He waited silently. He’d learned long ago to hold his tongue no matter what. Now wouldn’t be any different. Kisukari left with a cheerful goodbye which left him unexpectedly alone with a female who caused topsy turvy feelings inside him. Ashta couldn’t figure out why she’d suddenly changed her tone and decided to stay. It wasn’t like he needed help to watch the rugs air.
The male let the silence drag on as Therese stood there. He could feel her gaze burrowing into his fur. Ashta was so enthralled, forgive the pun, by her that he couldn’t figure out what she thought about him. It didn’t help that he wouldn’t let his eyes rest on her if he could help it and never higher than her toes.
She stared. Therese couldn’t help it. Never in her life had she seen a lion act as this male was. He was pressed as close to the ground as he could get, and she succinctly suspected he would have merged with it at this moment if he could have. The lioness quickly figured out that they would stay like all day unless she took matters into her own paws. It would be up to her to break the ice.
“If you ask me, I’d say Kisu was perhaps meddling a bit.” She moved slowly out of path and into the front area before the den. Therese sat down a suitable distance away which she hoped would calm the male. “Sorry for earlier. It’s nice to meet you Ashta. Have you been here long?”
Her sudden words startled him into twitching. When he thought about it, he realized what she was getting at. She meant Kisu was trying to meddle between them. He nodded slowly as he thought how the brown lioness had acted. She wasn’t normally so… chipper.
Ashta tensed a moment as those beautiful white paws moved closer and then sat down. It was probably wise of her to get out of the street. “Oh um…. a number of seasons now, since my master found me,” he replied awkwardly. That didn’t begin to describe his life, but she’d only asked how long he’d been with the stormborn. It didn’t include that his master, Phosphor, and him had use to live in the same pride together.
“Oh I see. I was born here,” Therese tried to make normal conversation and offer a bit of information about herself. Now what? She looked helpless around. There weren’t many lions or anybody out for that matter near them. She turned an eye on the furs they were ‘watching’.
“You’ve done a really good job getting them clean. You’ll have to tell me how you manage that for the next time I have to clean my master’s furs.” She tilted her head slightly. Her gaze she could tell was making him uncomfortable although he wasn’t saying anything about it.
He thought she was lucky when she said she’d been born here. His life had been anything but pleasant until he arrived here. As silence descended over them, he thought about her. He didn’t know much about her, but she made butterflies flutter in his stomach. It wasn’t logical. He’d never felt like this about anyone before. And what would she say if she found out? Ashta wanted to cringe if she was offended by it.
Her compliment surprised him. He paid extra attention on tasks for his master. “You have to do this?” Ashta blurted out in surprise. He wanted face-paw; suddenly he vaguely remembered Kisu mentioning Therese’s master’s name. He hadn’t been paying much attention to Kisu when she’d said it. That meant she was a thrall too. He almost hoped it was too good to be true. There was absolutely no way she’d want him.
There was something going on here. She would have thought his question had an obvious answer. As a thrall she did all her master’s mundane tasks. Unless, she reasoned, he didn’t realize she was a thrall. Then his question made sense. “Yes. My master has me clean the den too.” Therese wanted to grind her teeth. This wasn’t getting her anywhere with Ashta.
“Tell me a bit more about yourself.” She was determined to get details out of him. Why did he act the way he did? Why didn’t he raise his eyes above the ground? While she wanted to interrogate him, that probably wasn’t the best way to go about things with him. Therese counseled herself to patience.
His relief was clean when she didn’t take offence at his stupid question. “Pardon.” He should have paid more attention. Her open ended question left him fumbling. What to tell? How much to tell? He didn’t want to bore her with his lame life, but he also didn’t want it to seem that he wasn’t trying to answer. Slowly he took a deep breath. “Let me know if you want me to move on.”
All she had to say was that she was bored and he’d skip over whatever he was talking about. Ashta started talking. How he could barely remember his mother before his rather cubnapped him as a slave for the demon pride. What it had been like to live there as a light colored lion. The trials he’d faced. Then when the pride faded away in the night, how he’d been left on his own until he’d found his master living here. Through it all she’d listened attentively. As he wound down his story he took a risk to glance up at her.
She nodded and allowed him to start. Therese would never had expected the story that came tumbling out. She sat and listened attentively as hours passed. Others passed by that she never even noticed. Many things soon came into light. Why he kept his body so low, or why he never raised his eyes. She couldn’t believe his life had been so hard, yet here he was living proof. She laughed with him as he told her stories about his master Phosphor. How he’d saved the young demon cub from drowning.
Therese smiled at him as he bravely glanced up. Here was a sweet lion. Kind and gentle hearted despite all that had happened to him. She felt her heart going out to him. The lioness wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Kisu had been right. She knew Ashta was the perfect mate for her. It was the sun shining in her eyes that made her realize how late it had gotten. “Oh dear. I really should be going Ashta. Thank you for talking with me. I’d like to see you again.”
She listened much longer than he thought she would. She made an excellent audience too. Long before he wanted to, he finished. The shadows long cast by the sun made him realize how long they’d spent together. When she said she had to go, he regretfully knew she was right no matter how much he wished she could stay.
“Of course. Thank you for listening.” His heart stilled and felt complete when Therese said she wanted to see him again. “Any time.”
Therese grinned. She had to leave, for now. It was a guarantee she’d be back, and soon. She wasn’t going to let this chance slip through her paws. Only one, or two, hurdles remained if she thought about it. Breaking the news to her master and his; that could be dealt with a bit later.
