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 Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:01 pm
It felt like so long. So long he'd been looking, wandering, and been, in general, out of his mind. Not in the fact that the pridelander was going -crazy-, albeit that it seemed to him he was going in circles, and wasn't quite sure what it was he'd been doing with his life since he'd left the pridelands.
... I wonder how my family is.... he wondered to himself, as would anyone away from home. It was a thought he commonly found in his mind when he woke in the morning, this morning the same as the last.
Turning his head to the morning horizon, his dark eye, leaving the scarred one closed, due to it's inability to see well as it was, adjusted quickly to the morning light, before the male yawned, wide with his jaw cracking. Jaws snapping back together, he used a paw to rub the sleep and 'yawn tears' from his open eye, before rising to his feet, shaking his body to get the water that had formed on the grass he'd slept in, therefore had transferred to himself, off his body.
Where would he go today? He was unsure of such. But it seemed he needed to find a change in plan, or he'd get more and more lost as things went on. Of course... it wasn't like he had an agenda to keep.
Finding a suitably cleared out place from grass, he swept a brown paw over the surface of the ground, clearing it's surface, before using a claw to start drawing... a map. Where had he been, and where did he know. That, would be the first thing to do for the day.
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:16 pm
In the half light of the dawn Asherah woke, the only place dry of dew underneath her curled body. Chilled, she stood up and shook the moisture off her dark fur. It seemed so long ago she lived in a warm dry den. With a yawn she moved out of the longer grass she'd slept in, ready to move on already.
Ears and eyes alert, it wasn't long until she summised she wasn't the only one of her kind in the general area. The ground held a set of tracks that weren't hers from the night before. The wind carried the scent of a whole pride a few miles away, somewhere upwind. Ash wasn't worried though. She'd been travelling alone for a long while now.
Today was just another day.
Unknowing of which way was the right way, she headed towards the nearest body of water, following an animal track through the grass. Hooves and paws had worn it smooth over time.
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:40 pm
It seemed as though the map idea had failed entirely, as it had been erased several times over and over again, redrawn, clawed out, smoothed back over. Rinse, lather, repeat. After several times of doing this, it was then that he realized, he was a lot more lost than he'd thought. He couldn't even remember WHERE he'd been, at least not exactly to and from in a direct pattern.
Giving up on the drawing. Auron licked the dirt from his paw, though it blended in -so- wonderfully, before rising up. It would do him well to find a body of water, drink, and make his plans for the day from there. He was making a slow start for the day, and he needed to organize himself. Turning from where he'd slept, he made his way through the grass, stepping carefully, though with little checking, working to make sure that he didn't step on anything that could have woken any sleeping creatures of the grass, or have stung at his paw (he'd done that before... stupid stick and it's pointy projections.. :< ).
Sniffing the air, he checked for the scents of other inhabitants of the savannah, surmising the idea of a possible meal, or perhaps a location of water. Animals always seemed to flock to there, so it wasn't a bad idea.
He felt like he was walking forever, and again, Auron was getting NOWHERE. Pausing, he simply turned his direction a couple degrees to the left, checking the air. He was -sure- he'd seen something the night before.
With nobody around to ask directions (though, being male, he probably would have been to STUBBORN to..) it was actually amazing that Auron -did- find anything, and, with his luck, it was a water-hole, hidding by the long grass of the grasslands. Again checking to make sure of if he had company or not, he lapped at the water.
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:04 pm
The track was a long one, leading Asherah past the start of the general grazing ground before curling around like a giant comma, to end at the water hole. As she rounded the curve, she mused that she could have made the trip shorter by going direct through the long grass. Atleast the walk had served to warm and wake her up.
Perhaps if she headed towards the dawn-lit horizon, every day, she'd eventually reach the lands she'd been born in. They had been to the east? Or was it the west? The different terrains seemed never ending, and even if she reached the end of the world, she wouldn't know which way to go from there.
Sometimes, it all seemed so hopeless. It was a good thing she didn't mind travelling, now she was fully grown up and relatively safe.
Her still-new-to-her size didn't stop her from pausing in her tracks when she saw the lion at the waterhole. Ash had had some bad experiances before, with adult males. Some had no sense of honor or decency. If she was polite and brief, mayhaps he wouldn't bother her.
"Good morning." She bobbed her head, a respectful sign, and then got on with her drink.
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:25 pm
He'd thought he'd been alone, so the sudden appearence of the female was unexpected, bringing his actions to a pause to look up at the dark figure who greeted him, nodding a bit, before returning them. "Good morning, stranger." He watched her for a moment, noting that there was a tell-tale sign of concern. Perhaps he was a threatening figure to her. Guess he -did- look a bit on the grizzly side, with his fur sticking up at funny angles, and that scar of his.
It was only fair of him, at least. Sitting up, he licked the water off his lips, before looking off towards the horizon again. The shadows were starting to lose their length they'd had in the morning. It was starting to actually look like morning... just about the time when all the 'normal' inhabitants of the grass would waken.
Looking back to Asherah, Auron pondered over a thought for a moment. Perhaps -she- knew where 'here' was. Wouldn't hurt him too bady to ask. ".. Ma'am..?" he interuppted to get her attention. "Would you happen to know where it is we are?"
If not, then at least they were both lost.
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:35 pm
Ma'am? That was a first, though his politeness was encouraging. After a few more sips of water, she too, sat up and studied him a moment. She'd only taken in his size, before. He looked an interesting character at any rate.
