Moto knew she had gone too far when she came to a lake that was covered in strange, slippery stuff. She had left her sisters in one of her hot-headed episodes to prove that she could hunt on her own without their help. She had cooled down considerably, but had found herself a bit lost. She wasn't very good at figuring out what to do in situations like this, so she set off in a direction and hoped that it was the right one. Unfortunately it had proven not to be so far, as this weird lake was proof of. It was cold here, too, which made things even worse. Carefully walking on the slippery surface, Moto decided to head for the island within the lake. There seemed to be some movement there and she was hopeful a stranger could direct her home.

Vera stood perched on the outcropping of land that jutted over the frozen lake, a nice look-out spot for anyone to use. She was watching the progress of the bright cheetah with curiosity, and when it became clear the smaller feline was heading for the island, she decided to meet her halfway. Making her way carefully through the deep snow, she pushed through the drifts and made her way to the ice. It cracked under her paw but she didn't pay it any mind - the ice was always thinnest by the island. She headed out onto the lake, her claws helping her to keep from falling.

"Hello!" she called out as she got closer. The cheetah seemed to be focusing very intently on the ice and she didn't want to startle her. "What brings you out here this time of the year?"

Moto looked up so suddenly that her paws slipped from under her and she went crashing to the ice. She tried to get up, but in her haste her paws skidded and slipped and she couldn't rise up from the cold ground. "Hey!" she snarled as she struggled to stand. The ferocious return made Vera pause, her ears forward to pick up every sound, her tail twitching a bit. It was clear the cheetah was struggling and the lioness was much larger than the pink outsider, but Vera was in no way a fighter.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you slip," she said weakly as Moto finally got to her feet. Her tail was bushy and her teeth were bared as she stared down the lioness. There was no way she was going to let her embarrass her again!

"Sure," she growled, the fur along her spine standing on end. "You wanted to get me on my back so you could drag me to that island and keep me prisoner! I'm on to you, lion." She said the last word with venom and dislike which made Vera curl in on herself a bit, sitting down to let her tail flop over her paws. She hadn't meant to cause such alarm, honestly!

"You just...you looked a bit lost and rather than having you come all the way to the island, I figured I'd meet you out here to try to help," she said, her voice making her sound as though she was a cub still, small and vulnerable. The body language she was giving off made Moto feel far larger and more powerful than she actually was in this situation, but that helped her calm down a bit. She liked being in control. It was a constant battle with her sister Maji, but here it seemed she ruled the lake.

"I am lost and I do need help, but I didn't need to be startled," she said gruffly. "I'm trying to get home. I live in the rogue lands, but there's a big lake near my home. Bigger than this one. You can't see the other side when you stand on the shore, and the water isn't hard like this." She smacked the ice as if it had done something to harm her in the past. "Do you know which direction I should go in?"

Vera, thankfully, did know. Her father had been a Forager before becoming King and he had told her all about the lands that surrounded the pride. She could remember him talking about a large lake that was just a few days walk from here that never froze. "I do," she said, glad she could be helpful. "You follow the sun as it sets in the evening. That's the direction you should walk in. You'll come to a large tree about two days walk from here, and when you do turn so the setting sun is to your right. Then you'll find the lake the next day."

Moto listened carefully. She didn't want to have to come back to this strange lake ever again. "Two days following the sun as it sets,' she repeated. "Find a big tree, then turn so the setting sun is to my right. Walk a day. Lake."

"That's it," Vera said with a hesitant smile. "Would you like to come to the island first to get some food and water?"

"No," Moto said with a snort, which made Vera's ears droop. "I'll do just fine on my own." She turned after that - slowly - and headed back to the shore. No goodbye, no thank you. She was on a mission now. Her paws reached the cold, hard land a few minutes later and she set off at a jog, wanting to put as much distance as she could between this strange place and her. Three days...hopefully she'd get back before her sisters starved. They obviously couldn't do much without her there.

Vera watched the cheetah go, glad she could help but also glad that she was gone. What a strange feline. She picked herself up and turned to go back to the island as well, hopeful that the pink cheetah would find her home again. That was one of the reasons she never left the pride - she didn't want to get lost and never find her way back!

FIN
WC: 1015