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So far Kekale was liking Midas considerably more than he had liked his friend Frjokorn. For one thing, Midas was significantly better at taking direction, which made Kale's life easier as he explained how to scout for an acceptable camping ground for a large band of reavers like theirs.

They'd just found a good spot and marked it, and so now they were on their way back to the rest of the band to lead them there. It was time, Kale decided, to bring up something he'd been wanting to mention since the last time the reavers all had mint together.

"So tell me," he began as if he was going to ask something related to vikings or being a reaver. "Tell me about this Order of the Golden Paw."

It was something Frjokorn had mentioned when they were all enjoying their mint, declaring it was a secret society and that he and Midas belonged and they did epic things.

If the Stormlords had thundered out of the heavens and struck Midas dead with a lightning bold, the new reaver would have been more than all right with that. It would certainly have been preferable than explaining to the more senior reaver about the club he and Frjokorn had come up with when they were both cubs.

Actually, no, it wasn't the fact that they had made up a club as cubs to belong to, and assigned it a ridiculous name and gone around pretending to be knigits doing stupid things to prove themselves worthy of membership. That was typical. It was the fact that he and Frjo still sometimes decided it was time for an Order mission and went out and did stupid things with that as an excuse.

"It's just a thing Frjo and I made up when we were cubs," he muttered. "Was that a hyena?"

Kale sniffed. "Not a hyena. Nice try, though."

It was probably unnecessarily mean of him to poke and prod at the new reaver like this, but the opportunity was there, and at least he had the decency to do it when it was just the two of them, and not when they were with everybody else. That would have been really embarrassing for Midas.

"And I knew that much. The thing is, when Frjokorn was telling me about it, he made it seem as if it was something that was still going on." He grinned ruthlessly. "The two of you aren't plotting to overthrow our captain and declare yourselves the leader of a new order...the Order of the Golden Paw! Are you?"

Midas cringed in what was almost genuine physical pain following this line of questioning.

"No!" he hastened to assure Kekale. He was pretty sure the younger reaver was joking, but he wanted to make sure there could be no question. He was not planning a mutiny. Neither was Frjo. At least, not as far as he knew, and that was the sort of thing Frjo definitely would have told him.

"It's just a stupid club Frjo and I made up when we were cubs. Because we both have yellowish forepaws. We called ourselves kanigits, or something, and went around trying to prove which of us was braver," he explained miserably, hoping he could make it sound to juvenile to be interesting, but he had the terrible suspicion that Kekale wouldn't drop it now that he'd realized he'd hit a soft spot by asking. Reavers weren't known for being merciful.

"Tell me about one of your missions," he said. It was not clear whether he was issuing a request or a command, but most likely it was a command.

"One of the ones from when you were younger," he clarified.

There wasn't really any particular reason he asked for stories about Midas's youth rather than his adolescence or something. Perhaps because he was going along with the less experienced reaver's claim that it had just been a juvenile club, even though he was almost one hundred percent convinced that they might not have stopped with their Order business even now.

"Tell me about the first mission you went on for the Order."

It wasn't hard for Midas to remember that particular story, but he hesitated before launching into it. It was one of the stupidest things he'd ever done in his life and had nearly gotten him killed.

"I was supposed to get a beehive down from a tree. Frjo had already tried and failed, so it was my turn. When I went, the bees were stirred up and angry, and so they swarmed me. Nearly stung me to death."

He'd been rescued by Odd Haleifr, who had been an exile from the pride at the time, since Midas's grandfather had been the warlord still. The fey lion had treated him with skills Midas still didn't understand, perhaps even calling on spirits, kept his fever in check, and brought him through.

"It was stupid."

Kekale was actually surprised to hear that Midas's first foray into adventuring had nearly gotten him killed. Perhaps he shouldn't have been, considering the things he had gotten up to as a cub, but the idea of being swarmed by a hive of angry bees made his fur twitch along his spine.

"Obviously you survived the experience," he observed, trying not to sound like he was impressed by the story. He would definitely be sharing it with Svana later. She'd probably find it at least briefly entertaining.

"How did that happen? You surviving, I mean. I don't imagine you would have been in any shape to get yourself back to the pride and to a healer." And even if he had managed to do so, it seemed impossible that he would have managed it in a sufficiently timely manner. It struck him as unlikely, but he asked anyway: "Did Frjokorn carry you back?"

Watching the effect of his questions was interesting, since he couldn't think why Midas would seem so uncomfortable and sad all at once talking about this, but it was reason enough to keep prying.

Midas shrugged and answered honestly, "I don't really remember too much about it, except the feeling of being completely covered with bees and the burning of being stung over and over."

Like Kekale, his fur also twitched at that memory as he continued, "One of the warlord's bastards - Aesir's bastards, Njal was still the warlord at the time - treated me and kept me alive."

It was during his period of recuperation that Midas had met Anushka. She had a keen wit, although she spoke in a deliberately stilted pattern which he would later learn she affected to sound more like her mother, who was some kind of simple. The two of them had remained friends even after he returned to the pride, growing very, very close until her uncle Burzum pointed out a fact they had both managed to overlook regarding their ancestry. Their shared ancestry.

"That would have been while they were exiled. You're lucky you weren't killed," Kekale observed.

It was pride history before his time, but Kekale had learned his history dutifully, and he knew the bare bones of what had gone on between the last three warlords. Being friends with the b*****d son of the current warlord and one of Aesir's legitimate daughters helped with that.

"I don't see why you seem so uncomfortable talking about it. You could easily polish this into the sort of story everyone would like hearing at camp. In fact, I'm a little surprised your friend hasn't done so already. He is so fond of the sound of his own voice, after all."

Kekale still didn't care much for Midas's friend Frjokorn, but he didn't particularly mind Midas. It was just difficult to get one without the other. They were thick as morning fog.

"It was discussed," Midas admitted.

There had been considerable debate about Odd Haleifr's actions that Midas remembered overhearing one night. He had posed a threat to the safety of the exiled family. He remembered understanding why they might still choose to let him die, especially since he was related to Njal, but that hadn't happened. The fey orange lion had stood firm, despite the arguments and threats of his siblings and half-siblings, refusing to allow them to do Midas any harm and reminding them that Njal's shameful behavior in acting against Aesir's family didn't give them leave to behave with equal cowardice regarding Njal's family. It was the first time Midas had ever felt ashamed of his heritage.

"Anyway, I'll think about making it into a camp tale, but I'm not sure I really want to get into that. I'm happy to leave it to Frjokorn."

Perhaps it because they had nearly rejoined the others, but Kekake prodded him no further on the subject. Whatever the reason, it was a relief. Midas didn't want anyone to know he had accidentally fallen in love with his half-sister.