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Luckily, Gunnar's raiding party had passed close by the ruins where Ahava had told him to go. If it hadn't been convenient for him, he would never have bothered to comply with her request. As it was, it had been easy to take a few days away from the others to go prowl around these ruins. He had gone at night, and seen traces of the two-legged hunters. Just traces. Gunnar was a bit sad that he hadn't been able to test his claws against them. When he left the ruins, he had heard something ... a crack and a high-pitched whine in the darkness, like some big insect shooting past him. Not being a fan of big biting insects, Gunnar had sped up without looking back. Whatever it was, and whatever the two-legged beasts were, they were now behind him. So now here he was, carrying an old piece of jewelry. It looked a bit like Ahava's jewelry, if he remembered correctly. He hadn't paid much attention to it when meeting her. Gunnar hoped she liked it. Even if she didn't, he hoped she would take it. He felt a bit silly carrying this piece of very un-manly looking jewelry around. At last he had nearly reached the place where he had met Ahava before. The blond-maned lion looked around, hoping to see the strange female. He had done enough for her, she had better be easy to find!

Ahava lay in the grasses enjoying the morning air. In a few minutes she would be joined by the others to hunt, but for now she just lay enjoying the calm peaceful breeze of the morning. She yawned feeling a bit sleepy as she had a late night helping a few nannies with some cubs, but it had been worth it. Cubs were a joy even if she did not particularly want any of her own just yet. She thought on the time she had been spending with them lately, she was to be assigned one of the older cubs soon, as her little apprentice was fully grown and had joined the hunting party. The cycle was to begin again and it had Ahava thinking about when she would train her own little ones to hunt and see her little males become warriors. It was exciting in truth, but Ahava pushed the thoughts away. She had goals, goals which she had not reached. A family could wait, yes a family could most certainly wait.

Gunnar had been hoping to find the female exactly where she had been before, patiently awaiting his return. Ordinarily the challenge of hunting her down again would have appealed to him ... if he hadn't just takent the time to look for a damned necklace for her. A necklace, of all things. He had no idea why she wanted something from that place of ruins, when she could easily have something prettier from somewhere else. Females. Impossible. The brown lion prowled through the grasses, alert for any sound or scent of Ahava. And then - there! Her scent, unmistakeable. Growling softly to himself, pleased with his success, Gunnar padded towards the lioness. He had her present. Now she would reward him. Spotting the lioness, Gunnar called out to her. "Ahava! I have your trinket!"

Ahava head shot up at the voice she had not expected to hear. She was extremely tempted to jump up and run for the pride. Why had he actually gone? Actually gone across the sea to En Gedi, where two leggers prowled? For her? It was the most ridiculous thing and it made her wonder if the male was just ridiculously stupid or extremely brave. She wanted to believe the latter rather than the former, but she found herself leaning toward the former. "Hello, Gunnar," she said annoyance thick in her voice. Why her?

Well, wasn't this just something. He had gone to all the trouble of fetching this stupid necklace, and the female actually sounded annoyed with him. Gunnar really wasn't very experienced with females, and it had never occurred to him that she might have set him the dreary task of getting her a trinket just to blow him off. No. This was a BARGAIN, as far as he saw it. He had gone trudging off halfway across the world, it seemed like, and now she would give him her affections. Gunnar didn't want to shout at the female, sensing that acting like a cub having a tantrum wouldn't endear him to her. But he couldn't help frowning slightly at her tone. "Ahava. I thought you'd be happier to see me." The lion stepped forward and set the necklace down at her paws. "I brought you a gift, from your ruins." As promised.

Ahava felt a bit shamed seeing that she had hurt Gunnar's feeling especially after seeing the necklace from her home. Oh it made her feel so happy to see the necklace, she missed the ruins so. She could feel tears brimming in her eyes and she tried to blink them away. "Thank you," she said softly, "it is lovely. I did not mean to upset you I ... thank you. Was your journey a good one? Tell me about it would you?"

Now, AT LAST, the lioness was reacting properly to him. Although he had gone to get the necklace for selfish motives, he was pleased at seeing how happy she was with the gift. It was a very un-warriorlike way to interact with foreigners, but it made Gunnar feel ... nice ... to make the lioness happy. He wasn't about to go around frolicking and singing with all of the outsiders that he met, but he grudgingly supposed that interacting with strangers could be fun even without fighting. "Good," Gunnar said, as she complimented the necklace. He was glad she approved of it. He wasn't so sure how to describe his journey, though. The lion enjoyed telling tales, but he didn't want to tell her that he had traveled with a bunch of his fellow warriors. "I met up with some friends going that way," Gunnar said. "It's not a bad journey, with friends." Enough about his friends. "Of course, I went on to the ruins alone," Gunnar continued, brightening up as he spoke about his own adventures. "I went all through the ruins, ready to fight any two-leggers I saw, but they heard my roars and kept away!" This was an exaggeration, but what would a story be without a little embellishment? "I found this necklace half-under a fallen pillar. It wasn't easy to shift it aside, but I knew that you would want it."

