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It was a lazy sorta day for the two females. They tended to stick further away from the group but still close enough they'd know if they moved. Sekhmet gave her large frame a good shake and looked over the thinner lioness, water seeker was good for her, she had the body for it, that much was ceratin. She was definitly good for her rank as well, being a Soldier and all that.

"Do you miss your beloved yet?" She laughed and Tera gave her a look, "Hachi is a good male. I couldn't of asked for better." She did miss his simple a** sometimes. A lof of the times. She couldn't wait to see him when they returned from their journey. "I do tell you what, you'll find yourself a good male eventually and he'll have you wishing you were with him on those chilly nights." She teased.

Sek just scoffed. She had met one nice male that had turned her fancy, but not in a way that made her heart on fire. One day though. Ears perked, "someone is approaching." The two watched and waited.

It was anything but a lazy day for Jarujan but, really, he wasn't the sort of male that enjoyed lazy days. Ever since he left his father's pride behind, he'd been on a quest to prove himself. To whom, he couldn't say. Maybe just to himself. Early in his years, he had met his mother - really met his mother. Not the mortal form that had visited once or twice when he was young but the full blown goddess that claimed him once he was beyond the pride's borders.

It had been jarring, and it had done nothing to dampen his ambition.

He followed in her wandering footsteps, seeking out land after land, pride after pride, hoping to find a place that he could settle into. Nothing ever stuck, nothing ever called to him as she claimed the world did to her. Maybe because he was too harsh or maybe his expectations were too high, maybe because being a mortal spawn of something greater really meant nothing to the world. Whatever the reason, he moved on time and time again.

Nothing about fate brought him to the lands he wandered now. Thick dust stuck to his dark paws and his tongue felt cloyed to the roof of his mouth as he sought out some source of water but he felt fine, otherwise.

The scent of the lionesses hit him as the wind shifted, though, and every muscle in his body went taught as his bright eyes swung around to find them. There, yards away, looking dead at him. How had he been careless enough to stumble upon them without noticing? He kicked himself, mentally. Maybe the lack of water was more dire than he had thought.

"Am I trespassing?" He yelled, stopped dead in his tracks.

appeared. Man he was looking rough.

And then, why was he yelling? Tera peered at him curiously. "NO." She yelled back, maybe he was deaf? "DO YOU WANT SOME WATER?" She added wondering if she should stop yelling. To be fair, they were a distance from him, though not great enough she really had to yell.

"You're being an Idiot." Sek said shaking her head. "We won't bite..." She added giving a light scoff.

Water.

Trying not to appear too over-zealous, Jarujan's pace quickened in the direction of the two lionesses. The line of his body said he wasn't sure he could trust them, all tight muscles at the shoulder blades and stiff strides, but he couldn't very well pass up on the chance. Who knew when the hell he'd find more, right?

"I'm not so sure about that," he replied once he was within less shouty range. "But I'm damn thirsty enough to not care much."

Up close, there wasn't much bright about him except the fiery mane that even traveler's dust couldn't dim. The women, on the other hand, seemed.. well. Different, of a certainty.

"I'm Jarujan."

They didn't blame him for his actions overall, they were strangers and they outnumbered him. Sek wouldn't have cared one way or another, she'd of barreled right into the water. However this wasn't her story, it was his. "Sehkmet." She replied after she watched him growing closer. "You can have at the water, there is plenty for all." Tera said, "I'm a water seeker, so it's my job to find water for our pride." She added, trying to get him to loosen up a smidge.

"I'm Tera." She hadn't given her name, what a goofus. "What brings you out this way?" Sek asked.

The male ignored the introductions and questions for the moment, favoring the chance to slip ankle deep and draw a few long, greedy gulps of water. He hadn't reckoned on water being such a rare resource of a sudden but it meant he didn't even have to bother asking why a pride would need something so odd as a water seeker. He would have known what it was even without her quick explanation.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," although even he had to admit it was mostly due to the fact that they were the only reason he wasn't well on his way to dying of thirst.

He managed to tear his jowls away from the pool, though his mane had trailed the water just enough to leave dripping rivulets through his dark, whorl marked fur.

"Honestly? I'm not sure. I've been wandering for a long time now and I keep thinking.." he frowned and turned his head in the direction he knew his old pride lay, "well, I keep thinking I'll figure it out when I find whatever makes me want to stop wandering."

They honestly could care less about his ignoring the questions for water first. Hell either one of them would have done the same thing if they had been in his paws.

He must have really been thirsty, it's also possible he was likely hungry too. "If you want, we have some left over carcass. It's a little old but it'll do." Tera offered the male as he stayed in the water.

It would seem he was a traveler of sorts and there wasn't anything wrong with that. Tera could relate to that. "You sound like me and my mate. We were like you once, but then we joined the Firekin and now here I am." She beamed proud of her position within the pride.

"I was born and raised so I know nothing of this wandering. Save this little trip we're on." She said with a light scoff.

There was a bit of skepticism creeping up in Jarujan's gut - a pride out this far must have been careful of their resources. He had walked for ages without finding water and, without it, the few prey beasts he saw had not even appealed. He didn't want to think that these women were deceiving him but even his own pride had turned on their own when it was convenient.

