[PRP] First Encounters (Shui, Huo x Shaak, Azar)

[Epine de Rose]

They had eventually managed to persuade their father to let them have an outing. They had itchy feet, very itchy feet, and Ram had eventually concluded that the brothers would simply become more disruptive if they weren't allowed to stretch their legs and see the world. As a consequence, they had been allowed to explore for a very set period of time, and after that period of time they were expected to come home. Unbeknownst to them, they also had the company of a guard, but he had somehow kept himself out of sight for the entirety of their journey so far... Should they come to any harm though, he would no doubt make his presence known.

This afternoon they had finally stumbled upon something quite similar to what they had been accustomed to before. It was sand, except it was sand in the middle of a landlocked region - they knew this, because they couldn't see the ocean and they hadn't seen it for a very long time. At had been such a puzzling discovery for them that they had afforded themselves more time than most probably would have on this particular border.

Every now and then both of the brothers would find themselves pawing at the sands and raising it up to let it tumble back down.

"It seems...drier," Huo concluded after a few moments. He had taken to trying to draw in it as one could do at the beach and had discovered that very little of the 'text' survived. The gentle breeze seemed to disrupt it almost immediately.

"Well there isn't any water," Shui observed as he peered over his brother's shoulder into the distance. "But where did it come from if there isn't any?" he mused and raised a brow. They'd seen rivers with some sort of gravelly sand on it before, but this had literally nothing to its name.

"Eh..." Huo's lips pursed. "Maybe it had water, but it's long gone," he said finally. "Dried up or something..."

Kimaria

 

[Kimaria]

Azar'bijan was not often seen on patrol without his son but today was one of those days and, instead of the striped male, the corporal walked alongside the smaller form of an ex-rogue female. Surprisingly, he didn't mind Shaak's company too much. She was quite the opposite of him - impossible to anger and so in control that Azar'bijan had long learned that trying to engage her in an argument was impossible.

And, in all honesty, he felt in need of a bit of peace and quiet. His head had been a muddle of all sorts of thoughts and feelings these past few days and coming out on patrol with someone who wasn't going to help fan the fire felt like a vacation in itself.

Somewhere behind them, the rest of the patrol had paused to check the most easterly border point and had agreed that they would meet there again later, just before the day was done. Until then, he was free to breathe.

"We're not alone out here," Shaak's voice was gentle, but it startled Azar all the same. He'd been so lost in thought that he was surprised to realise he hadn't been paying attention at all.

"Another patrol?" he asked gruffly, narrowing his eyes.

"I think not. They're too young for that and there is no elder with them."

Azar'bijan was about to argue that it could very well have been some teenage delinquents when he realised that she was right. "Too young to duel with us," he added gruffly. "Let's send them on their way until their manes have grown in and they stand a chance."

Shaak gave a placating nod - in the way a mother would to her insistent toddler - and moved on towards the young lions just up ahead. "Can we help you, young sirs?" she called when they were close enough that her slightly raised voice would be carried to them.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

They had been mid conversation when the pair of red lions had approached; to say that they had any situational awareness would have caused several raised brows. As it was, the two still had much to learn when it came to being aware of everything nearby when they paused to talk. Their time stalking their nemesis as children hadn't taught them that, perhaps because there were no true repercussions for provoking him... but out here, they might end up losing their fur if they weren't careful.

Still, their otherwise peaceful upbringing had ensured that they were relaxed enough to avoid jumping out of their skin. Shaak's quiet interruption of their musing was met by matching sets of eyes turning round to inspect the approaching lioness, and then promptly, the seemingly gruff older lion beside her. A father and daughter perhaps? They'd seen a few of those out and about, or at least family units, but nothing nearly as big as a pride.

...Apparently they didn't exist out here?

"Actually yes," Shui was the first to speak and thunked the sand that had been in his paw back down on to the ground. Settling himself, her wrapped his tail around his hind legs and tilted his head to the side. "How come there's sand all the way out here?" he asked and shook his head. "There's no water, so we're trying to work out where it came from..."

Huo nodded in support.

"We figured you probably had some a long time ago and it just sort of...disappeared," he hazarded and gave a loose shrug. "That's a lot of water to lose though," He remarked, gazing out over the arguably, very large expanse of sand.

Kimaria

 

[Kimaria]

"Oh," Shaak seemed surprised at the question, giving the boys a small nod. They had curious questions, these two. Most wouldn't bother to question such things and just accept the land as it was. Young as they were, they'd likely not seen much of the world yet. "I think I am correct in the assumption that this is the first time you have seen a desert, yes?" she smiled, "there is a little water here if you know where to look but, for the most part it is a rather arid landscape."

She still wasn't quite used to it herself, "I think it's mostly due to the dry winds coming from the--"

Azar, growling, moved past Shaak to eye up the youngsters with an accusatory look. "How did two kids like you make it all the way out here in one piece, huh?" He set his paws firmly into the sand and set his jaw.

