It had been a few weeks since she had first stumbled over the swamp-based pride with their unusual beliefs about spirits, but she had never felt so at home as she did in the dense jungle-like swamps, a world of water and mud and thick green growth. Just as she had been named for the rain that had fallen on her birthing day, so water ad guided her throughout her young life so far. From the time she had fallen into the swift moving river, born along easily on its powerful currents, to the tiny trickle of a stream which had allowed her to escape the clutches of a violet rogue male by walking along its twisting course, hiding her scent in its swirling comforting movement.
Now, she lived among it, enjoyed its coolness on her coat daily, drank its sweetness without having to travail for miles. Sometimes she could even be found laying in shallow pools, napping with the comfort of the cool liquid moving through her fur like the finest massage.
But at the moment she wasn’t in, around, or gazing at water, she was walking through the fringes of the swamp, half thinking about hunting up a small snack for herself, and half wondering what she was going to do now she had found her ‘place’. The idea of starting a family was still something she wanted, but it had always been a kind of abstract idea, a ‘sometime in my future’ presence that she knew would eventually happen but was in no rush to hurry along. Now however, she wondered if she might have to actually.. do something about reaching that end. How did one meet a mate? Was there some kind of secret call you did, or maybe a place to meet other lions looking for love? Suddenly laughing she shook her head. That was a stupid idea.. but knowing what was unlikely didn’t help her right now, when she needed to have at least some idea...
Sighing she spotted a comfortable looking patch of grass and flopped down into it, forgetting her half-intended hunting plans in favour of trying to puzzle this new idea through to its conclusion.
It was there that Szurke found her, the two-toned brown body with its distinctive white banding on each leg. He himself had come out this way to hunt, for it was a less favoured area of the pride and he could usually be alone. Spotting the brown figure he had been about to turn away and find another patch before he recognised her and stilled his paws. She was new here... he should probably go see how she was settling in at the very least. Swallowing a kind of half-annoyed, half-nervous sigh he shook himself, gathered the impervious mask of detachment that he wore like a shield about himself, and approached her, expression stony and eyes distant.
“Are you managing here?” He rumbled without warning, his typically deep voice seeming gruff and impatient.
Turning at the sound she blinked and looked up at the grey male, recognising him after a moment as the one who had met her at the border and shown her the way inside the pride. Smiling she pulled herself to her feet and nodded. “Aye, everyone is kind and generous. I never did thank you for taking me in, so.. Thank you.” Settling on her rump, not at all perturbed by his unwelcoming manners, she had kind of guessed that was just how he was the first time they met, she watched him with a bright, curious smile. Then a thought occurred to her! He was older, he must have had some experience in finding mate, right? She could ask him about her little problem.
Szurke nodded slowly, it was good that she was happy and settling in. In fact she looked far more at home here than he did..... which was a thought that should probably have worried him but he simply dismissed it as irrelevant to him. Nothing, no land, no amount of friendly hellos, none of it would ever make him feel as if he ‘belonged’ anywhere. A drifter since the day he left home to track down his sister’s kidnappers, he was so set in his ways he had no idea how to be anything other than what he was. The only reason he had settled down in this pride, or any pride for that matter, was the simple fact that his lost sister was here, and while he still had not found the courage to approach her after so long, he was determined to watch over her and make sure her life here was a happy and safe one.
Suddenly realising she was still looking up at him he cleared his throat and started to shift backwards, preparing to go. But it was as if she realised his intentions for she jumped to her feet and blinked those wide mis-matched eyes at him. “UM!” Gasping she blushed then forged ahead, clearly nervous about whatever it was she wanted to say.
“How do you find a mate?” The words were out before she realised, making her face burn under her brown fur. Spirits she had said it! But... maybe he would have an answer, that possibility was worth all the embarrassment asking caused her.
Szurke almost jerked at the sudden explosion of noise from her mouth, but a moment later the words she said repeated themselves sin his mind and he could only stare at her blankly. She thought... she thought he knew anything about social interactions? He might have been amused if he wasn’t quite so shocked, and then the realisation that he had no answer to give back to her dawned on him and he went a little paler under his grey fur.
Her hope drained away at the shocked expression on his face. He wasn’t going to tell her. Or maybe.. he just didn’t know...? Which while it was a little comforting to know she wasn’t alone in her ignorance, did not immediately help her plight right now, she would still need an answer and that would require asking the embarrassing question to another lion...
Szurke finally wrenched himself out of his stupor and rolled one heavy shoulder. Answering in an even gruffer tone than earlier. “Sometimes you know right away, sometimes it has to grow between you.” He surprised himself with his own answer, pausing to examine where it had come from. A long forgotten memory of his mother answering his sister on a similar topic, he discovered, the memory blurry at best, a collection of distant sensations and feelings and the impression of words more than the words themselves. Shrugging again he took a step to the side, intending to escape before she asked anything else that would jolt his past life back into his consciousness.
Maisha blinked at the sudden reply, then slowly nodded, expression thoughtful. “I see..... I think.” She didn’t even see the large grey male turn away and start to melt back into the swamp, only realising moments later and throwing a grateful call loudly after him. “Thank you!”
Watching the bush through which he had vanished she realised she hadn’t gotten to thank him for checking on her in the first place... Ah well, she was sure she would see the grumpy but secretly kind hearted male again sometime in the future.
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