This is an SRP featuring Azrasha and Golka

Azrasha wasn't looking forward to this one bit, having just spoken to Ahri'ok she'd mentioned how her recent scouting mission had just gone...and the results had been less than great. Especially considered it was to do with finding their wayward- no, lost Warchief who was probably out in the middle of nowhere. Or worse. And now she had to deliver this news to his sister and the pride's High Warlord whilst also hoping she was in an even tempered mood this day.

It was a fleeting prayer that lingered on her mind but she could always hope for the best, Golka wasn't a terribly tempered lion...but still, this was her family that Azrasha was reporting on, family that'd been gone for far too long.
With a sigh she shook the concerns from her head and approached the mouth of the Warlord's cave whilst ignoring the passing glances of some of the grunts and peons that were going on with their own work and weren't about to stop a Scout Master doing hers.
Poking her head into the cave she spotted Golka dragging her claws into a log that she'd dragged into her den for the sake of keeping her most versatile weapons always sharp and ready. That certainly didn't help with the terracotta lioness' small spark of nerves as she cleared her throat loudly enough for the Warlord to turn and acknowledge her, watching as small splints of wood got pulled out of the log as she retracted her claws.

"Throm-Ka, Vileclaw." She greeted, watching as the other sat almost rigidly at her greeting and offered a swift bow of her head that she swore she could hear the bones click in the other's neck.

"Throm-Ka, Warlord Bloodtusk." Azrasha replied, head still held low in respect and an offer of submission till she caught the other wafting a paw dismissively and grunting in her direction, that enough was cause to raise her head and wait for further probing.
She could already read on the other's features the curiosity that held behind those golden eyes, but she didn't comment on it, she couldn't just pal around and act jovially like she had with Ahri'ok. Golka was her boss, one of the triumverate and temporary head of the pride alongside the Farseer and she wouldn't stoop to such an impersonal manner when important matters needed to be addressed.

Like now.

After a heavy beat of silence the earthy toned female finally asked what had been weighing on her tongue the moment Azrasha had stepped into the cave, standing preemptively as she tried as best she could not to get her hopes up.

"Have you found Warchief Hellscream?"

There was silence, it was so thick that her claws could've rended it and thankfully it didn't last as the Scout Master took a deep breath and answered her with the diligence she'd known the deep colored female for.

"No, Warlord, there's been no traces of him in the bordering territories." She watched as the Warlord's shoulders deflated slightly and then began to pace back and forth in front of her to work out the anxieties that rode higher and higher in her mind, but still Azrasha sat and issued her report loyally to the worried lioness. "I have two thirds of the scouts that aren't watching our own borders looking for him, Warlord, he will be found."

"I know he'll be found, Vileclaw." Golka snapped in retort, watching as it took all of Azrasha's will not to flinch at the response even if it hadn't come with a set of angry claws behind it. Golka wasn't angry, she was afraid, she was worried for her brother and her brother's mate and mostly her pride.
A Warchief has always sat as head of the Vita' for as long as she'd known and for as long as the stories had told her and to have been without one for as long as this - especially with her estranged brother being said Warchief - was enough to raise her hackles about the situation to be sure.

A small sigh of frustration escaped out of the Warlord's nostrils as she continued to pace in the shade of her den with Azrasha watching on with little idea how to soothe the agitated female.

"What about the southern bank of the river?"

"Checked."

"The edge of the forest?"

"Checked."

"The shrubland?"

"Checked."

This time a growl did rise out of Golka as her ears flattened against her skull and she watched the other lioness wilt slightly despite her best efforts to stay straight and rigid in the face of someone who could tear her in half.

"What HAVEN'T you checked then???" She spat in a semi snarl, atleast trying to restrain her anger. Azrasha was trying and she knew that but it was very hard to stay calm in these dire circumstances...but she felt that her Scout Master understood this as she watched the lioness take a deep breath and respond as calmly as she had before. Even if she did have to calm herself a little first.

"We're going to be exploring deeper into the forest territory, with any luck we'll have it scoured and searched in a few days before we return."
After staring each other down, or rather, Golka staring down the rigid female, there was a soft and approving snort as she turned back to her log and started to rake her claws into the wood all over again with new vigor. She didn't want to use these on one of her more capable soldiers, not to mention one who made sure all her scouts were behaving.
Said lioness testing the waters as she continued to sit there with an unsure air hanging between the pair of them as she watched bits of would flying here and there with her Warlord's bilious frustration.

"May I be dismissed, Warlord?"

She was answered with another grunt as the other simply focused on rending out her frustrations on her scratching post. "Yes, make sure to take a few of the grunts with you incase you head into trouble...and try to make sure they don't instigate anything with any neighbouring prides, that's the last thing we need right now."

That provoked a small roll of Azrasha's eyes, boy that'd be something. A Warchief gone when a war broke out, if that ever happened she swore she'd almost felt spoilt for having all that fun without their vacant leader present to join in. But she tipped her head in an aknowledging bow and turned about to leave the cave, pausing only briefly to glance back at the Warlord with a small twinge of sympathy before fully escaping out into the sun and down into the valley below.

They would find the Warchief.

For the sake of his sister and his mate, they had to.


Final Word Count: 1140