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It had been rougher than he expected settling into this new territory. Unlike home he hadn't found anyone he knew, and thought he'd gotten some information from the lawspeakers he didn't feel much closer. His sons, or at least one of them, were here somewhere, but here was a very big place. He'd spent much of the first few days just trying to get himself settled into a den, a task that had resulted in more than a few broken claws and hushed curses. It baffled him how much he'd taken for granted that the females of his home had done without comment. The ground he'd slept on was hard and often felt too cold, and he had little to no idea of how to get the skin off an animal without tearing it to shreds. Self reliance was, in a word, miserable. Adding in the fact that he hadn't seen Aquaria, he was noticeably irate.

Yolla had not been having a great couple of days. It had all started with him going to the sparring grounds to try to find someone to train him to fight, and then he'd actually gotten into a fight and come out of it definitely the worse. Then a few days later there had been that ******** of a "game" which had also involved the horrible cub's whole family. Yolla had a horrible time, but was too proud to leave. And worst of all, he still hadn't found anyone to train him to fight. He decided to go mope on the cliffs for a bit. Other Stormborn seemed to find it comforting. Maybe he would, too. As it turned out, the drop and the roar of the waves was the farthest thing from comforting Yolla could imagine, but he was there and he refused to leave before an acceptable amount of time had passed.

Mkhai had gotten much the same idea, a thrall he'd accidentally cornered had suggested to him that he might like to fight someone. Barring that, they'd suggested kicking rocks off the cliffs. That seemed like a much better idea until the aching in his back dulled down. He'd done some stupid things to win his challenge, and he didn't want anyone knowing he was weakened just yet. Many already thought him old and daft. As he approached the tops of the cliffs and the sea air hit his face he could only smile thinking of Aquaria. But she wasn't there, he knew well she wouldn't come too close to these lands. But there was someone else. A juvenile, strangely familiar? It certainly wasn't one of his sons, this one was much to small, but he might know something about them. "Looking to escape from something?" He asked softly as he approached, hoping not to scare the young lion away.

"No!" Yolla said, spinning around so quickly that his paws slipped. "I'm not running away. Stormborn don't run away ever!" He was so busy being angry and hating that everyone thought he was a coward who would run away from things that he didn't even notice his feet sliding around for a few moments. Even this lion he'd never seen before in his life thought he was running away. "Is that what you're doing here? Running away?" Probably he shouldn't be so uppity toward a lion older and larger than himself, but he was out of sorts.

"Maybe, or running towards something, I haven't quite figured out which yet. Or it might be something completely different." the old lion said as he shrugged, his mane shaking as he did, "Don't twist yourself all up into a rage, there's no judgement here. I've messed up too much in my life to judge anyone else." His shoulders shrunk a bit as he sat down on his haunches, examining the juvenile a little closer. Different coloring maybe, but he could see something in him. "I'm sure you're a fierce Stormborn, but everyone needs a little break once in a while to keep their strengths up, didn't your parents teach you that too?"

Huh. That was a really weird response for an adult. It was the first time since he'd been brought to this pride a few seasons ago that an adult had talked about something that didn't have something to do with fighting. An adult male, anyway. Females talked about other things, but they were females, and Yolla was beginning to buy into the pride's mentality that females weren't to be taken seriously by their male counterparts. "You can't have messed up too badly. You're still alive and you're here. It's not easy to get in here." Yolla didn't want to talk about his problems or his parents or his strength. He'd rather hear that adults were sometimes screw-ups too.

"You can mess up and still be strong," he said with a laugh, "You just have to learn from your mistakes and try not to do them again." That was a lesson he'd had to learn more than once unfortunately, and he had a few scars as a testament. "Were you born here?" he ventured, thinking that even if the cub wasn't related he might at least give more insight into the pride.

"That obvious, is it?" Yolla muttered dejectedly. Apparently even strangers to the pride could tell he wasn't really one of them. "No. I wasn't. I was born in the House of Night. It's a pride. I had a brother. Astra. But my dad came and took me away. He brought me here." Yolla was used to telling that story. It hurt less every time he told it. Someday, maybe by the time he was a grown-up, he wouldn't even miss his mum and brother anymore. That was the goal. Well, one of them. A more immediate goal was to be a good enough fighter to rub that a*****e's face in mud and then make him eat it, but even that was sort of a longterm goal, he knew. That kind of skill didn't come overnight. "I'm guessing you weren't born here either. So why're you here now?"

"I'm looking for someone, I suppose you could say I'm like your dad. I had five strong cubs and I've lost them all," he sighed, trying not to sound too pitiful, "But I'm looking for them now. Well, I was looking for one, but I think she's lost for good. I found something else though, someone who makes me feel like I'm on fire inside, and so I'll be staying here. I might not ever find them." He shrugged, though inside he felt like a rock had dropped in his stomach. "But this doens't look like such a bad place to spend the rest of my life, at least I'll have one companion, even if she fades into the sea."

