The journey felt longer than it should have, honestly, but Koya'Kiwavi was certain that was only because he had to put up with the glimmery, golden lion that was tailing him like a lifeline. He had tried telling him again and again and again that there was no reason for his flighty, goddess mother to come back and visit him but it had been to no avail. In fact, on one particular morning just before they arrived at the pride the male had told him that it didn't matter anymore. Imagine that! The entire reason he had been tagging along in the first place no longer mattered. If Kiwi had been a bigger male he might've taken the opportunity to give Tabani a good whack in the head for affect but he wasn't. So he didn't.

What Koya couldn't have know, of course, was that Tabani's mother was not her only family in this world. His visions had always been strongest when it came to his bloodline and the closer they came to this moon pride and the friend that Kiwi was so adamant he meet with, the more and more clear it became that his most fragile son had taken up a place among their kind with a female that was very clearly his daughter. He had never met her before and neither her face nor her name were clear to him in visions but he just had that inkling deep down, that itchy little feeling, that she was none other than his granddaughter. There were a lot of them, and generations beyond them, but he had yet to meet any of them at all. To call him curious was an understatement.

So, it was with great vigor that they happened upon the outskirts of the pride in the late afternoon, Kiwi leading the way to the meeting place. As they drew closer, Tabani was startled to see a pair of females awaiting them - a golden lady, older and covered in what appeared to be scale markings, and.. well. Her.

"Malkia!" Kiwi called out, advancing forward and giving the lady a small dip of his head. She returned it in kind with a small smile, polite and strict as she ever was but no less glad to see him. Their's was a long and strange history of friendship, spattered with favors and smalltalk. They both tried to be the good they wanted to see in the world though and that, at least had been enough until now.

"This is the lady I told you about," Malkia chimed gently, as elegant as a flower as she stepped aside and let her darker friend move forward into the sunset light. The female with her was not as.. proper as Malkia herself. In fact, had Kiwi encountered her in the middle of the night, he rather thought she would have seemed like a nightmare. She was dark as the night itself and across her face was a stretched demon's grin, though he could tell that it was the misfortune of whatever god had given her that pelt. Behind it, the dark female smiled and dipped her head in the same polite way Malkia had, if a bit nervously.

"It's nice to meet you at last, Koya, Malkia has told me so much about you," but then her eyes shifted to the male standing at his side, sizing him up. "I don't believe that we were expecting your companion though?"

Tabani could have laughed at how similar the two women behaved in contrast to the absolute polar opposite nature of their outward appearance. He could have, but he didn't. Even the father of hellions knew when to play his cards right.

"Forgive me, I have forced myself upon dear Kiwi here. I have been learning a thing or two from him about an encounter he had with someone I'm looking for. Then, when I realized that we were heading to the famed Mwezi'Johari I thought I might tag along. You see, one of my sons and his daughter live here and it's been a very long time since I've seen them."

Maybe it was her own intuition or just the way Koya looked up sharply at hearing those words, but something in the pit of Malkia's stomach didn't settle quite right. She chose her battles carefully, however, and simply dipped her head in greeting to him before she steered their conversation back to the point. Although not a terribly rough pride by any means, Koya certainly wouldn't have been welcome so close to the borders and she wanted Lamia taken care of well before anyone found her lurking around. The poor girl had been given enough shitty hands in life that she need not suffer one more unnecessarily.

"Have you found somewhere that she might be taken care of, Koya? I know it is a strange task I've asked of you this time but my brother brought her here to me and asked me to do him this one favor. That's a lot coming from such a reclusive lion like that, you know."

Koya found himself smiling at the way she spoke, lilting and gentle, despite the bit of tension that was swimming around them. She had saved his life once and for that he owed her everything in the world. He would do her a thousand favors, especially when they were meant to help those around her.

"Yes, actually. I met Tabani here just outside of a pride that, well, fancies themselves as demons. He has a daughter that lives there and-"

"And she has a face just as beautiful as Lamia here," he heard the lion chime, though he thought Malkia might roll her eyes. Lamia, at least, offered him a weak, nervous smile.

"Right, and I think that it would be a good place for you, if you're willing to make the journey back with me. I can't stay with you, unfortunately, but I think we could find someone that could take you in. They have scouts and recruiters lurking around the borders."

Malkia, choosing to ignore the golden male, let her gaze shift to Lamia in that moment. It was clear that the decision was hers and Malkia herself would not make a single motion to sway her in any direction. The moment seemed to drag out forever before, at last, the dark female nodded her head and gave Koya a shy smile.

"I think after everything I am willing to give even the tiniest hope a chance."

The golden lioness looked as if she might tear up, so happy was she that the girl might at last find a place where she wasn't mocked but, too, saddened to see the gentle heart go. She leaned forward and gave her a gentle, mothering nuzzle that Koya knew all too well, then took her first steps backwards from the group.

"Alright, then you all should get going before the guards find you lingering here. Lamia, my dear, I hope your journey is quick and that this place might be a home for you at last."

Lamia smiled, lost for words, and stepped forward to stand next to Kiwi - yet, just as the pair were about to leave, Tabani interjected yet again.

"Alright kids, enjoy the journey. I'm going to follow our lovely Miss Malkia back to the pride to see my son."

Koya really did think that Malkia's eyes were going to pop out of her head then but she only sighed and turned, leading the golden nuisance away. The green leopon lingered for a moment more, staring after them and wondering what the golden male was really getting at - he wasn't so clueless as to not have read the signs in her posture. Koya knew he was smarter than this. So what was his game?

With a sigh, he forced a smile on his face and looked up at Lamia with all the encouragement he could muster. They had a long journey and he had no time to worry over the old dragon. She could take care of herself.

"Let's go, Lamia. We've got a long road to travel."

(1,364 words)