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 Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:50 am
Palia wandered towards the Earth Clan. She was partially doing just that, wandering, and partially hoping to run into Tailsin. She was a bit bored, and hoped that perhaps the older lioness could help her think of something fun to do.
Adi'sa had time to ruminate over the epic news delivered by the goddess Mana. It had hit him in several ways - the mortality of his father-like elder was made even more painfully apparent, and then he was charged with the duty of taking care of the imminent offspring. Kids. Adi'sa had little experience of youngsters, at least as an adult. He could vaguely remember playing with his sisters as a cub, but that was playing. Not taking care of. What if he made a mistake...what if he steered the cubs in the wrong direction...he wanted to do the best for the elder's children. They would be like his brothers or sisters...
Unawares of his surroundings, Adi'sa was likewise wandering, lost deep in thought. After almost walking straight into a tree, he settled in the large roots to think.
Palia spotted something moving in the distance, and, though she was aware it wasn't Tailsin, she sped up to meet it. Trotting over, she didn't bother supressing a giggle at Adi'sa as he very narrowly avoiding hitting the tree. She eyed him with amusement. "You're clumsy." She observed cheerfully.
"Hmm...what?" he said absently, not even taking his eyes from the invisible spot in the distance to which they were fixed. Palia might have been better talking to a brick wall.
Palia frowned. She did NOT enjoy being ignored! Scrambling forward, she batted Adi'sa on his shoulder as hard as she could... which was not, all things considered, very hard at all. "Hey, you! What are you looking at?" She demanded.
That did the trick. It was like something from a cartoon or sitcom and he physically shook himself away from whatever had his attention, and all of a sudden, he had this brilliantly blazed white cub assaulting him. "P-Pardon?" he asked, a little dazed and confused. "Oh sorry...I was miles away...a bit lost in thought."
Miles away? "No you weren't, you were right here." Palia informed him with a frown. Was he trying to trick her, or was he just crazy? "Don't lie, it's not nice."
Adi'sa's face wrinkled as he grappled with how to explain it to her. "Uuuh...no no I mean, my mind was far away, I was too busy thinking," he stuttered a little. "And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lie."
"Oh." Palia considered this, and then, appearing to decide it was satisfactory, nodded. "Alright, then. It's okay, you didn't mean it." She wrinkled her nose and looked around. "Do you know where Tailsin is?"
"Tailsin?" How did this youngster know about Tailsin? Although, she did like to play so he supposed thats how they met. "Well, I don't think I've seen her yet today, she's normally pestering me," he chuckled.
"Oh, are you her friend?" Palia inquired. She couldn't remember the name of the lion Tailsin had said was her best friend, but she supposed this must be him. "Oh well. I guess I'll have to find her later." She sighed.
"Well, I think I'm her friend," he smiled. "I'd consider her to be my friend. But I'm sure if I see her, I'll tell her you were looking for her. Whats your name?"
"I'm Palia." Palia said in self-important manner. "Who are YOU?" She added, making a point of giving him a suspicious look.
"Well, I'm err...I'm Adi'sa Kamwana," he provided his full name under the scrutiny of the cub. Why did he feel nervous around her?
"Oh. So you ARE Tailsin's friend. She said you're very nice." Palia said, smiling. Her entire demeanor changed, she went from looking almost intimidating to looking friendly in just a few seconds.
"Oh well, that was very nice of her to say so. Its nice to meet you Palia," he said, bowing his immense fuzzy head to her. The change didn't go un-noticed, and it confused him even more. This cub was ready to interrogate him just a few moments before!
"She also said you were boring sometimes." Palia added matter-of-factly, tilting her head as he bowed. "It's okay though; I like you anyway." How assuring!
"Oh..." he seemed a little shocked at the statement and the opinion Tailsin had of him. Boring...? "Well, I'm not always boring. I might be boring compared to Tailsin..." he tried to justify himself to this cub, who probably doesn't care if he's boring or not.
Palia gave Adi a look of sympathy, and patted his large forepaw with her tiny one. "It's okay, she likes you a lot anyway." She assured him earnestly. "Tailsin is fun. She plays with me!" She grinned.
It was very amusing to see this tiny cub comforting a grown lion, who should have enough life experience to take anything thats thrown at him. This is Adi'sa afterall though, he hasn't had the best of life experiences to mould him. He smiled down at Palia. "Yes, play is good," he said in a very cub-like manner himself. "Got any favourite games?"