"I'm not entirely sure, but I have an idea of where abouts. Are you searching, for anywhere in particular, sir?" She offered a small smile.
The jungle had to still lay a ways back, after all. It wasn't much to go on, but it was the only thing she knew to use as a guide. It rose in the distance in the way she had come from. A desert was before that, but she'd turned while in the sands, so...that was all she could imagine. Any other knowlege was lost to her now and she'd never even heard of maps.
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:58 pm
"The land of my mother, though I am not told it's true name, I only know it as 'The Farthest Lands'." he replied, looking back to the sky with a sort of somber expression, as if thinking. It was the first promise he'd made to his kin, to find that place. Find his mother, though he knew not what she looked like.
He looked back to her. "I promised I would go there when I was able to."
A bit of a smile formed on his face. "Too bad I don't really know where that is. So I guess right now, I'm looking for my own location." His habits as a child had made it so the only place he could really find the location of at this point in time, was the place of his birth.
"What of yourself? Do you live out here, or are you too looking for somewhere?" Truely, it was hard for Auron to imagine there was someone LIVING out in such a place... But it wasn't for him to judge, he lived nowhere, now that he thought of it.
He needed to start making mental maps of where things were.. a much better one than he currently had, anyways.
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:23 pm
"For the moment, this is where I lay my head to sleep, but it isn't really home. I'm looking for my way back to my own mothers' lands." There was something about the way she said that that implied not only ownship, but a plural. Two mothers. Both remembered mostly as light grey, a darker grey and warmly soft.
"I got lost when I was much younger."
She turned her head to gaze backwards the way she had come. Jungle, desert...then was it grasslands like this? Southlands. Maybe? Or was that west and the name was deceptive?
"I haven't heard of the Farthest Lands. But I can remember the different areas I've been to, vaguely. I know for certain where the jungles are, and so where the Firekin are." She looked back across the water at him. "I don't know how helpful that is, to you."
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:49 pm
"The firekin are homed near the Pridelands of Mufasa and Sarabi, are they not?" he inquired, though he knew not of the passing of the ruling pair, and that their daughter, Kamilika, had taken to the thrown. Having come from the opposite direction of her, her pondered which direction things truely lay in. Had he passed by here the night before, and backtracked, had he turned in a random direction when he thought he was going straight?
"None I have met as of the start of my journey have heard of such a place. So I wonder if it has a name that is known better than that I know of it as."
It wasn't a half-bad idea, at least.
He looked at his reflection in the water for a moment, before his attention turned to hers. "Do you know where it is you are going?" he inquired, eyebrows lifting a bit. "Perhaps I would know of where it is." It was an offer of returning the help she herself had tried to give him.
"Unless you were so young when you became lost, that you cannot remember where it is you are going?" he inquired, leaning back on his rump, his posture loosening up a bit.
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:07 pm
"The Mistweaver valley. Neither of my mothers were born there, but I was. I hope to find them there still." Where there was the den and the pools she'd played in as a cub. Not home, never home...she'd been born to wander. But by the gods did she miss her siblings and parents!
"The Pridelands. I do not know who rules there, but they touch the Southlands. I think I know the way. I could show you...sir."
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:15 pm
A quick shake of the head met her offer. "While I have never been to the lands of the Mistweavers, I myself wish not to return to the Pridelands, which are the lands of my own birth." he explained.
There was a bit of a pause from Auron as he realized that, yes, he was being called 'sir', which he realized was due to his own fault of being impolite. "My name is Auron, if it makes it easier for you." he offerred in introduction, though he expected no name in return.
"However, if you would wish it, perhaps if we were to go towards something familiar, we may find something, or someone, that may point you towards the place it is you seek to go."
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:23 pm
"My mistake then." She shrugged it of. A misunderstanding. She was abit surprised by the offer of company for a while, which probably showed. It had been so long since she'd met another lion, and a nice one at that, Ash decided she should probably make the most of it.
"If it'd suit you. I'm Asherah, by the way."
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:23 pm
Auron bowed his head a bit. "I myself am also of blame for not clarifying what I meant, Asherah." he insisted, before rising up to his feet, again looking towards the sun, then the shadows forming. They must have spent about an hour simply talking to each other, and he'd yet to have made his official decision about what he was going to do that way.
"What suits me is of no matter, if it does not suit you. Would you like company?" he inquired with a straight expression, almost in an indifferent way to it.
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:56 am
With one of her classic little mood swings, - as changable as the sea, as opal, as taffita - she chuckled softly, amused by his formal manners and the way she'd emulated it for so long. It suited her to be smiling and the change was so sudden as to seem too peculiar. It was clearly her nature.
"In that case, I think I'd enjoy some company for as long as our paths lay the same way."
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 9:25 am
The switch in her moods was a surprise to Auron, who's expression changed ever so slightly to reflect this. He'd met lions (and even other creatures aside from them...) with 'mood swings', but this one was so subtle, it was different and caught him off guard. Her nature was his confusion.
"Very well, then." he replied, again bowing his head ever so slightly. "Towards where wold you like to go first?" he inquired, offerring her first choice on destination of choice. There was an odd pause. "Though, I would think, in fault of my earlier decree, perhaps if we were to head towards the pridelands, we may find someone who may tell us the way to the lands of the mistweavers that you look for...?" It was a bit of a inquired suggestion.
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