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Mirsajadi had once again slipped his mother's loving attention. There were so many cubs to mind, whenever one went missing, it was probably a relief to the banus in charge of watching the others to have one less charge to concern themselves with. As long as they didn't notice that there was a cub missing, anyway. He knew from experience that when he was found to be missing, a great deal of fuss ensued. It was fortunate that he'd learned early on how to be unobtrusive in leaving the den.

He slunk through the main area of the pride, the most dangerous part of the journey. The rest of the pride knew when a cub wasn't supposed to be out on his own, and quite often would return the errant one to his proper den. Mirsajadi had learned to evade those 'helpful' folk, too. He was, after all, a very clever pesar, in his own estimation.

It was as he was making his surreptitious way around the edge of this area that he noticed a young banu with a blue coat who seemed also to be too young to be out on her own. Protocol said they should be introduced before speaking, but Mirsajadi didn't see anyone around who could do that, and so he stopped slinking and began to walk confidently, as though he was where he belonged, approaching the banu.

She was the type to be alone most of the time, gazing over the scenery and really just.. enjoying herself. She was an oddball, looking more at the other lions to learn from them than actually taking the time to speak with them for too long. She yawned, pink tongue curling out of her maw, and when her mouth closed, she blinked.

Coming towards her was a cub.. A smallish cub, but then again she was a smaller juvenile herself. She was young, and she had always been a smaller female. Blue e yes looked him over, and then she looked around her for anyone who could take his attention away from her.

At least he was just a cub..He couldnt claim her for himself yet.. Something a few had tried doing, getting only her fathers angry teeth bared at them. He didnt see them worthy, then he didnt see them around her.

"Lo," She said, a small smile upon her maw.

"I've escaped, too," Mirsajadi confided. "My father's den is not far either. He's one of the sultan's advisers, you know. Tariq'ra'd."

He paused, thinking that he should really not be as tickled to meet a banu who crept away from her den. It wasn't proper banu behavior, after all. But he could understand the desire to get away. Some time ago he'd met a banu with purple eyes who said that outside the pride lions only took one mate, and at the time he'd thought the idea ludicrous, but having spent more time in the ever-growing harem his father kept, he thought he could see the appeal in the peace and relative solitude having but a single mate might offer.

He grinned at the blue-eyed banu, and his grin was vaguely reminiscent of his father's, but significantly less mad. "If my father found out I was out here, I could be in a lot of trouble." He shivered in excitement.

"I am pleased to meet you, Banu Arezoo, and I would be pleased to call you Zoey. My name is Mirsajadi. No one has ever called me anything else." He wondered if he should try to think up a nickname for himself, but decided it could wait. He liked his name.

She smiled when he said he had escaped his den as well. She supposed great minds thought alike. Nodding a little, she cocked her head. Tariq'd? She knew of him.. Mother didn’t like him one bit, but he was an advisor, and she thought it seemed he had great power in what he did.

However, she believed her father Faiz had just a little more, being the Sultans brother.

"I’m daughter of Faiz." She smiled, proud of such a fact. He was a cute cub, and she wondered if he would grow to be as big a tyrant as his father seemed to be.

She liked being called Banu, it seemed to cement her claim to life. But something in her, felt that she would be a beybanu one day. Doing otherwise would never work for her father. Of course.. She would take what she got in life, but she had aspirations ya know!

"It’s a pleasure to meet you. That’s a strong name you have." She replied with a bow of her head, and a gleam in her eyes.

"Why are you apologizing?" Mirsajadi asked. He reviewed their conversation thus far, and he couldn't find anything she'd said which warranted an apology on her behalf. In fact, neither of them had said anything requiring forgiveness, as far as he could tell. That was definitely something impressive, he felt. He could barely have a conversation with his siblings without getting into an argument.

"I like your name, too. It's very pleasant sounding. Zoey is a fine name, too. I think your parents chose well, giving you a name which could be changed to fit you differently as you grow up." He wondered if the reason he had never been encouragaged to shorten his name was because he was meant to begin as he meant to go on. Certainly, that's how he'd always seen it: he had to be perfect from the very beginning, or at least as close as he could get.

