Well, he was here, and so far...so uneventful? Not much of great import had occurred since his arrival, which was certainly not a bad thing by any means. A cub had gone missing and not been found, any by now, whatever small concern that had raised had dissipated. It was only a male, after all, and green, which made him no import at all within the Ithambo'hlabathi. That had come as something of a shock to Mot, he had to admit - he knew that the neighbors of the Motoujamii placed little to no value on male cubs, and frowned upon colors deemed unnatural, but...the collective shrug that the green cub's disappearance had been met with was cold.
He might be huria himself, but he was reasonably certain his mother would have looked for him, had he gone missing as a child. Wouldn't she have? This all did cause him to wonder, but...no, she would have looked for him, as a point of pride at the very least. While Tim-timana was neither particularly maternal nor affectionate, she was proud. And took everything very, very seriously. She'd have found him, alright, and likely made him regret ever wandering off in the first place. But the few searchers for the green cub, Mot included, had ultimately given up, and the fate of the little Lusizi remained a mystery. All that was certain was that he was dead, as there was virtually no way for a cub to survive by itself for that long. Whatever of the countless fates he'd met with, it surely hadn't been pretty. And though he had no personal relation to the matter, Mot really didn't like to think about it.
He did his best to shake off the grim thoughts and return to the present, which was an afternoon of patrolling out a bit past the western edge of the pride, keeping an eye out for potential intruders. And for potential rivals. His position was quite a bit more tenuous than that of the Abaholi, who could rely on each other for back-up if challenged. If he was challenged, though? He was on his own. He had full confidence in his own abilities, of course, but he was all too aware that he needed to be on alert at all times. So when he spotted a unfamiliar figure in the distance, he strode purposefully towards it.
...only to realize fairly quickly that it was a lioness, who was actually looking bit out of sorts. Not so out of sorts that she didn't notice him, however, and quickly fixed him with an icy glare that said clear as day: 'what are you looking at?'
It was a look that certainly gave him pause. If he were a rogue, and in rogue lands, he would have happily changed course and been on his way, but as an Inselelo, he was obligated to see what was going on. "Are you, ah...quite alright, ma'am?"
The glare got icier, and the lioness flipped back her hair before she gave her rumbling answer, "I am not a ma'am, and I'm fine. Or I will be, once you get on your way and leave me alone."
Mot sighed. She was going to make him regret this, wasn't she? "I'm afraid I can't do that, m...iss. Miss. You're getting a bit close to Ithambo'hlabathi territory."
Her expression, which had soured even further as he continued to not leave her alone, was finally lightened by a touch of surprise when he revealed where she was. "Am I? Well, hell. If this isn't just the weirdest damn day..." Much of the tension left her stance, and mask-marked lioness took a more curious look at her surroundings. "I don't suppose you could point me in a direction that doesn't belong to a pride, could you?"
"You..." Mot was confused, both by the abrupt change in her attitude and by the fact that she seemed to have no idea where she was or even where she was going. "You could just...go back the way you came?" he suggested.
"What a brilliant idea," she replied, in a tone that made it clear she thought it was anything but. "Problem is, unlike you, I didn't actually walk here."
Mot could only stare, brow furrowed as his confusion continued to deepen. "What do you mean, you didn't walk here? There's no other way to get here." Or to or from any other place, for that matter! Was she just...not right in the head? She seemed lucid, though, judging purely by how snarky she was capable of being. "Are you sure you're alright?"
The female rolled her eyes as she huffed out a sigh. "Ordinarily, you're right. But unless you've been living in a hole in the ground, it can't have escaped your notice that things haven't exactly been ordinary lately, have they?"
"Alright, no, they haven't, I'll give you that, but I don't see what that has to do with you not getting here on foot."
"Do you seriously have to know?" she replied in exasperation. "You can't just point me where to go?"
"I could have, yeah, but now I'm curious. So tell me how you got here, and I'll tell you what direction to go."
"There was a weird light. I touched it," she admitted, although the foolishness of having approached and touched the strange crackling light was rather painful to own up to. "And then I was here instead of there. Happy?"
"I- But- That doesn't make sense!" he protested. Granted, a lot of things happened that didn't make sense, but...
"Look, you didn't say it had to make sense. I don't care whether you like the answer or not, it's the truth. So pay up: which way do I go?"
Mot definitely had more questions, but she was definitely not going to answer them, so he wisely decided to bite his tongue and keep them to himself. He sighed as he supplied her with her answer, "That way. You'll be back in rogue lands in half a mile or so."
"See? That wasn't so hard. Later, Ithambo-whatever," she bid him, sauntering off and leaving the Inselelo to sit and scratch his head.
((4. It really is just a normal day! Nothing out of the ordinary here.))