[PRP] Beginning of the Journey [Sahar x Gwalchmei]

[Kolina]

How many days had it been since he had left his pride? Sahar wasn't really sure. In fact, he almost wasn't sure why he had left the comfort and luxury of his pride to dive back into the unknown of roguehood. Really, the only thing that motivated him was a reoccurring vision of a mountain surrounded by sand. The more he had tried to ignore the urge to visit this mountain the more it had become an annoyance. Like a fly that wouldn't leave you alone. So, one morning, after most of the pride had settled down to slumber the day away, Sahar had set out on his journey to take care of the annoyance.

"Sahar, we've been going for days. How much further?" A golden eagle flew just above the pale lion. Sahar's companion. His familiar and best friend. If there was one thing Sahar hadn't ever been good at was making friends. Cyrus, at the moment, was the only being in the world that Sahar felt attached to.

"Well, do you see a mountain surrounded by a desert of sand?" Sahar looked straight ahead of himself, not bothering to gaze up at his friend.

A soft sigh escaped the bird. "No, I don't. I mean, the landscape is sandy."

"Yes, I can feel that under my paws and taste it in the air. We should be getting close now, Cyrus. It shouldn't be much longer."

ShinosBee

 

[ShinosBee]

Gwalchmei was still really new to this whole Journey thing. It was so different from what he was used to, and his legs were SORE. Still, it was a new set of sights every day, and new people to talk to... And hey! This fancy bit of cloth that someone'd taken the time to wrap around his neck the other night! He really felt like one of the pride now, it was amazing!

His head hadn't been so muddled with visions since he'd joined up either. It made it easier to think clearly, and made him less clumsy. He'd had a vision thing last night though, in his sleep. A pale lion walking in the sand with a small yellow light flitting about it. It felt important somehow, and despite the efforts of the pride's shepherds, he'd snuck off. It was easy to get lost in the throng after all.

"going to find the white lion~" He sing-sung to himself as he waded up a dune of sand for a better look. "And his little yellow light...thing...~" He stumbled near the top, cresting it just a bit too fast, and fell, nearly rolling all the way back down, but caught himself on his feet at the last moment. "Woah! That was nearly awful!" He spat out a mouthful of sand, then froze. There! He could see a white-ish figure just ahead!

Kolina

Oops forgot to quote!

 

[Kolina]

Sahar kept up the steady pace he head set for himself. He'd learned a while a go to not get ahead of himself if he could at all avoid it. There were far too many times as a young lion that he remembered tripping and falling over things she had not been aware was there. Then again...what did one usually expect to find in a desert besides sand and maybe the stray plant life? Besides, with Cyrus around he had much better chances of not running into something.

Better not press luck though.

Cyrus flew lazily above Sahar. He did his best to keep himself entertained and not get too far ahead by diving and doing loops. He was barely an adult and still had a lot of energy in him. Not to mention he wanted to have fun, and walking none stop with no one around was not...

The eagle's eyes caught the form of something tumbling down the side of a dune. "Sahar! There's someone up ahead. I -think- it may be another lion. Keep going straight. I am going to fly ahead."

"Wait Cyrus!" Sahar called out to his young feathered friend but the eagle was gone.

Cyrus flew straight towards the lion. Excited to finally see a new face. As much as he adored Sahar days on end with him with no one else around was hard to endure.

"Hey! Hey!" He circled around the brown lion. "It's great to see -someone else out here. Are there others around?"

When his little feathered friend left him Sahar picked up his pace. He prayed Cyrus hadn't neglected to tell him about any possible tripping hazards in his way and was thankful when he could hear Cyrus's voice pestering the newcomer. "Cy, relax. Sorry about that. He gets overly excited sometimes." Sahar 'looked' in the general direction that Cyrus's voice was coming from where he assumed the other lion was.