Shaak said nothing but a glance at her face said all that was needed to have been said. She'd have to speak to him about this. No wonder no one did him any favours when he was always on the offense like this. How could he not see that he wasn't helping himself?

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"Well that's probably why our noses are so dry then," Huo lifted his paw to rub at it. To say that neither of them was accustomed to there being very little moisture in the air was an understatement. Even their manes were looking a touch out of sorts, usually much more full, they were a tad flatter...but they hadn't lost that signature curl that was so familiar to their home.

"Doesn't seem like a great place to live," Shui hazarded as he glanced behind Shaak, deliberately choosing to ignore Azar for the time being. If he was going to be rude, then he'd receive the same treatment in kind, that was how they had always operated at home. Treat others like you wanted to be treated, otherwise, you'd be left in the cold. "What happens when you get thirsty?" he asked and shook his head. "There doesn't seem like there would be enough around to keep you alive."

"And the prey," Huo observed, causing Shui's ears to perk.

"Oh yeah, good point!"

It was only then that Huo turned his attention to Azar, taking a moment to observe his body language, before mimicking it with absolute confidence. He might not have been an adult yet but he was a big enough teen, and he could thrust out his chest like the best of them.

"Maybe," he began. "Just maybe...we're just that good."

"We're a marvel," Shui agreed with a grin.

Kimaria

 

[Kimaria]

Shaak was good at withholding emotion and the desire to laugh was easily subdued. It seemed to her, like these boys had enough self-confidence to stick up to Azar without any help required from her. They would have made good Firekin, though it was clear to her that these boys were not looking to join. It seemed they were quenching their thirst for adventure and for knowledge. Exploring lands outside of their own boundaries. She had done that, herself, as a youth, and it was nice to see there were others who liked to aim for such.

"Not from where I'm standing," Azar snapped back, "There's a good reason we live where we do. Only the strong thrive."

"What my companion is trying to say is that you're right. Water and hunting are hard to find out here. There are some somewhat stable water sources but they have to be managed well and drought is commonplace. Hunting parties can be gone for days and our territory is bigger to accommodate this."

"What are you doing?" Azar snapped at her, "don't waste your breath on lions who aren't joining."

"I am only ever pleased to answer questions," Shaak replied, casting the boys an apologetic look. "The world is full of wonder."

Azar - who had never been farther than the outpost - silently disagreed with her.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"Mate, I am ninety nine percent sure you would drown if you tried to survive where we come from," Huo replied smoothly, not even skipping a beat as Azar blustered. Evidently, out of the two brothers, he had the sharper tongue and his brother was the slightly more diplomatic. That wasn't to say that either of them lacked in personality, but Huo was probably the one slightly more inclined towards back chatting when it came to the likes of Azar!

"And most likely starve..." Shui gazed at Azar for a period of time and then stepped forward to peer at his muscles. For a beach-born, they were all in the 'wrong' place, he was lacking in strength where it needed to be, if he wanted to be successful as a hunter in the Bahari'mtoto. "I don't imagine he would have the flexibility to catch anything, his thighs are too fat..."

Huo squinted.

"Back is too tight as well," he acknowledged, placing his paw to his chin and giving it a light scratch as though he was inspecting some sort of wares. "Might be useful for out here but he'd be a baby at home."

"Naw, cubs can catch their own food at home with a little practice."

"To be fair, those things don't move very fast, and he'd render them extinct if that's all he could eat..." Huo grinned and then shook his head, turning his attention to the lioness once more. "Why would you pick somewhere so hostile if the upkeep is so high?" he asked curiously. "Seems like an awful lot of effort for a whole lotta..." he paused to try and find a suitable word. "Well it looks like nothing but I'm sure there's stuff here?"

"Dad did say that we may not understand the value some folks place in bits and pieces out here, maybe they just really like the look of sand?" Shui offered.

"Or beige," Huo agreed.

Kimaria

 

[Kimaria]

Shaak took a seat and watched as the scene played out before her. She had to admit that she did feel a little sorry for Azar but, it he had brought it upon himself by talking so argumentatively to a pair of young lions who had done nothing but allow themselves to be curious. Was Azar really so old that he'd forgotten what it was like to be young and find adventure all around him?

In truth, Azar had not really had much of a childhood, but he'd never placed much importance in such things.

She watched him grinding his teeth in angry silence and wondered how much more he would take before he exploded. They were poking at him, tryng to goad him and still he didn't realise it. They did not fear him. Why would they? He wouldn't hurt them. His paws were tied.

"It sounds like your home is as wet as this place is dry!" she chimed in, "as for why I picked this place. It's people are...strong and admirable. There is much honour to be found here. Not to mention the beautiful desert skies. It is a bland landscape compared to some but it has a savage beauty." Shaak smiled fondly, "much like the lions who live in it."

