Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sawa had heard tell of the Firekin for many seasons. She had held her own territory for a few years, since she had parted way with her family- as was necessary due to the scarcity of available resources- but the time had come to finally give up the ghost. She kept strangers at bay for a while, but it was taking an exhaustive effort to maintain her territory from strangers and get what little game there was there for herself. Eventually the lioness learned that those impeding on her land were Firekin themselves. And what's the saying? "If you can't beat them, join them."

She waltzed up to where she'd been told was the traditional place to gain entry. She saw a black lioness and roared a challenge. Sawa guessed by the way the Firekin lioness stood and faced her that she accepted.

Sawa saw that this Firekin lioness was straight to business and wondered if she was surprised - and if she was, should she have been? She lowered her head and tried to dance away from the larger lioness. She caught a blow on one of her red shoulders and grimaced, a reactionary snarl escaping from her maw. She whirled around and struck out at her opponent, and landed a hit across the Firekin female's face.

Sawa was caught off guard and took most of the blow to her side but she didn't roll over like the Firekin lioness had hoped. She wheezed- her side now was quite sore but she was at least confident that she hadn't been too hurt or broken a rib or anything of the like. She was on her toes, so to speak, as she had to take a moment to recover and get her wind back, but at least the Firekin lioness wasn't merciless.

"You're pretty good." She winced again and then went on the offensive.

They were really trading equal blow for equal blow. Sawa was panting and gasping for breath as the sun began to beat down on the pair of black lionesses harder and harder. The sand blew up and stung her eyes and nostrils, but if she could not even bear the joining duel, then she was obviously not cut out for the Firekin- and definitely not cut out for the desert. She would have to abandon the only home she'd ever known. And to Sawa, that was not an option. She growled and snarled and took a big swipe on the face from Azar, only to give her a slash as a rebuttal (sans claws- she was not out for blood). Both lioness paused for a second till the ringing in their ears subsided, but their fierce expressions had not quit.

Sawa seemed to also be losing steam- her next strike which should have landed easily was a complete miss. Maybe she had been too far away because of when she withdrew out of Azar's reach and she had not gotten back into range like she had thought that she had. Her eyes widened in surprised that she would just miss like that. It was very uncharacteristic of her, maybe she was getting to the point of exhaustion. The challenger grimaced and growled again. If she wanted to have any hope of winning at all she would need to end this immediately.

Sawa rolled in the dust and the sand, but she rose to her feet. She was going to have to finish this, and the black and red lioness saw the weakness in her opponent. Sawa took in a deep breath and scrutinized the Firekin lioness. What would be the best move to end this? She paced around Azar in a circle, sizing her up all over again now that she had tested Azar's strengths and weaknesses for herself and had to also factor in the lioness' sustained damage and waning endurance. Suddenly, Sawa darted in and tripped Azar and pinned the larger lioness down in the sand, a paw near Azar's neck but not on it (because she did not need to actually crush her windpipe). They stayed like that for a moment, both huffing and puffing, and Sawa withdrew.

Azar rose and bowed her head in acknowledgement of Sawa's win.

"Welcome to the Firekin."