That was something Mirsajadi had not expected. He'd guessed she might be a little older than he, but at the same time he hadn't realized that banus started thinking of future pads so early. His duty of taking banus in the future only flitted through his mind in brief moments, and he never thought about it for very long, unless he was actually with a banu. Maybe that was how it was with Zoey.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you did become a beybanu. Your father's name alone would get you that much." He realized how that sounded and was a little annoyed that he'd been the first one to speak words which might require forgiveness. He added with a hasty, guilty nod of his head, "Not that you couldn't easily earn the title yourself."

She smiled, a little blush tinging her cheeks. Not because she liked the attention from the cub, because he was after all still a cub. But more because she had never really been told she could achieve something like being a beybanu. It was something she had always just hoped to achieve deep down in her heart

"I think my mother chose well with my name, too. She said it means Wish, which.. I guess fits me quite well." She grinned with a mischevious smile.
She didnt tell him she had felt herself much too brash for how a banu was supposed to act, adn that was why she had apologized.. No.. She more wanted to forget that she hadnt been the perfect lady and let him see her as dignified.

She had begun thinking of Pads since her father had wormed it in her skull that was her future. She had been told that she needed to never be seen around an older male, as doing so would mean she had given herself the option of being taken. Something she wasnt really looking into.

She supposed wandering off on her own wasnt a good idea either, but the young female couldnt help herself.

"Oh it’s okay.. Im sure its fathers title that will get me far. I hope its my personality that just solidifies the deal." She giggled.

She had never been told otherwise, and she was proud that she could be such a good girl for her family.

"Of course it does," Mirsajadi replied, not too much concerned. If his name didn't already mean something great, he would do great things so that in the future his name would always be associated with greatness, and that would take care of that. He debated whether he should share this thought with Zoey, and then decided there was no harm in letting her see that he was ambitious.

"Anyway, I'll make it mean something great if it doesn't already. I'll just be that spectacular," he boasted, grinning. He was pleased with himself eternally. "And then there will be lots of cubs named Mirsajadi. Maybe."

He noticed Zoey shifting and wondered if she was growing bored by his company. That deflated his ego just a little. He had never considered himself boring. Mirsajadi had been sitting more or less still, aside from the little twitches and flicks that all lions performed unconsciously to dismiss flies and adjust the lay of coats.

"Thank you. Do they really tell you to be afraid of my father?" Mirsajadi asked with interest. He'd never thought of his father as fearsome. Intimidating and powerful, yes, but not fearsome. It was an interesting thought, and he wondered why anyone would have it. "I'm usually told that I should try to be like him when I grow up."

He wasn’t boring her at all, only the juvenile usually hated staying in one place too long. She liked to move, and if she couldn’t, she fidgeted. But she liked to think that it had nothing to do with the company she was keeping. In fact she found him quite interesting..And almost very well spoken for a cub his age.

"Yes. That sounds like the perfect plan. I should think that depending on how amazing your name is made to be, you should see LOTS of little cubs with your name running around wanting to be just like you."
She mused with a grin.

"Er well.. Mother doesn’t like him much because she says he’s mean to his banu. I was told to fear his offspring, as otherwise.. I might end up with one of them, and one of them could beat me. I’m already loyal and obedient, I’d hate to think Id get beaten just to be beaten."
She responded, but looked at him with honest eyes.

"I don’t think you’d beat me, so in that case, maybe they’re all wrong."

Mirsajadi grinned back at Zoey. He didn't want to get into a disagreement. The morning had begun with promise, and he intended to make the entire day a good one. One confusing allegation against his father wouldn't spoil that. He wouldn't let it. Besides, it would be good to know what people said and thought about his father, since apparently they assumed the same bad things about him. His father wasn't a bad father, a bad pad, or a bad lion. Those other people just didn't understand.

"I bet I can!" he replied, dismissing all his troubling thoughts and springing into action. He wasn't one hundred percent certain where he was going, but he could follow until it came into sight, and then he'd speed up and win. This was going to be an excellent day indeed.