Welcome to Gaia! ::

As soon as Brenning had come home with the news Lissa had known that she absolutely had to talk to Naaja. After all, their best friend was going to get married to her brother. That was definitely going to change things. Unfortunately, she couldn't very well go charging out of the den to talk to Naaja right away. Naaja would be home with her family and it would be really rude to interrupt them. So she would wait until morning.

Maddeningly, when Lissa arrived at Naaja's family den Naaja's guard, Burzum, told her that Lyti was already inside. How early had Lyti gotten there? She couldn't help but feel annoyed by that, since she had her own concerns about the marriage that she wanted to bring up to Naaja before Lyti said anything. She reminded herself that Naaja was an independent thinker and probably had the same doubts about Lyti's marriage that Lissa did.

Naaja had actually known that Lissa was waiting outside before Lyti left. Burzum had told her. Then Lyti had suggested that she ought to leave, since she got the feeling Lissa would not want to talk to her right away. Naaja didn't disagree with Lyti's guess, but she also didn't think Lissa would be pleased to be the second to talk to her today, and so she and went to greet Lissa, smiling as if she hadn't been woken at the crack of dawn because she was a good friend.

"Lissa, good morning. Would you like to take a walk with me? I think my father will murder me if I do any more talking in the den before he has his breakfast."

And it was as easy as that to get Lissa away from the den so that Lyti could leave without being seen. Juggling two best friends was difficult, but Naaja managed it well, in her estimation. She usually managed to forestall arguments between them, and even though Lyti was her best friend, she made sure Lissa didn't feel like she was second-best.

Lissa cast a glance over her shoulder in the direction of Njal's den, just in time to see Lyti slipping out behind Burzum. It did not occur to her that Burzum might have told her about Lyti being there just to stir up trouble between the friends. She didn't believe a boy would be capable of that sort of subterfuge. Even one like Burzum, who was definitely cleverer than most.

"Sure. There was something I wanted to tell you. About Lyti." She paused to choose her next words. Naaja didn't like it when Lissa said bad things about Lyti. She assumed Lyti was under similar constraints in the event she ever tried to badmouth Lissa in Naaja's presence.

"She's going to marry my half brother. I wanted you to be the first to know outside our families." There. That sounded good, even though she knew Naaja already knew, thanks to Burzum. She was pretty sure he liked her.

Of course, Naaja already knew what Lissa was telling her, but she had to pretend otherwise because Lissa didn't know that Lyti had already come by to see her that morning. It would have been easier if the three of them could have discussed this all together, but Lyti had been quite correct in guessing that wouldn't please Lissa. That was part of why Lyti was Naaja's favorite. Lissa demanded so much more effort from her.

"You must be joking. Did you really just find out?" No, that wasn't convincing sounding. "Wait, which half-brother? The handsome one?"

The handsome one, obviously, was Hansulter. This was an old discussion. The three girls had long ago decided which of their brothers were the best looking and most marriageable. Actually, that conversation had ended up turning into a fight because Naaja had said that she'd rather marry Lyti's brother Snorre, than Lissa's full brother Svartis or her half-brother Hansulter.

"No, not Hans," Lissa said, forcing a smile.

She appreciated that Naaja pretended that the news was actually new to her, even though she knew it wasn't. She still wasn't sure if she ought to call her on that though. It seemed like it would be really rude of her, since Naaja was being so nice. But it would make it easier on both of them if neither of them had to pretend, right?

"You don't have to pretend Lyti didn't already tell you. I mean, we are best friends, we don't have to keep secrets from one another."

Oh, well that made things easier. but Naaja still looked and felt chagrined. Being caught in a lie, even a well-meaning one like she'd been perpetuating with Lissa, was embarrassing.

"All right," she agreed, offering no apology. She didn't consider that it might be insulting to Lissa, that she had thought herself able to lie to her like that. She lied to Lissa in little ways all the time and this was the first time in recent memory she'd been caught in the act.

"I really am glad you came to tell me. I would've wanted to know right away, and if Lyti hadn't shown up at a ridiculous time to tell me, you definitely would have been the first. I appreciate that." Magnanimity. Naaja had it.

Actually, it wouldn't have occurred to Lissa to be insulted by Naaja lying to her, either. Mostly she was just insecure about the fact Naaja thought she had to lie. She didn't want to be treated any differently than Lyti. Because she was a good friend and wouldn't want to rock the boat like that.

"Well, since you know...how do you feel about it?" Lissa knew how she felt about it, but before she expressed her opinion she wanted to be sure that her opinions were the same as Naaja's. She didn't like to disagree with Naaja. It always made her feel kind of sick to her stomach, and she'd worry that if they argued Naaja wouldn't want to spend time with her anymore.

She hoped that Naaja agreed it was a bad idea. Maybe together the two of them could convince Lyti to tell Bren that she'd changed her mind. Unconsciously she looked over her shoulder at Burzum, who was sneering, as usual, but she thought that his sneer turned into a smile somewhat when he noticed her looking. (It hadn't).

This would have been so much easier if she could have had this conversation with Lyti and Lissa at the same time. Since she and Lyti had just held the exact same conversation. She smiled extra brightly and pushed that thought from her mind. Things were the way they were, and that was that.

"To be honest, I'm a little jealous that she's going to be the first one to get married, but I'm not terribly surprised. Her parents come from a pride where lionesses get married young." She shrugged. She was more than a little jealous, actually, but she didn't want to stir things up. If she was jealous, that was between her and Lyti.

"I suppose my biggest concern will be whether they'll be happy together. As far as I know, they've barely spoken before this. What do you think? You know Brenning better than either one of us."

Lissa puffed up, proud that she had information Naaja didn't have and couldn't get from Lyti. Proud to have been asked for her opinion.

"Well, Bren's from Dad's other litter, and they're not really keen on my litter, on the whole. But he's definitely the nicest of them. He's got this complex or whatever where he doesn't think he's good enough compared to his brothers. Honestly..." she paused to build dramatic tension. "I was surprised he didn't come home engaged to Kivi. He had the hugest crush on her for, like, ever. Not that I know why. Lyti's so much prettier."

The fact was, Lissa didn't much like Kivi. The yellow lioness was too sunny and caring, and she always acted like she was part of the family whenever she came by to visit, even though she wasn't. She was just Bren's friend. No one else really cared one way or the other about her. Lissa was relieved Bren wasn't marrying Kivi, truth be told, even if it did mean Lyti would be the first married.

"Well, I guess that's good," Naaja replied. "I'm glad Lyti's going to marry someone who's nice. But now that you mention it, I'm kind of surprised he didn't marry Kivi, too."

She had known about Bren's crush on Kivi in a vague sort of way. It had come up in conversation once or twice. Lissa had been complaining about it because it mean Bren had Kivi over all the time. She had forgotten about it though, because Lissa had stopped complaining about Kivi and so she had stopped having to think of either one of them, which was basically how she liked it. She supposed she would have to get used to thinking of Bren in the future though, at least a little.

"Still, I think as long as he treats her well Lyti will be happy, and she said he seemed determined to do that. Thank you for easing my mind on the subject." And just like that the conversation was over. Conveniently they were right by Lissa's home, too, so she could drop her friend off, go home, and try to get a little more sleep.