[FIN] Hullo There (Sapori & Zeme)

[mouselet]

Zeme was lying not too far from the border of the Kitwana'antara lands, gnawing at the toughened meat on his bone. It was not a particularly large one, and nearby was a small pile of other bones, all of them licked completely clean. There were also footprints of several others in the area, but the rest had long since departed, leaving Zeme alone to complete the...task.

On days like today, the hyena was torn. Should he be sorrowful for the family of the deceased, especially the parents, because their cub had such a brief taste of life? Or should he be pleased that the child had been too young to truly understand what was going on or why she was so ill?

It was a debate that had no true resolution, as far as the Secret Keeper could discern. All he could do was continue cleaning off this, the last bone.  

[Talencia]

The smell of blood was old, but Sapori followed her nose anyway. Life had been lonely of late, and food scarce. She wasn't the sort who favored active hunting. Sapori was a born scavenger, only doing the killing herself when the creature was already more than half dead. It just wasn't her style to chase something down and rip its life away. In fact, thinking about doing so rather turned her stomach, which would have been counter-productive in a hunt. No, she'd rather handle what others had already chosen to remove from the land's inhabitants.

This was why she drifted up quietly upon the stranger, who was at least a fellow hyena. Even so, she didn't assume kinship of any kind. Her species were fickle and quite prone to wickedness, she'd found. That was why she had no permanent home. Those packs she'd run across were either evil or angry. Neither of those traits could be attributed to the mostly-white female, so she had passed those places on by. It was a shame, too. She'd met a few friendly specimens in her travels, and even some non-hyenas that were decent. Generally the felines had chased her away or assumed she was dangerous. The wild dogs usually were more open to talking.

She stopped well back from the sleek, brown, well-fed male hyena. He certainly looked well taken care of. Perhaps she'd stumbled on another pack. Unfortunately, it appeared she was too late for dinner. She gave a gusty sigh and sat her hindquarters down. "I'm too late, aren't I?" she asked plaintively. Her insides rumbled ominously, but she ignored them in favor of watching the other hyena warily. One never knew what kind of reception one would get, after all.  

[mouselet]

So engaged in what he was doing, Zeme had no idea anyone else was nearby until an unfamiliar female's voice sounded in the empty air. He dropped the bone he was working on and looked up to see another hyena. Nobody he knew, and the tracks behind her were from outside the pride.

Brown eyes blinked as he tried to take in this information. Then he realized he was staring.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Hi!" he smiled up at the other, before memory reminded him that she'd asked a question. She'd asked if she was too late. Too late for what? He scanned the area and his eye fell on...the unfinished bone. Oh. Well. This was...awkward, to say the least.

"Um...well...I don't know if I should. You see, this is...my duty," he tried to explain, knowing that his explanantion was weak. But being a Secret Keeper was, well, secret!  

[Talencia]

Well. No wonder he looked so well fed! "Your duty is... to eat?" she hazarded uncertainly, and not without a certain amount of trepidation. "Duty to whom?" she added curiously. Who would give a hyena the task of eating? It seemed bizarre. It was like giving a bird the job of flying, or a snake the job of slithering. It was simply what one did already.

At least he wasn't snarling, warning her off, or worse yet, attacking her on sight. Or hearing. She edged a little closer, but stayed clear of the pile of cracked bones. Even the nicest individual could get nasty if you threatened their food. Instead of looking longingly at what admittedly must have been a reasonably small meal, she considered the brown hyena. He was a little... odd. Maybe his staring was because she'd startled him. But so far his oddness wasn't anything unpleasant, and that was saying a lot in the roguelands.  

[mouselet]

"To the Kitwana'antara," he replied proudly. He'd served the pride his whole life and bore his burden with respect and sincereity. And a touch of his own pride too, that should be mentioned. However, the hyena avoided, as he always did, the specifics of what his duty entailed. It was not for strangers to know, nor even for most of the pride!

Their world was a small and strange one, in the Kitwana. And if the knowledge kept by Secret Keepers became widely known, it would likely upset the very balance.

However, it would be very rude for him to continue cleaning the bone while the stranger stood here, looking on hungrily. Frantically, he searched his mind for something less than completely stupid to say.

"Um...where have you come from?" Zeme asked at last. She obviously wasn't someone who lived in the area, else she would've known about the pride. Those who did live here and weren't a part of the Kitwana knew the borders and respected them. Especially nowadays, when the Master Warrior insisted on increasing patrols.  

