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To Soleil, Kidondo gave a short nod. “No doubt we will need messages sent to the outposts. For now, however, it would be best to deal with the problem of the intruders and this supposed Nergui. As soon as that has been dealt with, I will begin co-ordinating the strengthening of our defences.” He did not look back at the shouting going on behind him but he gave the female a grave nod. “He has fire, I’ll give him that.”
 
Perhaps, Kidondo thought, Teketeza might be a good one to take a lead in co-ordinating soldiers and guards to outposts. He had a presence about him, certainly. Then, No’s voice rang out, warning those fiery tempers to keep order and he turned his attention back to the approaching Kalama.
 
“Kalama.” He greeted in response.
 
His eyes then went past her to the unfamiliar form of the lion behind her. A dark creature with the oddest markings Kidondo had ever seen on a lion. If you were to judge one on appearance alone, this Miah could be deemed a villain there on the spot. Fortunately for the prisoner, that would not be the case.
 
“Thank you for dealing with this matter, Kalama. Ute. It is good to know we have people who can keep their wits about them during times of crisis.” He continued: “I hope they did not give you any trouble once you took them into custody?” The regent drew himself a little more and moved forwards with purposeful steps, eyeing the stranger with his typical guarded expression. The lion before him seemed to give nothing away with his body language. Perhaps he would be easy to decipher through his words.
 
“I warn you now. We are not a people known for our mercy. If you cannot convince us of your innocence in this matter then there will be demands for blood.” His tail whipped to enforce that point. “And I must say, as the situation is now, I cannot see this going well for you.” He moved aside to make room for Nawvlee and No to join alongside him and his daughter.
 
He paused, fixed Miah with a firm glare and when he spoke again, the words were laced with a growl. “In your own time.”
 
(Roho will hang back away from the interrogation.)

And ear flicked in the direction of a voice, and eventually his eyes did focus on Nuria. Yayuka didn't know when he had gotten so dizzy. Hmph. He glanced down at his paw, realizing that beneath him the sand was getting pretty red. Eeeh, yeah. That wasn't too good. For obvious reasons, though, he couldn't really tell how bad his ear was. Heck, he could barely even feel it, because his paw was monopolizing his perception of pain at the moment. In comparison, his ear felt pretty okay. "Alright." He replied, moving to the medical wards seemed like a good idea.

"It's pretty bad." He laughed a bit there, though it was without mirth. At least Yayuka could say he was being a good sport about all this. "I can walk." He replied to Nuria, standing up once more. He could bounce around like an idiot, using three paws, that was fine. On the way here he'd been putting his paw against the ground, which proved a bad idea, since now the injury was covered in sand.

"Just show me where to go." Because Yayuka had couldn't seem to remember where thye were. Hopefully he wouldn't fall over like a drunken buffoon, and regret refusing her help.

(other peeps will get their own post! Or, they will share a post. so really, Yayuka is the special one.)

By the time No rounded to sit behind where Kidondo stood, Miah had still yet to speak. The sour look on the black cat's face somehow managed to intensify. One would think a person would be quick to rush to their own defense if they were innocent. Was he still thinking of some story to spin for them? Or unable to speak their words? Her nose crinkled. And what of the others? What made this one more likely to be the spy then the rest?

Since he wasn't forthcoming, she decided to get her fill of the facts. "How many Hongshan have newly arrived? Including this one."

She was addressing Kalama, who had dutifully brought the prisoner before them. Instead, the odd looking lion spoke. When he did, his voice was light. Not the tense voice of a prisoner. His expression continuing to be unreadable. "I brought seven to you, including myself. Although it was never my plan to remain."

"The Hongshan believe you to be a Nergui spy. We have an attack on our borders, and a group magically appears before us asking for refuge. I don't believe in coincidences," she warned.

The odd creature seemed to laugh. It was the same, bizarre noise, as though he wasn't entirely sure how the act was supposed to be perpetuated. "It is no coincidence. But I am no spy," he paused. "I assisted these lions and they were quite quick to turn. If this had been an attempt to infiltrate the Hongshan, they surely wouldn't have chosen me. And had I simply wanted to know only where the other Hongshan were, I could have left them in the desert days ago."

"And it seems to me your demand for blood will far exceed what I have to offer," he said.