"Mmmmm..." Palia looked thoughtful. "I like to chase bugs, bugs are cool. But I'm not very good at catching them. They're very FAST." She frowned. "Also, I like to bother Wally, but Mama says that is not a good game."
"Well, bugs are meant to be very fast, to stop things from catching them and eating them," he smiled. He immediately thought of his friend Nili and how eloquently she seemed to be able to hunt bugs and small critters. "And yes, I'd agree with your mother. Bothering ANYONE isn't a game.."
Palia looked properly ashamed as Adi'sa scolded her for annoying Wally. She folded her ears back and muttered, "Well, you haven't met Wally, I bet you'd wanna bother her, too.."
She...had a point. Adi'sa couldnt rightly recall ever meeting anyone named 'Wally.' It had only ever been Tawa'di, then Mana, then Tailsin, then Nili. Wow, that was a short list of friends. "Why? Is she grumpy? Or mean?"
"She's grumpy AND mean!" Palia said enthusiastically, always happy to list Wally's shortcomings. "She doesn't like me."
"Oh now I'm sure thats not true," he crooned. "You don't seem like the unlikable type. Maybe she doesn't have the same interests as you. Everyone is different afterall."
Palia stared at him. Maybe he WAS stupid, after all! "Um, no." She said, kindly and slowly, in case Adi WAS stupid. "She just doesn't like me."
Adi'sa blinked at Palia. Maybe his rather philosophical approach was just a little too much for a youngster. He sighed and shrugged a little. "Then its definitely wise to avoid her rather than bother her."
"I didn't ask for you ADVICE." Palia said, with an exasperated sigh. "But it's okay, I'm not mad." She assured him with a toothy smile.
Adi'sa wasn't prepared for the attitude, and felt slightly affronted. "Well, okay then..." he reluctantly smiled back at her. He shifted a little in the roots of the tree, beginning to get cramps in his feet from being sat. He suddenly had to get up and stretch.
"What are you doing?" Palia asked, observing him with a tilt of her head. Then, abruptly, she frowned and asked, "Are boys better than girls at stuff? Only, Wingu says he's more intimidating cos he's a boy, but really he's not very good and I told him how to do it right and he says I must be wrong cos I'm a girl, but I don't think that's fair." She huffed. Quite a long stream of words, but she didn't really know who to talk to about it, and Adi'sa struck her as a very knowledgable lion.
"I'm...stretching...my feet feel funny," he replied curtly, as if talking to Tailsin. In fact, Palia greatly reminded him of Tailsin - the impatience, the short attention span, the need to be heard. After stretching, he didn't sit back down, he had every intent of wanting be mobile again. But he greatly doubted his little friend would. "Well, it depends on what the 'stuff' is," he replied, measuring out his words. "Boys are better at some things naturally, and the same for girls. But...its not right of your friend...Wingu?...to say you're wrong because you're a girl."
"Oh, sometimes I have to do that, too." Palia supplied helpfully, smiling at him. She could see why Tailsin liked him, even though he was a little bit boring. She pondered his answer thoughtfully. "I guess... only, what things are boys better at and girls better at?" At least he agreed with her that Wingu wasn't being fair, though. She scowled at the memory of him laughing at her. "Wingu thinks puttin' your nose on someone else's nose is intimidating!" She scoffed. "But it's not, it's just weird. Like this." She placed her forepaws on Adi's shouders and leaned up to press her nose to his, then, voice muffled by his mane, asked, "Do you feel intimidated?"
"...no I agree with you...its just weird," he said to her, looking down at where his mane had proceeded to eat Palia. And then a brief silence. He had to think carefully about what to say, as he didn't want to give the wrong impression. He was a lion of equality. He did believe in females being incredibly formidable if they wanted to be, but they could also be the best mothers in the world. "Well...the NATURAL things are things like, only girls can have cubs, so that makes them the best at it. And for boys...well, they're sometimes bigger and stronger than girls, but girls can be strong too. And umm...girls are usually a lot smarter." He had no qualms saying that - he agreed with it and dreaded how many times he'd been a fool.
