How long had it been this time? Away from home. A home he never meant to leave, but yet the fates had other plans. As the cleric's bond with the spirit world strengthened, something urged the young man to explore, to travel, to go beyond even Amaryllis in order to grow. To go outside his bubble or shelter and comfort. And the way back would be no different.

A clear, starry sky shined above. The moon at half-mast. Enough light was reflected to contrast the expanse of sand against a black coat. Hero knew if anyone was out here, he wouldn't be missed, but traveling at night was much preferred with the heat of the summer. The gentle waves lapping at either side of the sandbar were the only sounds that filled the rogues ears for now. This passage was familiar, but he'd never been stopped before. He'd also never arrived alone either, though. Even if the masked lion was almost certain he could head straight to the Summit and be welcomed back so long as Morrigan still ruled, he wasn't here for the easy route anymore. Not for riding his father's coattails. As much as he loved being with his family, Hero needed to find his own path in life sooner or later. Walking through the passage on his own, the Hodari would leave it up to the fates of he was meant to return to Illyria or not.

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karsa almost winces when he sees the man with black fur on the horizon. the days this summer had been particularly sweltering, so he couldn't imagine how miserable it must be with a coat that was hellbent on absorbing all that light and heat during the day. karsa supposed then that it was up to him - his duty even - to help the guy out. after all, it might be night now but the sun would rise sooner or later and with it would come the unbearable heat. so the young savante approached with a pleasant smile on his features, giving the man a quick once over only to determine they hadn't met before. "i'm karsa, from a place called obsidian hollow." the man starts, a classic introduction with no frills. he was finding "no frills" worked best. "what can i call you?" karsa questions, blue eyes resting evenly on @Hero as he waits for a response.

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It wasn't long before someone came along in the darkness of the night. The young man's white swirls were highlighted beneath the moonlight. By the time he was within earshot of the stranger, Hero took a casual seated position. Despite knowing he had never met @Karsa before, there was still something familiar about him. That coat pattern had been seen many times over across Amaryllis by now. A Savante, if he ever saw one. And with the Savante's I production came a twist of fate the Hodari was not expecting. All this time he wondered about going back to the Summit, to his "home," but this stranger offered a different return; to that of his very place of birth.

A sense of nostalgia coated the Hodari's features for a second as he already considered it an option to return to the Hollow, but then he remembered his name was questioned. "Pleasure to meet you, Karsa. I am Hero... Hero Hodari." The rogue added his surname as an afterthought, fully expecting the younger man not to be familiar with it. It had been years since his father ruled the Hollow, after all, but little did Hero know about his uncle's recent tenure. An uncle he'd never even met yet. "Is the Hollow still ruled by... Oh, what was his name... Alexander? I think?" The masked man's head tilted slightly with the question. It felt redundant to ask since this stranger before must undoubtedly be related, but that didn't mean Alexander was still the Savante ruling Obsidian.

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the rogue man seems friendly enough which is definitely a relief. with the amount of strangers that came through the passage daily, it was only a matter of time until karsa ran into someone standoffish or downright rude. thankfully, today wasn't that day. "good to meet you too, @Hero." well with a name like that, karsa definitely wanted the guy on his side should things ever go sour. the last name immediately sends a jolt of electricity zinging through the young man's body.

"hodari, though?" he questions, leaning forward in interest. "i have a friend, reti, who's a hodari too. are you related?" sharing a surname wasn't impossible, of course, but if they were family then karsa would need to make sure he tracked down his old pride mate to give him the news of a family member's arrival.

though the young savante has never met this hero before, there seems to be a spark of recognition in the other at a mention of the hollow. "yeah, alexander is my dad. still king." though his expression remains mostly relaxed, there's an edge of guardedness lying underneath as karsa judges the stranger's reaction. "do you know him well?" had hero once been friends with alexander or was this somehow another foe of the family's?

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While Hero had never really given much thought to ever returning to the Hollow, @Karsa was at least giving a good impression so far. Maybe the Hodari would reconsider, but he still wished to know more about his former home before deciding on that just yet. Another turn of events would have the stranger recognizing the Hodari name, but it wasn't from someone the onyx lion would have expected. A name was utter that the masked man had only ever heard stories about, but never met in person. A flicker of jealousy came and went for a brief moment in knowing that Karsa knew family that Hero did not, but he didn't dwell on the feeling. "If it's the same Reti that I've heard many stories of, then he'd be my uncle, I suppose," the older lion smirked in thought. "Big swirly mess of black and bronze?" Hero chuckled with a raised brow, recalling how his father had often described his younger brother.

