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Whew! Perhaps she shouldn’t have taken on such a large project as she had, or at least she should have paced herself a bit better and taken things in chunks, but no! The leopardess leapt head first into her task at paw and now she was paying for it. Her claws were all worn down as much as they had ever been and there were still some carvings that needed to be tended, to be made clearer and deeper. Well, now she was out of the game until her claws grew back to where she could use them. Nena huffed as she padded along. She had decided to go for a walk to sort her thoughts and just drink in the beautiful tranquility of her home. She was sort of letting her feet picking where they wanting to go while she mulled over her thoughts. On one paw, she had gotten the bulk of her task done, but on the other, she now had to wait for a time before should could even finish her task. She shook her head and refocused her attention outward. Grumping over a job mostly done was silly and there was nothing else she could do, shy of passing the rest of the job to another carver to finish up. While she would prefer to finish the task herself, she wasn’t above passing on a job she couldn’t finish to someone else. Still, it didn’t mean that she wasn’t a little frustrated with herself. Nena looked down at a small stone on the path she was following. Taking a deep inhale in, she let out a growling cry as she swiped the stone as far and as hard as she could manage. The leopardess dropped her paw rather pleased with herself. At least, until she heard a ‘thok’ sound and a voice cry out in surprise and maybe pain.

Gece didn’t really know precisely where he was, but he had heard tell of a pride that had set up shrines to pretty much every god out there, carefully carved and reverently tended. It sounded quite peaceful and he wanted to see it for himself. The cheetah had stumbled upon someone who had pointed him in the general direction, so he had headed off to try to find it. The cheetah had followed the instructions as closely as he could but now he feared that he was lost. He was in the mountains, the area was stony, but he hadn’t really seen anyone yet or any shrines. On top of that, the sun was starting to set so he’d have to call it a day soon, or at least nap. He had been traveling all day and he was feeling well and truly tired. Gece gave a big yawn and blinked sleepily. Perhaps a nap or a straight up rest was in order. He paused at a sound he heard. What was it? It sounded like a sigh. He turned to look in the direction that he thought the sigh had come from only to be surprised by a loud outcry. Pricking his ears forward to try to pinpoint how far it was from his present position, Gece got clocked right in the low center of the forehead by something very hard. “Agh!” The cheetah shouted in pain as he staggered back to sit on his haunches, curling a paw against his face. He exhaled sharply through gritted teeth before groaning.

Nena felt a knot immediately form in her stomach. “Oh! Oh, by the gods,” She exclaimed. Oh no! She had hit someone! The leopardess raced over to where she had heard the commotion, leaping over some brush to find the lanky form of a cheetah clutching a paw to his face. “Oh, my word, I am so, so sorry! I had no idea someone was over here. Please, let me see. Let me have a look, please.”

Gece was too busy reeling from the blow to his face to really properly react to the approaching sounds. A worried feminine voice breeched his haze and she was apologizing? Lowering his paw, he blinked his teary eyes to focus on the leopardess in front of him. His forehead stung something fierce and, upon looking, he could see a splotch of blood on his paw pad. “Owww,” He groaned softly.

“Oh, no! You’re bleeding! Here, let me see.” It needed to be cleaned off. There was some dirt in the wound too. Sitting down a little off to the side of the cheetah, she hooked a paw around the back of his head, pulled him forward slightly and proceeded to gently groom his forehead. The fellow had tensed at first, but quickly relaxed into her paw and grooming.

He hadn’t really expected the leopard to fret so much over his wound, much less pull him in to clean off where he was hit. Gece froze briefly, but relaxed with how gingerly she was tending to him. Oh, well…This wasn’t bad at all. Yes, his forehead still stung, but with treatment like this it was definitely something he could deal with.

Once she was certain that she had thoroughly cleaned where she had hit the fellow, she released her hold on his head and scooted back a little. Nena gave him an appraising look before speaking. “Think you’ll be alright? Again, I am so very sorry that I hit you.”

Now that she had let go of him, Gece was able to get a decent look at the leopardess who both caused and tended to his wound. She was quite pretty! A beauty in blues with silvery eyes that bordered on luminous. Gece hadn’t noticed his breath had caught in his throat until his lungs started burning from want of fresh air. The cheetah breathed a deep sigh and cleared his throat, lowering his gaze so as to not stare blatantly. “Oh, I’m, ah, I’ll be alright. Thank you for your concern. Um…If I may ask, what’s your name and would the Ulili-Mlindaji pride happen to be around? I’ve been looking for it and I’m terribly lost. Oh, my name is Gece, by the way,” He said looking to her more fully.

Relieved at hearing that the fellow was alright, Nena smiled, sighing in her relief. Upon learning his name, she dipped her head to him and tittered in mild amusement. “Well, Gece, I’m happy to hear that you’re going to be okay and I’m pleased to meet you.” The leopardess rose to her feet. “My name is Nena.” She turned off to slip back through the shrubs to return to the path that she was on, flicking and curling her tail as she passed onto the path.

Gece couldn’t help but quirk a little grin. “Nena,” He echoed softly, speaking her name as if a sigh. The rustle of leaves brought him to. “H-hey, wait! Nena, please!” He jumped up and made to follow. “What about my last question? Is the pride with the shrines close by? I’m lost.”

The leopardess had been heading back down the path that she had been on, heading back to the heart of her home. Looking back over her shoulder to Gece, she gave a tiny shrug. “You’re not lost. You’re practically there already. Just follow me. We can see if you need anything on that knock of yours.”

The cheetah stood there, blinking as he processed what he was hearing. “Wait…what?”

“The Ulili-Mlindaji is my home. I’m a carver. I help carve things into the stones we use for the many shrines we keep.”

A rush of excitement quickened his step. So he wasn’t so far off! He smiled brightly to the leopardess and hurried to catch up with her. “Please, lead the way!” He walked alongside her, yawning again. He shook his head. “Oof. Sorry. I’ve been searching for this place since early this morning and all the searching has caught up with me.”

“Well, I’m certain that we aren’t going to send you away before you get rested up. Besides, you came all this way searching for us; it wouldn’t do if you didn’t get a chance to see the shrines you want to visit.”

“That’s very kind. Thank you.” Gece paused. “Could…Could you show me some of the shrines you helped carve? You know, tomorrow or whenever I get my energy up and maybe see if I need anything on my forehead. I doubt it though. I think you took care of me well enough.”

Nena chuckled. “We’ll see. You need to rest first and then we can talk about you seeing the shrines.”

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