank so easily. It made him worry about what had driven her out there...but he couldn't simply ask the question. Not when it had already taken some fancy verbal footwork just for her to talk to him directly.

The lion rolled his shoulders in a shrug. "It isn't that different a life, being a rogue instead of a hunter." The words "as compared to a princess?" went unspoken though Yareha was afraid his subtext wasn't particularly quiet.

"Still, you seem to be doing just as well on your own," he observed, trying to be polite and not alienate Andama. At least, not yet. She seemed to be making a similar effort.

"As you wish...Andama," the bird replied, nodding his head again in what could be considered an abbreviated bow. He was concerned to hear this news from Andama, and feared for what might have happened back in the pride.

But...the eagle would rather let Yareha handle the burden of conversation. He'd save his contributions for when things looked...difficult.

Latitare raised a feathered eyebrow as Andama gave permission for Yareha to give voice to the most pressing question of all. He wondered what she was thinking...and and what had driven her to allow it. The eagle was certain it could be nothing good.

Well, that was obvious. If she couldn't manage, former princess or no, Andama wouldn't still be alive to tell the tale. Not that Yareha would say that out loud. It was obviously something of a sore point for the lioness, and he didn't want to exacerbate things.

Which was why his jaw dropped in surprise when she told him to ask. Actually told him. The white lion closed his mouth firmly and took a deep breath to calm himself. Just because he was suspicious didn't mean that anything major had happened. This could be the result of a silly little disagreement for all he knew, and even though Andama acted like it was more, it could simply be that she was embarrassed. So he shouldn't get his hopes up.

"What happened?" It might not be the exact question she'd expected, but it was the most essential in many ways. Obviously something had driven her out here, and he knew that the lioness hadn't had an argument with the status quo the way he had. So that meant there was some outside force, some event that had taken place in the time since he had departed.

And now Andama had offered to tell him.

At first, Yareha was confused. A new King wasn't a huge deal, though Thoth and Khathelela hadn't been that old and in fairly good health. He didn't remember the name Shangyue, but he'd seen Selene pregnant, so that was logical enough. He'd opened his mouth to ask what had happened to Selene and Fuu, next in the line of succession, when Andama started speaking again.

As she spoke, the white lion felt all the blood drain from his face. For all the quarrel he'd had with the Mwezi'Johari's class system, he'd never wanted to kill anybody over it - the attack on Mazin not withstanding. That had been, in his mind, purely a rivalry over a lioness. He'd never wanted to see the royal family slain. He'd always thought that there would be some way that everything could work out...

The lion also realized what was bothering him about how Andama spoke. It was the same flat tone he'd heard from those who had been through hell, and Yareha found himself pitying the former princess for the first time.

"I...I'm sorry," he whispered into the silence after her words. He didn't know what else he could say, and he probably would never know if his own actions had influenced Shangyue to this.

Latitare listened in silence as Andama gave the grisly highlights of what had happened. He wondered if he should ask after his own children who were, to the best of his knowledge, still living in that selfsame area. Still, this was grave news, and the eagle wondered if, should he search, he would find others who were abandoning the pride.

It seemed that the ice was slowly thawing, at least where he was concerned. And while it was a relief to hear that no one else had been killed, to the best of Andama's knowledge, that didn't mean there wouldn't still be trouble. He was upset to hear of Aysu's unstable position, though glad to hear that she wasn't backing a murderer. Yareha hadn't even known that she'd had a second litter, but that must've been what had happened, as he knew full well that her first was high class.

Of course, he had to fear for his many cousins. Andama might not realize how many relatives Yareha had in the pride, but as many as a third of the Mwezi'Johari were kin to him. And yet...how could he waste time on cousins when his children were there?

"What about my children?" the white lion asked, trying to focus on what was most important to him.

Hmmm...Latitare doubted the trouble in Yareha's family ended with Aysu and only two of her children. After all, Aysu's eldest was in a position of no little power, and likely would have been directly involved with the coup, either in supporting or attempting to stop it. Or had something happened to Lailah K'chol beforehand? The eagle wondered if he should ask, but he didn't want to interrupt.

Being a father himself, he could well understand Yareha's need to know about his children. Latitare resolved to speak to other avians as soon as possible about getting news of his own grown chicks.