[PRP] Exotic Outlanders (Tuuri, Omurtak)

[Annchen]

Tuuri had caught wind of a new arrival to the pride, some kind of desert warrior type apparently. She wondered if he talked some exotic language she could try to learn. The purple lioness had more bounce in her step than usual and the tip of her tail wiggled excitedly. Oh, that must be him! She studied the lion before approaching him, noting his scars - both old ones and new. He was smaller than she had imagined, but her source had described the blue splotches on his shoulder so this had to be the one. As she watched an eagle swooped down and landed on him!

"It's a good day to die," she said as she approached him, "That's a nice bird thrall you've got there."

It wasn't unheard of with bird thralls, but they couldn't be easy to capture and keep. A four legged thrall couldn't run from the pride, but a bird could just fly away unless it had its wings clipped, right? It must really like the lion to stay.

---

After winning his challenge the day before Omurtak had been showed to the center of the pride, and the rest of the day was spent talking to different people and getting settled. He'd said his name so many times he was almost getting sick of it, and apparently he was considered a member now. Özge and Raha was considered thralls, whatever that was.

Today his plan was to try to get to know his new home a bit better. He had been shown around to the key areas yesterday and today he intended to try his memory and see if he could find his way around again. He didn't mind getting lost, since that would only help him learn to get around.

He blinked as a brightly colored lioness spoke to him. From the context and her friendly demeanor, he understood that what she had said was some kind of greeting. Come to think of it, he might have heard the phrase yesterday at some point. Yes, definitely a greeting. Was he supposed to agree?

"Uh... Thank you," he settled on.  

[Annchen]

Tuuri let out a surprised squeal as she realized a second eagle was already sitting on his back. How unusual! She hadn't seen the larger brownish one at first.

"It must have been hard catching them," she said, "Are they friendly?"

Her family had one thrall, an old leopard her lost brother had brought home for them years ago. She didn't really need a thrall for herself, but a small thrall like these might be fun... But without a household of her own she couldn't really justify trying to get one. Besides, she didn't know a lot of reavers and didn't have much to trade with. But it was fun to dream.

"Did you really live in a desert before?" she asked, eager to learn more about him.

---

Omurtak was surprised by the barrage of questions, but perhaps it was only natural that the natives would be curious about new arrivals. Many of the members of his former pride had eagles so a bird companion was fairly normal there. Perhaps it was unusual in this pride.

"I didn't catch them," he said, without elaborating further.

"Honey, my name means 'friendly'," the larger eagle said and turned her head around to preen her back. When she was satisfied with the state of her feathers she peered at the lioness again. "I'm called Özge, and this is Raha. Our lion is Omurtak sim Narfi."

She nipped affectionately at his ear.

"Yes, my old pride held territory in a desert," he said, not willing to leave all talking to Özge. "There were oases and good land there too."  

[Annchen]

Tuuri had to fight another squeal. This was possibly the most interesting thing that had happened to her recently. It all sounded so foreign and interesting. She had a very vague idea of what a desert was and even less of a clue about oases. But she wanted to learn! She was unlikely to ever visit the Outlands, but she could listen and dream.

"That's interesting," she chirped, "Tell me more about oases!"

---

She wasn't the first person asking questions about his homeland, but Omurtak had yet to encounter this level of enthusiasm. He looked around before answering.

"An oasis is a kind of watering hole," he said, unsure what she wanted to know, "In the desert. With some vegetation and such."

It was weird, like asking 'what is a rock' or 'what are sand dunes' or something else completely obvious. Apparently not here. And he'd probably find they had things he hadn't heard about too.

"There are lots of prey around," Özge added, "They need to drink and we need to eat, so it's a good place. Whoever holds most of the oases will have the upper hand in the war."

She fluffed up all her feathers and started preening them down.

Omurtak gave the bird a surprised look. She'd always helped scouting for him, but he'd got the impression she wasn't terribly interested in the war and the affairs of lions. Apparently she was more aware than he had guessed.