"See, I told you." Palia said, untangling herself from his mane and seating herself at his feet. "Wingu is just weird! Then I fought him, and he licked me, which is not how you fight and is a dirty trick." She added. "I think maybe he is just confused about what is fighting and what is not fighting." She listened to Adi's words attentively. Well, it made sense that girls would be better at giving birth, she supposed. And Wingu had said the same thing about boys being stronger, but she hadn't ever heard of girls being smarter. "Really?" She asked, curiously. "I didn't know THAT. Why are girls smarter?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:27 am
Adi'sa had to admit that much of this cub's experiences were totally alien to him. He couldn't recall any play-fighting with his sisters or any occasions where he'd argued with others, sometimes about the most menial of things. It was difficult for him to form sentences and words that would satisfy the youngster's curiosity, but then he supposed he had been like that at some point too. He wriggled his toes as Palia sat on his paws. "Well, girls...just tend to think more...umm...and they're patient too, you have to be patient to be smart."
Palia stared up at Adi'sa. What world did HE live in, where girls were PATIENT? She supposed her mother was fairly patient, all things considered, but Wally sure as hell wasn't... and Tsi was fairly patient, but Palia would never have thought to associate the word with either of the pale lionesses. And, well, Palia herself was far from patient. She wrinkled her nose. "D'you HAVE to be patient to be smart?" She asked, hoping maybe there were exceptions to that rule. She then made a smug face. "You should tell Wingu that, cos he thinks he is soooooo smaaart. He thinks he knows more than I do about EVERYTHING." she confided, rolling her eyes.
"Well, being patient certainly helps, but...its not needed, I guess," he trailed off, losing faith in his own words. "I'm sure you're smart anyways," he said, patting her head gently. Adi'sa was almost amused to hear of this cubs experiences with Wingu, and a smile creeped across his features. "He certainly likes to compete with you, doesn't he?"
"Oh, good." Palia responded, sounding relieved. She nudged her head up against his paw as he patted her. "You're a very nice man-lion." She confided happily. But at his next words she made a face. "Not really, he doesn't even see me as competition. He says I have to PROVE I'm as good as he is. He's a dumb head." Still, despite his dumb head-ness, she did like the other cub. She didn't often get the chance to play with others her age.
Aww, a compliment. Adi'sa's smile grew even more and he felt a little more cheerful inside. If cubs were always like this, perhaps teaching and guiding his Elder's impending brood would not be so bad afterall. "Well he should! So far, you sound lots better than this Wingu," he said, still with a smile, trying to give her a bit of confidence.
"Really? Thank you!" Palia beamed, ready to share her new wisdom with Wingu the next time they met. "He's not that bad, I *guess*..." She added, feeling a little bit guilty for saying such bad things about him. "He's okay. Plus he's gonna be the next.." She tried to remember Wingu's exact words. "Totally awesome lion of the Wolf Clan!"
"Totally awesome lion....well, thats another way of saying leader I suppose," he chuckled, feeling even better inside knowing he;d made her smile. This kid stuff was easy!
"Prolly." Palia agreed, nodding her little head. She quite liked Adi'sa, though she had been apprehensive about him at first. But he seemed to know so much! Maybe even as much as her mother, though it always seemed to her that Kaure didn't share many of the things she knew. "Cos he's Tsi's kid, I guess... do you know Tsi?" She swiveled her ears around and peered up at his face, curiously.
"Hmm, that name doesn't ring a bell, but lions often keep moving around lands. I might have just missed her several times," he smiled. He felt almost guilty to have not met so many inhabitants of these lands, and as much as he'd like to remedy that in the future, he wondered if he'd have the time with his new duty.
"Oh, well. She's in the Wolf Clan, with Wally and Mama and me." Palia explained, waving a forepaw. "She's very nice. I like her." Despite Palia's somewhat rough people skills, she did like almost everyone she'd met, with the obvious exception of Wally. And Wingu, well.. she wasn't sure how she felt about him, yet.
"Wolf clan...I shall make a ntoe of that and go and visit her sometime. Its always good to meet as many lions as possible," he smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, I know! I've been doing that, cos, I was talking to Tailsin, and she said all these names of people I didn't know, so I decided... I should go look for them." Palia nodded enthusiastically. "So far, I only found you. But it's okay, you're cool. I can find the other ones later."
"Thats the spirit," he beamed. "Have you seen much of these lands then in your adventures?"
Palia beamed, happy that he approved of her plan. "Hmm... no, I've only been around the edges, and the Wolf Clan, and the Earth Clan." She said, shaking her head. "Have YOU seen all of it?" She asked, looking hopeful. Maybe he knew of cool places to show her that she could explore!
