The vulture Duma flew over head as his lioness Nomvula padded on the grounds below. The two were on the look out for a preybeasts herd they'd been tracking for some time. No, this was not a hunt as it would be very dumb of the both of them to go in alone. This was purely a stake out of sorts to track the behavior of this particular herd for the inevitable future hunt in the future when her pride sisters gathered to work to get the weakest of the herd.

Despite the two's youth, they worked in sync as if the two had worked together for years.

"It looks like they're headed west today," Duma chirped down to their partner.

"Are you sure? It's been west for the past several days. Why would they change the pattern so suddenly? Duma. Are there other predators lurking in our midst?" Nomvula growled feeling the eagerness of her claws threatening to leave their sheaths. If there were other predators they would have to meet with the wrath of the pride. It would be suicide of a lion to come in to their pridelands.

"No no. I'm note even sure why they'd changed their direction. It was sudden. Should we get closer and check out the area?" Duma called down.

"It would be stupid of us not to." Nomvula decided.

"Agreed. But do you think it is wise for us to go in alone? I mean..." The bird was cut off from a frustrated roar from Nomvula.

"There's no time Duma! We should get there quickly and see if there is something dangerous. For gods sake there are things we need to know if the herds getting spooked. An aerial view doesn't always give us all the information. There very well might be a predator lurking in the area. I can probably draw it out at least if there is." Nomvula felt strongly about this.

"Alright alright. " Duma agreed, "You're being pretty stupid but alright. " The vulture stretched her tiny wings out and gave a powerful flap so they could get ahead and see about getting a better look at the situation up ahead. Unfortunately for Nomvula that meant the two couldn't rightfully hear each other but Nomvula could see the direction Duma was flying so she had no problem finding the area.

Up ahead looked like any other you might find in a plains area with a few withering trees dotting the scenery and a lot of none descript class area. Over a very specific spot Nomvula could see Duma circling and dive down beside. Very quietly the lioness followed keeping low in the grass and keeping her eyes trained on the object ahead where Duma seemed to be perched.

"Huh?" The lioness got up not bothering to keep her cover and padded closer. "Is that?" The lioness looked to Duma with a concerned look.

"Death." Duma said with a nod. "But not from a predator."

Beside Duma laid a dead calf. It looked to be a still born of sorts freshly born with in the past twenty four hours. Ants and other pests had already started to crawl around the poor dead thing and its stench was only beginning. Soon its rotting smell would contaminate a very large portion of the area. Nomvula winced.

"I am note entirely sure what to do here.." She prodded the thing with her paw. "I don't think this meat is fresh enough to drag back to the dens," Nomvula looked a little sick.

"Oh please Nomvula. It is food and the pride shouldn't be so picky about how fresh. This is barely a rotting corpse here. Take it from a scavenger this is good eats and there is no shame on taking part of food so easily provided," Duma was taking offense to Nomvulas behavior.

"I don't see rotting meat on the menu often. I don't " She looked like she was about to puke, "I .. I don't want to drag this back." She pushed the babies face away from her.

Duma took an annoyed breath, "Why don't we head back to the den and see if there are some more iron stomached lionesses willing to do the job? Seriously though I am pretty sure that the pride sisters will not look at you seriously if you go back to the dens with out this. "

"Who .. Duma would you tell on me or something? I mean there would be no harm if we didn't say anything?" She was showing her inexperience right now. Nomvula was a youth and she was good at her job but still there was room for improvement. "I..."

"I can't let this food go to waste. It isn't in my nature." Duma admitted, "If you're going to turn your nose up at the job I would imagine others wouldn't and would look down on you," Duma took a breath.

"Some partner you are Duma." Nomvula sighed. There was no getting around the fact that Duma was right about everything. She'd be looked down upon if she let perfectly good food go to waste even if there had already been a collection of insects collecting on the corpse. The lioness licked her lips and closed her eyes trying to think of better tasting things before bending over and sinking her fangs in to the stillborns neck. Duma flapped happily and landed on their partners rear.

"Glad to see you're seeing reason." Duma puffed up happily.

Nomvula would have said something but her maw was currently filled with the still born corpse of a preybeast. She was super annoyed and super grossed out but her status and reputation amongst her pride sisters was much more important to her. This was the job after all and what her birth was about. Her pride sisters held up their end of their roles so she could do the same with her own role.

"Don't worry Nomvula. You're doing the right thing and I am here as a reminder of that," Duma chirped happily. They were pretty pleased that their advice was being followed. Nomvula really was a good partner to be giving their words some thought and acting on what was for the greater good rather than doing what was personally best for her.

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