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Erling might not know her name, but the dark grey lioness was immediately recognizable. He watched her as she approached, interested. He had never interacted with any of the Warlord's Vikingborn children. Unlike the Warlord's legitimate children, they all looked pretty interchangeable ... a pack of boys that looked just like their outlander mother, and another group of grey girls with Aesir's face. Erling wasn't sure how many of them there were. Vol would know, likely. Erling didn't why anyone would want to be surrounded by a bunch of girls with the Warlord's face, but Vol seemed quite taken with them.

Thinking of Vol lusting for girls that looked like Aesir brought a smile to Erling's face as the young lioness drew near. He would have to remember that. He could tease Vol with it later.

If he hadn't smiled, Erling would have simply nodded at the young lioness and moved on. He wasn't much interested in females even younger than his daughter. He had smiled at her though, and he didn't want her waltzing off with the idea that he had some inappropriate affection for her, like that old lecher Vol.

"Good to see a cub going about their duties," Erling said.

Erling snorted, amused by the cub's response. Flirting with young reavers, eh? Erling was a traditionalist, and as far as he was concerned flirting with young reavers was a good part of a Freeborn girl's duties. But, his own daughter had taken the path of a priestess, and that was a time-honored female occupation too.

"My daughter Brynja is a Priestess," Erling said, nodding at the youngling with something close to approval. "A good job for a good Freeborn girl - if you have the heart for it." She seemed terribly young to be training for an important job, but Erling had no doubt that the other Priestesses would keep a tight reign on her. As a whole, the Priestesses were a frightening bunch.

Erling liked this daughter of Aesir's. She was polite, but not meek. He generally didn't take an interest in the pride's youth until they were old enough to speak sense. Some of the young adults still didn't speak sense. This one, though, she had a good head on her shoulders. She reminded him of Brynja, all cool determination. Erling approved. If she ever decided to look farther than her studies, she would handle some brash young Reaver well.

"The Warlord should be proud of you, girl." He grinned down at the youngling. "It takes talent to become a Priestess." Erling was a firm believer in the power of the Priestesses and their connection to the spirit world. "The young Reavers should be jealous of you. You lose physical strength over time." He gave her a wry smile. "It's strength up here that lasts," Erling said, using a paw to gesture towards her head. "Cleverness lasts. Cleverness and heart." In a pride that tended to fawn over battle and glory, Erling thought it was always important to encourage those that weren't warriors.

The girlcub - Priestess cub, he supposed - was really quite tolerable and intelligent for a young lioness. After hearing that old goat Vol blather on about how appealing the Warlord's daughters were, Erling had half-expected her to be a bawdy little strumpet. Erling was pleasantly surprised by her. He had a secret fondness for all of the Priestesses, especially the young ones they took into training. They always made him recall Brynja's rise into the ranks of the Priestesses and the pride he had felt. Still felt, of course! It hadn't been so terribly long ago, after all.

He couldn't help laughing at her description of the young reavers. "They all start out like that, little Priestess. Some of them get the sense beat into them over time. Some ..." he shrugged. "Some don't." Like Vol, for example. Oh, he was a wily old lion, but surprisingly foolish in some ways. Particularly about women!

The Priestess-cub was so indignant when speaking about the stupid young Reavers that Erling had to laugh again. "A water buffalo? I hadn't heard that." Likely the other Captain had been too embarrassed to tell him just how foolish one of his Reavers had been. Erling wouldn't have been too proud himself if one of his own band acted so stupidly.

"You have time yet," Erling said, smiling at the adolescent. "You can wait for them to sort themselves out. Or for their Captains to sort them out." Erling supposed he would have to take some of the younger Reavers out himself. He preferred going with trusted Reavers, of course, but if no one bothered with the young ones they wouldn't learn! "By the way, what is your name, little Priestess? I'm Erling. We've spoken a while without introducing ourselves."

"Broni," Erling repeated, committing it to memory. A good name, as strong as this young lioness's will. He smiled slowly as he considered her request. Yes, he could certainly find her a Reaver. Gunnar's boys were all chasing after their own girls, but Erling knew a certain Reaver that had gone unattached for far too long. Erling would have to speak to him about the possibility of settling down. Forcefully, if necessary. "I'll see what I can do, Broni. I have some relatives that could use a lady's guiding paw."