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The trip had been perilous. The male had never been away from home before and now that he had decided that this was the time.. he was beginning to wish he was just a young thing again.

The adolescent was large, and tall, but he was lean in muscle and shape. He was an attractive male, his monochromatic scheme slightly different than that of his parents. He almost could say he looked more like his mother's brother's than his mother. He swished his tail around, the black tuff with the silver stripes dusting against the sandy, savannah earth. The sun was almost unbearable today, and he really hoped that he ran into some shade soon. He wasnt used to the bright sun being he was from such thick underbrush of lands. He yawned, pink tongue curling from his maw before he continued his journey. He was on his name quest.. but he wasnt sure where he was supposed to find such a new name. He supposed when it was time.. He would know.

He wasnt sure where he was anymore, but there were bones, and the lands looked almost sickly. He cocked his head, watching. He saw a few passerbys walk by, and he supposed that meant that he was on open lands. He had no idea he had wandered right up to a new pride. No, he just was that unlucky.

Cor knew she wasn't supposed to be on the pride's borders. It was an established law that pride members were not supposed to pass beyond the borders without express permission from the royal family, even if they weren't sick, which Cor still asserted she was not. There was no rule against being near the borders, not officially, but the people who looked after Cor in her father's absence had made one for her, being afraid that her curiosity would drive her to break the pride's law if she was close enough to be tempted. Cor scoffed at that and did as she pleased. She was almost an adolescent, after all, and had as much right to go wherever she wanted as everyone else.

Her bright golden eyes fell on an unfamiliar figure, long and rangy of build, and lean, but not in the wasted way that the pride's sickness tended to bring on. She watched him from the shade of a shrub, wondering how it was he wasn't dying from heat at noon. Perhaps it was the color of his coat, keeping him cooler. Her own dark fur was not always a blessing, even if it was undeniably beautiful to look at.

"Aren't you hot?" she called.

To be honest he wasnt sure how old she was but her voice made her sound rather young. Maybe just older than a cub. He quickly scurried to the shade and plopped down next to her. It was instantly cooler and in his exhaustion he collapsed to his back panting a bit

"Im Atticus. Im on my naming quest from my pride. I'm from the Swamplands. The Jini'Semi lands." he felt he should say it proudly but he wasn't really that proud. He had always felt odd there but he hadn't disliked it.

"Where am I?" He asked.

Cor looked this newcomer, Atticus, up and down as he made himself comfortable in the shade beside her. His nearness meant that their body heat would probably overlap some, but the shade ought to mitigate that. Cor was becoming masterful when it came to preserving herself from the sun's burning rays. If she had been inclined to care more about her looks, she might not have gone to so much effort since the sun's rays also brought out a hint of rust in her fur that made her look almost like her coat was tipped with flecks of metal.

"I've never heard of that place," she said truthfully. "Is it far from here?"

She guessed that it was, since she hadn't the faintest idea what a swamp was, or who the Jini'Msemi were, except that they were probably another pride. One that apparently sent its adolescents out into the world, the lucky things. At least she knew the answer to his question.

"You're on Kitwana'Antara lands," she told him. "Welcome."

"I .. I.. I don't really know. You see this is my first time away from home. I don't know much about around here." He looked around, looking at the grasses that weren't as green as he had ever seen. The sky wasn't as blue, and the lions of the pride.. Well.. some of them looked really sick. He wondered if they were just old, but then he saw some of the cubs limping. He supposed he had fallen on them during hard times. How sad.

"Do you like it here?" He asked.

Cor gave Atticus a strange look. To her it was a strange question, and a moot point besides. Although she did not think she was infected, she also did not think that she would be permitted to leave the pride. There was always the chance that she was not only immune, but also a carrier, which meant that she could not put other lions from beyond the borders at risk by going out among them.

"Certainly," she answered him. "But it doesn't make much of a difference. I don't think I'll ever leave."

She shrugged, dismissing the matter as unimportant. Her mother had left, and that had devastated her father, but her mother had not been born into this pride. It was different. Lions were permitted to visit the Kitwana'antara, after all, as long as the pride members they interacted with were careful to avoid infecting them.

So she was sick with a cold? That was no good, he felt the need to baby her and wrap her under a warm pelt like his momma had done for him when he felt ill. But he had no idea of the plagued lands in which he was in. He didn't really want to get a cold, and he cocked his head.

"Do you have one? Are you contagious? I dont want a cold. Those suck." He said, and looked down at his paws bashfully. He hoped he didn't offend her. He wasnt afraid of having one, and he would deal with it if he did. But he would try to avoid if all possible!

"Thats silly though. Colds are nothing. Why would you not be able to leave." He scoffed, more than asking any question.

"Oh, well, most illnesses are contagious depending on what stage you're in," Cor said, beginning to lecture just a little. "Colds aren't that bad, but for the first few days you're usually contagious. I've only been feeling this one for a little bit, so I probably am contagious, but only if I cough or sneeze on you."

The prospect didn't upset her very much. After all, it was just a cold.

"It's sometimes hard to tell the difference between a cold and the pride's disease though, and that's why they're so careful about people leaving when they're sick. 'Cause if you've got the pride's disease and not just a plain old cold, and it gets out of the pride, really bad things can happen. We've only been able to have people who are immune born recently, and it's not likely people from outside would have any sort of immunity."

She paused, realizing that she might be scaring Atticus a little. To reassure him she giggled. "I don't have that, though. So you don't have to worry. And even if I did, you could only get it if we ate from the same kill or shared body fluids. So if you drank my blood or something, or maybe if I spent a lot of time crying on you. But even then I'd still have to have that particular disease. Which I don't."

"You said it not me!" He said, looking at her incredulously. He was trying to figure out why she was getting so defensive, but then he remembered one key aspect of her being. She was female. That explained it all. With a sigh, he looked at her again, blue eyes curious.

"I was asking if you were sure! You were coughing and I just wanted to make sure." He said with a huff much like a male cub might do. But then his face eased as he was really hard to irritate, and today was no different.

"If its not dangerous, why aren't you able to leave?" He questioned, not quite understanding but trying.

"Ugh. Are all outlanders as stupid as you?" Cor asked, standing up and getting ready to leave. She was tired of dealing with morons. There were other, better things she could be doing with her time than sitting around answering stupid questions.

She did relent after several paces, however, and pause in her tracks to give him a chance to catch up with her. When he didn't move fast enough to suit her, she huffed irritably and called back, "Are you coming or not? It's going to rain soon and you're not going to want to be out in that."

Cor didn't know for certain it would rain, but it might. There was always a possibility, and it was the excuse she was using if anyone asked. Whether there was truth behind it, or logic, made little difference to her. Cor said whatever she felt like saying and always had done.