[FIN] Best Of (Aysu & Tseva Reygehl)

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In some ways, the biggest adjustment Tseva Reygehl had had to make since joining Avahk in the Mwezi'Johari was the change from diurnal to nocturnal. It was a strange choice the pride had made, at first glance, but the more she saw, the more sense it made. They did worship the moon, which was best visible at night. And it wasn't as if the pride was defenseless during the day, there were still Guards out. But daily life had been shifted until after dark.

It wasn't a bad change, it had simply been a change she hadn't counted on when she'd left the Jini-msemi. After all, she was quite certain that they'd been as active during the day the last time she'd been here. Avahk had confirmed it, saying that it was a change brought about by King Shangyue.

Well, it wasn't for Tseva to say if this was good or bad. She hadn't been here too long, but she'd easily been able to pick up that Shangyue's reign was new and not entirely welcome in some parts. The black lioness was determined to not let politics make her rue her decision. The mountain never could be home, and she was going to make the Mwezi the home it should have been!  

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"Oh!" Tseva was surprised that she'd almost been run over by the older lioness. She squinted - her night sight was still nowhere near as good as any of the lions who'd been born in the Mwezi - trying to make out details in the moonlight. She thought that the dark female had some similar markings to Avahk, but she couldn't be certain.

Even if that was so, she also had no way of knowing how closely or not the lioness might be related to her mate. He'd once told her, jokingly, that he was related to half the pride. It hadn't been much of an exaggeration. Even now she had trouble remembering who was who and how they were related.

"Good evening," she offered cheerfully, smiling at the other lioness. "Are you all right?"  

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"No..." the younger lioness answered. Curses, she'd wanted to avoid politics, and now she'd run right into a lioness who clearly wasn't a supporter of Shangyue's, and unafraid to make that known. But Tseva's attitude changed as soon as the other female reintroduced herself.

"Oh! I do remember you now! Avahk always speaks highly of you," she went on, fondly remembering conversations with her mate. "He always tells me that if I need to find out anything, I should go to you first."

Some lions, Avahk said, called Aysu the biggest gossip in the pride. But the grey lion said that was just because they were mean, or because Aysu knew something about those lions that they'd rather she didn't. Avahk had told Tseva that really, Aysu just liked to help people by knowing everything. It had apparently been rather useful to him as a youth.  

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"I don't know that the Jini-msemi is that different from the Mwezi'Johari," Tseva replied. "I mean, here's a King, there's a Queen, people have to hunt, people have to protect the borders...it's just the customs and beliefs that are different."

And if the black lioness only glanced over the differences...well...maybe Aysu wouldn't pick on that. Tseva knew she'd never share this pride's belief and worship of the moon as the eye of some Great Lion, but she certainly wasn't going to tell them that. And yes, the classes were a little weird at first, but she supposed the only ones you really had to watch out for were the royals and the slaves. In fact, the lioness refused to consider most of the lions in the pride to be any different from her, no matter what their class said.

There were no rules, from what she'd seen and heard, saying that you couldn't be nice and polite to anyone and everyone.  

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"How could I be anything other than happy, living here with Avahk?" the black female countered. Truly, she knew she was happy. And that she could be happy anywhere, so long as she had her mate. The spirits had blessed her, and she wasn't about to forget it.

"I'm afraid I didn't have anything in mind, really," Tseva admitted with an embarrassed grin. "What about you? I hope I'm not interrupting anything..." The older lioness had been moving fairly quickly, and so had probably had a destination in mind. Which was a bit of a shame, Aysu really did seem as nice as Avahk had said.  

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Tseva's face fell slightly as Aysu explained her purpose. Oh sure, she could find people...even ones related to the older lioness!...but that didn't mean she could find two of Aysu's children. It was the same way that she'd been able to recognize the older female as being one of Avahk's relatives and yet totally unable to remember which family member it was.

"I...see. I wish I could help, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to tell you if I'd seen them." She considered the problem a bit more. "You just have too many family members!" the younger lioness added. It was, after all, the truth.

She carefully didn't mention anything about how flat Aysu's voice had gone when stating her intent. Whatever had gotten those two on their mother's bad side...Tseva wanted none of it.  

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She groaned aloud, though a smile was still hovering around her lips. "That is not what I wanted to hear, you know!" she mock-pouted to Aysu. The truth was, however, that it did make her a bit nervous to hear the older lioness, who had been born and raised in the pride, say that even she couldn't keep track of how everyone was related.

At least it was reasonably easy to say, most of the time, when someone was or wasn't related.

Tseva shook her head. "I know that in the Jini-msemi there's some families that almost everyone is related to...it seems like there has to be at least one of those in every pride under the sun!" Which did make it damned inconvenient to find a mate...unless if they did what Avahk had and find someone from another pride entirely!  

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Tseva shook her head in bewilderment. "I don't even know how you can begin to keep track...or, having begun, why you would allow yourself to lose track. Frankly, I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the size of your family," she complained.

It was one thing to know that there were a lot of them. It was another thing when she began adding up a litter here, another there, and looking at just how big the Mwezi'Johari was.

It made her head hurt.