Azula gazed out across the desert, the new home of her family. She was still bruised over having had to leave; more than a little, actually. In some ways, the female knew it would be a hurt that would never leave, despite time, but she could hope that it would fade a little. Personal discomfort wasn't a thing that Azula was prone to like having about her.
She sighed and turned back towards her newly chosen den. Old enough to go her separate way, the 'Princess' of her litter had made a place for herself now that they'd moved, rather than stayed with her family. It was still close enough to see the rest of them, but the presence of her brothers was an annoying one these days.
Kenna, of course, was more than welcome to stay about her, but that was the only one truly welcomed. Azula settled down and began to clean herself. She'd have to go hunting soon; now that she was old and strong enough to do so on her own she was expected to. Though she didn't mind, it would be nice to have had some company.
Thing had grown complicated over the span of only a few days. Just a few suns ago, he'd lived a relatively simply life as a play thing to his mistress. Now she insisted that he began learning skills that would make him more 'of use' to the newly appointed queen. He was still a cub, though his mane was growing out along his head and neck. It was hardly enough to shield him from the sun.
He was out hunting for himself. Rabbits were still far too quick for him so the beetles would have to do. He'd unknowingly strayed close to Azula's den in the duration of his hunt. Presently, the blue-pelted lion was half-covered in a hole he'd been digging, flinging pawfuls of sand out as he worked at getting under a fallen rock.
A noise attracted her attention. Distracted from her grooming, the brilliant lioness turned to see her sister's little slave digging... digging. She rolled her eyes. This, she knew, was what made the Firekin so much better than the rest of lion-kind. What sort of lion, cub or not, when about digging after bugs. Disgusting little thing.
Still... He could provide some amusement, and she'd long since had Kenna's permission to use the slave, provided she didn't break it. Even then, Azula thought there would be forgiveness for such a thing if she acted contrite enough.
Raising to her feet in one fluid movement, Azula silently made her way to the where the cub was still chasing his dinner. She reached forward to grab his tail in a steel grip and pull him from the hole.
Zaphod reached a paw out, claws extended, target in sight. A bloated beetle nearly as large as the pad in the center of his feet. Quite suddenly the beetle was sliding further and further away. The sharp tug on his tail announced that it was in fact him that was moving away.
The cub curled up, flattening his ears as he was pulled free from the ground, his bright blue pelt dusted from the sand that had fallen over him. He'd groom himself before returning to his mistress...
"....l...lady Azula..."
"A little dusty.. but it'll have to do." Azula's nose wrinkled at the sight of the dust covered cub. It would be amusing to return him to Kenna before he had time to clean himself. So long as she could figure a way to do so without pinning his state of disorder on herself--which should be fine as she actually didn't have anything to do with it.
Practically throwing the cub to the ground, she stood and began to walk away. She hadn't dismissed him, so he should follow. If he wasn't smart enough to figure that out, that was his own problem... and her pleasure. She waited to see before saying anything further.
Zaphod met the ground with an 'oooof!' then scrambled himself back to his paws to trail after the much larger lioness, ears lowered and tail practically dragging on the ground. This one was different than Kenna...she had a shorter temper with him. At least Sinbad announced when he was going to express his anger or boredom. This one... was a bit more difficult to understand.
He watched their shadows rather than her back, noting how very small his silhouette was compared to hers.
Too bad. Azula was mean, but she wasn't sadistic--an unfortunate trait that she lamented the lack off. He'd done what he was supposed to do, so she wouldn't punish him for that, though she also wouldn't praise him. Doing his duty didn't deserve praise, of course, only doing something exceptional--above and beyond the norm--that was all that would deserve it.
"I'm going hunting and it will come with me. A distraction would be nice, I find." It, of course, was the slave. There wasn't any reason to give them more sense of self than they seemed to possess already. Allowing a slave to think of itself as a true person was not only cruel to them when they realized the truth, but was also prone to beginning rebellion. At least, by her flawed logic.
"I've yet to fully track the herds that roam these lands. Its such a bother, really, to be thrust from our rightful place... but if we're to be the bigger persons, we must all make our little sacrifices."
She glanced over her shoulder at him, grinning wickedly to herself, "Speaking of sacrifices, how does it feel about... hmm... waterbuffalo?"
Zaphod nodded mutely at the first statement. Why not? Sinbad had already shown him what a hunt looked like... he almost made it look easy. Of course, another traditionalist female had flushed the herd out for the lordling. And of course, the lordling had taken nearly all the credit for the hunt. Zaphod had only watched.
Again, he nodded to the second statement. The politics of the whole affair were beyond him just yet. All he knew was that one set of fire-pelted lions had driven -his- set of fire-pelted lions from their homes into this place...less water, less food, less shade. Damn them.
The third statement froze the cub in mid-step. "Wa...waterbuffalo?" He lifted his eyes up, "But...they're...they're big..."
"My, my, it is preceptive, isn't it?" Azula drawled with an amused roll of her eyes. She smirked and continued off on her way through the sands, kicking up little puffs of dust as she did. The area here was even more arid than their old home--harder to live in. In a way it was closer to their goddess, for the heat was truly intense, and yet their goddess was not always an easy one to serve.
Seeing the ripple of the tiny water hole, Azula diverted their path to make a stop there before they moved on. "of course they're big, but if I have a decent distraction, I should be able to take a baby.. then again, its not likely we can find that out here. We'd have to make quite the trek out... hn.. "
She sighed. It would have been amusing to see him dodging a herd of buffalo.
Zaphod slumped into his shoulders at the sarcastic remark, hiding a scowl in the shadow of his growing mane. He hated that he had to bite his tongue. Around his siblings he was free to tell them just what was on his mind- though at the time he'd chosen not to. If he'd only known....
He trudged after her to the water hole and starred down at the water. Last time he'd drank without permission Sinbad had sat on him... arrogant b*****d. The cub looked between the water and Azula.
"Downstream," Was all she said, though she didn't reprimand him for waiting. Instead she lowered her head to take a sip as she considered where they were going. What herds had she heard about in the current area.......
After a minute or two she turned away and headed off into the hills at a fast clip. Perhaps she'd bring something back for Kenna. Especially if the child got hurt, that might calm her sister down some.
Zaphod licked his maw and waited for her to finish her sip. The moment the lioness bolted off, his head was thrown back once more and his eyes widened up. The cub seemed to shiver all the sudden as his voice began shuddering. "...a...h...h...herd....f...father th...that way..." He lifted a paw and pointed just slightly off to Azula's side. "Y..th...three ne...newborns...."
The firekin stopped, cocking an ear towards him. She turned slightly to lift a brow then nodded, "Hmm.." Not for the first time she had the distinctly amusing mental image of asking him questions and shaking him to get the answers. That's what he sounded like--as if someone were shaking him.
"Come along. if it falls behind, I'll let the sands bury it."
Zaphod fell back down to all fours as whatever-it-was released him. The cub swayed, falling to one side as he stood up once more, then off to the other side as he got himself back up and attempted to run forward. The sight would be amusing at least, he never seemed to recover form whatever-it-was quickly enough. "Coming...mistress...."
Azula snorted. Stupid little thing... Still, Kenna was right, it had its uses. She was hungry, though, and wasn't much inclined to take it easy on him today. Azula continued on without him, perfectly intending to leave him if he fell behind.
