Welcome to Gaia! ::

Canicus' mouth was already beginning to go dry, but that was no unusual these days. Just the thought of all of that water gone caused his throat to begin drying up. He sighed deeply and his gaze flicked up just in time to see Kasi nod to him, she followed after Ute's group. Canicus began to move after Viam, tail flicking as he kept his ears perked to listen to the others in the group.

After a moment his blue gaze caught little flashes of white at his paws and he hesitated going forward, instead glancing down. His eyes narrowed a little. It was a small snake, almost completely white minus a small marking closer to it's head. He lifted a paw to avoid the snake running into it and shifted sideways, now paying more attention to where his paws were falling than to where they were going.

He said nothing to the snake, though he did wish it would not glide through the sands right under him. He growled slightly, then just accepted this and his head jerked up. Right! What was he doing, letting his attention stray like that? His ears pinned back and he cursed himself slightly, tail flicking as he eyed the snake almost suspiciously before letting his gaze sweep the sands.

The bird let out a hum, then beat her wings, starting to rise into the air. Surely a white lion wouldn't be so hard to spot or hear. Of course, with the description, from above... She'd look exactly like her mistress's half-sister, Savitri. She blinked, then dropped back down to Ute. "Another quick question - What color are her eyes? Because from above, without me seeing that mark on her chest, she'd look exactly like my mistress's older half-sister." Heck, from the back, UTE looked like Savitri! The eagle then let out a displeased sound, landing behind the rock to get out of the blowing sand. She'd hear Ute's answer from here.

Bearing the blast of sand, Kosuke started to wander around to look. If this was their favorite spot, she hadn't gone far. "If we find her, I'm gonna tie her to that dead tree back at the dens myself so she doesn't wander off again!" This was ridiculous, why would she even wander off like this in the FIRST place?

Rowtag, in the mean time, had opted to check out a series of dips and ravines. Being younger and smaller, he was curious about how far he could push his luck. As he leaned over to peek in one, he felt a sudden sensation, as the sand gave way under his paws. Turning in a quick movement that would have probably made Shula proud, he gripped his claws on the ledge until he was sure it'd be a soft slide down for him. This system would be FUN to explore, he just knew it! At any rate, it'd prove useful later in life.

The lizard didn't escape the eagle's sight, and she hopped over, using some ease of gentleness as she placed a clawed foot on it. "Hey, I'm not gonna eat you. Not hungry. But..." She leaned down. "You CAN be of use... See... We're looking for a lion... White lion, solid white, except for a mark on her chest... And you're much lower to the ground, with your own visual perspective... Maybe you can... Help us?" She just hoped it could understand her.

As he picked his way, Rowtag suddenly realized a few things. One, it was sheltered from the sand and wind down here. Or at least... The wind... He shook some sand that had fallen on him off, then looked around. It was also much quieter down here. He could still faintly hear everybody else, but not too grandly well. The juvenile swallowed, before picking his way through everything, poking his nose into the odd little cave.

Anbu was alone. He preferred it, but beyond that, he did he best work by himself. The creeping sands were silent and so was he, a skill he had honed from a young cub. He was quiet in the underbrush of the forest, but out here, in the desert where hot sands padded your feet, he moved like a ghost.

The search for water had not escaped even the likes of himself. He was new to approach the pride still, and had not even completed a single challenge yet, winning or otherwise, but as long as he stuck around he too suffered from the thirst everyone shared. His choice had been to leave or to stay and help. He didn’t often make such a sacrifice for others, but he stayed. He liked this pride. He was determined to win a place among them.

The trouble was, he was not so familiar with the desert environment. It was all sand, scrubby brush and sky. In his homeland water would be found in a stream, and he admitted inwardly that he didn’t have much of a clue as to how to find it here. Something maybe about cacti? Didn’t they contain water?

He moved on, constantly in motion to keep the sand from burning his footpads.

The eagle did her best to smile, then moved her foot. "Great! Because, let's be blunt here..." She motioned with a wing to the lions, leaning down a bit. "They see things from about four levels... And you see things well below level one for them. And there's no small cubs here to see level one. The adults... Only see level four. And me..." She motioned up. "I see level... Um... Fifty. The sky. But that only goes so far." She gently poked the lizard with a feather. "You, on the other wing, can go places even cubs can't, to see things even they can't. So... Happy hunting!" She hopped a small distance away, then spread her wings, taking to the air to follow Ute again and get that eye color.

Scrambling over a rock, Rowtag stood on it, ears up and listening. His nose twitched, trying to find any sort of scent, but none came to him right away. Finally, he opted to duck into one of the tunnels. It'd at least be cooler in there, and maybe a sound would reverberate. Indeed, as soon as he squeezed in, he found much cooler air, and began padding along. There was no moisture, not a drop to be found, as he'd mostly expected. He was just a bit disappointed that he HADN'T found water.

Rowtag stopped suddenly, one ear twitching. It was very faint... But he heard something. He followed the sound, kicking up dust under his paws, before coming to another opening out of the tunnel-like cavern. It was slightly larger, so there was less struggling, but this didn't stop him from tumbling into the sun. He blinked, squinting his eyes against how bright it was, then backed up into the shade... And fell over a leg with a yell. When he'd collected himself, he sat up, then let out a yell of surprise. "Miss Zii!"

Mwako'Damu tried to be as silent as possible as he moved, trying to listen, trying to not get in the way of those that wished to help, but he didn't hear anything. Flicking his tail, his ears, Mwako'Damu wished to the sun that somehow a rain would fall from the sky suddenly to drench their hot pelts and ease the pride's thirst, but the humidity did nothing to help that hope.

But as he stood, thinking, trying to decide which way to go, he looked about to those who had come to try and find Zii'moto and he knew that this was what family and friendship was, dedication through obstacles, no matter the distance traveled.