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It felt like Roshan had been on a journey his entire life. Apart from the brief respite he had taken in the swamplands with a lioness that had been altogether too good for him, he had never stopped moving. Whenever he thought Do'al might leave him be and let him live a life without chaos or disaster, his red shadow crawled back where he belonged, right at Roshan's side. The push and pull that he endured with the love and loathing he felt for the scarlet devil was a weave of fate, he was sure. Why else could the sight of him be such a bittersweet homecoming?

An old priestess once told him that they were two halves of the same soul - and then she had exiled them both for it.

Roshan frowned down at the vision of his face in the still surface of the small pond as the old lioness' words chimed inside his head, imagining a shade of red across his visage. She had spoken his sentence aloud, condemning him at the same time that he saw the pity in her eyes. It had been his fault, in the end. He should have been the balance, enough to stop Do'al from all his compulsions, it was his entire existence as a mirror. Should have been didn't mean that he was.
It brought a sigh to his jowls as he recalled it even now - not because he still felt the wound but because Nyx, in all her gentle love and caring, wanted him so desperately to settle down and carve a niche for himself. He wished the same for her, wished she would leave him to his endless reptenance and knew, without question, that she never would.

He leaned down to drink from the pond just to marr the surface and the sight of himself. It was troubling. Everything was troubling.

Life had thrown Titere-dido a few curveballs that even as a cub he couldn't have expected. The choice had always been his and although he had made it it didn't seem to please a great number of others. He wasn't sure to what depths he had shaken his family, but to some degree they had to know that, like his father, one of the cubs would run free. He certainly wasn't a cub any longer and quickly found himself down the beaten path from his home pride and into the wide mass of savannah that made up the roguelands.

"Oof." He said quietly as he rolled his shoulders and adjusted a satchel. Unlike his fathers basket he preferred the light weight of the satchel made of leather. Also unlike his father he opted out of having a small drum ornament around his neck. In fact he chose not to have those items because of his on again, off again parent. Why would he model himself after him? The bitter emotions gurgled below the surface and tempting the dark, starry lion towards resentment. His mother could have certainly bred the environment for it - if she had recalled who the male was. A snort caused his nose to flare and a cold chuckle followed. He loved his family with every ounce of his being, but there were just some things he wished he could change.
Giving his mane a toss and shaking away the memories, thoughts, and other things that brought him down he brought back his focus. "The Mwezi`johari." He recited the name from memory, ironically his was fairly good - all things considered. "A nocturnal pride that leans towards a religious idol, The Great Lion." He closed his eyes briefly and breathed. He wouldn't soon forget the excitement in his fathers voice as he rambled on about the various prides he had visited. Titere also wouldn't soon forget the excitement he felt at the details of a pride that seemed to have plenty to offer for history nuts. He was excited to learn from them. "The pride had recently gone through a stint of brutality." He continued to mutter to himself. "Now what was his name.." His brow furrowed and he clucked his tongue. It felt dry.

As luck would have it he'd come upon a pond while he was lost in his thoughts. "How.." He was going to finish that statement with 'fortunate' until he saw the rump of a blue lion. With a mane present he immediately recognized the individual to be male. Raising his nose to the air he smelled for others, it would determine for him him if a drink was worth the risk. "Ok." He exhaled slightly and relaxed a little of his tension - he would tempt a drink, but safety first.

He decided to make a wide circle around to the opposing side of the pond. Enough that he would almost directly in front of the other, but across the water. Titere silently stared at the other for a moment before he lowered his head for a drink.

Roshan pulled his head up just in time to see the figure standing directly across from him. For a moment he stood still but knew, without doubt, that the other could not have approached the watering hole without having seen him first. He thought it rather unlikely, then, that he would be attacked now without warning - he would have done so before Roshan had noticed if he had intended to attack at all. Inwardly, he kicked himself for being so consumed with his worries that he had failed to notice. Nyx truly was the better rogue.

While he mentally berated himself on his daughter's behalf, his eyes narrowed and did their best to begin picking out any details about the other that might help him. His first glance put a tickling of familiarity at the base of his skull and his second had him retracing the tips of wings peeking from behind the other male's shimmering mane. Those looked so.. familiar.

The blue rogue's thoughts sped a mile a minute as he thought where he might have encountered him before until, at last, he remembered stumbling across a lion just before Nyx had found him again. It had been a long time ago and he could have been very wrong but..

"Titere?"

If it wasn't his name then the other would probably wonder what on Earth he was shouting across the pond but if it was, then, well, he knew he had very little to fear at least.

"The Mwezi will be home." He mumbled as he raised his head from the water. His chin dripped furiously and he raised a paw to reduce the moisture. Loved a cool drink, hated being wet. As her replaced his paw at his side and turned his pale eyes back to his companion he found himself being stared at. The first emotion to strike out was anger and he wrinkled his nose in a sneer. Then the other shouted across the water. "What?" He asked himself, suddenly the sneer became a look of confusion.

With everything happening so fast Titere hadn't even taken a moment to look over the lion. In doing so every part of him relaxed, his face especially. "Roshan?" He asked - shouting across the pond as well. He felt a little silly and decided to close the gap a little bit. Now his trip around the pond seemed short and simple as he carried himself with excited purpose. Meeting someone familiar in the roguelands felt like a slim chance, but luck was on his side.

