The sun was high, and its light hit the splotched black coat of a young leopard stretching through the sands of the Ulili-Mlindaji. She was growing, and like her siblings, they had been constantly getting bigger quite recently. As well, her size was rather large and unlike any normal leopard. She could even feel herself reaching her mother's height; perhaps it would be soon. It was a strange thing, for where could the abnormal growth spurt come from, if she would be due to grow bigger than her own mother?Such things were thoughts on the young leopard's mind, and she met them with a concealing expression on the surface. Passersby had come, as well as some visitors to some shrines, and no doubt had felt the disinterest exuding from the black female. She was not visibly interested in others, and that is why she barely knew any in the pride, even. Perhaps she could say she only knew the name of one other than the leopards in her family.
It was just another day, and one day closer to when she would choose what she would be doing for the rest of her life. Her rather still silver eye moved along with her other green one to stare at her paws. Could she be a carver like Edea? She wondered if her mother would have desired any of her siblings to follow the same path. The day was getting closer, and she'd have to apprentice to someone eventually... She was supposed to actually learn and remember names now.
Black and white pelt moved, then, suddenly - up and beyond the grasses and further away from the shrines behind her. If she had to start anywhere first, she would make her way to the outer edges of the pride and work her way to the center so that she did not miss a single possible candidate.
Where was he?
Tarik had been a wanderer his entire life and never, not even once, had he ever thought he was lost. Maybe it was because wandering really meant moving forward without any particular direction, which means that no wanderer could ever really be "lost", but even still. This was definitely a first for the deity. He was actually headed someplace, which was why he suddenly figured out after an hour in flight and then some on foot that he was, in fact, very, very lost.
Upon coming to this realization the large, blue lion sighed a heavy sigh and, disguising himself as a mortal, pressed on, on foot. It'd be pointless to fly out since he really didn't know where he was anyway, so if he did try he'd probably just end up even more lost. And it wasn't like he could ask anyone for directions. Not that he would; he didn't much like associating with mortals. He did only when he happened along one, but he didn't usually search them out. There has been only one exception so far, but never mind that.
It was a mountainous area, not exactly devoid of life, but not teeming with it either. Perhaps he'd run into some pride or another that could help him out? Pfft. Like his luck had ever been that good. Maybe a random, non-hostile rogue that'd be willing to exchange favors? Pfft. Like he would be so inclined to do any favors for just anyone. The sun had started to go down by the time the male had unknowingly made his way into the outskirts of a pride, still at a loss as to where he was.
Finally, Tarik took a seat nearby a few boulders. It was about time he took a break, maybe even stop for the night. He was tired, and really ready for sleep.
The young leopardess trudged on, sun blaring down on her thick, black coat. Gods, did the sun pick a good day to be hot. But she had to look for candidates to be her teacher; her mother had urged all of them to do so, and she was not one to just lay around when there was an objective to do. She was a hard worker like that.
It seemed like she had been walking for ages, yet she could find no one. Had she gone too far? Looking around, she saw the same, rich grass that floored her pridal grounds, but there was no familiar face. No adult anywhere in sight. Maybe she did go too far, which was unlikely of her rather observant and smart self.
She then saw a formation of large rocks to the side; curious, she made her way towards them. They definitely were making shade on the opposite end of the sun's view; it would be a good place to stop and rest, at least for a little while.
When she arrived, she was taken aback by the large white form right around the corner of one of the boulders. Yet, she gave no peep or indication of her presence; she just looked on with her heterochromia eyes. She didn't remember there being any white with bright blue lions in the Ulili-Mlindaji...
Though she was standing just a few feet away from the figure, she looked back behind her, wondering if she should turn around and leave before he noticed that she was there.
He got himself quite comfortable, and while a yawn escaped here every so often he didn't quite feel all too sleepy now that he was settled in. Tarik took a moment to look around at his surroundings, trying to commit it to memory, or at least the general characteristics as opposed to any specifics, should he pass by here again in the near future. It wouldn't do to get "lost" again, after all.
Amidst his fourth yawn, the large lion felt a pair of eyes on him. A stranger's eyes, no doubt, since he was sure he didn't know anyone around this area. He didn't feel nervous though, just aware that someone was watching him. Slowly, he looked around for whoever it was that managed to sneak up on him while he wasn't paying attention.
Surprisingly, his blue eyes landed on a dark-pelted leopardess. Not quite an adult yet judging by its size, though it was also possible that it was just smaller than the average leopard. Tarik didn't sense any hostility from it though, and assuming it was someone familiar with the area he figured this was his best shot at finding his way around. Maybe his luck wasn't all that bad after all.
"Hello," he greeted, a neutral sort of expression displayed across his features. "Are you from around here?"
Before she could decide to head off, her head turned back after the stranger's yawn caught her attention. She felt his eyes on her, and she looked back right into them. Apparently, he wanted to talk; she really didn't have the time, but the coincidental meeting was just too... curious to pass.
She nodded to his "hello", and then answered, "Yes. This is the Ulili-Mlindaji. The Shrinekeepers. I am Esha."
Her voice was rather monotone, as she was not used to speaking much or caring about socializing. It seemed like the stranger wanted to know more, however, though she wasn't sure what else to say - she answered the question sufficiently, after all.
"Um... Do you want to know more?" she asked then, tilting her head, "I mean, you're a rogue in our pride's territory. Right."
