The desert held many secrets. In the sands were the bones of many, generations upon generations of lions long gone, some once spoken about. Now they hid the secrets of the lions who still believed, either in the old traditions, or the old pantheon, or, rarely, both. Such lions kept their secrets amid themselves, whispered behind rocks and dunes, old lessons taught to cubs in private where prying ears couldn't hear. As he crested a dune, wind tugging at his two-tone mane, Kosuke quietly cursed these new habits. His eyes scanned the horizon, looking for the one Kenta had spoken of.
His paws sank into the sand, toes flexing as they seemed to drink up the feeling of it. The way it shifted, the way it burned, it all felt like a memory he didn't know he had. It was ingrained in his very blood, an ancestoral memory passed down from parent to cub. This was where he was meant to be, where many of them were meant to be, but he knew the time wasn't right. Eyes the color of the waters of the distant seas scanned the horizon, before landing on a dust-red figure. He stood staring at the other lion, meeting his golden-hued gaze but not moving. If he moved, he would cross the invisible line of territory and risk endangering everything. Instead, he waited, alone atop his dune.
It was dangerous, to come out here alone. The constant threat of the Nergui meant lions were ever vigilant, always fearful of attack. Nobody traveled alone anymore, it seemed, when those born on the sands knew every dune and how they shifted. A lion who knew how to chart the lands knew always where they were, no matter what the weather did to the dunes. Gifted with the sight of the future, Kosuke knew nobody would attack him out here. He would come to this secretive meeting at the border, and both parties would leave with narry a scratch, back to whatever their lives presently held. He strode down his dune, starting the climb up the other with this knowledge in mind.
As the lion with the two-tone mane approached, Yuudai lifted his head. "Greetings, brother. I am pleased to speak to another of the Blood." He was a bit small, though, compared to Yuudai. He'd heard about the influx of rogue blood, and while he and those he traveled with agreed with the idea and had practiced it themselves, he knew it meant Firekin would begin to shrink. The hulking red demons of the desert was an ideal now, but would not always be the norm. It was acceptable, along with the loss of pridal purity, for the sake of reducing inbreeding.
Kosuke's lip curled back, a sardonic grin on his maw. "As pleased as I am to hear somebody actually call us the Blood, I'm not your brother yet." His gaze flickered into the pride's lands, back the way he'd come. It returned to the stranger, with his blazing red pelt. While red was the preferred color, it had begun to be less and less common as more and more rogues joined. He couldn't say he was pleased, but the fact it was necissary was a glaring thing that remained. "What brings about this meeting, if I might inquire? Who are you, and what business do you have in these forsaken lands?"
He couldn't say he was surprised by the venom in the other's words. "I am Yuudai, brother of Chanda and son of Apollo and Tleyo." He motioned behind him with his head. "My business is my companions and I returning home, where we belong. In the Motoujamii desert, the land of our ancestors." Or, most of their ancestors. It was true, a few amid them had been the offspring of slaves, but they had been of acceptable colors and welcomed into the world as full members of the pride. "And what of you? Who are you, and what is YOUR pedigree?"
If he could have, he would have lifted his head higher. "I am Kosuke, son of Sinbad and Jua'taka, grandson on my father's side of Mwali and Azachamorel and on my mother's side, Danzi and Ripuka." He knew not what his maternal grandfather's heritage was, but he knew damn well that on his father's side, he had royal blood coursing through his veins. It meant nothing now, though, nor did that of his aunts and uncles, or any of his cousins, first or second. His ears folded back into his mane as he glared over his shoulder. "You come at a bad time, we are nothing more than a shell of what we used to be."
Yuudai's head inclined, eyebrows up. "Mwali... Makadari's son?" When he got a nod, a grin spread across his face before he bowed. "Your majesty! I speak in the presence of ROYALTY!" Not that it meant too much, Mwali hadn't been the heir when the plague hit. That had been Kiu, and the throne was to pass to his son, Kavuasi, before he vanished. That was all he knew from his great-grandmother. What happened after the plague was anybody's guess, but the fact that the pride had survived had pleased him and Chanda when they'd found out. "But you mentioned, a shell of what we used to be. What does that mean? Who is in charge now?"
"It means, we are the smouldering embers of the fire we used to be. We sit in our desert, fearful as cubs of the monsters at our door." He sneered, looking down at the sand as his claws flexed into it. "Kidondo is in charge, son of Kimeti, grandson of Kiu. My mother was a cub when Kidondo took a rogue lioness for a mate, and while I can't blame him since his options were very limited at the time, what he did after split the pride in two - The Safi to the west, small and holding on to the old traditions and ways, and the Simo to the east, what Kidondo controlled." He frowned, looking up. "Belief in and worship of Finar-si is outlawed, the old beliefs are entirely abandoned, those blessed with the Sight are looked down upon, and we prepare for a war against a boeylion but otherwise do NOTHING!"
He considered the words, brow furrowing as he looked down at his paws. After a moment, he nodded. "It would seem it's not the right time for us to come back yet, then. We will bide our time, and return when the pride needs us." He turned, beginning to walk away. "Thank you for talking to me, Kosuke. May Finar-si ever bless you and your own." Now the question was, what did they all do until the time was right? Behind him, Kosuke watched, before returning to his own pride. It was quite the concept, when Yuudai thought about it. Kosuke's pride, Yuudai's pride... They were, at heart, the same pride, but now so different. The tree had split, but could their tiny group reunite with it?