As for Alexander, Hero's suspicions were put to rest in hearing that the Savante patriarch was, in fact, Karsa's father. Ah, so they had something in common more than just having lived in the Hollows before. Both their fathers had been kings of the very same place, though Hero hesitated in mentioning that part, not wanting to come off as possible competition. It wasn't like he had any interest in trying to "take back" his former family home. "Good, good," he nodded casually in hearing that Alexander was still ruling. Always good to hear of a lengthy ruling leader. As for knowing him? That was a different answer. "Never met him, actually," Hero chuckled once more. "But I watched him fight Vermier once for the Hollow. Not the time he won, though." But at least the Savante was persistent in trying again. "Soooo, why don't you tell me about how he runs things?" Even if Hero was still hesitant to go back to the Hollow no matter who was ruling it, it couldn't hurt to learn about the current king and his laws. Maybe something would convince him to go back underground.

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a flash of an emotion that karsa can’t quite place flickers across @hero’s features at the mention of reti and a second later, the young heir’s suspicions are confirmed. they are family. a description of his close friend brings a fond smile to the young savante’s lips. “yeah, that’s him!” he exclaims with a nod and a laugh at the description. reti’s markings were unique but swirly mess of black and bronze described them pretty perfectly - and karsa was sure reti would laugh when he told him about this meeting. “he used to live in the hollows and left just recently,” in fact, he’d done quite a lot for the time during his tenure. “but i know he’s around the valley… somewhere.” the savante had caught sight of him during those few situations that seemed to bring everyone together - pride challenges, wars, and the like.

whatever tension that had coiled between karsa’s shoulders seem to relax at @hero’s response. evidently, whatever he had experienced or knew about his father hadn’t been bad. good. as the connection between hero and his father becomes clear, karsa is immediately interested. “really?” of course, he had been told the general story of how the savante had come to rule over obsidian, but meeting someone who had been there along the way was an opportunity for information and stories that the young savante couldn’t pass up. though, there was time for that later - the passage definitely wasn’t the place for such long conversations. “my father upholds peace above all else, so members are expected not to bring trouble to the pride.” probably the most important of all their rules. “respect is something we all believe in, everyone in the pride is pretty close, they’re either family or become friends quickly.” though he hadn’t lived anywhere else in his life, karsa knew things were different elsewhere - perhaps in those larger prides where knowing everyone personally was impossible. “just like any other pride, members are expected to pull their weight. we have events you’re welcome to join, hunts, or you can run an event of your own if you’d like.” education sessions for the children, battle training, or rituals - the options were pretty varied.

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Honestly, how many lions could there be named "Reti" in the first place? Let alone one that fit the description of swirly mess of black and bronze. Check off both of those qualifiers and it could only be Hero's uncle @Karsa was talking about. Sure enough, the younger male confirmed it, which just put a new task on the Hodari's list: meet his uncle. Unfortunately, it seemed he had just missed the man from living in the Hollow, but surely they'd cross paths eventually. "I'm sure we'll run into each other eventually. Can't be too hard to find a guy like that," Hero smirked. Reti likely stood out in any crowd.

The masked lion didn't dwell on his uncle's whereabouts for much longer, though, with more immediate matters to attend to. He wanted to learn more about how the Hollow functioned and figure out if it was worth returning to. "Yeah," he chuckled in confirmation to the Heir's question. "My father saw the other challenge, where he actually won." And so Hero had learned that Vermier had been defeated. The dark lion went quiet, though, to give his full attention to the ways Alexander ran his pride. Everything seemed agreeable, very similar to how his own father had ruled. In mentioning that majority of the pride was family or friends, the Hodari worried about just how much of the numbers were made up of Savantes. Not that he held anything against the family itself, but the masked lion wasn't really interested in drowning beneath the many members of a different family. He'd seen enough lions with the same sort of markings across Amaryllis to know that the Savantes definitely had numbers. "Would a lion not of Savante blood still have the room to grow and prove himself among your father's ranks?" Hero didn't hesitate in asking the question. He wanted to know upfront if it was even worth joining a pride if any sort of position of rank would just get bogarted by the ruling family. There was no interest to be had in just sitting around doing nothing no matter what pride the man might join.

Aside from a need for some purpose, though, there was one other burning question the Hodari had. "And what of his allies?" he asked. "If you don't mind my questions..." Added as an afterthought, Hero didn't want to seem like he was drilling the younger male for every bit of information about his father's pride. It was just going to take a lot to convince the lion to go back to the Hollow.