Eight Hongshan. A substantial size then. Kidondo would have put the numbers much lower if he had been asked to guess. Would they really have given up so many of their prisoners for a mere distraction? Surely only two or three would have sufficed. From what he had heard of the Nergui, they weren't all that willing to give up captives that willingly. So there was more to this than a simple distraction, then. Fair enough. He had half been expecting there to be more to the story than that, anyway.

He watched the other lion carefully whilst No spoke, keeping himself quite still, not daring to blink lest he miss some clue as to the lion's character.

And, following Miah's 'closing note', Kidondo took another step forwards. He was tired and his patience was beginning to fray. He battled to keep it, only just managing to keep his voice steady. "And that is to say what, exactly? That you have nothing of use? Nothing to mitigate? Speak plainly, spy, I am in no mood for word games and you are doing little to stay my claws."

He released a short breath, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on that odd face. "Let us put this into perspective for you. We are expected to stand here and believe that you - a mere wandering rogue - risked your life to rescue lions you have no connection with from a group of murderers and slavers?" He blinked, pausing for a moment to let the words sink in. "Forgive us if we remain dubious."

He growled again. "So, let's try this again, shall we?" He was certain that if the dark lion had been Hongshan, that Nawvlee would have recognised him if the others had not.

Kosuke sighed, closing his eyes. "Perhaps some things, regrettably, run in the family." He paused to glare at Singh. "Go tend to Shula now, will you?! I'm FINE!" When the white lion had scurried off, the red male turned back toward his brother. "I'll have to have a talk with the boy at some point soon... I think some things have been IGNORED in what I taught him." He flicked an ear, looking out to the desert beyond. His mind went a random, sudden direction. "When was the last time you saw Aunt Kenna, Ali...?"

Singh let out a huff, before going over to the red lioness. "You're not driving me away this time, Shula. Your mate sent me over this time, and I find him far more dangerous than I find you." He paused, glancing over. "He frightens me..."

Shula shifted, giving the other lion a flat glare. She couldn't argue, though. If Kosuke sent him, then he wasn't leaving until her wounds were tended to. She let out a sigh, attempting to lick one. Her face contorted in pain. "I can't imagine you know how to either stop or dull the pain, do you...?" She'd probably be more able to deal with it, if her wounds would stop hurting so much. She shuddered just a bit, closing her eyes for a moment. "I don't know how the worse off can stand this..." She just wanted to crawl out of her skin and grow a new one.

Letting out a sigh, Singh sat down and dug in the pouch he wore. After a moment, he peeked in it, frowning. "I'm out of the root I brought into the desert with me..." He thought a moment, looking around, before his eyes fell on the white juvenile. "Ah, Kiran, perfect! There's a dried up dead plant outside, could you go dig it up for me? It's against the rock wall, on the north-east side of the ward! It's a bit old, but it'll at least help the lions with worse injuries than scrapes and bruises..." He'd have to get Seraphina to give some to Morag.

The juvenile looked over his shoulder at Singh, before his gaze returned to Ea for a moment. Well, it was SOMETHING to do! He gave a bow to the dark lioness, "Nevermind, ma'am, something else came up for me to do!" He then ran over to Singh, listening to the directions given. When he was sure he had them, he turned tail and ran off, growing paws flying and sending sand flying. Maybe even Ea would want some! It might help with the limp lion Vlam had carried in, that was for sure!

The lion's face shifted with each step as he forced suppression of pain shooting up his nerves with each movement. The sand particles that found their way into his open cuts were becoming more annoying as time passed. He was certain that if any of the medics found out, they would demand he stay off his feet for a day or two. If any of the Hongshan found out, he was almost sure they would tell him to sack up or mimic the medics' advice. If it got infected, could mean death for him in the desert.

Following Ukuba, he scanned every few paces. "Wlv vairb lo do irbou siaeub?" Why would he be under guard? Thabiti questioned as he kept pace with his brethren. "Bik I kaer too irbou klo k'ukidtkaerkot." But I can see under the circumstances.

She remained with the regents and the 'prisoner', though she stepped aside to get out of the way of any interrogation. Kalama actually found herself a little irritated when Miah answered a question meant for her, because she liked doing something useful. Perhaps she wasn't so useful now that Kidondo and No, and a few others, were with the strange lion, but she still hung around, because at this point Kalama was curious.

And then another lioness had entered the chat. The same one who had tried to keep her from bringing Miah over. And ear laid back in annoyance, but aside from that, Kalama remained stoic, and simply continued to listen to what was going on.

