WORDS: 1,102

The smell of blood was still strong in Hilda's mind. This was strange because as a carnivore she killed on a regular basis to survive but striking a fellow lion... This was different and it didn't full sit well with Hilda. It could have something to do with her betraying anothers trust or desecrating a being held as holy in the eyes of his pride. This did not sit well and now she needed to find water to try to get this smell washed away from her.

The blood had been long gone for days. Hilda was traveling and the blood had been wiped away long ago. Still that stench lingered and it made the purple lioness feel light headed and dizzy.

Hilda wasn't a lioness who normally would get her paws bloodied by another lions blood unless the reason was absolutely a must. She needed to get a hold of the holiest blood and spill it to save her home lands from the terrible drought that had fallen on to it.

Water was cool on her paws. When had that happened? She was half in a stream before she noticed. Her head, she felt dizzy.

Cold. The water was nice on her muzzle as she lapped up the liquid.

Who knows how long she lapped up the cool water. The important part was when she looked up there were two young faced lions right before her just staring at her. The male lingered behind the female and they were just watching her drink. Hilda lifted a brow.

"Can I .. Help you?" Hilda wasn't sure what else to say in this type of situation.

"Oh yes!" Replied the female.

"We're looking for some one." The males voice was softer and more practiced then the energetic female. "We believe they may have come this way but we aren't entirely sure. We're hoping maybe you might have come across such a stranger?"

"Oh?" Hilda didn't have time for this but she was being held as a verbal hostage. This was a minor annoyance after all. Just minor. Her features showed a bit she was not amused in the least. "What does this stranger possibly look like?"

"Oh he's not a stranger to us." Silme giggled.

"Well he'd be a stranger to her." Fanya shot his sister a small look. He wished she took this a bit more serious.

"Okay.. " Hilda sighed, "I cant help you with out any information. Can you please elaborate? "

"Right..." Fanya cleared his throat. He wasn't overly confident talking to outsiders. Honestly he wish he could melt back in to the mists back at home but the time for that was gone. " So he's kind of a creamy orange color with white accents if he goes by lion form." Ooops had he said that? Maybe that was vague enough. Maybe?

"What do you mean by lion form" Oh now this was interesting and well worth Hilda's time. Had she been blessed with such a find? The lioness did her best to not show her new peaked interest.

"Well if he's in god form he'd have a horn and wings. Pretty hard to miss." Silme added. Fanya looked at her a bit disapprovingly but it had been his own fault for letting such a key detail slip his maw. Besides, with out all the information given it would be a lot harder to find Van'Kal.

"A god." Hilda almost whispered this to her self but oh what luck. This meant something now. This interaction had a lot of meaning now. Perhaps that blood she'd spilled from that seer had blessed her in some way. Perhaps the smell of intoxicating blood was no curse after all. "Well... how sure are you that he'd not just fly or something if he has wings? Why are you trying to track such a creature? " She was actually curious why these two thought they could track a god not really picking up on the irony of the fact she was doing this her self with a lot less intimate detail.

"I know Van," Fanya said confidently, "He's not a huge fan of keeping his fancy god features showing most of the time. He prefers to look like a lion to be closer to us." Which was partially true. In truth, Van preferred a mortals form in the mortals world because he been heavily advised to when he was younger and now it was almost a habit. There was no way that Fanya or anyone else could know this though.

"Interesting," Hilda looked thoughtful now. A god who preferred to stay in mortal form? This would make it a bit more interesting for sure. This was not a lot of information though. The lioness needed a lot more if she was going to have a chance. "What was this gods mane color?"

"Oh it's blue" Fanya replied with a polite smile.

"Yeah," Silme confirmed the detail.

"What about eye color?" Might as well ask this as well. Hilda needed to know after all.

"Also blue." Silme was fastest this time to reply.

"Interesting." Hilda paused almost for suspense. "You know... I think I have seen a lion matching that description. A few days back from that way." The lioness pointed to where she'd just come from. This was all a horrible lie but Hilda didn't mind deceiving. "He looked like he was looking for something. I didn't ask what." Oh this was great for her. Throw the two lions off and take the bounty for her self. It was almost too much to keep her excitement to her self.

"Really?" Fanya's brow shuffled a bit in confusion. " I could have sworn he would be headed north from here. It seems a bit unlikely.."

"I think that this is more information we've had since we've left home Fanya." Silme frowned. "We should check this lead. We don't actually have anything else to go off of."

"I .. I suppose we should check it out. Uh ... thanks..?" Fanya frowned. They had never gotten this lionesses name. "What is your name ? I'm Fanya and Silme is my sister."

"Oh my names not important. I'm just happy I could help." There was sincerity in her voice. Hilda was so good she was surprising her self. "You guys stay safe on your travels."

"Oh we will," Silme nodded. With that the two siblings crossed the small stream and headed on their way towards where Hilda had pointed.

Hilda let out a sigh of relief. This could get things rolling. A lead. A real lead. Time to get some more blood. First, more water.