It was already nightfall, and though lions didn't usually mind the dark, in these new lands, he couldn't help but be wary as he picked his way towards the ave he and Afu had found. It wasn't definate if this was the place for the two, but it would do for now. He'd been trying to catch one of those swift goats before dark, hunting in the dark here was still not something one would enjoy; it was easy to slip into a nasty fall. What with paths, slopes and cliffs all over..
Yet it was still nice. The moon was shinning bright tonight, and a cold wind blew across the highlands, chilling him to the core, yet it was cool, and comfortable. He paused at the entrance, lowering his head slightly. A stone wall stretched out before him, and in it, a crack.This was the cave. He Flicked an ear to the side, sniffing the air casually. He didn't know if Afu was here or not, he'd gone out to hunt, she might have walked around for the same, or stayed here. Or just gone for a walk, all these options seemed to suit her.
"Afu? " He said into the dark, though the lion settled himself nonetheless near the entrance, so much that the moon still shone down. It'd be nice, jus to look over the lands for now.
"Here, Ahali." Something detatches from the shadows not within the cave, but above it, and the lithe black female jumps down from the rocky overhang, her purple eyes the only thing that briefly shine in the moon's light. Her descent is all grace: due not only to natural talent but also practice. Afu knows the benefits of a good entrance, and she's set to make the most of it. Not necessarily in front of Ahali, really, but it never hurts to practice that on him and gauge his reaction.
She offers him a purr, rubbing her head under his chin in greeting and tapping her fluffy tail against his cheek before stretching and yawning widely and gazing out at the land, her expression surprisingly mild, although her tail fidgets from left to right, and she does not sit. Like most of her kind, she's much more active at night, and she's slightly restless now; the reason why she had not been in the cavern when Ahali came calling.
An ear flicks toward her mate. "Out hunting?" Or maybe he was patrolling.
An ear perked as the male looked up, just in tme to see Afu leap down just before the cave entrance. though he's not surprised much; he'd grown used to it, the dark female often ended up just to be out of sight, but still there. He smiled as she approached, nipping a little playfully at her tail when she tapped it against his cheek, though not really catching it. It was just teasing, as it usually was.
"Yeah. Didn't get lucky, though. " He shrugged. "And I didn't want to chase the goats up and down mountains a tonight. " It simply wasn't safe-- and the goats had been here a long time. While they were improving, and managing to catch enough, the goats still were at an advantage. "How about you? Waiting for me to return? You clearly get bored when I'm not around. " The last bit was a taunt, said with a melodramatic voice and a grin. Afu was probably the only one that actually got such treatment from the male, though it could kind of be expected.
"You look restless, " He mentioned quietly, perking a brow and looking at her tail.
She laughed a little at that, quite imagining the results. She probably wouldn't have a mate after that; the lion would probably be at the bottom of a gorge someplace in several pieces, if he were lucky. "Fair enough. We'll get better at it ... " Maybe not, she thinks, good enough to catch most of the goats, but ... there are other creatures around. "It's just a period of learning, that's all. I doubt many lions have tried to live in these highlands, not when there's plenty down in the lowlands." She thinks that's idiotic. You got lazy and soft when you had to deal with plenty, and consequently when hard times came ... you didn't know what to do. Afu would rather be prepared.
"Mmm ... visit anyone lately?" At the questions in return, the dark lioness's eyes narrow, and then roll. "Yes, clearly I'm just sitting here pining for you ... " She mock-nips at his ear, nosing into his thick mane and trying to tug on a few strands. "Me, the poor little wife who has nothing better to do all day than clean a cave and look after non-existent children ... " She heaves a sigh, matching his melodrama.
He smirked. "Thats good for us, though. We have a lot of room. " He nodded, quite happy that they had been the ones to get this place. Might be hard to defend-- but again, not that many lions would probably chose to fight them over a treacherous land like this. And even then, it'd probably be few, if any at all.
