Shujaa was still fresh from his conversation with Thunzi, and the large lion couldn't have been more enthusiastic about his new rank and tasks for the pride. He enjoyed his time with the mercs and the work he did with them, but his days had begun to feel a little stale. He had been craving something new to come into his life, and Shujaa was more than happy to embrace the changes that Thunzi had thrown his way. His paws led him to the edge of their new territory, where their border happened to meet up with a small river and was the pride's main source of water. He could use a long, cool drink to clear his head and come up with a decisive action for his next move. He supposed patrolling the border may even be his best course of action.
Moya'vuli had just finished her morning routine of waking up, taking a long drink at the river, and searching the riverbed for colorful stones. She didn't really have a reason for doing so, but the dark lioness enjoyed looking for them and watching them gleam in the early morning sunlight. She liked to remind herself that this world still had beauty in it, she just needed to look for it. Moya wasn't a very large lioness, mostly average in size in fact, but she was somewhat slender with lean muscles. And she knew how to use that muscle to her quick advantage. Moya was an mercenary after all, and she couldn't count how many times she had relied on her skills to get her through life. Or to put it bluntly, how many times her skill had been used to someone else's advantage. Her time before the mercs had been... difficult, and she didn't like thinking about it. So she frowned instead and stared at her pretty, shiny rocks.
As Shujaa approached the riverbed he became aware that he was not by himself, and in fact wasn't too far away from his fellow mercenary, Moya. He'd spared and fought side by side with her many a time, so the large lion was at ease when he sidled up next to her to dip his maw into the cool water. "Mornin', Moya," he offered pleasantly before taking a good lap of the crisp river water. "Find any good ones?" he knew about her habit for finding shiny things, as did most others who spoke with her. She was quite proud of it really.
She had heard Shujaa approach before she saw him, heck before he had even spoken a word to her, but she did not take her attention away from her shiny stones. They were interesting colors, mingled together with veins of polished stone, and she most importantly she liked them. They were pretty to look at, and they distracted her from the many haunting thoughts that pervaded her mind. Even so, she was just as happy to speak with Shujaa. Anything to distract herself from the crushing weight of her own regrets. "Good morning, Shujaa. I've found quite a few, actually," she told him cheerfully, her maw pulling into a small smile at the corners. "You're up early," the lioness commented as she turned her attention to the large dark pelted male. They had sparred many times in the past, and Moya respected his prowess in battle, even if she had kicked his rump on more than a few occasions.
"Yes, I was hoping to get some training in this morning," Shujaa replied as he reflexively rolled his injured shoulder. It still throbbed somewhat as he did so, but he was not nearly in as much pain as he had been before. "Its a good thing I was too, Thunzi had something he needed to speak with me about." He didn't really stop to think about if he should comment on that or not, but the leopard hadn't told him to keep it secret, so Shujaa assumed he was free to speak of it as he wished. "Apparently we're taking in civilians now, and I'm to be a guard for our new territory," the lion went on, grinning as he did so. He was rather glad of his new rank and role within the pride, and he was eager to be on the job.
Now that got her attention! So Thunzi was making moves in the pride? Moya furrowed her brows as Shujaa spoke, and she slowly lowered herself to her haunches to sit next to Shujaa. "Civilians? What are they doing joining a mercenary band? All we do is fight," Moya wondered. She wasn't upset about it, but she was confused. All her life all she had done was fight, and kill. Its what her old pride had trained her to do, its what they had demanded she do, and ultimately it had consumed her until that's all she had been. A shell, void of thought or reason, for them to use as they pleased. Thinking back on her old life made Moya's skin crawl, and she quickly latched back onto the conversation with Shujaa to rid herself of those unpleasant feelings bubbling to the surface. "I can't say I'm surprised, you're probably one of the most protective lions I've met," she smiled at him, glad to see that Shujaa was happy for the change.
Shujaa was a fairly observant individual, and he happened to see the flash of emotion strike across Moya's features. He was, however, a polite lion as well, so he waited for her to come back to him without prompting. He knew a little about Moya's past, but not much, as the dark lioness did not like to speak of it except for on very rare occasions. And even then, he was only able to gleam tidbits from her. Regardless, it had not sounded good, and he had learned to be patient with her. "That's what Thunzi thinks as well," Shujaa grinned, and he was particularly proud of that. Mercenary work was fine and dandy, but as the lion had aged he had grown more and more protective of those he had come to see as his family. "Our new members are hunters, and I think its a good move for the pride as a whole. More time for us to train, you know?" Plus, he wasn't very good at hunting. Fighting yes, hunting not so much.
Moya listened carefully to Shujaa's words, her attention ensnared by the idea of non-combat members in the pride. What would that even be like? To live your life without the expectation of fighting every day, to just... exist? The lioness slowly blinked her silver eyes as she wondered. How would one even do that without feeling helpless? "More training..." Moya echoed, more to herself than to Shujaa at this point. What was the point of her life now? To fight? That had always been the case for her, even in her old pride. Though since she had joined the Tani'Ajiri, it had been on her terms. They did not force her to fight for them, she chose to do so. So... could she chose to not fight? "Shujaa, I..." What could she even say to convey this feeling? "I think I need to speak with Thunzi. Where did you see him last?" she asked quietly, her silver eyes far away as she pondered her options. Options that she hadn't realized she had until now.
He could see the lioness was working through something internally, and though he had a vague idea of what it might be, the large lion kept that to himself. She was still such a young thing, with her whole life ahead of her, and he had wondered for how long she would fight for them. Something he had said must have stirred that up for her, and he wasn't sure if he was glad or concerned about that. After all, Moya was a very talented fighter, and he would surely miss her prowess on the battle field. "Near the meeting rock on the training grounds. Though he had been moving fairly quickly this morning, and I'm not sure where he is now," Shujaa offered apologetically.
Near the meeting rock. She had to think about that one for a second, but then she remembered that Thunzi had been using that large cluster of boulders near the training grounds to meet with and discuss contracts with visitors. Hmm. Hopefully he was still there. "Thank you Shujaa. I-" she trailed off, feeling somewhat guilty about how she was feeling and what she wanted to talk to Thunzi about. The mercs had helped her so much in her life, and she didn't want to offend any of them or seem ungrateful for all they had done for her. Her ears drooped as they twisted backward with these thoughts, a clear sign of distress from the black pelted lioness. Thunzi had been the one to save her all those years ago, from a situation and a pride that had done nothing but take from her, and force her to fight and kill as they wished. The pale leopard had changed all of that by stealing her away and rallying the mercs to protect her when her old pride had come looking for her. Tears nearly welled up in her eyes at the thought of betraying Thunzi's trust like this, and she worried that he wouldn't understand. "I have to go," she muttered quietly to Shujaa, and before he could even attempt to say something to console her, the silver eyed lioness was on her paws and running away from him.
To say the least Shujaa was stunned to see the distress on Moya's face. He had never seen her so distraught and it had most definitely caught the large lion off guard. So much so that it hadn't even registered that she was up and running until she was already several paces away from him, and even then his voice caught in his throat. What could he say? Should he run after her? It was his fault she was feeling like that. Probably. Feeling rather guilty himself, and unsure of how to help her, Shujaa just watched her go with sadness in his fiery eyes.
((Word Count: 1,710))