Their meeting had been a strange one, and now the two of them were sitting underneath an oddly constructed device in an attempt to avoid becoming completely drenched by the oncoming rain. Chaya just didn't have it in her heart to eat the little creature, and one she had managed to calm the klipspringer down, she became aware of the situation at hand. It had turned out that Nuru, as she was called, was separated from her mother. Though she was an adult, they travelled together, looked after one another, and now Nuru was scared that her mother had been eaten or something terrible had happened to her. Chaya could both sense and see the fear in the young klipspringers eyes, and thought it a shame to leave her to deal with that on her own. She couldn't and so, she wouldn't.

Nuru had proved pretty useful, actually. From what the lioness could make out, she was into craft, or art. Chaya had attempted to make a structure to shelter from the rain, but Nuru had proved far better at sourcing materials to use. It wasn't great, but it was better than being out in the open rain. Leaves were wrapped carefully around branches, linked from one to another, and tied with some kind of vine or rope that Chaya hadn't paid attention to until it became apparent that it was holding the entire thing together. It wasn't too high, high enough for Nuru yes, but Chaya had to duck to make sure that her much taller from didn't break the roof of it. They had been sensible enough to make it at the edge of a few trees, they could see the land, but were managing to stay surprisingly dry.

The purple and white klipspringer was sat at the edge of the structures protective cover, and eyed Chaya warily. The past few days had been a whirlwind of emotions and she wasn't entirely sure how to deal with them. Fear was the main one, and unease. It was the first time Nuru really knew what they meant and she didn't like them one bit. Fear sent your blood running cold and seemed to stop your legs in their tracks, pinning you down. Unease seemed to take your stomach, flip it about, and make your heart flutter and dip unexpectedly. Now, however, she wasn't in pure terror, but she was just wary. Why should she trust a lion? Her and her mother had always been fearful and avoided them. They had a few encounters with wild dogs perhaps and other creatures, but lions had always been the most terrifying. There had been few words said between the pair after Nuru had revealed her plight, but suddenly Chaya spoke.

“You've done a really good job with this.” She nodded gently. There was a certain skill involved in making things that not only looked good, but functioned well, especially if those things were significantly bigger than yourself. She'd watched the little deer scrabbled about on the rocks with awe, it turned out she didn't like the rain either.

Nuru blinked at Chaya and gave her a small smile, making sure she was still keeping her distance. It could be a ploy, maybe the lioness hadn't been that hungry, but was scared she might not find any food on her travels so brought her along as a meal to go for when she needed? She shuddered partly from the damp and partly from that thought alone. “Thanks, as I s-said before, me and my mother, we make a lot of things..” In actual fact, Nuru was more of a painter, she liked to make different types and colours of paints, anything she could to make something look interesting and colourful. Her mother was more of a hoarder, who collected rocks and structures, but she painted too. It had been her mother, Tia'Rangi, who had showed her how to make the rain shielding structure.

Chaya cleared her throat gently. She felt quite sorry for Nuru, maybe they should start a search party. “You know... Maybe we could go and look for her?”

Nuru continued to blink at her, expressionless. If Chaya had been another klipspringer, or a giraffe, or in fact any herbivore she would have jumped at the chance with a smile, but what if she was simply thinking of having a starter and a main meal? She couldn't lead any more danger to her mother. What if she had simply got lost and was in no peril, and then she brought a lion into the midst. No, no, she would be so angry, and just as terrified as Nuru had been when she was nearly eaten.

The silence seemed to hang in the air, as Chaya waited for an answer. She could understand why the small creature would be so wary of her, but wouldn't she have eaten her already if she so wished? Her maroon eyes gazed out towards the land. It was a little rocky, they were approaching a jungle of some kind she supposed. Chaya felt a pang of guilt as she looked to the sky and the outline of her mountain home was invisible beyond the thick cloud and various trees placed upon the land.

Nuru finally broke her silence. “I-i suppose.” The purple deer had weighed up her options, and she didn't have many of them in truth. She could run away from Chaya, and probably get eaten by another lion, or lost, or fall down and become trapped somewhere. She could follow Chaya wherever she was going, and probably get eaten by her at some point if the adolescent became too hungry. It was plain to see that Chaya had no idea where she was going, and that these lands were entirely new to her. This left her with one option, to accept her offer and allow her to help. Travelling with the lioness would hopefully ward off any other predators for awhile until Nuru could find her mother and return to the lands that suited them best.

“Excellent!” Said Chaya. Her very first adventure was about to begin, and as if on cue they looked at each other and looked at the rain with a half smile.

“We'll go in a moment.” Nuru said with a nod.

WC: 1054