As he rounded the ond and closed the gap he peered at the individual to ensure it was the sparkley male he'd met before. "It is you." He sighed briefly and smiled fondly at the male as he approached him.

"It's been a while."

Relief flooded through Roshan as Titere responded to him and he realized he wasn't, in fact, just being foolish. He hadn't realized how comforting it was to encounter a sudden, unexpected old face but he remembered the other male fondly. Not only because of the brief time they had travelled together but also due to the fact that he knew how Nyx had finally found him.

"Thank you," he dipped his great, shimmering head in a polite, if informal, bow, "my daughter told me you were the reason she was able to find me."

Of course, at the time he had been none too pleased with the fact - his second (but voluntary) exile had meant to keep his children away from harm. Once, he had been sort of annoyed with the other male. Now he knew it for the blessing it was. Being reunited with Nyx had been better for his state of mind than he was willing to admit, especially to her.

"I guess the world's smaller than I thought." An easy, friendly smile settled over his mug. "I hope the world has treated you well since I saw you last."

With all that had been shared between them in their brief partnership he wasn't surprised by the bow. He returned the gesture politely and smiled largely as the bright blue face returned into view. At the mention of his daughter, Nyx, the lion grew bashful and his large smile became a small grin. "It was a pleasure to help." He admitted casually and raised a paw to wave away the praise as best he could.

Things had been different between them before. He recalled being greeted by a much different Roshan in his previous encounters. This was much better - he was able to relax some of his emotions now.

Then he wondered, where was she?

"It is much smaller than anticipated." He had to laugh at the statement. There was so much truth in that though he had heard otherwise from his father that had seen a number of unique things. "It has. I'm actually on my way to a potential new home." He admitted. "My father told me about it, the Mwezi`johari." He advised his 'old' friend before dipping his head to the pool of water for another drink.

"Oh?"

Roshan's brows lifted above his bright eyes, alive with curiosity at the mention of a new home. It had been quite some time since he had given his allegiance to land or pride but it wasn't every day that rogues settled down. He respected Titere after all that they had shared and if he was interested in a pride then it carried some weight with him.

"That's.. unexpected. Is it near here?"

Remembering that Nyx had been scouting ahead, his eyes flickered out to the horizon. Would she accidentally run into them? He had to think that if Titere were considering pledging himself anywhere then they ought to at least be of an honorable ilk. Trying his best not to appear as if he were an over-worried parent, his eyes fell back from the horizon and onto his old friend once more.

It was enough, though, to suggest that she was close by even before he spoke again.

"Nyx is scouting close by, do you have time to wait to see her? I know she'd be thrilled."

The surprise was well warranted from the blue lion and Titere couldn't help the grin that grew on his face. He could still surprise folks. "Yep, settling down." He mused lightly and gave a toss of his mane to remove some wandering strands out of his eyes. "It is near here actually, or I at least believe it can't be much further. My father hadn't talked much about the direction, just gave me a general idea and sent me on my way." He tried to recall if he had mentioned his father in the past and decided to shrug the thought aside in favor of following his friends eyes.

A signal? He only had a moment to consider the glance before Roshan spoke.

"I'd be thrilled as well. Of course I have time." Golden eyes widened at his companion and he held in a pleased sigh that wanted desperately to escape. The lioness had piqued his interest the first time around and if he were to be honest he'd have to say that she never truly left his thoughts. Perhaps these were the emotions his father had meant when he spoke of the lioness from the pridelands.

His eyes darted along the horizon briefly before returning to Roshan, an attempt to mask his excitement.

The glimmering male raised both his eyebrows just a fraction at the eagerness Titere seemed to express. Was he just imagining it? The moth-marked male's eyes were a bit blown, his gaze seemed incapable of resting in one place very long, but he spoke with that same ease that Roshan had always known him for. He refrained from mentioning his suspicions but they were noted, tucked away in the back of his thoughts alongside his own curiosity. It was a skill that Do'al had always used to punish those around him but Roshan had only ever considered his sharp mind a blessing to be used toward a greater good. If only he could figure out what was causing all the subtle changes in Titere's demeanor.

"She will be glad of it," he said finally with a laugh, giving up on figuring out whatever it was and chalking it up to seeing an old friend. Everyone should be happy of that, no? Disgarding his speculation, he pushed himself up to his feet and shook his own mane out. The glimmering tufts wavered and settled about his shoulders, free of his face and eyes.

"I expect her to be back any time now but perhaps if we head for that hill we can catch her on her way, hm?" He nodded ahead in the direction he had been staring and then fell into step, not even bothering to wait for Titere to agree.

Needless to say he had failed in his attempts to hide the eager way he’d been gazing at the horizon and knowing just how aware Roshan was made him shuffle in his seat a small amount. The pair had just established a good relationship – mixing in what was on his mind would only complicate things if he raised his voice now. So he left it as an unspoken thing between them.

“Oh really?” Would she really? He wondered silently as he lifted himself up and started after his companion. “Sounds like a plan.” He smiled fondly.