Glory and fame

Blood is our name

Okay, so she wasn't the best at staying put. But how could she? She didn't even know where she had woken up earlier and she had to get home. Otherwise she'd be in big trouble. Not that she cared too much about that. She'd just look at móðir and faðir with big eyes and look all sad and upset. yes, that always worked. But first, she had to find her way home.

Though...finding her way home definitely hadn't gone as planned. Surely she wasn't too far off now. But as she wandered away from the fields she'd woken up in, the amount of trees only grew and soon she couldn't even really see where she was going. There were just too many trees and bushes. With a small huff, the pale girl tried her best to climb an old, rotting log. Yes, from here she'd be able to see more. Well, at least she hoped so. But when she emerged from the foliage and finally got to see more than just darkening green, she realized it was night. Now that just wouldn't do.

Stamping her little paw, she growled out a muttered curse. Oh no! It seemed the log had held her weight well enough, but her little tantrum had done enough damage to it that her paw was now stuck in it. How embarrassing. Valka pulled herself back, losing her balance as she tried to free her paw. But it didn't work and now she was left clinging to the log with her free paw, still trying to get the other one out of the hole it was stuck in, growing more upset while small noises of distress escaped her.

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The snow falls soft

drawing the world down to a whitened hush, forcing us to pause long enough to take stock of everything that we miss in our crazed pursuit to gain everything that we can. One would say she is a woman who wears a gown of winter frost that blinds the eyes.

She didn't descend from the Summit often these days. Not with winter setting in and making the trip more and more difficult. Soon, when winter truly came, she might not be able to make the descent at all, she thought. Then she'd have to send Alvena out for herbs and things, and wouldn't that be an interesting endeavor?

But she'd made it this time, so the point was moot. It might have been night by the time she did, but Faelyn didn't mind that. Nightfall meant fewer other lions would be about, and she had little desire to speak with anyone at the moment.

It seemed fate had other ideas for her, though, as she heard a rather concerning series of sounds coming from nearby. The sort of sounds that indicated a child was in trouble. And she certainly couldn't allow that to happen while she could do something about it. Naturally, Faelyn immediately abandoned her plan for gathering herbs and instead made a beeline for the source of the sounds, which she promptly determined was a child with her paw stuck in a fallen tree.

Tricky things, trees, she said kindly as she approached, intending to grab the girl by the scruff to lift her up and out, or help her get her balance with a paw if that seemed an unwelcome gesture.

@Valka

It is growing cold

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Glory and fame

Blood is our name

How long was she supposed to wait here? Shouldn't someone have come to get her by now? Surely she was being missed.

But clearly that was not the case. For now she'd been gone a whole day and nothing happened. She hadn't heard her mother call for her, wondering where her daughter went. And no one had come to give her food or help her out of this accursed tree. Had she been forgotten? No. That simply couldn't be.

The little princess continued to huff and struggle, unaware of the approaching lioness until she heard the voice. "Heimska tré," she grumbled, little ears flattening against her skull. A string of muttered curses followed when she was lifted by the scruff of her neck. My my, what a mouth on a young lady. Some of those curses were definitely not something such a young one should know. But at least she didn't struggle when she was being held by her scruff. "Down," she eventually said in a heavily accent voice. The sweet voice of a child, yet so very demanding. She even puffed up her fluffy fur to seem a little bigger.

@Faelyn

---

i. Stupid tree

code by corvus

The snow falls soft

drawing the world down to a whitened hush, forcing us to pause long enough to take stock of everything that we miss in our crazed pursuit to gain everything that we can. One would say she is a woman who wears a gown of winter frost that blinds the eyes.

She wasn't really sure what the girl was muttering, but if she'd known she wouldn't have judged. Perhaps been impressed that the girl knew that many curses, perhaps thought that she shouldn't, but it wasn't her child to pass judgement upon.

A soft grunt of confirmation was given as the child demanded to be put down, and Faelyn promptly did so with a muffled, Yes, of course. Only then did she take a proper look at the girl, who she had already verified didn't smell like a pride. It was risky, having cubs outside of a pride, she knew. She also knew not every mother had the option of joining a pride, as well.

Are you from around here? she asked, deciding that was the softest way to ask "where are your parents". She recognized that the girl might have lost her parents, in one of several different definitions of the word lost.