"Well, I've seen a good portion of it, and even the outside of the lands as a youngster too, You'll have to show me some places, and I can show you some," he offered as an adventure for another time.
"Ohh. Okay!" Palia nodded in agreement. "Mama and Wally have seen a lot of the outside lands, 'specially Mama cos she's a rogue." She explained. "But I can show you the Wolf Clan some time! And maybe Tailsin can come, too!"
"Oh I'm sure she'd like that. She'll need some company aside from me if I get busy sometimes," he commented, not sure why. Was Tailsin on his mind somewhere? He hadn't thought about what his new duties would mean for her. "Oh, your mother was a rogue? Well thats certainly interesting, and I'm sure she has many interesting stories from her travels."
"Mhm." said Palia, thoughtfully pawing at his feet again. "Busy? Why would you be too busy to keep Tailsin company?" She asked, frowning. She didn't like the idea of Adi'sa going off to do something else while Tailsin remained back in the Earth Clan lands, lonely.
"Hmm...?" he stalled. "Well, I am the nvwati of the Earth clan, I do have some duties that must be done, they can't be ignored I'm afraid. Sometimes, Tailsin just can't come with me," he struggled to explain.
"You are?" Palia gasped, looking impressed. "Wow!" Though she wasn't entirely sure what a nvwati DID, she had heard the term used a few times with much respect, so she assumed it was important. "That's alright, then." She assured him, giving her approval. "What kinda stuff do you do?"
"Well...nvwati's are sort of...spiritual advisors...its aprt of their responsibility to commune with the spirits and the Gods, help bring peace and balance to the lands, and to also offer guidance to the leaders in times of unease," he paused often, knowing in his herat what he did, but unable to articulate as well as he would like.
"Oh." She mulled this over. It did not evoke any particular mental images or very much understanding as to the specifics of his job, but it did sound important. "You are very good at offering guidance!" She exclaimed, then, clapping her paws together. "You gave me very good guidance!"
"Well I'm glad! Its my honour to help. I love to help others," he smiled down at her, feeling an inclination to nudge her head gently for some reason, as if he were her father!
"You are good at it." She repeated again, looking up at him with something like adoration. In her eyes, he was wise and benevolent. No wonder he was a spiritual leader! Palia hunkered down and curled up on his paws comfortably, leaning her head against his leg.
Erp! This was different. Had he bored her to sleepiness? Adi'sa didn't dare move again now, for fear of disturbing her. "Have you thought about what youd like to be when you grow up? My mother...always wanted me to live my full potential...she was so happy when she found out I had the abilities to be a nvwati..."
What she wanted to be? She hadn't really thought about it. Though Tsi was sort of.. head of the Wolf Clan, all the other lions she knew were simply hunters. She shook her head. "No, not really..." Should she have? "What things can you be?" She asked, scratching at her ear thoughtfully.
"Anything you want to be really. But you can be helpful to the pride as well. Like hunters or leaders or you could teach or care for children," he suggested off the top of his head, unsure himself of what else there was to the pride.
"Oh!" Palia answered. Well, those were good options. "I guess I will probably decide when I am older." She said finally, in a rare display of wisdom.
"Good idea," he seemed to agree with her, nodding his head. "You have a lot to look forward to as you grow up, although being a cub is good too. I sometimes miss being a cub."
Palia gasped, trying to imagine Adi'sa as a cub. She simply couldn't. Rolling on her back, she grinned up at him and batted his mane with her paws. "Nuh uh, you weren't a cub!" She exclaimed. In her mind's eye, he must have been born with a full mane.
"Of course I was a cub," he laughed merrily. "Everyone starts out as a cub. I used to be as small as you once," he poked her tummy with his nose.
"Well, yeah...." She trailed off. She knew on some level that everyone had to have started as a cub, but in Adi'sa's case, it was difficult to imagine. She giggled and curled up as he nuzzled her tummy, batting at his nose. "Heeheeee, dooon't, that tickles!"
"Does it now?" and he leaned down to do it again, feeling quite playful. He could at least add this game to his repertoire in preparation for his duties a doting big brother.
Palia shrieked with glee at this, rolling to the side and nipping Adi's nose in retaliation. She flopped on her tummy a foot or so away, breathing hard from all the laughing. "Hee! See, Tailsin was wrong, you're not boring."
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