Vieras had been wandering away from the pride more and more lately. He wasn't sure exactly what about Oseye called to him, but he found himself itching to take a break from his duties and find her every chance he got. She was intriguing, and a very interesting companion. He itched to see her right now.

Unfortunately he didn't know where to find her. She had told him she had somewhere to be, and that left him here in the pride. He sat beneath a large tree, lazily tapping his drum with a rhythm any child could keep. His normal hyper attitude was gone from his face and he yawn tiredly. When was the last time he'd slept? Probably the other day. He'd been to excited and hyped up on new information to really care about rest. Now he wondered how much of an idiot he could have been.

Sleep sounded wonderful, but he had to watch his brother's cubs soon, and he knew he would be a lump of unwake-able flesh if he fell asleep now. So he sat and waited.





Tarina had only been back within pride territory for a few days, now, and was still easing her way into things -- well, as much as Tarina was capable of easing, as she tended to be the run-in-headfirst type. At present, the spider-marked lioness was making her way not-so-quietly through the grees, a little spring in her step, her eyes and nose and ears all on alert for someone she could pester. It was exciting, being back, with so many new faces; having spent so long in the company of two companions, having so many other potential friends filled her with glee. So, head held high and humming some tune or another under her breath, the Sheha headed toward the sound of quiet thumping, intrigued to discover its source.







Another yawn stretched Vieras Lyoda's jaws and his tongue lolled out to catch it. He smacked his lips once and continued it's beat, though it seemed to be getting a little skewed with his heavy paws struggling to move. He imagined he kept nodding off, but when you're on your own, there's no real way to tell.

Suddenly a dark forn with bright marks surprised him and he let out a startled grunt, his eyes widening. When he realized the danger was only a lioness, he frowned apologetically.

"I'm sorry. Hello, there." He offered his usual easy smile and shifted a little in case she wanted to sit under the shade of the tree as well. He didn't recognize her, which was puzzling, but he figured it was as good a time as any to learn a new face.







She settled herself beside him, curling her tail about her haunches, and tilted her head as she gave him a long, surveying look. "You falling asleep?" She asked, her orange eyes glinting with amusement and perhaps a little sympathy.







He leaned to the side a little, finding that his center of gravity was a little sluggish today. "A little. I haven't slept it a while. Can't sleep now though." He murred, shrugging. "Got little ones to watch for a few hours." He smiled at the thought. He'd surely wake up with a bunch of little paws trampling him. And then he'd have sweet dreams afterward. It sounded like a beautiful vacation.

"I'm Vieras Lyoda. Vieras for short." She bowed his head slightly. "I haven't seen you before."







"You should sleep," she replied, solemnly. "There are insects, like fireflies, that live just behind your eyes, and feed on your dreams. If you don't give them dreams, they get very angry and can do terrible, terrible things." She nodded, and her expression was utterly grave. "Believe me, I've seen it. You never want to skip a chance to sleep, if you can help it." Then a slow, easy smile crept up her maw, and it was hard to tell if she was joking or not, for something glittered in her eyes in quite an inviting way. "My name is Tarina," she said, then, and the solemness crept away from her voice. "I was here, long ago, before the plague, but only came back recently. I haven't seen you before, either."







Vieras's face froze in shock as he listened, unsure of what to make of such a tale. The cub in him wanted to believe her, but he knew it was probably for the best if he simply cautiously stepped around the wild tale.

"Well, uhm, I'll be able to sleep after I care for the cubs. It won't be long." He gave her a reassuring nod. "It's nice that you were able to make your way back. I grew up here. I'm the son of the Umshayi Wesigubhu, and am currently a Umlindi." He shrugged, as if it didn't matter, even though the knowledge often made other seem him differently. He didn't much care. He was happy in the pride and with his position, and that was all that mattered.







"Oh. I'm the Sheha," she said, simply, as though this explained everything -- and, well, perhaps it did. She looked at him with stern eyes. "Well, Umlindi Vieras, if you promise to sleep after the cubs are tended to, I suppose that will have to do. I'd just hate to see you fall victim to eye bugs." And there was that amused gleam again -- it really was hard to tell just how seriously to take her, or at least, how seriously she was taking herself. After a moment's pause, she asked with a certain devilish curiosity, "...whose cubs?"