Ahava smiled and laughed lightly went he said the two leggers kept away at his roar. Oh she knew that wasn't true, but she decided not to voice this. The two leggers were lion hunter and as Gunnar seemed fine she figured he had not encounter any at all. It was a comforting thought, that maybe her home was safe, was a peace. She listened with a smile feeling a bit flatter and wondering. She knew what Gunnar wanted, but unfortunately she had to hunt with the others soon. Although Ahava eyed him critically, he did seem worthy and he had undertaken her task and brought back a treasure. She sat up looking at Gunnar, "I am glad that you enjoyed the journey and it is nice to know that it was a safe one." She stood and ears shifting to see if the others were coming and sure enough she could hear them not far off.

The female was smiling and laughing, obviously very impressed by his story. Gunnar felt quite proud. Though he was not particularly vain, the lion enjoyed admiration just as much as any of his kinfolk. He was tempted to add on to his adventures, but he thought he had risked enough. Gunnar truthfully didn't know much about two-leggers, and if this female did, he might slip up and reveal his ignorance. That would be embarrassing. "It was a long way, but it was worth it," Gunnar replied, smiling. He watched her as she stood. Was she listening for something? Oh. Oh dear. His spirits fell a bit. Was her pride coming? But he had only just gotten here! He needed more time to flirt with this female. "Is that your family?" Gunnar asked, smiling gamely. He did not much want to meet this pride. They probably wouldn't care about his necklace, and would drive him off.

Ahava smiled and now she did feel truly flatter, "I am very happy to have been so worthy of you time." She did think now that maybe Gunnar was worthy of her time, but her family was coming. The other huntress for the morning hunt. She nodded when the he asked if it was them. "Yes, they are coming for the morning hunt. I am to lead this morning. It should not take to long however, the prey has not moved off from yesterday's scouting so we should be successful in taking down a prey beast fairly quickly." Ahava could see the Gunnar seemed worried and did not seem to want to meet the pride. "Will you wait? It will not take long."

Ahava could be as annoyingly mysterious as any female, but her appreciation did make Gunnar feel good. He definitely didn't want to be driven off now, just when he had finally made a good impression on her. Gunnar had never really experienced peaceful interaction with pride members ... Ahava had only been willing to speak to him because she was alone, he was sure of it. He was relieved that Ahava seemed to want him to stick around. "Of course, I can wait," Gunnar said. But it didn't seem very noble to wait while she hunted. He didn't want to meet the other hunters, but he had to offer. "I can hunt with you, if you like."

Ahava smiled when he said he could wait, but was shocked to hear him say he would hunt. Males did not usually hunt in the pride, but of course that did not mean that they couldn't. No hunting was simply want female were built for. She blinked slowly before nodding with a smile as the other came up greeted her and eyes the pair curiously. She smiled at them, "This is Gunnar. He is a very nice male, a friend. He brought me a gift," she said showing off the necklace with a small smile. "He offered to hunt with us."

Gunnar didn't often hunt when he was at home, but when out on a raid, he had to hunt for himself out of necessity. He was pleased that Ahava accepted his offer. Another way to show off his strength for her. He kept smiling when the other female approached. Just a female, not an angry male. He relaxed. Females were bewildering, but not usually threatening. "Good to meet you," Gunnar said, bowing his head politely to the newcomer. "I would love to hunt with you."

The females looked at each other wit smiles grinning at Ahava. It seemed she made a nice new friend and the other couldn't help but to giggle over his. Shaking their heads they declined his offer and shoo off Ahava, with whispered words of go have fun, we can hunt, and you work much to hard. Ahava was extremely annoyed by this and almost insisted she helped. She was suppose to lead, but before she could get the words out she was pushed off and the others headed out to hunt.

She blinked confused and irritated, but sighed turned back to Gunnar.

Giggling females made Gunnar feel a bit alarmed.  He knew how to fight,  but as far as giggling females went he was helpless.  He waited without speaking while Ahava sorted it out.   The blonde lion was relieved when the other females left, but Ahava didn't seem relieved at all.  In fact, she seemed a bit irritated.  Hopefully she would cheer up again.  Gunnar didn't want to have to trudge back to the ruins just to get her to smile again.  He smiled at her himself, leading by example.  "I have you to myself, then."

Ahava shook her head, but smiled and walked off expecting Gunnar to follow. "So tell me about yourself," she said before going quite waiting for an answer, then as an afterthough adding, "the truth please."