She found two things. Miah was definitely a very strange lion, and she couldn't quite bring herself to like him. And Elcca had a point, all the Hongshan brought over should be questioned.

Moto'spaki watched the Hongshan return to the others, idly musing about how strange they were. They spoke a different language, which was a little irksome. They should have someone here watching them that understood what they said, it felt strange guarding a group that chattered so much. who knew what they were saying?

Also, they didn't seem like a trust worthy bunch. Not because they were outside, but something just wasn't right when they were so quick to turn on one of their own, because as far as Spaki was concerned, Miah was one of their own.

Realizing that he now appeared to be alone with the rag-tag group was also hardly comforting, and he really wanted to know what was going on out of sigh. He had never gotten a chance to find out who exactly was injured, perhaps someone he knew? Perhaps a brother? And where were the other Hongshan, certainly they would come investigate this?

As Thabiti and Ukuba returned, Tswana considered making a remark about how pointless it had been for them to offer help. Because if the tables were turned, and they were back in their homelands with a strange group, she wouldn't have let them help, either. Things were different, though, so she didn't say anything about that. Instead, she commented on something else. "Roho vokm's baems siordad." Roho wasn't being guarded. She pointed out. Roho seemed to have joined up with the firekin with no effort, and had only been blocked when she attempted to attack Miah. Even then, afterwards, she had been freely allowed to leave.

"Su I dum's kaa vrae Nawvlee vuird ba siordad." So I don't see why Nawvlee would be guarded. Besides, their group had escaped moons ago. If they had been here for even half the time since they fled the Nergui, the firekin should already be quite accustomed to them.

Somehow Yayuka was managing to follow Nuria as she led him to the medical wards. He found he was actually pretty good at only using three paws, considering he was feeling rather dizzy and lightheaded from blood loss. This would certainly be useful during the weeks of recovery he had ahead of him.

Since he didn't pass out, they did, indeed, make it to the medical wards soon enough. Well, at least now he knew were they were. The gray lion wondered if he was being too passive about all this, maybe he should be more nervous, or angry, like the rest of the firekin. Yayuka came to the conclusion that he was just too tired, weak, and now relatively safe, to care. He could be angry later, or if they were attacked again. "Thank you." He told Nuria as he arrived, because thanking people was something his mother had never done, so he felt obligated to always do it.

(quoting those who Kidondo directly addresses)






Kidondo listened to the lion's words and decided that perhaps his speech was not in any sense made to thwart or impede. He was an odd creature and perhaps he knew no better way. Any lion, by now, would be saying anything to save themselves, even if it was all lies. But this lion was in a dark situation and he was not even attempting to get himself out of it. So what could Kidondo make of that, then? That the cat was playing some wise game of words or he was, in fact, telling the truth - as far as he was aware.

He was about to respond, when their 'interrogation' was interrupted by a young lioness; one of their newest members. His eyes narrowed a little, but if he was displeased about her intruding on this conversation, he did not word it. It probably helped that she spoke some sense.

After a moment he gave a sharp nod and let his eyes graze across Elcca and Miah before he shifted to look at those accompanying him. Namely, No and Nawvlee.

"This may be an unpopular view, but, if you are all in agreement, I suggest we have this lion taken back to where the rest of them are being held. It would be wise to question them further on this. Whether this lion is guilty or not, he and the others possess information on our enemies. Information that might prove useful to us. After today, it is clear that these Nergui intend to cause trouble and I would rather our troops did not go into battle blind." He looked to Nawvlee. "It seems to me you might be in a better position to get the Hongshan to talk. They will know you and trust you. Get them to open up about their time in captivity. Learn from them all that you can." He glanced back at the orange-red female. "Perhaps take Elcca with you."

He wanted to go too, but there was also the issue with alerting and strengthening the border patrol.

"Kalama." He addressed the red female. "The brigidier, here." He indicated his daughter, Azar, "And myself will be moving out to co-ordinate the sending of reinforcements to the borders. Your help would be appreciated in this matter." He needed good, strong lions to help with this. His head snapped around, then, seeking the grey form of Teketeza. Was he still around? "Teketeza?" He called in a raised voice. "I have a job for you."




( exclaim Also some info on Kenna: she is ICly still a part of the pride even though DFA isn't around to RP.)