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“yeah, probably, he’s around a lot.” if not in the wild, then definitely at one of the pride challenges that were sure to come. though obviously, the young savante is all too interested in learning what he can about his dad back then. “oh, i see! that must have been quite the fight…” a pity that karsa hadn’t been born soon enough to witness it. in fact, he had rarely seen his dad truly fight in the past two years. which was maybe a good thing. the man had heard it was often the most mild-mannered people who were the most vicious when angered or otherwise provoked.

the question catches him off-guard. didn’t everyone want those who were capable promoted? “of course!” he says, brows furrowing together in the most serious of expressions. “if you’re willing to put in the work, you’ll definitely be rewarded. in terms of ranks, you wouldn’t be treated any different from family members.” though karsa supposed there was a caveat. “all our ranks are free to be challenged for, except for something like sovereign or heir.” if hero happened to challenge a family member, karsa was sure they’d welcome the fight. “but our current and last sovereign are both non-savantes, they gained their position by working hard and gaining everyone’s trust.” juliette and thella were both wonderful women, and though he wasn’t sure if thella would step down any time soon, there was always the possibility the position would open up for the taking again.

hero seems sheepish as he apologizes for all the questions, and the young savante is quick to dispel such worries. “no, i don’t mind at all!” karsa assures quickly, with a grin. “we’re on neutral terms with most of the prides.” which wasn’t a good or bad thing. maybe as heir, that was something that karsa could work on. defining their relationships with the rest of the valley was key to figuring out their place in the wider and often unpredictable political scene. “but we’re allied with morrigan of illyria summit,” who he desperately needed to visit. “and her daughter, isla, of scilla lagoon.” though he didn’t know her quite as well, she seemed to be a friend of karsa’s father. at least, alexander had seemed pleased when he’d reported the new alliance. hopefully, the nice ladies weren’t on @hero’s shit list.

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Hero listened intently. He prayed to the spirits that he could trust the notion that non-blood related pride members could still ascend to the same heights as a natural born Savante within the Hollow. If that claim ended up being false, however, there was nothing to stop the Hodari from simply leaving Obsidian. In any sense, the masked man had spent long enough out here questioning @Karsa about his father's pride with no other recruits to come calling. He'd gained enough information to come to the conclusion that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to give the Hollow another shot even if he ended up loving the open sky so much. It was time Hero learned what life was like in a pride not filled with his own family. Granted, Alexander already had some sort of impression of the Hodari name, but it wasn't the same as the leader knowing his own parents.

With a deep breath, Hero weighed his options. At least knowing that Morrigan still ruled the Summit meant that his parents and sisters were still likely there. If all else failed, he could always return to the mountain, but he knew it was time to try something on his own. "Well, Karsa," he started off. "If you'll have me, I think I'd like to return to the Hollow for some time." Hero offered a boyish smile. "I was actually born there myself. My parents ruled it for a time. Your father's reign sounds much like my own father's. I hope to uphold the same impression Uncle Reti gave you of the Hodari name." There was truly nothing the Heir had said about Obsidian that the Hodari was in disagreement with. There was no reason not to join, other than his own bias to the place that had crumpled around them and nearly trapped his father within it's hold. So long as the structure was physically sound, Hero was willing to give it a second go.

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karsa tries to stand there in silence as hero thinking, hoping to give the man whatever time was needed to mull over what had been said to make the best decision. though it was very obvious that hero was no stranger to this valley as many of the other rogues were, the young savante could only imagine how overwhelming it must be to return and be faced with the expanse of amaryllis once again. unlike many of his siblings, karsa had never ventured far from where he had been born in obsidian and couldn’t fathom how big the world out there was. amaryllis seemed massive to him already.

he shuffles, weight shifting from foot to foot in nervousness. sure, he had spent much of his time as of late out here in the passage, but that didn’t mean karsa was any good at this recruiting business. half of him feels the sharp pang of fear as hero opens his mouth, praying to the mother it wasn’t yet another rejection. in fact, the savante man is so caught up in his own reverie that it takes a minute for hero’s words to sink in. “yeah!” he blurts, shooting upright to his feet. “yeah, of course we’ll have you!” a relative of reti’s was definitely a friend of theirs - and hero had seemed normal. all positives! “i can lead the way, we can discuss any other questions you might have on the walk back too.” karsa suggests, head tilting in the direction of the hollow as the young man turns and starts down the path. one thing was for sure, he was glad to be getting out of this heat at least.

exit karsa w/ @Hero?

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