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"You know, Bren was the first person to see Captain Ruzanski when he returned," Lyti remarked with a studied casualness. It wouldn't do to seem like she was bragging, after all. Even though she totally was.

She and Naaja were lounging in the weak Stormborn sunlight, soaking in its rays like they could actually feel them. Which they couldn't. It was the wrong season for things like feeling the sun. It had to be high summer for that, and even then it was mostly an illusory sensation. So really the lionesses were just showing off to any passersby how young and attractive and unattainable they were.

Naaja didn't even turn to look at her friend to respond. She was, after all, participating in the fiction that she could feel the sun, and as such she had her face turned upward, directly toward the sun, and her eyes closed as if its rays were too bright to withstand. Which they weren't.

"Is that so? I thought it was Voldemaras. He was the one who told my father, you know." Like Lyti's, her words were spoken with careful indifference. She didn't want to give offense, but she did want to make it clear that she wasn't impressed. "I was there when he came with the news."

Because Naaja's eyes were closed, Lyti allowed herself a quick smirk. Haha! She actually had a response for Naaja's oh so polite contradiction, because Bren had thoughtfully told her every detail of the encounter between him and the returning captain, although she suspected he may have embellished the dialogue somewhat. Nobody was really that quick at back and forth snappy comebacks. She was willing to let that slide though.

"Oh, ja. Bren told me that the captain had asked him to find Voldemaras. I think because the two of them are old friends or something." Most of that had happened before she was born, and she had only a vague interest in the past. "But you can ask Voldemaras and he'd tell you, Bren was the first to meet the captain and then he told Voldemaras."

Naaja's eyes opened a slit and she turned her gaze toward Lyti without actually moving her head. She had been perfecting that move for some time. It made her look very unimpressed, while at the same time conveying a modicum of annoyance. Because she was annoyed. Her information was incomplete, assuming Lyti was telling the truth, and that meant she had been topped.

"I'll have to take your word for it, I suppose. I can't imagine anyone would want to talk to Voldemaras." Which was a valid point. Voldemaras was a very safe source to name because he was so unpleasant to interact with, for the most part. But saying so cast a certain amount of doubt on Lyti's news.

She smiled in a friendly manner and asked, "Have you met the captain yet?"

Lyti's triumphant glow dimmed with Naaja's next question. The captain and his band had been feasted and she had been present at the feast, of course, sitting beside her betrothed, but she had not actually met the captain. Bren hadn't even spoken up to tell the tale of how he had seen the band returning, which was sort of a disappointment.

"Not yet," she admitted. She did not try to make lame excuses like how the captain was probably busy settling in again, but there was one excuse she could offer that Naaja couldn't belittle or trump. "I've been busy planning and preparing for my wedding, and I don't have a lot of time. Of course I will be sure to invite him to the wedding, so I expect we'll meet properly there, if not sooner."

If Lyti was hoping to stymy Naaja by referring yet again to her upcoming wedding, she was going to be disappointed, because Naaja had news to share on that front, too, and her wedding news was newer news, which made it better than Lyti's wedding news. Naaja squeezed her eyes shut with anticipatory pleasure.

"I can probably arrange for you to meet him sooner," she said magnanimously. "Since I'm pretty sure my father is going to arrange a marriage between Captain Ruzanski and I."

She wasn't sure of that at all, actually, but she said it with her usual confidence just the same. In truth, the idea had only just occurred to her a few seconds ago, but it was a brilliant idea, in her opinion, and there was no reason her father should object to the match. Well, except that the captain was outlander born, but he had more than distinguished himself since joining the pride. And he was so handsome.

Lyti's practiced nonchalance completely fell apart with her best friend's newest revelation. There was really no way she could claim to have known that first, or even reasonably pretend not to be startled by the news. And impressed. It was undeniably an impressive match.

"Stormlords! You're so lucky, Naaja." It was the right thing to say. "I'll have to make sure to hold my wedding before yours, or else no one will think of mine at all."

Her tone and expression were full of genuine delight at her friend's good fortune. And she was a good enough friend that she stopped herself from bringing up the very strong likelihood that Captain Ruzanski was still in love with the former warlord's daughter. That would be unnecessarily cruel, and would probably cast a permanent pall over the marriage, because who can shake doubt like that? Even the fact that Kazul was probably dead wouldn't be enough. In a way, that would make it worse, since no one can compete with a ghost.

In her youth Naaja might have felt a twinge of guilt at the not-quite truth she had just told her friend, but the two of them had been playing this game nearly all their lives, and she was used to stretching the truth like that. Besides, it was so totally worth it to see all that awe and amazement on Lyti's face.

Of course, this whole thing could be really embarrassing if she got caught having made it up, but Naaja would talk to someone and see what could be done about making her little story come true. Not her father. He would probably tell her it wasn't proper for a girl to try to arrange her own marriage. So she would have to get someone else to suggest it. Her mother? No. She didn't think her mother would approve of her wanting to marry a lion who only had an impressive reputation. She would want her daughter to marry a lion with an impressive reputation and an impressive lineage.

Naaja was silent for a long while. It was obvious she was thinking about something, but it was distinctly less obvious what she was thinking about. Lyti was content to let her do it for a time, but it did rather interrupt the flow of their conversation. Unless Naaja somehow thought her news about her planned nuptials had brought the conversation to a close. As if Lyti would ever let that happen.

"Naaja?" she said after a few moments. "Are you dreaming of fat little cubs with dark pelts and light eyes? Because you can stop it right now if you are. There is a time and a place, and this is not it. We are sunning right now."

And Lyti wasn't sure she could stand to lie there calm and still knowing that her friend was basking in the radiance of having shared the choicest piece of news. Particularly not if she was going to fantasize about her future husband while Lyti was right there. Lyti never fantasized about Bren when Naaja was around. Actually, she rarely fantasized about Bren, period, but that was not the point.

Lyti's voice startled Naaja out of her scheming and she replied with an uncouth, "Huh?"

It took a few seconds for the rest of what Lyti had said to sink in. When it had, she flashed a superior smile and answered, "Actually, I wasn't. But I'm afraid I can't stay any longer anyway. I've just remembered something I had to ask my mother about with regard to things."

That was vague, and a little too hasty, but it would do. In truth, Naaja had just decided who the perfect person to convince her father would be and she wanted to go talk to him about it before she lost her nerve. Thorgrim was every bit as intimidating as Voldemaras, even if he was closer to her family.

"We'll talk later, ja?" She did not hang around to wait for a reply, and instead departed at a pace that was almost too rapid to be casual, leaving her friend to frown after her. She would make apologies later.