He blinked. Sheha? That was a wonderful thing to be! He couldn't tell a story if his life depended on it. The only thing he did worse than tell a story was sing. Dance and drum were his paths. He nodded in appreciation of her rank. "I hope you'll tell me a good, long story one day when I can stay up to appreciate it all." He smiled at her, a genuine, please smile.

"I promise I'll sleep. I don't think I could stay up for long after caring for them for a while, anyways." He twitched an ear, digesting her devilish look, before he sputtered. "No! No. They're my brother's cubs! He's been a little worn down lately so I told him I'd give him a break!"







"A story? Any time." She laughed then, a good-natured, musical laugh. "Oh, quick on the defensive, my apologies sir." But the grin betrayed her amusement. She looked up into the leaves of the tree, thoughtfully, before continuing, "That's a kind thing to do, taking care of your brother's children. My brother cared for me, when I was a cub. Same sort of thing, I suppose."








He tilted his head down, glad for the bright red fur that his his brighter blush. He wanted cubs, really, he did, but he didn't even have a mate, and he wasn't sure he'd want as many cubs as his brother had. It would be a lot of work to care for them all of the time, instead of just for a few hours. He mumble a soft apology, before tilting his head back up to her.

"We try to help each other out as much as we can. It's kind of just... automatic, y'know? I see that he's struggling and tired, so I step in." He let his head rest on his paws, a short huff of a yawn pushing out his nose. "I figured most families were like that."








She nodded. "I think they are," she said, "Although I wouldn't know, for sure." She left that rather ambiguous statement hanging without further explanation and lowered her gaze from the tree limbs to meet his eyes with perhaps an unnervingly questioning stare; Tarina wasn't one to abide by most social laws or conventions. "What's been keeping you awake, then?"









He shifted uncomfortably, raking his claws through the dirt to either side of his drum as she stared. Should he tell her the truth? Would she assume something else was going on? WAS something else going on? He sighed.

"I've been heading outside the pride some nights to meet a friend and talk." He gave another signature shrug. "Sometimes I don't get back until early morning, and sometimes I'm just so loaded with information and ideas that I don't even think about sleeping." He realized, suddenly, that he hadn't broken eyecontact with her the entire time. Quickly his tore his eyes away and stared down at the taunt material covering the drum.








"Ahhhh," she said, clicking her tongue and shaking her head, looking him over again. "It all makes sense, then. You're in love." A wide grin burst across her features; there was nothing more amusing -- more tragic and beautiful and thorougly over-serious -- than a lovesick lion. "Oh, my poor little Brother. Well, there's nothing for it now."








this lioness was just keen on startling him left and right, this day. His jaw dropped open and he quickly snapped it shut. Not he wasn't so certain even the brightness of his coat could hide his blush.

"I can't be in love. I've only spoken to her for a few nights." He sputtered. He was doing a lot of that recently. "I haven't even really gotten to know her." He shook his head, but a voice peeped up inside his head, reminding him of how depressed he'd been when his brother had a litter of cubs, and Vieras had realized he didn't even have a mate. It then reminded him that he didn't feel depressed anymore, now that he talked to Oseye. Were there truth in her words?








Her brows raised and she looked at him with a distinctly smug, but gentle, look. "It only takes a moment," she said, reaching out a paw to pat his forepaw patronizingly, clucking here tongue again. "But it's okay, Umlindi Vieras. I'll keep your secret for you."








He shhok his head, a bit sadly. "There's no secret to keep, Tarina. We're just friends. We talk and hang out when we have the time." Though sleep loss was rarely a part of friendship. He was willing to bet his drum that she wasn't losing any sleep. She'd seen so many more interesting things.

"She'll probably be moving on soon. She's just been visiting. She wanders and visits all sorts of places." The idea was grand, but he could imagine not having a home. "So there's absolutely no secret."








There was no dissuading her now that she was convinced, and the look she gave him was heartbreaking. "Oh my...unrequited love, at that. No wonder you look so sick of heart." She heaved a dramatic sigh, withdrawing her paw and inspecting him thoroughly.









He huffed irritably. "I'm not sick of heart." He ground out. "I'm just tired. I haven't been sleeping much. I told you that."

He tail twitched slightly behind him and he stuck his face to the ground like his was exasperated. Exasperation and embarrassment are very much twin feelings. He wasn't sure which one dominated his face-plant, but either one was unwelcome in the prescence of this lioness who read into everything like Oseye read a paw.









