"There you are!" Kazul exclaimed when she recognized Ru perched on a rock overlooking the waves as they lapped against the shore. She trotted toward him but slowed her pace as she got close. She did not want to seem too eager, even though the sight of him sent a sizzle down her spine to her core.
"Here I am," Ru agreed, hopping down from his perch to greet her with a head bump.
The green-coated lioness closed her eyes for a moment, savoring his touch even though it was merely a casual greeting. She had missed him more than she was willing to admit to anyone, even her half-brother Odd and especially Ru himself. It was stupid, she suspected, to be so unwilling to let the boy know how deeply she cared for him, but she was afraid to learn that he did not feel the same way about her and that her attachment would drive him away. Assuming, of course, her recent distance had not already accomplished just that.
Unbeknownst to Kazul, Ru was experiencing a similar thrill at being so near the lioness he had unwittingly fallen for. Their feelings were mutual. He could could tell that they were. Nevertheless, he could not bring himself to say anything to her of his feelings for her until he could offer her more than just himself and his affection. The Stormborn were more or less a meritocracy and Ru had been raised by a lioness who came from a monarchy.
The two belief systems and pride structures had combined in Ru's head to form the unshakeable opinion that Kazul's parentage and position in the pride demanded that anyone who seriously wanted to win her would have to earn the right to do so by performing great acts of heroism. He hoped that his captaincy would be a step in the right direction as far as that went.
"I...haven't seen you in a while," Kazul said, striving for nonchalance in her delivery and mostly achieving it. Someone who was listening for hit might have heard that there was a hint of pleading in her voice as she subconsciously wished for Ru to explain his absence.
And Ru did offer an explanation of a sort, but it came off every bit as lame as Kazul's conversational sally: "I've been reaving a lot lately. Bringing glory to the pride and all that."
Kazul fixed the dark, green-eyed lion with a stare that let him know exactly how flat his explanation had fallen and how far it did not go toward convincing her or allaying her concerns. Oh, she knew it was true that he had been out reaving a lot, just as Ru had said, but that did not mean that she understood why he had done so without ever bothering to spare more than a few minutes to see her whenever he was not out viking.
"Of course," she said lightly. "That's not stinkiness I'm smelling on you, but glory. Silly me."
When she spoke she banished the skeptical expression that she had worn moments before. She saw Ru so rarely now, Kazul was unwilling to ruin this rare moment with reproachfulness and recriminations. He probably wasn't all that pleased to see her anyway, and was just being polite. There was no reason to make things worse by being rude.
Ru did not bother suppressing his mirth. There was the Kazul he had missed. Full of hiss and fizz. She had grown out of a lot of that since he'd met her, and now it only came out rarely. Actually, it seemed that he only saw her relaxed enough to joke and tease when she was with Odd. Even around him she tended to be reserved lately. He liked that she was able to relax around him.
"You mean to say you cannot tell the difference between the two?" he teased her back. "You are an absolutely horrible excuse for a Stormborn."
"Says the outlander," Kazul shot back as she slanted an amused look his way. "I hardly think you are in any sort of position to be telling me what kind of a Stormborn I am."
Ru shrugged in an insouciant manner. Kazul's attack on his qualification as a lion of the Stormborn rolled off his back without leaving a mark. He may not have proven himself worthy of her yet, but he had definitely proven that he belonged among her people. He had numerous vikings under his figurative belt and he was among the youngest lions to be promoted to captain in recent years. It was obvious that he was a more than adequate Stormborn.
"If that's the case, however did I end up as a captain?" he mused with a nonchalance that may or may not have been feigned. At least Kazul was unable to tell if it was feigned or not. She would hate to admit it, but Ru was far better at reading her thoughts and emotions than she was at reading his.
It would not have taken any special abilities or familiarity with Kazul to determine that the young lioness was suddenly feeling surprised and delighted on behalf of her friend. He could rise no higher in the pride without defeating her father in combat and as much as Kazul loved Ru she could not imagine that happening. Her father was invincible and her mother was infallible.
Despite being genuinely pleased for Ru, Kazul couldn't let him off easily. She had to tease him a little bit. She hesitated briefly as she considered which way she wanted to go with her teasing. Did she want to continue with the theme of him being undeserving or should she switch tactics and make him feel guilty for waiting so long to tell her? Because she had already suspected that this would happen some days ago, having overheard her father discussing it with Tomi. Her surprise had actually come from the fact that he had told her at all. For whatever reason she had assumed that he had no intention of doing so.
"Congratulations, Ruzanski," she told him, opting to eschew any form of teasing at all. It truly did not matter how long it had taken him to tell her because the news was truly excellent and deserving of unmitigated congratulations, and she would kick herself if she managed to mess things up by being shrewish or mean spirited.
"No doubt your popularity has increased exponentially. You might even be able to persuade some father that your spawn wouldn't taint his line if you married his daughter." Well. So much for not being awkward or sharp. Kazul kicked herself mentally for being so damn prickly and so damn insecure that she would fish for some sort of reassurance even while applauding an old friend's major accomplishment.
"Yeah...I'm not really thinking about that right now," Ru said, and then almost laughed when he realized the lie he had inadvertently told. He had been thinking about that since Kazul's father promoted him, but he had not considered that he might be more acceptable in the eyes of other fathers in the pride as well. "But now that you mention it, I wonder if Bilijo has ever considered marriage..."
Kazul snorted as she tried to hold back laughter at the lunacy of such a match. Had Ru mentioned almost any other lioness in the pride she might have been concerned, but both of them found Bilijo to be repulsive on the whole. She knew he was not seriously considering the porcine pink lioness for a mate. The thought was laughable; hence her barely suppressed laughter.
"I don't think you'll ever measure up to her standards, Ru. I'm sorry." It was an epic struggle to keep her face straight and her tone solemn.
"I was afraid of that," Ru replied with a exaggerated melodramatic sigh. Then, with a sharp-toothed grin that both promised and threatened many things and made Kazul's heartbeat race, he went on: "I suppose I could settle for someone inferior...like you."
He was quick to grin and Kazul was quick to snark, "In your dreams, Captain."
(w.c. 1,336)
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