"I suppose there's no harm in it if it's just going to waste," he let his gaze slip past the two, toward the left overs. Whatever it had been was hard to tell but the meat looked fresh enough.

"Firekin, hm?" It reminded him of a story his father had told him once of a goddess. That stayed to himself, though. Favors or not, he didn't want to start sharing too much of his history. "I haven't belonged to a pride since I left mine. What about this place was so appealing?"

Please, have at it." Tera said with a smile. She wasn't really hungry right now and had eaten a great deal of it earlier so he could take his fill if he wanted. Sek couldn't imagine what it was like to not belong somewhere, well almost. Some had looked down upon her because of her blue markings, but she had proven herself and she had enough acceptable colors that she could stay. Her blue sister on the other paw hadn't been so lucky.

"We're feircly loyal to our own, as well as those who prove themselves worthy." Sek said simply enough, even though the question was likely directed towards Tera given her and her mate had come from outside the pride. "She's right, the pride will fight tooth and nail for their family. It's strongly important."

Jarujan settled himself down next to the carcass as he considered their words, digesting them and mulling them over. Fiercely loyal was not a foreign concept but protecting a family above all else?

"I can see why that would draw outsiders in, honestly." He looked pensive, even if a part of him was having a hard time with part of the concept.

"What exactly does worthy mean?" His paw waved as he spoke and emphasized the word. Worth meant a lot of different things to different prides.

"Strength is a good quality, but ultimately if you don't fit the colors then there is no way you'd be allowed into the pride." Tera said from her own understanding of how the pride worked. "It's true, first you have to pass the initial qualifications and then duel to prove your worth. If you win, you're in. If not then you have to wait and try again." Sek added.

Colors.

The surprise in their answer was obvious, immediately. It flittered across his face but he waited to let them finish, listening to the whole of their answer. It wasn't just colors then, it was also strength and fighting prowess. He had to wonder, though. Why.

"The fighting makes sense. It's not the first time I've heard of that. What do you do to lions with the wrong colors, though?"

He clearly thought there must have been some agression towards them by the way he stated the question but it was too hard to guess why from the look on his face. He busied himself with pulling away a strip of meat to eat - still warm, if somewhat only because of the heat of the sands.

Sek smiled. "They are labeled as huria and asked to leave the pride." though asked was a light way to put it. "I'm borderline huria for example." she said gesturing towards the blue upon her back. "My blue markings are considered an undesirable coloration, though I have little enough of it that I am allowed to stay." She couldn't say the same for her blue sister though, who was long since gone from the pride.

"You'd have nothing to worry about though." Tera added with a slight look over of the male. His coloration was definitely desirable to say the least. While he wasn't all red or anything, he was dark with red markings. It was nice.

Regardless of how they were asked to leave, Jarujan had to admit that it was much more pleasant than what his own pride had done with lions of the wrong color. Too bright and they were sacrificed, too green and they weren't even worthy enough for that. He had grown up keenly aware of the precarious balance his pelt walked - any more of his mother's blood and he would have been one more of his father's loved ones to spill their lifesource on the soil in the name of appeasing spirits they had never even known.

The thought made his face grow hard and stony and, not wanting them to think he meant it at their expense, he leaned down to rip another piece of meat from the carcass they had shared. As he swallowed, at last, he found himself more prepared to speak.

"Well, at least it is not the worst thing I have ever heard a pride do to their undesirables." He even managed a smile at that, though it was tight and forced. "It is significantly more kind than where I grew up even if they didn't make us duel to prove our worth. Are the fights hard?"

Ter and Sek had to agree, there were far worse fates.

"I wouldn't say they are significantly hard. No different than how the Stormborn duel, if you're aware of how they are." Sek said having learned a great deal about a few of the prides in the lands from their travels outside of the safety of home. "It's not like we will kill you if you lose." Tera said with a light laugh, the thought seemed almost bazzare.

"Anything else you might want to know?" Both females looked his way, curious to see what else he might ask about.

Having often avoided prides and the lions within them, Jarujan had to shake his head at the mention of the Stormborn. Though he had spent many years travelling he seemed to have done his best to remain ignorant and evasive. It was mostly luck (and arguably the bad sort) that had sent him running into the figurative open arms of these warrior lionesses.

"I don't think so," he said quietly, now contemplative over whether or not it might finally be nice to be somewhere he could be appreciated. He knew he wasn't the best warrior but neither was he soft - he was bigger than most lions he knew and strong enough to match his size. What he lacked in skill he made up for in brute strength.

Silently, he weighed his options and then settled in to distract himself with the food they had given over to him.

"I think that's all I need to know, for now."

But he did sound interested and he'd be lying if he'd said he weren't.

"You wont have a problem." Sek said giving him a look over with a smile. Tera agreed, he looked like he could handle himself well enough, he was well built and seemed the loyal type at any rate. "Well, if you think of anything else you'd like to know we'll be right over here." Tera said with a motion, pointing towards the spot where they'd be resting.