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Kijibwa has wandered off from his travelling companion, and the day is started to fade away into night. As quick as they are trying to travel, and as careful as they are trying to be, he's still a bit curious about seeing some of the desert. And it doesn't hurt to try to find out if there are any useful ressources about, either!

"Hmph," he sighs, taking a seat in the sand to enjoy the fact that it's starting to cool down from the days heat. The desert is not a good place to be mostly black, that's for sure. Luckily, the jungle shouldn't be far off from here.

Kijibwa, as is usual, senses nothing of anyone else around him- not even Siku, having gotten used to having her around and due to the fact he left her a little ways back. However, he does notice when something red peeks over the dune and stares at him- or, he imagines that it's staring at him.

He can't tell how small it is at the distance, only able to guess that it has to be one of the beasts he was warned about. The ones they'd been hoping to avoid.

What now?

Instead of reacting right away, he stays where he is and stares back.

Kijibwa shudders after several seconds of staring, then comes back to his senses and looks back and fourth a bit. He glances back at the lion, finally realizing that he isn't so big, though with such an expansive background he probably looks smaller- at least to this outsider.

He's surprised when he is spoken to, getting to his feet- the voice doesn't match the image. The voice sounds more mature than the lion looks, for if they matched there'd be more black than just on top of his head- right?

"I'm Kijibwa," he answers, taking a quick look at himself as if he really needs to to see that the color he means is red, then walking closer, "You must be one of the lions I heard about from here." Kiji doesn't seem concerned with what he says, besides the creepy stare and voice this one doesn't seem too threatening. Maybe the cheetah was wrong?

Kijibwa nods cautiously, eyeing the lion cub curiously now. He'd never met anyone quite like this one before, this was a little weirder than even that red lioness.

"The Great Firekin pride?" he repeats after Kidondo, shrugging- he'd never heard the name, but it wouldn't surprise him to find out this is it, "Royal heir? Wow.." He is a bit surprised of all of the lions he runs into it's royalty, and a cub. It's almost unlucky and lucky..

"If you mean Rogue by inferior, then yeah," he answers, not really minding the use of the word inferior. To each his own- he's already met someone who didn't think much of rogues.

Kijibwa takes a seat, no longer worried about the red one being a threat. He seems nice enough, in a curious sense, maybe not in a considerate sense..

"First inferior that walks freely? You mean that's not, like, a slave?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. He looks surprised when Kidondo mentions the inferiors living in their pride, "You keep slaves? I don't know how you end up with a master, maybe I'm just lucky."

He doesn't look keen on admitting rogue is an inferior without a master, but it's a reasonable explanation. This cub is a quick one.

"I guess so," he nods.

He listens to what Kidondo says silently, and he can honestly see the logic in what the cub says. If you use to the contrasting words inferior/superior and royalty/peasant, of course he's going to sound like he's making sense. But from the rest of their conversation, he knows that the inferiors are rogues. Kijibwa frowns a bit at the mention of one specific slave, and he can't help but try to imagine someone to the description. Part of him is pleased he can't really place a face he knows to it.

Maybe if examples had been left out, he would have been inclined to believe him about the others. Some may be honored, but why be honored to care for someone else's cubs? Why weren't the cubs parents doing it?

"I suppose that's lucky then," he says when Kidondo says he would be enslaved himself if the cub's father, presumably the king, were here, "I don't want to be enslaved, We- I'm just travelling through to get to another land."

He pauses.

"If slaves are inferior, why are they taking care of cubs?" he asks finally, his question entirely serious,"Wouldn't superiors do a better job of that? An inferior can't teach one to be superior, can they?"

Kijibwa listens intently to what Kidondo tells him as if the cub were a much older, wiser being. He isn't too concerned with an older red lion finding them and enslaving him, but he's going to try to pick up the pace once he leaves just in case. The cub is definetely a little odd, for not only does his voice sound mature but what he says is- though you can probably count on him having listened to others say some of it, his voice is confident enough to make it seem as though he's experienced it all first hand. It's combination of oddness and maturity that keeps Kijibwa listening with interest, and even some respect.

He isn't surprised by any of the information itself that the cub conveys, and he just nods along with what is said to show he's listening. He knows himself after travelling through a couple other times that it's not easy to keep yourself fed out here. And having been alone in the desert as a cub, he knows that cubs wouldn't be so well off without help first hand.

"You're either very smart, a good listener, or a combination of both," he comments, "I think those are all good things if you're going to be taking over the pride when you're bigger." He can only guess, having never been part of a pride, but it makes sense that smart is good in a leader.

"I'm travelling to the Jungle," he says simply, expecting the cub to know what that means without further explanation.

"Then you are smart," Kijibwa decides when Kidondo explains why he listens, "I personally don't think fighting accomplishes much, or anything good." On the other hand, the black and white lion can't exactly claim to be full of wisdom either. He's just a friendly, passive lion who enjoys himself wherever he goes.

"Oh, sorry," he chuckles at his own mistake, he should have thought that the cub may not have been outside the desert, "The jungle is nothing like the desert. Only the toughest plants grow here, you said so yourself, but all plants grow there. It's very green, actually. The land isn't flat because it's covered in trees; you can't go anywhere without seeing a whole bunch of them."

His voice has noticably gained a dreamy, eager quality to it- something that often happens when he talks about the jungle, or anywhere he's travelled really.

"Water and prey are easier to find too," Kijibwa adds with a sage nod.