It wasn't kind, but the guy had really asked for it. He had been going on and on about how stupid the reavers looked when they were chewing mint, and all the stupid things they did, and how stupid so many people in this pride were, anyway. Kraken had felt honor bound to show him the error of his thinking. Unfortunately, the outlander was simply unimpressed by what the lawspeakers did.
"Recitation," Khozar said dismissively. "Anyone can memorize and regurgitate facts on command. It is much more difficult to generate new ideas or calculate solutions."
To be fair, Khozar didn't actually realize how rude he sounded when he spoke like that about the pride. He had been raised by a lion who demanded better than perfection from him and reminded him at every opportunity that he was a b*****d. He held himself to higher standards than he would ever hold another person to. It didn't really show, though, when he was remarking on the pride's utter lack of intelligent people to talk to, and the ridiculous amount of respect skullbashers were regarded with.
"You don't have to stay here, you know," Kraken reminded the outlander. "You are welcome to leave at any time. I don't believe you've found your sister here, after all."
That was the truth. Khozar wasn't entirely sure why he stayed. He just had a feeling that he ought to. Nothing like Hari's visions, or even Mirsajadi's, but a feeling nonetheless. He couldn't explain all that to the lawspeaker in training lounging to his left, however. It was none of his damn business.
"Fine," Kraken continued. "If you insist on staying, you could at least keep quiet. It's not like I ever see you sparring or doing much of anything to improve your standing in the pride. If you have a problem with the way you're treated here, take action."
"But I shouldn't have to," Khozar wanted to protest. Everyone should just recognize his genius and accord him the proper respect because of it. He knew better than to say that, however. That kind of suggestion would fly about as far and as well as a rhinoceros. So he kept it to himself, figuring he probably shouldn't have said anything at all.
Kraken watched the striped lion obviously consider and discard an answer, and then choose to remain silent. There was a saying that went something like, "For the unwise man 'tis best to be mute when he come amid the crowd, for none is aware of his lack of wit if he wastes not too many words." Actually, it went exactly like that. Kraken had been made to memorize the entire work it came from at a very young age and he now knew it inside and out.
Kraken could respect Khozar for keeping to that adage, but at the same time he was still indignant about the slurs cast against his pride and his profession. This was where the unkind thing came in. There was more in that epically long piece Kraken had memorized, about moderation in consumption of food and mint. Kraken was going to see if he could get Khozar to act immoderately.
"Or, you know, you could give it a try. The mint, that is. I don't think I've ever seen you chewing it. It may be that you enjoy it more than you think." He shrugged as if it meant nothing to him, since in the long run it really didn't.
Khozar suspected a trap, but he was reluctant to believe that it was the obvious one, where he would be encouraged to overindulge and then act stupid for the amusement of any spectators. The lawspeakers of the pride were not terrifically clever, in his experience, but the were probably capable of acting with more subtlety than that. Even one who was still in training, like Kraken.
"I suppose I shouldn't condemn people for something I have not tried myself," he said carefully, glancing around him as if he expected someone to be listening in, but they were near the sparring sands, and very few people paid the audience any attention. No one was looking at them, or seemed to be listening either.
Kraken's smile was a little too quick as he said, "Too right. Let's see about getting you some prime mint. It wouldn't do for your first experience of the stuff to be sub-par. That would undoubtedly leave you the wrong impression."
Khozar knew it wasn't a controlled substance, but there was a part of him that felt as if he was doing something illicit by agreeing to do this. He knew what Mirsajadi would have called it. Idiocy. But then, Mirsajadi valued the mind above all else, and had avoided anything that would in any way diminish its capacity, even temporarily. Probably Mirsajadi was correct in that, but it was too late for Khozar to go back on his word without seeming like a coward.
Kraken watched as Khozar realized he had walked into something and did his best to keep his smile from turning into a smirk. He gestured with his head for Khozar to follow him and in under an hour they had liberated some mint from a freeborn's personal patch over the protests of the thrall who was tending it. If Kraken was going to get Khozar in trouble, he was happy to go all the way while he was about it, which the young lawspeaker in training sensed his companion was aware of.
"You can still say no," he offered. "It's no crime to refuse a pinch of mint, even if it is rude. I'm not about to call a holmgang on you. I've seen the scars on Fast's stomach."
Khozar couldn't help the grin that bared his teeth. "He deserved them."
"No doubt," Kraken agreed. He didn't much care for Fast, and thought his name was absolutely hilarious. Both of them. His father's name was pretty ridiculous, too. That whole family, really, had no business being here, and they were taking over the pride it sometimes seemed. Despite being ghostborn, Kraken would not have minded if the pride became more exclusive when it came to allowing outlanders in.
"What did he do, anyway? He shows off the scars, but he never says what he did to earn them."
Khozar began to tell the story, and before he realized it he was chewing mint and telling the story, and then he was telling another story. And then he was explaining about what a colossal douche the lion who raised him was, and how lucky Kraken was to have an adoptive father who liked him. And then he passed out.
Kraken considered leaving him there, but there were limits. You don't just leave someone unconscious on the beach. They could drown when the tide came in, and although Kraken did not feel Khozar would be a great loss, that was not how things were handled in the Stormborn. With an effort he hefted the unconscious lion onto his back and up to the stronghold, thinking that if he ever did something like this again, he would pick a place that wouldn't require him to carry someone uphill.
Word count: 1,202