As if she had to reaffirm that fact.
Ulili-Mlindaji huh? He repeated it in his head a couple of times and hoped that be enough for him to remember in the future. Meantime, he smiled slightly after she answered his question. The idea of a pride of shrinekeepers intrigued him a bit, and while he was contented with the answer she provided he was glad that she offered to give him more anyway.
"It does sound rather interesting," he answered with a nod. "What sorts of shrines do you look after here? Also-"
He caught himself before anything more left his mouth. The leopardess had offered her name and he seemed to just shrug it off. Not wanting to seem rude to someone who had been rather helpful, he cleared his throat and apologized. "I'm sorry," he said, "My name is Tarik. I was just passing through, but I got a little.. lost along the way."
Then, as though his previous question had never been cut short, he continued. "How big is your pride's territory?"
"Oh," she said aloud - he actually did want to know more; which was fine, really, but was this the time to offer him passage to meet Salma?
She was nowhere near old enough to be an official guard of some sorts, but the lands did seem to be vacant for other members... And he did seem to be interested in the land, if that was what his smile and pondering conveyed.
When he apologized before she got to answer his question, a hint of a smile appeared on her face; it was rather nice that he cared for manners, but Esha wouldn't have minded the least. It was cute of him to be concerned for his appearance.
"Oh, so you're lost," she said bluntly; there was nothing really she could do it, having never ventured past her pride's borders - she could only lead him within, but even then, everyone would be wondering who this large lion she accompanied was, since she rarely... well, went on a "stroll" with anyone casually.
"Anyways," she started to address his inquisitions, "We're a little bit small right now, but we expand when there are more shrines and tributes to put up. We are the creators and protectors of shrines dedicated to gods. Everyone is welcome to visit our lands."
"As are you," she said, perhaps even as a suggestion, but then quickly added, "But Salma, our leader, just started, really. So there's a few shrines up for several gods, but we're always looking to bring up more, and have those who want to live with us help. But I guess you didn't come here in the first place to visit our shrines, huh?"
Esha continued to be a rather hospitable, albeit seemingly stiff, leopardess. At least she smiled ever so slightly a bit earlier at his introduction. Tarik wasn't the smiling sort either, so he didn't really mind so much. Besides, it was more normal to not smile all that much when talking to a complete stranger.
"I see," he said, nodding every now and again as she continued to answer his questions. So they were sort of small, but still building. He took a brief look around again, and for a moment wondered how often rogues wandered through the place and bothered to stop and talk to the local residents.
His ears perked up a bit at the idea of having a shrine up for him. Tarik was never the sort to stroke his ego, but who wouldn't want a shrine built just for them? The deity contemplated revealing his true form right then, but fought the urge. "You have your work cut out for you then," he said with a slight smirk and a thoughtful nod. "There are quite a number of gods out there, after all."
He shook his head at her last question then. "Honestly, I had no idea there was even a pride living here. Now that I do know though, I'll admit that I'm a bit intrigued."
The large male paused then, trying to think of another question, and the obvious one came to him soon enough. "So for which gods have you built up shrines for?"
As Esha observed him looking around, the thought of him requesting her to show him the lands seemed really, really likely. It would have been okay - in fact, Esha enjoyed taking on duties and responsibilities, simply because she was good at what she did. But if others had seen her with the strange lion, especially her siblings or even Kanae - or worse, Nena. Being the other two girls in their litter, they would always be more sprightly and whimsical than Esha, and even suggest girly fantasies. Esha was much more practical and stoic.
The conversation with this stranger was, however, bringing Esha out of that stoicism, strangely enough. His words were gentle and kind, and expressed an innocent curiosity that Esha found rather comforting - even if it wasn't curiosity about her. He was earnest and straightforward, and she liked that, anyways.
So perhaps she would enjoy to stroll around with him, after all.
"Indeed, but we try to bring up shrines for those who have more of a following, or those who make their presence more known or wanted. After all, there are also many gods who never touch this mortal earth. As for what we do have..." she took a moment to pause and think, "Tilifika watches over the jungle god's shrine."
It was the first shrine she ever really learned about, and simply the first one that came to mind.
"And there's one for love... one for the earth... another for seasons, one for purity, souls, and... there's also hybrids..." she tried to recite the list she remembered, but was certain she left many out - but there was another way...
"How about I just show you them?" she suggested.
Tarik only nodded as Esha spoke. She seemed rather knowledgeable about it all, which brought forth the question of what her rank was in the pride. Maybe a guard or one of the members tasked with welcoming rogues into the pridelands. He could wait until later to ask though. For now he was just a bit more interested in her answer to his previous question.
"True enough," he said at one point, nodding yet again. "But even if we take those gods who don't like to come down from their haven into account, we'd still have plenty left."
He quieted down and kept his expression neutral as she began to list the shrines that she could remember, not expecting his domain to come up and mentally shrugging it off when it didn't. It wasn't too surprising considering that ice was fairly rare to come across for most, so it didn't really bother him all that much. Not really all that much...
As she continued with her list the deity tried to count the domains that he'd met before. None so far, but it seemed there were several other domains the leopardess couldn't recall on her own though, so at her suggestion the large lion slowly got onto his paws. After taking a second to stretch, he smiled that usual, ever-so-slight smile and accepted her invitation.
"Lead the way."