His dad hadn't lost his cubs. He'd sired them, decided he wanted cubs, and so gone back for them. Yolla still didn't know why his dad had picked him and not Astra. Maybe because Dad and Yolla looked more like each other than Dad and Astra. He didn't bother to correct the older lion though. He'd about used up his rudeness quota for the day. It didn't come naturally to him, unless he was in a spectacularly bad mood. "Wow. Sounds pretty epic. You should tell one of the lawspeakers or bards that story. I bet they'd make a great ballad out of it." He meant it as a compliment, even if it didn't quite sound like that. "I'm not sure fading into the sea is healthy though."

"Oh I've got no time left to be proper and healthy," Mkhai said, cracking a smile, "Life's about grabbing onto whatever you can and holding it tight. I've got here and I've got there, with her. I need both to survive." He straightened himself up a bit, "And you, you've got a home and access to some very strong fighters if that's what you'd like to do, or those bards if you'd rather spin a tale. You've got too many years left to spend them worrying about what everyone else thinks of you." It felt good, to be helping. Well, trying to at any rate, he'd never been very good at the whole fatherly advice thing. "And I'm sure they'd spin some maddening tale about the triplet sons vanished from their homes. Black grey and white, all with the same colored markings as mine. They'd make them some band of rogues or heroes."

That sounded like a Stormborn. That grabbing and holding tight to things. Only he'd left out the bit where it didn't matter if those things belonged to someone else. "You're only saying that because you're a grown-up and you can fight and you don't have to worry about what people think. You already have a place. Here, you get what you earn, and I haven't earned diddly squat." Yolla was too preoccupied in his own juvenile angst to make any sort of connection between Mkhai's missing triplets and his own family. For one thing, he didn't realize his dad was one of three sons. He only knew about his dad and Uncle Timo. For another thing, well, he just wasn't all that bright. His wasn't a brilliant lineage in general. "I hate to tell you this, but I only know of one set of triplets in the pride, and everyone knows who their father is. They're the Warlord's b*****d sons." His lip curled as he spoke about them. He hated that branch of the Warlord's family.

Mkhai couldn't help but laugh at the young one's apparent distaste, though whether it was for the triplets themselves or their b*****d heritage he didn't know. He did know that he liked this one, there was a certain degree of fire in him that he'd missed seeing in others. And maybe a little in himself. "It's just as well, I doubt they'd want to see me. I've had plenty of places, it doesn't mean they stick," he added, "You have to keep working, and you'll have earned more than you really realize by the time you're grown. You work hard don't you?"

Yolla's ears twitched. "You don't know that they won't want to see you. Family's really important here. If they're here, they'll see you at least." Yolla had never heard of a family in the pride not sticking together. It was one of his favorite things about the pride, actually. At being asked if he worked hard, his ears twitched again. "Sort of. No one's really training me, so I don't have lots of work to do. I haven't decided what I want to do yet."

No one was training him. That was peculiar, he would have thought that it would be a father's first priority to train his cubs here, or at least find someone to train them. "Don't you spar with your dad, or the other cubs?" he asked, trying to sort out how this all worked. He hoped the cub was right about family, if he didn't have that there wouldn't be much for him to live for. Except Aquaria of course, and now he did feel a little attached to this place. Maybe he might find a station as a mentor of sorts.

No one was training him. That was peculiar, he would have thought that it would be a father's first priority to train his cubs here, or at least find someone to train them. "Don't you spar with your dad, or the other cubs?" he asked, trying to sort out how this all worked. He hoped the cub was right about family, if he didn't have that there wouldn't be much for him to live for. Except Aquaria of course, and now he did feel a little attached to this place. Maybe he might find a station as a mentor of sorts.

Mkhai nodded, "You don't want to keep him waiting." With a grunt he got to his feet and shook the dust from his coat, pausing for a moment as he considered what to do next. "You know," he said, a little tentatively, "If you'd like a teacher and not just kid bullies I might be able to help. I'm getting old but I can still show you a few things." He paused, thinking that perhaps he might be overstepping his bounds. Just in case he added, "Ask your father, of course."

"I'll think about it," Yolla said as he skedaddled past the older lion. It was a very nice offer to make, and Yolla really would consider it if he didn't find anyone else, but he kind of wanted to be able to brag about the lion who was training him, and he didn't even know this lion's name. Probably nobody else did, either, except the lawspeakers. New freeborn were hard to keep track of, the cub was already learning. If he had known that Mkhai got in by beating Captain Ru in his askorun, he might've been more interested in training with him. Not many people beat Captain Ru, as far as he knew. "Don't die in bed!" he called over his shoulder.