"No, Ithough I probably should go see Moto'Vianzio and Mwana soon, whenever their cubs are born. " He shrugged, though couldn't help but ponder slightly. Mwana's cubs were Afu's nephews and nieces, and he hadn't quite got the largest.. 'sisterly love' vibe out of the two. Still, he'd probably need to go see them, Moto'Vianzio and his mates were heads of the north-- their cubs were.. practically princes and princesses, in a way.
"Oh, I'm so sorry I left you for so long! " He said, sniffing. "I was just trying so hard to catch some food for our nonexistent family! I lost track of time! " He sighed, wiping a nonexistent tear off his cheek with a paw, pulling his thick mane away from her muzzle then leaning against Afu dramatically. A game was a little fun, though he was glad no one else was around to see it.
Because they probably looked stupid right now.
"Of course," she smiles. The massive land area will be needed though, to support them ... prey is scarce and scattered throughout these highlands.
At her sister's name, Afu's gaze darkens visibly, and her ears tip back. Damn Ahali and Trigger for that, anyway. A little, surprisingly fair voice reminds her that they weren't to know, and it was probably just as much of a shock for Mwana as it was for Afu, but although Mwana was of a lower rank than her half-sibling, she still had one thing Afu didn't have at the moment: cubs. It rankled. It rankled a lot. She eyes Ahali speculatively, but inwardly sighs. This time of setting up the pride was not a time to be thinking about starting a family, not until they got more members and more of a pawhold on the area.
Still, the cubs would be her kin, even if she'd like to toss them off a cliff, and she'd owe it to Trigger, at least, to make sure that the children were kept safe. Still ... she'd keep her eye on the vipers. She remembers her half-siblings well, and if any treachery is going to come, it will come out of that quarter.
Ahali's protests startle her from her reverie, and she almost bursts out laughing. It's so unlike him ... whatever would the rest of the pride think if they ever saw their 'great and powerful' leaders acting like silly adolescents? She sniffs in return. "You're forgiven, as long as you look after the nonexistant cubs and be a good boy the rest of the night." She rolls her eyes again, and grimaces. "We should probably pay a visit to Trigger and ... " there's only the slightest of sarcasm, "the Lady Mwana soon, I agree." She wonders how many little buggers she'll have to watch out for.
He twitched his tail, managing to catch that moment where she thought about her sibling. Yes, it was more obvious than daylight that te two didn't get a lot very well at all. So instead, he simply didn't mention Mwana again for the time being. She was handling it well, anyway.
"I will, I promise! " He said, glad that the game had came back, it was always kind of odd whenever Afu just.. shut up like that. She didn't talk sooo much, but it was still strange. You never know for sure what she was thinking. "We should. " Ahali agreed, yawning slightly. "I'm sure they won't need us much, though. " He'd simply go to hear of the cubs, maybe see them if they were old and all that, but Ahali wasn't much of a cub guy, and wasn't at all interested in playing little games.
"Any news on the others? "
No. Not like Afu was going to help - well. She could maybe send someone to help, although she's at a loss who, at the moment. She doubted she would gush with affection at her neices or nephews.
She shook her head at his last query. "We'll meet up with them tomorrow. Set some rules ... " The lioness muses, frowning. "We'll have to take an interest in who is let into the lands somehow, which might be difficult if the Lords and Ladies are doing their own choosing sometime ... " Spies, already Afu? Bemused, she scolds herself for the thought. She's getting ahead of herself already. "I don't particularly want any young idiots coming in and deciding they can take over the place by some means. After all, young idiots tend to have stupid idiotic luck, and I'd rather we not have to deal with that, do you?"
"About the same here. " He sat, shrugging. "I don't worry much, though. "By the time someone shows up wanting that, we'll have loyal folks around. And I'm not too bad in a fight myself. " He smirked, that part was probably painfully obvious just by looking at him.
He looked away for a moment. "I should go on some trips. I doubt we'll get many new folks to join us sitting here and waiting for them to stop by. " That was a down-side of how isolated the highlands were.