"Yeah, that to," he said, "By the way... You wouldn't happen to know anyone named Narfi, would you?"

It wasn't the smoothest change of topic, but if she was going to be this talkative he might as well try to get something out of it too.  

[Annchen]

Tuuri's eyes glazed over a little. It all sounded so foreign and interesting, and the mention of wars made her imagination run wild. A pride of desert warriors, waging war over oases... One day she'd go out there and see everything for herself. Except most likely not, but it was nice to dream. Omurtak's question took her back to reality.

"Narfi," she said, thoughtfully, "Narfi... It sounds kind of familiar, but I'm not sure. Is he supposed to live here?"

The pride was big, and she was sure there were lions in it she didn't really know. In fact, it wasn't uncommon to meet born in pride members who didn't know her family, despite the fact that they were old blood.

---

The sandy lion looked hopeful as she searched her memory. She looked as if she'd recognised the name, but then he didn't know if it was a common one among those born of the storm. In the desert there were names that seemed to come back from generation to generation, and sometimes you had to hear the name of the father or mother to know what lion or lioness someone talked about.

"He's my father," Omurtak said, "I would have hoped..."

"He might be here," Özge added, "Or he could have come from here."

Her lion had asked around, but this was the first time he'd admitted he was looking for his father. The bird decided this was a good thing and preened his ear for a moment before the ear in question started twitching. Fine, be that way.  

[Annchen]

This was just so unbelievably romantic! Looking for a long lost father in a pride so far away from his own. Tuuri smiled at the lion and his weird little thrall.

"Oh," she said, "Does he look a lot like you?"

She tried to think about who she'd seen who looked similar to him. He was pretty small, but then not all Stormborn were big. Or maybe he took after his mother in that respect? Perhaps... Hmmm... Who could she ask for help?

---

"He wouldn't know," Özge said, before Omurtak had the chance to answer, and then had to extend her wings to avoid losing her balance. "Hey!"

She knew that he was growing tired of her antics, but things went so much smoother when she helped a little. Omurtak could be so gruff and unfriendly sounding. Besides, when he had just been beating around the bush he'd gotten nowhere. This girl might be able to help! She sure seemed as if she wanted to at least, and that was something.

Omurtak knew she wouldn't fall, but he didn't want her to take over the conversation completely.

"I never met my father," he said, turning his head to glare at the bird, "My mother searched for a mate outside of our lands to keep our blood strong."

It meant she could never take a mate among the Burkuteshti. Having mated once she was considered paired with that male for life. She never told him much about the man, and Omurtak hadn't asked much either.

"The blue comes from him," he said, "My mother had no blue on her. And he must have been strong, or my mother would never had mated with him."

 

[Annchen]

Tuuri's eyes widened. Unbelievably romantic and sad! She had to try to help him. 'Strong' and 'probably blue' wasn't much to go on, but she thought she knew who might have a clue.

"Did you ask the Lawspeaker who added you to the census?" she asked.

The lions and lionesses with the best grasp of the pride and who was in it was undoubtedly the Lawspeakers, and possibly the Bards even if she wouldn't trust them not to embellish everything they said.

---

"I told her I am Narfi's son," he said, frowning "That's what my name means."

"Do you think we should go back there," Özge asked. Realising Omurtak might have tried to tell the young Lawspeaker, but perhaps not in a way she could understand. And he had definitely not asked the right questions.

"Yeah, I think we'll need to talk to them again," Tuuri said slowly, meeting the gaze of the bird. It was kind of freaky to be stared at by a raptor, but the thrall actually seemed pretty smart. "Come, I know a few of them, I'll make sure we talk to one of the more experienced ones."

"Right," Omurtak said, following the lioness before Özge got in her head that she needed to n** him to encourage him or something. He wasn't sure how hopeful he dared to be about this, but if there was any chance to learn what happened to his father he'd take it.

-fin-