She held up a paw, apologetically, and shook her head. "Apologies, apologies, I have been presumptuous." She leaned back on her haunches, to scratch at an ear thoughtfully, and an odd, dream-like expression crossed her features. She fell silent a bit, fidgeting a little, being a creature thoroughly unaccustomed to silence. "Well." she said, in a half-hearted attempt to change the subject. "When do you need to go see to the cubs?"










He sighed, lifting his face to make polite eye contact once more. My brother will send someone to get me when he's ready to leave." He assured her. "It's hard for him to leave the cubs."

He stretches, flexing his claws in the long silence. Eventually his mind couldn't take it anymore and his lips moved without thought. "Have you ever been in love?"







"Myself?" She asked, pretending to be taken aback by the question, but in truth, not a lot surprised Tarina as she was open to the possibility of anything happening -- including things that couldn't happen at all. She shook her head. "Oh, no. Not ever." She paused for a moment, as though thinking about something. "Well...maybe once. But I was young then and he's long gone now."







He frowned. Long gone? That sounded awful. He imagined, IF he were in love, it would be hard to lose that lion. Perhaps the hardest thing he'd every experience. "What happened?" He asked softly.








She shrugged. "I don't know, for sure," she said, looking thoughtful. "We just sort of....wandered different paths, eventually. Happens that way, sometimes, when you're both trying to find yourself." She shrugged. "But as I say, I was young, and foolish, and everything is much more intense when you're young. Maybe I haven't really been in love at all and am misremembering."







He gave her a sad look, wondering what happened to the male. "What would you do if you saw him again? Do you still have feelings for him?"

He claws raked the dirt again and huffed a yawn through his nose again. It was a wonder his lungs didn't explode. He was yawning so much!






She considered that, brow furrowing, and then shrugged again. "Guess I'd have to see, if the opportunity arose," she replied, honestly -- or as near to honesty as she ever managed. She shifted back to a more comfortable position. "Did you ever hear the story about the sun and the moon?"







It wasn't an answer, per say, but it was what he would have to deal with. If she didn't know, she couldn't tell him, obviously.

He perked his ears, tilted his head slightly. "I haven't." He looked in the direction of his brother's den, then back at her. "I probably have time." He smiled.







"The sun has always been in love with the moon," she said, disregarding his comment about time; of course he had time for a story. Life made time for stories. "Although he's never seen her face, properly -- it seems like no matter what, just as he's coming, she's going, and he can only catch a glimpse of her as she disappears. So the sun chases her across the sky, always trying to catch up with her, because he just knows that if he COULD get near enough, she'd be everything he wanted. But Moon doesn't even know he exists, and just keeps running, because she's very busy." She glanced up at the sky, where the sun was currently hididng behind a few clouds, and then back to him. "So they're always just missing each other, and the sun got to feeling very sorry for himself." She was getting into it now; her voice had taken a smooth, pleasant tone, and exuded power.








Vieras felt his tired limbs relaxing against their will as she told her story, and forced himself to stay alert. He kept his eyes glued to her, and held her words lightly in his mind. He felt bad for the sun, having to chase and chase, but never getting anywhere. It had his life written all over it.

He leaned forward, ready for her to continue.








"So the sun decided, finally, that he needed to take desperate action, because he'd never be able to rest until he had looked upon her face. So he created the stars to be his spies, and laid them everywhere he could think. Stars aren't very smart, you know, they just dance and laugh and gossip, but they did well enough, and piece by piece they started to tell Moon everything about Sun, and she became very curious, but also afraid -- because she wasn't so sure the stars could be trusted, and she wasn't sure how she felt about the Sun, having of course never seen him. But there was one star that was a little more serious than the others, and she would talk with him all night, and he became very close to her. When all the other stars disappear after the sky starts to go light, he would stay with her, talking until the dawn was coming and the Moon would need to run in order to be where she needed to go during the day, on Moon business." She looked up at the sky again, apparently searching for something.







He looked up with her, at the rolling clouds obscured by the branches, and a frown settled on his face.

"What happened?" He whispered, knowing she didn't really need the prompting. He was afraid he wouldn't really like this ending, but was curious anyways.








"Well, the star was starting to be very concerned, because he was afraid for the feelings he was beginning to harbor for the Moon. But he was a loyal friend to the Sun, and didn't want to cause any trouble. So he did the only thing he could think of: he arranged a meeting." She nodded to the western horizon. "I'm sure you've seen it, sometimes, these meetings of Moon, Sun, and Evening Star -- just as the sun is ready to drop below the horizon, the others will appear in the sky, and for just a moment, all three can be together before business drives them further on. Well, the Star waited there, with his new friend the Moon, and he was very nervous because he was afraid of what might happen. The Sun reached their meeting place, and saw the Moon in the face for the first time....and you know something funny?"