@Valka

It is growing cold

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Glory and fame

Blood is our name

Once set down, the girl fixed the at least to her larger lioness with a bright violet glare. Small fluffy tail lashed behind her, pale blue, stripped coat puffing up more. Tiny fangs poked over her lower lip and even the little black and white tuft of her mane seemed fluffier. all in all, she did seem well cared for. A little scruffy from her 'fight' with the tree and wandering through the foliage, but not emaciated.

She did give the older lioness a somewhat bewildered look, trying to fully understand. At least some of the words made sense. Enough to elicit a tiny huff and stamp of a tiny paw from the little princess. "Obviously not." Though heavily accented, she did seem to know at least a few words in the common tongue. Perhaps previous lessons had been given. "Where is...here?" And there it was again, that demanding tone. Such a small cub, but clearly very much used to getting what she wanted, no matter how.

@Faelyn

code by corvus

The snow falls soft

drawing the world down to a whitened hush, forcing us to pause long enough to take stock of everything that we miss in our crazed pursuit to gain everything that we can. One would say she is a woman who wears a gown of winter frost that blinds the eyes.

She did raise an eyebrow at the girl as she stamped her foot. Spoiled was the thought she had. But, again, not her place to talk. You are in Aniadar Jungle, near the Rainforest and Mire prides, she explained. Though, since the girl didn't smell of either pride, that might not mean much to her. What does the place that you are from look like? Or do you know its name? she asked. She could take the child back there to her home if she knew, and perhaps to her parents. Presuming the child had parents, which she was going to choose to believe she did. No doubt they were looking for her, and probably very concerned.

@Valka

It is growing cold

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Glory and fame

Blood is our name

A spoiled little princess, that certainly was how her siblings would have described her. Well, at least if things hadn't changed so quickly. But surely her family was looking for her. They had to be.

Listening to the pale lioness, she tilted her head a little. More strange words. Words she wouldn't even try to pronounce. But jungle? No, that didn't sound right at all. "Home has lots of snow. Big, very big mountains." Words came slowly, heavily accented. But at least she seemed to be making an effort to be understood. "But no...jungle....anywhere." The actual name of her home was a mystery to her. Something she simply hadn't been taught.

@Faelyn

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The snow falls soft

drawing the world down to a whitened hush, forcing us to pause long enough to take stock of everything that we miss in our crazed pursuit to gain everything that we can. One would say she is a woman who wears a gown of winter frost that blinds the eyes.

Hmm, that sounds like the Summit, but you don't smell of the pride, she commented. Plus she'd never seen the girl there. Maybe it's somewhere in the Freeze... Faelyn thought for a moment, trying to decide what the best idea was. She couldn't leave the girl there, obviously, but she also didn't want to take her far from her actual home either. I can take you up to the snowy mountains I know, and maybe you'll be able to figure out where you're supposed to go from there? she suggested. She would leave it up to the child. Perhaps she would insist she was fine, or that she did know the way home. Surely someone else was looking for her, though.

@Valka

It is growing cold

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Glory and fame

Blood is our name

Little ears twitched as she listened. Not many of the words made sense, but the places she spoke of? Even more unfamiliar. None of it really made sense to her at all. But at least she tried to listen and understand as she flopped onto her fuzzy little butt with a cute little pout. "But I walked so much..." the girl complained, lifting her little front paws. "All the way from the big field...woke up there." Before, she hadn't really spoken of where she woke up, but perhaps it slowly started to sink in that whoever had taken her away from home, had left her there. "Home is far away...I think...big mountains, lots of snow, ice on really big water...and mountains around water." Though she didn't know the word for it, clearly she was talking about Fjords, or at least trying to...in her own words.

@Faelyn

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The snow falls soft

drawing the world down to a whitened hush, forcing us to pause long enough to take stock of everything that we miss in our crazed pursuit to gain everything that we can. One would say she is a woman who wears a gown of winter frost that blinds the eyes.

All the way from the big field... from Celosia? Now that was quite a long way for a little one to walk. Any thought Faelyn had about the cub's parents being nearby were now far from her mind. It seemed quite impossible they were.

The little one described a place she did in fact know well, and Faelyn nodded in understanding. You are a ways from there, she commented. But, luckily for you, I can take you back there. And I'll even carry you, if you like, or you can ride on my back. I'm sure someone as important as you shouldn't have to walk all that way again.

She said the last with a smile, playing into the cub's apparent sense of superiority. She wasn't being facetious either though. All cubs were important in her mind.

@Valka

It is growing cold

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