Ijuba was officially an entire day's walk away from the Pridelands, having never before been even half a day's walk away from the Pridelands. Unlike his adventurous, daydreaming friend who had convinced him to come along on this venture - stars, remind him how he'd gotten himself into this again? - he'd never had any desire whatsoever to leave the place of his birth. He was completely unambitious, lazy even, and neither those traits themselves nor the way that others tended to view them in a negative light had ever bothered him. He had never had any desire to change himself, to 'better' himself in some way, to achieve some great thing or make some sort of name for himself. He was Ijuba, his favorite thing in the world was to lay around in the sun after a good, filling meal, and drift peacefully off to sleep. Nothing would make him happier than a life where he didn't have to do anything but exist, bothering and being bothered by no one, but as idyllic as the Pridelands were, there was no 'sit around and do nothing all day' role for him to fill. He was, technically, a Hunter, albeit a slow and unskilled one who was rarely any real help on a hunt. He had once considered scouting, but ultimately decided that there was entirely too much walking involved in patrolling. Healing, on the surface, had seemed like a relatively inactive job, but required far too much knowledge and study and responsibility. Taking care of others in such a way was definitely not an option for him.
So, when Ataullah had come to him and offered him a place in a pride where he really could do nothing, well, that had sounded like a dream come true. It didn't even matter that the reason he wouldn't have to do anything was because, as a male, he was considered to have done something incredibly dishonorable in a past life, and as such couldn't be trusted to 'be' much of anyone. It would be too easy for him to fall back into his old ways, or some such thing. That was fine with him. He couldn't say that he believed absolutely in the religious aspect of the Te'a-Nakhun, subscribing fully to their interpretation of reincarnation and the idea that gender, size, and coat color were all outward indications of whether or not someone had lived their past lives with honor, but he also couldn't say that he didn't believe it. It just...didn't really bother him either way. Regardless, he would have the kind of life he had always wanted, and didn't intend to spend too much of his time thinking about the spiritual details. If they were incorrect, oh well, he was still living his ideal life, and if they were correct, then he would not only be living his ideal life, he would be improving his lot in his next life simply by peacefully lazing about, doing nothing dishonorable. The most he would be called upon to do, if he was called upon to do anything at all, would be to sire cubs for a female if she asked it of him, and somehow that would also improve his future standing.
So, basically, he had absolutely nothing to lose. Of course he was going. Thus far, he'd been briefly introduced the impressively ragtag assortment of creatures that made up what would be the Te'a-Nakhun, but hadn't spent any significant amount of time with any of them. He hadn't even kept great track of their names, to be perfectly honest. It didn't help that he was distracted by his sore feet, which were utterly unused to walking any real distance. Endurance was definitely not the chunky male's strong point. Some might argue he didn't have many strong points, but again, that wouldn't have bothered him. If he was happy and not harming anyone else, what the hell did it matter?
With their walking done for the day and the moon rising above the horizon, he was more than ready to curl up and sleep, but just as he was about to do exactly that, one of the few lionesses whose name he did remember approached him: Intiha-ka, the brightly-colored leader of this whole affair, and Ataullah's aunt. Half-aunt. Was that a thing?
"It's Ijuba, isn't it?" she said by way of greeting, neutral but not edged with any negative undertones, and though he knew it wasn't really a question, he responded to it with a respectful nod.
"I'm glad that Ataullah was able to convince someone to come with her," the Adhi-raj continued, golden eyes scrutinizing him. Taullah and those same eyes, as did her mother Tasnim - all three having inherited them from Ikkuma, father first of Tasnim and her littermates and then of Intiha-ka, who evidently had no littermates. "Though I confess, I expected it would be female family, not an unrelated male."
She expected him to say soemthing, didn't she? Oh boy. Hopefully he didn't screw it up and get Taullah in some kind of trouble. "She's a good friend," he finally settled on, shifting uncomfortably, "And we both always liked the stories her mother told about the Kunanda'Nakhun."
Intiha-ka acknowledged his answer with a vague 'hmm.' "All the more reason I'm surprised you would come along, given that you know the status of males in our tradition."
"Doesn't bother me," he said with a shrug. "Way I see it, if all of this stuff about reincarnation and honor is true, then coming along should give me a boost, right? If I'm understanding correctly? And if not, well, I'm still helping a friend, and I still get to lay on the beach. I've never even seen a beach, you know, only heard about them. It's kind of exciting."
"I can't fault that," Intiha-ka decided after considering his answer thoroughly. She certainly hadn't expected him to be a gung-ho believer, but as long as he meant well and knew what he was getting into, then it was fine by her that he'd chosen to come along. "I appreciate your honesty, and I'll leave you to your rest. I hope your future lives up to your expectations."
She nodded slightly to end their exchange, and turned away to return to the main portion of the group, leaving him to stew over her parting words. They were almost ominous, in a way, depending on how he chose to take them. Assuming everyone was telling the truth, his future was quite rosy, in his view.