ShinosBee

 

[ShinosBee]

Something little and yellow broke off from over the white blob and shot through the air towards Gwalchmei. A bird! A...bird? He drooped as it neared, a definite 'awww' mumbled out. His dream had shown a yellow LIGHT, not a bird. Well. Well that was just great, wasn't it? He'd thought he'd found the right lion, but—

"Hey! Hey!" The bird was in his face in an instant, circling around and squawking, and here he was still moping and spitting sand! "Others? Y'mean other birds? I dunno, I haven't seen any at least." He turned to regard the lion (who was staring a bit oddly at him, though he couldn't quite put his paw on what about it seemed odd) with a smile. "It's alright! I could tell! Seems like I'm bumping into a lot of interesting people with wings lately. And feathers." He eyes the bird over once more. Nope, still not a light. Though he'd heard some people say dreams could be symbolic. Maybe....maybe...nahhh.

"So hey, I'm totally allowed to be here! You are one of the shepherd guys, right? I mean, of course you are. No one else this far out from the pride, right? Heh...well. I mean, I am too, but it's totally fine! They uh...they said I could!" He really should just shut his mouth when he was ahead.

Kolina

 

[Kolina]

Cyrus rolled his eyes a the other lion. "Not other birds, other..."

"Cyrus. Be nice." Sahar admonished the young eagle who practically pouted but flew over to land on Sahar's back. Cyrus wasn't really sure how he did it but he swore that Sahar could actually see him and his expressions sometimes. Of course Sahar would argue that it was completely impossible for him to see anything.

"I am not sure what you mean by a shepherd. If we stumbled upon a pride, I am sorry if we're intruding. We've been traveling a long way and really don't know the area we are in or know of the local prides around here. Cy have you seen anything that looked like a pridal boundary?"

The eagle fluffed his feathers up in annoyance. "How could I when we're completely surrounded by sand? There's nothing out here."

ShinosBee

 

[ShinosBee]

Gwal looked around along with the bird, as if trying to figure out what they were seeing or looking for. A beat later a lightbulb clicked on, and he 'ohhhed' and started almost bouncing on the spot for a moment. "You mean you're NOT with the Rahala! That means I'm not in trouble! Woohoo! Yeaaaaahhh...ahh...I mean, not in trouble, never mind, I didn't say anything!" Well he'd put his foot in it now. Maybe he could distract these guys so they'd forget about turning him in!

"I mean, ahem, of course! This is, well, sort of near where the Rahala are. We move around a lot, but always in the same paths, according to the Pathfinder. She's in charge, with our Wayfinder. She knows where to go from the Goddess Atop the Mountain, that's what they said." He bobbed his head, eying the bird as it moved around the lion. It was kind of like a yellow light, when the sun glinted on it... "You guys want to visit? It's pretty rough out here alone. And I bet a shepherd will pick you up before long even if you keep going. They're...well I don't think they're guards. They keep an eye out though. Oh! The last time we had guests there was a feast! And a break from the walking. You really should come, my legs are beat!"

Well he wasn't too helpful, but at least he was honest and upfront. Sort of.

Kolina

 

[Kolina]

"Rahala? No. We aren't." To say Sahar was a bit confused by this fellow would be an understatement. The other lion seemed to have quite a range of emotions and they all seemed to happen so quickly.

"Wait...did you say mountain?" Sahar's body went rigid. "Cyrus you said you didn't see a mountain."

"I didn't, I mean I don't!" The eagle huffed in response. "I haven't really flown away from you though to go look. I didn't want to loose you."

Sahar sighed knowing his little feathered friend wasn't really keeping something from him. It was just moments like this where he got frustrated at his lack of sight.

"We've been searching for this mountain and truthfully I think we're both in need of a good rest so lead the way." Sahar smiled at the other lion, his eyes not really focused quite in the right direction of their now host. "I am Sahar by the way, and this feathered friend of mine is Cyrus. He acts as my eyes when I need him to."

"You'd be lost without me." Cyrus said in a friendly jab at his lion companion.

Sahar didn't respond to the ongoing joke between the two of them.

ShinosBee

 

[ShinosBee]

Gwalchmei looked back and forth between the lion and the bird as they spoke. They seemed like right good friends! It made him smile a bit, but he didn't miss the request to share more information about the Mountain. He still didn't know too much about it, but then, he was new too! "Oh yeah, the really big one! It's right...ah.." He'd wheeled about, kicking up sand, then paused. From this angle you couldn't see the towering peak, an over-large wind-deposited swell of sand blocked the view!