She grined, bemusedly, offering him a coy nuzzle. "They'll just look at you and go running," she drawled, mock-seriously. But she listened to his words, too, quietly impressed at how far he's come since they met; clearly, she thinks with some self-conceit, she's been a good influence on him. Afu doesn't reflect that, perhaps, he's been a good influence on her as well. "Fair enough," the black lioness quips, reluctantly stepping back from him and glancing back up the trail, then rolling her shoulders back into a shrug. "I'll head to the southern territory; we're most likely to get visitors from there first, it's the easiest way into the lands."
"Of course. I'm surprised you didn't. " He grinned, then flicked his ears. "Tama hasn't arrived yet. " He referred to the would-be lady of the south, at the mention of that. "I'll spend some time around there too, in case Isee her. " Or any of the other lords or ladies that had yet to arrive.
"I'm guessing we're avoiding weaklings, right? " It wouldn't exactly be good for a pride to have some.. scrawny runty lot, would it?
Her eyes gleamed. "I'm an Empress; I'm above such petty fears. And give her a bit of time, she'll be here eventually. We must have a gathering of the Houses ... a festival, if you'd like, to celebrate the birth of the pride and tell them their duties. Crown the Lords and Ladies, as well," she mused. "We're not many, but it would still be impressive and make everyone feel rather important; and perhaps purchase loyalty, as well."
She pursed her lips at his question. Once, she had thought like that, but now ... her time with Nyekundu had given her some very interesting ideas of how to properly apply power. "Perhaps not. For the high ranks, certainly; but we'll need lower-ranking members, as well. Certainly no-one who is not willing to implicitly obey the laws of Tianxia, however."
"You weren't when I met you. " He teased, stretching a bit. "Sounds good to me. " a festival, sounded interesting. "How will be set it up, leave a goat-leg for every guest? " He was to some extent genuinely curious as to how a festival would go.
He blinked. "You have a point there. " How did you rule when there wasn't that much to rule over?
She rolled her eyes a little. "You're not thinking very grand," she murmurs, thwapping him lightly with a paw. "We'll hunt and harvest a few goats, some antelope, maybe go out looking for several other more rare things; so that we have more than plenty for everyone to gorge themselves on. Also perhaps give everyone who attends a little token of the festival to take home with them .. an earring or pawbracelet or something. It's a pity we don't have any singers or storytellers in the group ... or any that I know of, anyway. Still, we might have some surprises."
He chuckled, pulling away as if to avoid her paw, though he didnt exactly try hard. "I'm sure we could find one before evryone arrives. Tama has cubs, they'll slow her down. " He shrugged. Cubs did that, they were small and whiny and they demanded attention. And Tama had four of them, that should be enough to slow the lioness down.
"Alright, be on the lookout to seduce any bards in, then," she said, amused. She'd never particularly thought too much about bards - they never did much, so she thought them a bit of a waste - but it would be nice to have some music around at least. And she was sure others would appreciate it more than she did.
"And yes. Perhaps wait until the full moon? Sheng will have his children to tend to ... when they're strong enough, they'll be able to travel easier."
"We could always borrow someone from that... weird drummy pride. " He waved a paw slightly. He didn't quite recall its name, but he had heard of a pride that was very.. musical. Maybe they oculd lend one of their musicians or.. something.
"Sounds good. "
She laughed. "Weird ... drummy pride?" She cocks a brow, but lets the matter drop; she'd learn about the other prides soon enough. "We need messengers ... " A sigh dropped from her muzzle. There was far too much to do, but for the moment, she needed to focus on two goals: increasing the number of members and organizing the ones already in the land. Being this kind of ruler - a politician, rather than a tyrant - would be more difficult than she expected. But it was a challenge, and she could never resist those ...
She nuzzled Ahali under the chin, with a short purr, then pulls away. "We should go. I'll meet you back here tomorrow, and swap stories." With a flick of her tail, she slunk silently back down the trail, toward the south.
