It was the promise of an easy hunt that first drew the aging lioness to the borders. Though it had been a long time since she had needed to hunt for herself, she still liked to do so from time-to-time. If one never did anything save for lounge about and let others do the work then life lost a bit of its meaning and ended far, far too soon. Malkia liked the sound of her blood pumping in her ears and the sting of her lungs when she stood victorious over a kill after a long run.

Today, though, that dream seemed to be cut short.

The crying was what made her, curious soul as she was, venture out a bit farther than she ought to have; the lioness had her back to her where she sat, curled among the tall grass.

"Excuse me, are you alright?"

Malkia had always been as gentle as a butterfly and her voice, though wisened, was no less belle-like than it had been in her youth. Yet, as the female turned her head to look at the golden lioness it took every ounce of her grace and poise to remain unphased. At first she looked rather like a demon with a wide mouth and gnarly, blood-tipped fangs but after a quick look over, she realized it was a rather.. unfortunate pelt pattern.

"I-I'm sorry," a voice finally answered and the darker female, though tense, sat up so that she might look at the newcomer face-to-face. As she spoke, the mouth within her cheshire's grin gaped and Malkia found herself fighting a sense of unease; it was an optical illusion that her brain did not care to see broken. Yet she only smiled, if weakly, in return.

"I hope I am not intruding, I just.. have been having a very bad day."

Then the lioness smiled so sadly that Malkia felt her heart ache and every ounce of her mothering, protective nature sang aloud.

"No, no, dear. It's quite alright - we are generally a kind pride. We might have our faults but I do not think anyone would blame you for stopping here a moment to rest." After a pause, Malkia decided to try her paw at eeking out whatever it was that had the female so up in arms; ladies did not cry for no reason, after all. "Are you hurt? Can I help you somehow?"

To her surprise, the girl laughed and shook her head. It was tired and raw, like her throat was so dry she was fighting to get the sound out. That was worrisome but Malkia dared not move just yet. For all that this girl looked as if she should not be afraid of anything in the world, Malkia thought very much that she was every bit as delicate as she was herself. What a shame and burden that face must have been.

"It is only.. I ran into a rather unkind rogue just now and I thought.. well-" her words broke as her voice cracked around them. Lamia coughed and tried to clear the dry lump that was swelling inside of her esophagus but Malkia could see the effort it was taking her just to breathe.

"It has been a very long time since I have had to run for my life," she said softly, taking her first few steps closer to the girl with a sad smile on her face. She hoped that this girl knew she meant her no harm but it was always so hard to tell with a broken spirit; sometimes they gave in and other times they bucked wildly at anything that they did not know. "My name is Malkia and, so long as you are willing to trust me, I can lead you to a watering hole not far from here. I am afraid.. I do not think my pride would tolerate you within the borders but I can do my best to help you otherwise."

Lamia stared at her for a long moment and tried her best to reason out the pros vs cons; she didn't know this lioness but she looked nice? She had been fooled before but she was so damnably tired. The female sighed within her jester's grin and let her head hang in a sign of true exhaustion. The benefits of trusting her outweighed the risks. She knew that if she did not get water soon she would end up too weak to move and who knows if that rude rogue would find her here?

"I would.. like that very much, thank you."

Malkia found herself smiling wider as the dark-pelted lioness finally stood, even if she seemed completely and utterly resigned to whatever fate she couldn't predict. It made the old dragon's heart ache to think that anyone feared her but she couldn't find blame in it. She understood what it felt like to be hopeless, she understood that far, far too well. She only dipped her head and turned, motioning with her tail tuft for the smiling lioness to follow her.

"Come this way then, dear. I don't think you should be bothered this far from the pride's heart but I'll stay with you for a while just in case. You do seem so exhausted."

Lamia hesitated around a small smile when she met the golden lady's eyes over her shoulder, then dropped them to her feet out of nervousness as she fell into step behind her cloud-spattered legs. It was a habit she was all too accustomed to. Her mother had once told her that she was going to run right into something one day if she stared at her feet so much (but her mother had a very pretty face).

"Yes," her raspy voice answered after a moment, "thank you so much."

There wasn't enough energy left in her to cry but with her heightened emotions the sudden, unexpected kindness left Lamia on the verge of tears again. It made her feel vulnerable and stupid but for a wonder, the lady that had come to her rescue did not seem to want to comment on her behavior.

Politely, Malkia looked ahead of them to the path they were following and gave her the privacy she deserved unbidden. No one ever liked to be thought less of in a moment of weakness. As she quietly led her forward to a safe place to rest, Malkia felt that old, deeply rooted urge to take someone and make their life better. She wondered, perhaps, if she might find someone to escort her somewhere safer than the rogue lands.

As the pair walked in silence, Malkia's thoughts tumbled from one inkling to the next.

(Slightly backlogged; 1,119 words)