Unfortunately, Azar was not a good example of the lions who lived within the Firekin. Well...not a good example for most of them. "But the reasons for my being here are far different from the reasons of those that were born here. That is a far more ancient thing touched with nostalgia and tradition. The Firekin have changed many things but their ancestral home is not one of them."

She paused to look at the boy's then, their markings and colouration and the curl to their manes. How far had they come, she wondered.

"That's enough!" Azar'bijan finally burst, "I won't stand here and be insulted on my home territory."

"Azar..." Shaak attempted to placate the other.

"I have a job to do, as do you," he reminded through narrow eyes, "and that does not involve indulging the curiosity of nosy brats."

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

Shui chose to seat himself beside Shaak, and leaned close - what came out was very much a stage whisper and his expression was decidedly comical. "Your definition of honour might be a little bit different than ours," he noted and raised a paw to motion towards Azar. "We don't usually ascribe throwing insults at strangers to be good form," he pointed out. It was then that he puffed up his chest and smiled.

"But to avoid being strangers any more," he continued, electing to 'rescue' Azar from his own poor manners. "I'm Shui, and this is my brother Huo!" he grinned impishly. "And the Bahari'mtoto are by the sea, so it's pretty wet," he agreed.

"Hang on," Huo raised a paw to Azar's face and turned his gaze to Shaak with a raised brow. "Did you say 'Firekin'?" he asked, glancing at his brother for confirmation. When Shui gave him a nod, he lowered his paw again and smiled. "Some of our families have blood here!" he declared enthusiastically. "Fancy that," he mused and then glanced at the disgruntled Azar.

"Maybe they all wanted to loosen up a bit and found our home more appealing," he teased and shook his head. "Huh, well small world, already checked one of our to-go places off our list."

"You can go do your er... 'job' if you want," Shui gave a wave of his paw somewhat dismissively. "But we're borrowing this one, she's real nice and she's got lots of info."

"We'll fight you for her time," Huo challenged with a smirk. "Well, once you finish your 'job' that is!"

Kimaria

 

[Kimaria]

Shaak smiled across at Shui and gave him a slow wink of acknowledgement, "ah, thankfully, not all of our kind are like Azar. He's pretty unique in that way. You learn to love them, even the most grumpy ones. Firekin can fight, granted, but with most...their bark is worse than their bite." She gave Azar a meaningful look, knowing deep down that this was just the case with him. He might bluster and yell but he wouldn't really lay a paw on these kids - partly because that was a step too far even for him and partly because he might be worried that they would beat him!

"My name is Shaak and this is Corporal Azar'bijan," she gave the other lion's name mostly because she wasn't sure he'd willingly part with it. "Huo," she repeated the name, "fire. How about that? Are you descendants of some of these wandering Firekin who took up residence at your homeland?"

Azar seemed to be taking this new information in. To think of his kin by the sea...it was an odd concept, even for those deemed huria by the pride. To be fair, he'd never really thought much about the huria at all - and had even picked on one or two as a youth. Hm. He'd not thought about those days for a long time. Maybe it was that yellow male they were talking about now.

"My job is never done," he grumbled.

"Now that is true," Shaak replied. "Although the borders have been quiet recently. We don't have to rush off."

"We still have the ground to cover before regrouping," the older lion pointed out.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

Shui squinted briefly at Shaak's question and then slowly shook his head, he didn't think either side of his family had roots in the Firekin. His mother had always been a bit vague about her's, but he knew for definite that his father didn't have any there. After all, it was his father who was very distantly related to the old royal line... that's how he'd even been allowed to establish himself as king.

"I don't believe so," he said finally. "Our parents just like short names, my mother's means 'snow', mine is 'ice', and I guess since Huo had all that orange they decided he was like fire." It was a guess, but it was a perfectly reasonable one and Shui felt confident about it.

"Yep, all of our siblings have short names, but we're all named after things at home," Huo piped up with a small smile. "Or just something that we look like," he added, acknowledging that his brightest sister was named after the sun. "You guys give everything some kinda fire name?" he asked curious. "Wouldn't you end up with a load of lions with the same names?" he pondered.

Shui shook his head; he'd already turned his attention back to Azar.

"I guess he's just afraid he'll lose, that's why he's always 'working'," he concluded, perhaps a touch sadly. Both the brothers enjoyed a good challenge and a tag team against someone who was supposed to be 'strong' would have been a neat story for them to bring home.

"Well yeah, we're more flexible," Huo seemed to have accepted that Azar wouldn't be humouring them. "Shame really, was curious as to what those big thighs were for to be honest..."