[Talencia]

Hmm, so there was a pack here! He seemed rather a social sort, so perhaps this pack wasn't as vicious or cruel as the others she'd encountered. It warranted more inquiries, but for now, she answered him with a vague, airy wave. "Oh, here, there, nowhere," she said blithely. "I am from nowhere in particular, am going nowhere, and have my home nowhere." Though she'd begun the answer nonchalantly, the longer she went on, the more her ears drooped. It was depressing when she said it out loud like that. She had no roots, no stability, no assurance of life beyond the moment. Eager to move on from discussing her own mundane and depressing life, she quickly asked him another question.

"What is this pack like?" she inquired brightly, trying to move past her dark thoughts. "It's rather nice of them to give you the job of eating." This was said with more uncertainty. "What other kinds of jobs do they give to members?" Could she get a job just laying in the sun?  

[mouselet]

So she was a traveler! That was always fascinating for Zeme. Even though he was free to leave the pride if he so chose, the outside world was, well, kind of terrifying for the hyena. He'd heard so many stories, and well, it just didn't seem like it was nearly as friendly and safe out there as it was within the Kitwana. In his heart, Zeme was a homebody.

"Pack? You mean the pride?" he asked stupidly, not comprehending for a moment. Packs were...what? Someone must've told him at one point...oh yes! Packs were like prides, but made up of and ruled by canines - wild dogs and hyenas. But, that person had told him, because their Queen was Nawiri, a lioness, following generations of lions and lionesses, theirs was a pride.

"Well, the Kitwana'antara is different from most prides, and packs, I hear," he replied slowly. "It's got its share of ranks - Guards and Hunters and Priests and Nannies...but I'm a Secret Keeper," the hyena concluded with some pride. "Only rank in the pride that lions mayn't join." It balanced out too, since there were some ranks (and positions) that were for lions only. Which made sense. The nonlions in the pride were valued for their immunity to the disease, but it was still the lions who ruled.  

[Talencia]

She listened attentively, head and neck extended with interest. She wasn't sure how to process his shuffling of words about his pack, and was just opening her mouth to express confusion on how eating would be called a Secret Keeper, when he finally spit it out that he lived with lions. "You... you live with lions?!" her voice squeaked high on the last word, pupils going huge and her large ears laying flat back against her skull. "But don't they... wouldn't they... but...," she sputtered, trying to phrase her thoughts in a way that wouldn't upset her fellow canine.

"Don't they hate you?" she finally summed up her thoughts, worry and fright written on her face as she glanced around them, not entirely certain which way the deadly felines resided. "I've rarely met a lion who didn't want to kill me," she whispered, slinking closer to him finally. Safety in numbers, after all. One hyena caught by one lion was a dead hyena. Many hyenas found by a lion, and it just might be the other way round!  

[mouselet]

Zeme was surprised by the other's sudden outburst. She seemed utterly taken aback that he would live with lions and he frowned, prepared to defend his life. But then she continued, explaining how she'd been in danger of losing her life with lions before. Immediately, his expression changed to one of consternation.

"How awful!" he commiserated. "That would never happen here. Every species is welcome in the Kitwana'antara, especially to the lions. There is disease here...but only lions and lion-hybrids may catch and carry it. The rest of us are safe, and so valued by the pride," the male explained eagerly, trying to convey how important the nonlions were to the everyday functions of the Kitwana. Why, without them, things would completely fall apart within mere moons!  

[Talencia]

She paused, ears at half-mast, regarding him almost suspiciously. Was he teasing her? It certainly sounded like he could be pulling her leg, but his body language said he was dead earnest. She narrowed her eyes and stared harder, as if trying to see in him, to see if he was telling her the truth. It was of no use, though. She only had his word to go by, and he'd not yet given her reason to suspect him a liar.

"So let me get this straight," she said slowly, ears at odd angles in mute expression of mixed feelings. "You, a hyena, live with and work for lions who are sick with a disease you can't catch, and these sick lions have given you the job to eat, which is called being a keeper of secrets?" One ear was cocked in disbelief, while the other was almost flat in confusion. None of it made any sense.