Vieras hummed, thinking. It was nice of the star to arrange a meeting for the two. He had indeed seen them all together, but hadn't put much thought to it.

"Hm?" He offered, inviting her to continue.








"Once the Sun had seen the Moon and drunk in his fill of her beauty...he didn't want her so much, anymore. He saw the bond that she had with the star, how well they talked, how close they were, and he thought that he could never feel that way for her. So he made an agreement with them, that as long as he could get a glimpse of her beauty from time to time -- as the Sun is very vain sometimes, and shallow, and likes to look upon beautiful things -- that he would reign in his desire for her, and they could all live out their lives without needing to feel that sickness in their hearts anymore." She looked back to Vieras, and smiled. "The star was exuberant and agreed at once. And the Moon...well, she wasn't so sure how she felt about the arrangement, but she was beginning to feel strongly for the Star as well, so she agreed, thinking it best. And now Moon and Star are always together, even after all the other stars go to sleep, and once in awhile the Sun gets a glimpse of them, and it's enough to keep him happy, as the Sun feels the love of every living creature on the earth and that's just enough to satisfy him." She ended, with a shrug.








Vieras looked down from the sky and watched her for a long moment after the story ended, the wheels in his mind turning. "He didn't... want her... anymore?" He frowned, confused. "But he loved her. Why wouldn't he want her anymore?" He blinked. He supposed, if everyone was happy, then it was a good ending, but Vieras still felt himself shifting, thinking too hard on the simple matter. "I guess star just loved her more, right?"







She shrugged again. "Sometimes, when you want something really, really badly, and you finally get it, you realize you don't want it anymore -- that all you really wanted was to have something to chase. And sometimes, you don't realize how much you need something that you have until you lose it. Life's funny, like that." Her brow furrowed. "Maybe the Sun only wanted a chance at what he couldn't have, and seeing her was enough. Or, maybe he just saw that it would be unfair to everyone if he kept lusting for what he could never get, so gave her over to someone who could take better care of her. Hard to say, really."






He digested her words. She was giving him a lot to chew over, really, and he wondered in the back of his mind if she knew exactly what she was making him think about. He eyed her for a moment, then cracked a good, happy grin.

"Would you mind if I told that story to my friend? I think she might enjoy it." She may not understand why he was so infatuated with it, but she would appreciate a good story any time. Even if he couldn't tell it quite as well as Tarina did. "Don't worry, she's a bit of a story teller herself. It'll be passed into good hands."








She smiled. "Of course. Stories are meant to be told, and retold...and, being as it would be nighttime, I'm sure the Moon would enjoy hearing it as well." She winked at him. "So tell me more about your friend, if time permits before your duties call to you."







He nodded happily. It would be wonderful to share the story. Maybe even romantic. Oh god...

He launched himself into her description, avoiding that last thought. "She's a gypsy, and she does all sorts of things. She's read my paw, and she can dance and sing. I've heard her tell a few stories, and she's just a good, talkative company." She shrugged, making it seem nonchalant. Or so he hoped. "She's kind of like a jack of all trades. A little of this, a little of that, and she survives, entertaining those she meets."






"Sounds lovely," Tarina said, with a smile. "Although I profess a slight fondness for the storyteller type," she added, laughing a little. She rose to her paws, and stretched, glancing over her shoulder, although apparently looking for nothing in particular. "Has she met the pride?"








He shook his head. "She hasn't entered the boarders yet. Doesn't quite have a reason, I suppose. Maybe I'll convince her to come, and you can share some stories together, though." He smiled, just as the deep chuff, so similar to his own, reached his ears. "Oh, that's my brother."

Now that he could listen, he could hear the giggling children. He must have brought them out to find Vieras, but so many rambunctious cubs were just too much to take far. "I've got to go. It was really great to meet you. I'll talk to her about visiting."








She smiled, nodding. "I'll be around," she said, "Always. Big Sister Spider would love to meet her, when the time comes." She stretched again before rising to her paws. "I'd best be off, anyway. Enjoy your time, little brother, and remember what I told you about sleep!" She gave him one last stern look before padding off, quite as suddenly as she had arrived.