Vizuri had asked to meet Ishiwa again, and they both showed up at the arranged spot. It was the same place where they had spent the afternoon chasing each other around, and it had been fun for both of them. Vizuri was beginning to learn that the answer to her sometimes boredom was simply making friends, and just hanging out with other lions would alleviate the quiet of living in this peaceful and large place. Ishiwa, for his part, just enjoyed having fun, and by playing with her, he knew that he was helping her find something she needed. That was his calling, he decided. He was no the best hunter or fighter or soldier, but he was a good friend, and he liked to help others. Maybe he could pursue a rank with that sort of a theme to it, if there was one, and then he could be proud of that and share that with the important lions in his life, so they might be proud of him to.
“How are you doing today, Miss Vizuri? I hope you are having a good day so far!”
“I am, thank you. Hey, I was thinking we might go and investigate that gorge not too far from here, do you remember? It’s not much, but that hole looks like it goes down a ways, and I want to see if there’s a cave down there, or something more interesting. It will keep the day moving, at any rate! What do you think?”
“Sounds fun to me!” Ishiwa grinned. In the back of his mind he was a little unsure about himself and this choice. It seemed like it could be a little dangerous, but he also understood that sometimes, danger was a fair price to pay for the rewards the risk could offer. They were going to go exploring and could potentially find something amazing. Or, they could just have a good day, and nothing bad would happen at all. Ishiwa was hoping for that, anyway. It was always a much nicer day when only good things happened. It was a silly dream, but living positively had not done him any harm so far. Vizuri, anyway, was grounded enough to see the dangers and pitfalls of her plan, and she would make sure her new friend was not hurt.
The duo took off toward the hole they had found the day before, Vizuri bouncing on her paws as they circled around the large fissure in the ground. She crouched down and peered into the hole, and could see that it went down pretty far and opened up down below. It seemed like there was enough space for them to get down, if they went one by one, and enough out croppings and slopes for them to make their way down and, hopefully, back up without any trouble. She was a very adventurous lioness, and she was eager to bounce down there and check it all out. Who would miss a chance like that?
“Come on, I can see a path! Do you want me to go down first? Follow after me! Here, you can grab hold of my tail, and we’ll stick together, okay?” Vizuri swung her tail toward him, and he nodded, carefully closing his teeth on the fluffy end of her tail, not getting too good a hold of it since it was just fur, but he did not want to bit her actual tail, and if he got scared he felt he might hurt her more than help either of them. She nodded, accepting his effort as good enough, and turned back toward the fissure. Taking a breath, steeling her nerves, she slid down into the hole and carefully began to pick her way down among the rocks. The further down they went, the more dangerous it began to get, and she realized that it went down further than she thought.
“Be careful here, it’s getting slippery. I guess these rocks aren’t exposed to the air like the ones we’re used to, so they’re not as tough. They’re so smooth! I wonder how far this-”
Her words were cut off as her paws slipped off the rock she was admiring and she fell forward, instantly free of Ishiwa’s hold on her tail. He let out a startled cry and charged forward, chomping on to her tail without thought. It sent a jolt of pain through her as she was suddenly halted in her fall by teeth in her tail, but she immediately saw how close to falling down to the bottom of the pit she was. It was a survivable distance, she could see that, but falling down it head first without any control would likely have resulted in a pretty gnarly injury for her. She was glad Ishiwa had such fast reflexes, and looked back at her.
“Thank you, for that catch. I thought I was about to split my own head open.”
Ishiwa gently let go of her tail, taking a heavy breath. His nose whistled as he forced the sigh out, though his heart was still thundering and he was not actually sure his body had remembered how to breathe yet. He offered her a shaken smile, though, nodding his head.
“I thought you were, too. Maybe we should go back up?”
“We’re so close to the bottom now! And we know to be careful. Come on, we can make this jump, down and up again, I’m sure of it. Don’t get scared now!”
Ishiwa watched her and shook his head, indicating that he was not scared, per se. He took a breath and moved to leap down after her, the two lions landing into the cave heavily, but neither getting hurt. She looked around, back up where they came, and around them. They were in some sort of a cave system, and there were a few paths to take. She felt fresh air in one direction, or at least she thought there was, and nodded her head toward it.
“Come on, let’s continue this adventure this way.”
Word Count: 1,014 in Word