Kimaria

 

[Kimaria]

Shaak nodded in understanding. Personal preference. The white lion with the orange and yellow mane certainly did look like 'fire'. And sometimes it was better to name a child over an appearance rather than a personality trait they might grow not to have when they were older. Shaak was one of those lionesses who put a lot of meaning into names and though she had no children she knew she would select them carefully if ever she did.

"More recently, the naming rules have relaxed but, for the most part, fire is the preferred choice." She smiled, thinking of all the 'Moto' lions within the pride. The Firekin version of 'Smith'! It could get terribly confusing but it was something else she liked about the pride. "The names we choose can be troublesome at times, especially for the historians who catalog births and deaths and all such things. You won't be too far pressed to find a 'Moto' on the borders and there are a few 'Azars' here, too."

Azar, with a low growl, stalked off without a word, but one could tell by the way he walked that he was seething. He, at least, was doing better at controlling his temper...well...sort of.

"So," Shaak asked when Azar was out of earshot, "are you just travelling from curiosity or does your journey serve some greater purpose?"

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"Well, we heard from one of our visitors about how her pride was related to ours," Shui began, waving Azar off as the disgruntled male took his leave. Maybe he looked so stiff because he had just gotten stuck that way at some point? Either way, the poor bloke needed to lighten up.

"So it got us thinking and we decided we'd kinda like to see where some of our bloodlines come from," Huo had continued to peer after Azar for a little longer, but had finally opted to join in with the conversation. "She was from the Pridelands; we haven't found that one yet," he explained and tilted his head to the side. "But some of the others at home mentioned you as well, apparently it's from a really long time ago though..."

"Yeah," Shui agreed. "Solenn wasn't really sure how long ago her family were part of that pride, but apparently they go way back, even to the Pridelands," he grinned and gave his left leg a rub. "So we figured we'd get some sort of idea about where everyone comes from, what they're like, maybe figure out why and how they ended up with us."

"Which, lets be honest..." Huo eyed the desert again and raised a brow. "We don't really have all that much in common with your folks except for the sand," he cleared his throat. "We're pretty big size wise as well but we're a bit more..."

There was a pause.

"Chilled out?" Shui offered helpfully.

"Yeah, that..." Huo replied vaguely. "You know we were just kidding by the way, right? If y'all have work to do you can totally go, we won't do anything bad we promise."

Kimaria

 

[Kimaria]

"Ah, I see," they were trying to get to know their roots. Expand their horizons, as it were. They were good lions, then. Already showing strong signs of wisdom. They must have had good parents to encourage and agree to letting them enhance this 'worldly' nature. "Likely the links were made long before I joined the pride. Perhaps even before I was born." She marvelled, sometimes, on how much had already been and gone before she had even existed. Her love of history was so great that she ought to have sought a path along such lines. And yet, here she was, on border patrol - doing her part to ensure that her friends and comrades were safe.

"Does your home not have warriors to defend their borders?" she asked, thinking that their lands must be safe - perhaps too safe. She hoped these boys were prepared for meeting lions who might be a little less friendly than those they were used to.

Azar was grumpy. Other lions could be downright cruel.

She shook her head then, "it really is okay. There is always work to be done but some - like Azar - live to work. Besides, under new leadership as we are, I think there have been whispers that we should learn more about the outside world. This is a great opportunity for us, too."

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"Is that so?" Shui's ears perked with interest and his smile became even more warm. "Well if that's the case, you're always welcome to visit, we have quite a lot of footfall," he supplied. The Bahari were a peaceful pride and given their otherwise neutral political standings with essentially everyone, they seemed to have a way of ensuring that people respected that. At least that was how things seemed to be, Shaak certainly hadn't been the first, nor would she be the last, to point out the potential vulnerability.

"We have some guards," Huo replied after his brother had given her an open invitation to explore their home. "But we've never really needed them," he confessed and pursed his lips. It wasn't that he didn't understand the concept of having strong defences, but they truly hadn't ever needed them. No one might understand how or why but when it came down to it, even the 'cruellest' lions seemed to behave themselves.

...Or they did so far at least.

"The only time we've ever been hurt is when the sea has gotten angry," Shui explained and furrowed his brow. "You can't really fight against the sea, it's not something you can grab and restrain," he continued. She might not have even seen the sea, but he motioned towards the sand and lifted it up, the tiny grains sliding through the gaps in his paws. "It'd be like trying to battle the sand, it does what it wants and when it wants, we just try to keep it happy."

"We're lucky," Huo acknowledged. "We even have a lot of deities explore our home, some more than others," he shrugged. "Perhaps it's their presence that dissuades others from being quite so dangerous -"

"...Or perhaps they just respect where they are, we really don't know," Shui added.

Neither of them made mention of the fact that there might be those who were smart enough not to assume pacifism meant they were weak; but then again, neither of the teens had ever seen any of their own kind fight....

Kimaria