The one consolation was that his assurance seemed genuine, and thus she had no need to fear a lion ambush while she sat and discussed this very strange life of his with him. Huh, to think there could be a whole pride of felines out here that allowed all kinds of creatures, and didn't eat or kill them! Suddenly she stopped and gave him a weird, sideways look. "There aren't any... elephants or giraffes in this pride, are there?" she asked nervously. Such big animals were terrifying to a lone hyena, and she doubted she could endure seeing such massive creatures on a daily basis. Good heavens, how did this hyena keep his sanity?  

[mouselet]

She was giving him a strange look. Zeme wasn't certain why, after all, he was only telling her the truth! So he waited, nervously, while she considered him and repeated what he'd told her.

"Yes, that's...pretty much it," he admitted, not bothering to correct her about his position as a Secret Keeper. Even as he thought that though, he couldnl't help poking at the small - so horribly small! - pile of cleared and cleaned bones.

Her next words, however, brought back his full attention as he struggled to understand why she would ask about elephants or giraffes. It made no sense for them to be in the pride!

"Of course not!" he replied. "They're so big, and they form their own groups! Why would there be any of them in our pride?"  

[Talencia]

If a hyena could have put paws on hips, she would have. "Hyenas form their own groups as well, and you said the pride welcomed all species," she pointed out in exasperation. As if this couldn't get more confusing! "How could I know the pride didn't accept elephants or giraffes?!" She rose to pace just a little. "It doesn't exactly make sense to me that you live with lions, sick or not, in the first place. Elephants seem as likely to me." She shot him an indignant look. Keeping secrets that were about eating, told to do so by sick lions... why not other odd animals doing odd things?

"I do admit, it at least sounds like a peaceful place," she offered, sitting herself down again with a thump and a determined look. She wasn't being polite, and even if he wasn't making a lot of sense, that was no reason to rant at him. He obviously was quite happy with this pride, and though it might be strange to her, she was not one to judge what made another happy. Especially if it was indeed such an accepting and pelasant place as he implied. "So tell me more about it." She paused and gave him an intent look. "But maybe be a little more specific?"  

[mouselet]

Zeme considered what she'd said and decided that the other hyena did have a point. Since the pride was so multiracial, it could be supposed that any race in the whole plain was welcome.

"As far as I know, no giraffe or elephant has ever wanted to join us, nor come near," he elaborated. "And I don't think we have any place where either could truly sleep comfortably. But I don't know that the Queen would turn either away if they did want to join. She's a good one, is Queen Nawiri'chiwa." He wasn't sure he wanted a giraffe or elephant to be in the pride, but he had to be honest in saying that he didn't know if the Queen would really make them go.

But then she asked him to tell her more and that was where Zeme fumbled. How to describe the only life he'd ever known to a total stranger? Then he realized what he should do.

Placing one paw back on the single unfinished bone, he smiled up at the female. "I'm not so good at telling," he admited. "But perhaps I can show you? 'Twon't take me but a minute or so to finish this bit, and then we can go together."  

[Talencia]

It was gratifying to hear him address her concerns about other species, but very baffling to hear him call their queen by name and seem convinced that it was possible, if however improbable. She wasn't sure if this spoke well or poorly of this very strange pride, and she was still debating this question when he made his offer.

She seriously considered his proposal. She had to admit to herself, she was very curious about the strange place he had described thus far. A lioness queen who would accept an elephant? A job of eating with a incongruous name? A hyena who wouldn't dream of living in a pack? Curiouser and curiouser. Well, there was only one way to clear things up, so that she could better grasp exactly what non-insanity madness gripped her fellow canine.

She nodded, ears mostly forward, though still looking faintly confused. "Alright, that sounds good," she agreed aloud. "And perhaps... a meal later?" Clearly there wasn't enough here for her, but her stomach was still rumbling and pinching her. Exploration of the pride was fine, but food was better.  

[mouselet]

Zeme quickly gnawed the last of the meat off the bone and licked it hastily, but thoroughly, to clean it like the rest. Thus finished (for now, he'd have to come back later and tend to the bones, or maybe ask one of his colleagues to do so) the male eagerly got to his feet.

"Of course we can find something for you to eat!" he assured the other hyena. "And water to drink and perhaps a cool place to take a nap." There were many such places in the pride and he had no doubts at all that she'd love them.

"It's this way," he continued, striking out for the heart of the Kitwana. "And I'm Zeme," the hyena added with a crooked grin. This was certainly turning into a day of downs and ups! He wondered if she'd like the pride enough to stay.