After spending a few days in the frozen isles with the blessing and watchful eye of Queen Elsa keeping them company, Ripoti and Masalan decided it was time to leave. And they left together, as Masalan did not have the heart to leave the little cheetah to deal with the snow and ice all on her own again. The two said their goodbyes and traveled down the mountain together, back into the rogue lands. It was nice to finally be back where there was warmth and sunlight, and it was like walking into a new world.

Ripoti was reminded that she very much liked the warmth and was not built for the snow, and Masalan was reminded that though the snow was wonderful, it was nice to not be worrying about freezing. She would have to come back to the snowy mountain some other time, though, perhaps once she was sure Ripoti was fine and would be safe on her own. Right now, something was keeping her close to the little cheetah, and she was not yet ready to part ways. Maybe once Ripoti pointed out something that was familiar to her, or proved that she could take care of herself, then Masalan would stop babying her and leave her to her life. Clearly she knew how to survive, considering she had gotten this far and seemed to be pretty okay for it. A bit odd, but not hurting for it.

Potewa spotted the purple duo from not too far off, tilting his head in wonder. A leopardess and a small female cheetah, it looked like, were walking together and they were both very close in color. They could not be related, could they? Though he had seen strange families and heard of even stranger ones, he had never really seen one. Anyway, it was not really fair to assume they were related just because they were both purple. He was purple too, after all. So was he going to assume he was related to both of them as well? That made no sense. He would just walk up to them and ask, if they were not scared away by his size and the fact that he was a lion.

Masalan saw him padding toward them first, and growled lowly. She was not an aggressive creature by nature, but she was feeling particularly protective of the little cheetah, and did not want anything bad to happen to her. She moved in front of Ripoti, which alerted the cheetah to the coming danger. Her eyes grew very wide and she crouched down, scooting along on her belly to hide behind a nearby tree and a tall patch of grass at its base. She all but slithered out of view, and Masalan was so busy trying to protect her she did not even notice her vanish.

So by the time Potewa reached them, it was just the purple leopard standing protectively over nothing. He arched an eyebrow in confusion, It did not bother him too much, though, and he was sure the cheetah had not gotten too far, right? He would have seen it if she ran off into the savannah. Surely.

It was not like she camouflaged in. He was surprised he could not spot her, but he had not been watching them with the keenness of a hunter: he was just coming over to say hello and ask them what they were up to. Now he was regretting his bout of curiosity. He really needed to stop caring about what others were up to, and squash the instincts to take care of others that always seemed to override his desire to just be a selfish, aloof jerk. He thought that would be an easier life style, but things were not working out that well for him.

He would figure it out eventually.

“What do you want, lion?” Masalan said with another growl. She was not the most open to other species, when she felt threatened. Yes, recently in particular, she had been in the company of some rather friendly lions and cheetahs, and other things that were not leopards. But still, she could not help but distrust this lion, who was much larger than anyone else she had met recently and could probably easy snap her in half if it wanted to. He was large and he looked muscular: equipped for a fight and for surviving however he needed to out here. The only comforting thing about him was his similar color, but that was not really enough to decide he was safe or friendly. He did approach them without attacking immediately, though, so that was good.

“Well, leopard,” he said, mimicking her angry tone when he said it, but doing his best not to actually feel the irritation he was emulating. He told himself to remain calm and polite. “I was just curious about you and your travelling companion. You were both purple, and I thought it might be a family member of yours, a cub or something, but noticed it was more like a cheetah than a leopard. But now it seems to be gone.”

“Gone?”

Panic hit Masalan and she looked behind her suddenly, seeing that the leopard was not lying about that. The little cheetah had gone somewhere while she was not watching, and it took her a moment of looking around to spot the likeliest choice. Knowing what she was looking for certainly helped, and the cheetah was not as good at hiding as she liked to think she was. She was hiding behind a tree, hunkered down in the tall grass with those big eyes she got when she was scared. Ripoti watched the two of them carefully, but Masalan did not seem to be upset, so maybe this was another nice lion, like Elsa had been in the snow. Maybe this one had fish too? Fish had been very nice.

“Oh, there it is.”

Potewa followed the leopardess’ gaze and spotted the cheetah not too far off, hiding, and not too well he might add, in the grass under a tree. He looked at Masalan, who was now ignoring him and focusing on the cheetah, then looked back at the little scared thing that was hiding from him. It was not a reaction he was unused to, by any means. Most smaller creatures in the rogue lands tended to be scared of the big lions, the top of the food chain, and he had grown accustomed to that. He did his best to offer her a smile, tilting his head and trying to look as innocent as he could.

After a very long moment, it seemed to work. Ripoti stood up and scooted a bit closer, though her tail was tucked between her legs and she was very shy and timid as she scooted closer to Masalan. The leopard looked relieved and nuzzled Ripoti a bit, then looked at the lion. He was not showing any signs of aggression and that was enough to put her at ease.

“My name is Masalan, and this is Ripoti. I apologize for the distrust… I don’t really… hang out with lions very often. And Ripoti is scared of basically everything. I think her paranoia is rubbing off on me a bit. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. You both look to be a little on the thin and tired side. How about we go and catch something to eat, and you can tell me about your travels together. If you’d like to, anyway.” Potewa could just not escape his need to serve someone, and though he was trying to be an independent and self efficient lion, there were some things he just could not escape. He wanted to be useful and he spent so long tending after one creature, it was just part of his nature now. These two needed a bit of help, and he was there to offer it. What excuse did he have to not?

He was not going to worry about it now.

“That would be nice. We need some rest after a long walk down from the mountains. Food would be nice too but you don’t have to go out of your way. I can hunt us something, and Ripoti is good at catching little things like rabbits and even birds. We’ve been able to survive so far.”

“Surviving is one thing, but we will see what we can do. This way, then,” he said, shaking out his mane and smiling at them. He moved to lead the way, toward an area where he knew there would be a lot of food for them to hunt. It was one of his favorite spots around here, but he did not mind sharing, and he imagined they were just passing through, anyway, so they were not going to stick around too long.

Ripoti walked beside Masalan, wondering if they were going to get some new food. She was alright with being babied and taken care of, and she let them do it just because they felt she was incapable because she was quiet and a bit of a coward. She also could not do a lot of these things, like hunting big animals, on her own. It was good to be making friends that could help her!

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