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Odd hated Solvtorn. He had done since the first time they met and Solv spent several minutes coming up with the most insulting things he could think of to say about Odd, his siblings, and his parents. Their feelings for each other had not changed in the intervening time.

And now Solv was preventing him from meeting his favorite sibling.

"Move," Odd growled.

Another lion might have snarled or postured in some way, but Odd was just what his name suggested. He was odd, especially for the warlike pride he had been brought to. His oddness meant that he was not one of those freeborn who issued threats or attempted to intimidate. That he was doing so now meant that he was seriously in no mood to deal with idiots like the one presently blocking his path down to the beach.

Having grown up as his father's only, and yet least favorite son in a pride where less-than-favorites were habitually victimized, Solvtorn was not the sort of lion to be intimidated by a growl from an adolescent. At least not an adolescent like the one currently standing there and growling at him to move.

As far as Solv was concerned, Aesir's b*****d cubs were nothing to fear. There was not even a reaver among them. Some of the girls seemed to be trying to make their way as priestesses in the pride, which infuriated Solv whenever he thought about it, but none of the boys had ever made any sort of attempt to be useful, contributing members of the family, and this Odd one was the worst. He seemed willing to trade on his good relationship with his half-sister to get by in life.

"I don't think so," Solv said in a tone of voice that obviously implied a dare to Odd to try to make him move.

Odd's growl rumbled once more, this time without words. In this pride of warriors, it was true that an adolescent's growl wasn't much for an adult lion to fear, even if that adult lion was unofficially recognized as the favorite victim of every lion in his generation. Probably that was why he had decided to seek friends in Odd's generation the fox-colored lion thought uncharitably.

"Get out of my way, false bard," Odd said.

He still made no overt attempt at intimidation, instead speaking from a new place of calm self-assurance that he was occasionally able to find, though he had yet to figure out the magical route to getting there all the time. Today he had access to it, and it actually made him seem much more mature and intimidating than a lion his age had a right to be.

Something about the way the Odd b*****d spoke struck Solv as out of the ordinary in a definitely not good way. It was like the gangly adolescent was somehow channeling his older self, the confident lion he would grow up into. Solv didn't like that one bit. It didn't bode well for how things would be in the future.

But right now Odd was still just an adolescent talking big and trying to seem intimidating, and there was no way Solv would allow him to get the upper paw in this situation or any other. Solv was from old blood in the pride and Odd was the b*****d son of an outlander born lion and an outlander witch. He was nobody.

"You think you're going to best me at wordplay, feyborn witchchild? That is simply impossible."

Odd wanted to talk to his sister. There was a lot he wanted to tell her, and some advice he wanted to offer her. Some of it, actually, was about Solvtorn. There had been signs, clear and unmistakable, that the silver and black lion would lead her to no good and get her hurt. The spirits hadn't been clear about in what way she would be hurt, but Odd didn't care. He just wanted his sister safe.

He wouldn't object if being safe also meant that she wouldn't be hanging around Solvtorn the asshat. She claimed she knew what Solv was like and that he wasn't as awful as he seemed to Odd and the rest of the pride. Odd wasn't buying it.

"I think it's funny you think I would waste my time with wordplay. I don't play with words. I play with spirits. I wonder who would win if we played. You with your words, or me with my spirits." Odd gave one of his most fey grins.

And now, suddenly, Solv's upbringing was working against him. He had been raised to believe himself descended from gods and usually that was sufficient to convince him of his superiority to all outlanders and non-lions, but the way Odd spoke of the spirits made him very uncomfortable. Solv did not know about spirits, but he had learned in the time since Aesir's b*****d family came to the pride that there were things beyond gods that a person should be wary of.

His stomach tightened and his tail twitched in the moment of hesitation between making the decision to continue to brazen it out with Odd or give way, as he eventually must. Solv was not proud of the reaction he had to Odd's words.

Odd watched as realization dawned on Solv. If it came to a fight between them, Odd would not play by Solv's rules. He had never played by the rules of the Stormborn when it came to battle and confrontation. In that way, he and Solv were actually alike, except that all Solv had going for him was that he was quick with words. Odd was quick with many things.

"Well? Will you move or have you decided this ought to end in battle? I have better things to do with my time, but I will not have my actions dictated by a pathetic worm like you." Mentally he apologized to worms as a species. They weren't really all that bad, after all.

"Watch yourself, witchchild," Solv warned as he moved marginally to his right. Just enough that a slim youth like Odd could slip past him if he wasn't afraid of the sheer drop he would be skirting.

Briefly Solv entertained fantasies of shoving Odd off while he moved past, but he knew he wouldn't do it. Murdering the warlord's son, even though he was a b*****d son, would get him in whole heaps of trouble. Not to mention he was certain Kazul would have nothing to do with him, and he had developed a powerful desire to possess the prickly princess.

Odd had to bite back a gasp of disbelief when Solv actually gave way and presented him with just enough space to squeeze past. He recognized that even as Solv did that, he still did not truly consider Odd a threat, for he was assuming Odd would take only the space he had been offered rather than shoving Solv to one side as a larger, more aggressive lion would do.

"I don't think you represent enough of a threat to warrant extra vigilance on my part," Odd said as he brushed past Solv without the faintest hesitation about the drop and the danger he risked in allowing Solv to be in a position where he could push him off the path and let him fall to his death below.

"You, on the other hand, would do well to ask one of the priestesses for a talisman against the spirits, should you persist in annoying me and my siblings." In which he mentally included Kazul, though he knew Solv would not.

The freaky little brat had done it again. He was speaking from that other place where he was confident and powerful, and Solv didn't like it. After the fact, he wished spitefully that he had actually pushed Odd to his death. Accidents happen, and he was considered a coward so universally that no one would think he had the balls even for sneaky murders.

But murder was an act without honor, and Solv had little enough of that as it was. There were other things he might try though. He could see if it was possible to turn Kazul against her b*****d brother and really try. That would make for an interesting challenge and test for his skills as a bard. Yes, that would do for now, Solv decided as he walked away, attempting to stride down the path as if nothing had happened.

He certainly had no intention of seeking out any priestess for a talisman. Not at all.