"Well it's this way! The pride knows all about it, more than me though, so you should just come along anyways! It's this way! Up and over! I mean, around works too, but the view is MUCH better and..." He kept chattering away as he scrambled up the dune, slipping over the ridge and calling back, "Come on! You're gonna be late!" The view from atop the ridge was stunning, the sand dropping away into low, ruin-spotted drifts and plains, and in the distance the sun was setting over the right flank of the Mountain, scattering golden light everywhere. It'd be a shame that Sahar wouldn't be able to see it, but at least he'd know he had finally found it!

Kolina

 

[Kolina]

Sahar could hear the lion moving about in the sand and the grains sent flying as their guide moved hastily to hurry up what Sahar assumed was another dune.

"He is an exciteable guy." The golden eagle said quietly to Sahar.

"You're one to talk." Sahar grinned playfully before following their new friend up the dune. Sahar hated the shifting sands under his paws, especially the dunes. It made him a bit uneasy since his paws were quite use to solid earth under them. As sand moved out from under him the pale lion sometimes felt a small pang of anxiety. After all, moving earth under his paws usually never meant a good thing for him. But here. Well...he'd have to learn to adjust he supposed. Plus he knew Cyrus would warn him if there was any real danger.

Finally cresting the top of the dune, Sahar stopped momentarily when he felt Cyrus fly off his back.

"Wow...Sahar....I think this is what you've been looking for." Cyrus flew around the two lions as he gazed at the mountain ahead of them. "If this is what you saw in your visions it's no wonder you wanted to come here."

Sahar twitched his ears in the direction his feathered friend was but didn't comment. Instead he turned his head in the direction that he assumed their friend was. "Is it a far walk from here?"

ShinosBee

 

[ShinosBee]

Gwal paused atop the dune, catching a long breath at the sight laid out before him. His new home was beautiful, truly, even if it could probably be harsh. He beamed at his new friend as he climbed up beside him before gazing back at the distant peak. "Pride's not! Maybe an hour? We'll move faster than them, y'know. The mountain is though, yeah. I heard someone say it takes ages to get to it from the pride. I guess some of them do that, to try to meet the lady who lives up there."

He of course had never met her, but if they said she was there, he'd believe it. He HAD met one god in the desert already, after all! "The pride lions know more about it than me. Probably should ask them. I've never been up." He peered down across the low rolling sand for a flicker of movement. "Well, I'm sure we can find them!" Honestly someone would probably have been sent out to find him by now. That'd help. Some dim part of his mind reminded him that he'd probably be in trouble, but the bigger part shrugged it off. He'd only wandered off a little!

"It's this way, I think! Come on, let's go!" He cheered, leaping and half sliding, half rolling down the other side of the dune and into the Rahala's territory, with his new friend hopefully shortly behind him.

Kolina

 

[Kolina]

And their guide was off again. Sahar had to lend it to the fellow, he has energy to spare. The heat and trekking around in the sand was getting to him but there was a bubble of excitement brewing inside of him. He was reaching the end of his journey, his vision would stop plaguing him and he'd find out why he got here. He hoped anyway.

"It's pretty steep..." Cyrus cautioned as Sahar began to move forward. And it didn't take long for Sahar to understand how steep as the sand quickly slipped away from under his paws and he was tumbling down through the sand. Now, for many other lions, correcting one self usually wasn't a problem but poor Sahar's lack of sight meant when he landed he wasn't sure which way he was facing or which way was up at first as his head spun.

"Cyrus?" He called for his feathered friend as he right himself after landing on his side. Sand fell off him as he stood but he truely had no idea which way he was facing. "Cyrus, which way?"

The eagle glided down to float above him again, a little worried about his friend despite Sahar looking alright. "You'll need to turn to your right 3 steps and you'll be in the general right direction.

Sahar did as Cyrus aid and tentatively walked forward. "Sorry about that. I get muddled up when I loose my footing."

ShinosBee