It was by the jungle that he finds his quarry.

Dalila had sent him in search of her father for reasons he did not wholly understand. He did not miss his own, having grown strong and independent as his dragonblood demanded. But she was a sentimental creature and he chose not to fault her for this. She had, after all, remained at his side for so long. He had protected her when she had no one else. Whatever her reason for sending him, it was her own.

He had other intentions.

You, the king called, demanding attention as he was wont to do, your daughter sent me to find you. I believe it is high time we speak. He went no further than that, in the rare event this man was not who he sought, or, perhaps, if this man wished to forsake her as he assumed already happened.

It would be better to hear from his lips.

@Bruno ♔

ART BY RABBIT, CODE BY DEE

Muscles tensed beneath umber coat as Bruno stiffened in anticipation of those lumbering, crashing strides. He stood to his paws and craned his ears in search of the culprit when azure irises pierced the jungle thicket in a steady glower.

You.

"You," the boy king called out.

Bruno regarded him though a hardened stare – the earthen lion he had witnessed challenge a haughty queen for her beach throne and win only days prior. He was average-sized at best in such close proximity, his form likely still filling out with young adulthood. Bruno might have thought the feat shocking if it had been a king he had usurped.

"Your daughter sent me to find you. I believe it is high time we speak."

"Which daughter is it you know?" The lion asked, though reasonably confident it had been either of the two he spied in the crowds of that challenge.

---

|| february y13 | five years | rogue lion | at aniadar jungle |
@Drauhir ♔ ||

art - scarf | code - daanyen

If he did not think it a prudent question, if he had not matured, he would have laughed at the question, tauntingly asking if the man had already forgotten his own spawn. But he did not laugh, instead, he returned @Bruno ♔'s hard stare, gaze glinting with curiosity.

It was, he supposed, a question he might ask himself, were a man coming forth, demanding his attention and his daughter. But that was not the case today and he had no further use for mulling over what could have been. Rather, there was business to discuss and so, business would be had.

@Dalila, he proclaimed, though I cannot fathom why she sends me to you.

Perhaps he had not grown that much.

ART BY RABBIT, CODE BY DEE

Dalila. Bruno shifted his weight as he considered the fair-haired girl, her beauty and poise often outshining the others even if she was not particularly hearty. If it were to be any of them with a suitor calling after them it would be her, but still Bruno found himself doubtful of her appeal to a new king.

"She knows a girl is to mind her vater's wishes," he answered flatly, stomach twisting at an unspoken slight as he leveled the younger man with an unyielding stare – as if to ask, do you know the same?

"Who are you, then?" Bruno asked with a nod of his head. Surely, he would not have gone all that way to seek Bruno out with nothing to say.

---

@Drauhir ♔

art - scarf | code - daanyen

The talk of a girl minding her Vater's wishes, made the reason for his mission clear. Ah. So this was what she had wanted? Did she expect him ask permission to have her, as if she had not already been claimed by his hand? Perhaps, if she was as her father said, a girl who minded her Vater's wishes.

The stare @Bruno ♔ turned toward him was met with a snort— no. A Tollaire did not ask. He proclaimed and he took. Drauhir lifted his chin then, as if to make clear that he spoke to a man, not a lovesick boy nervous to approach.

When he was asked of himself, his answer was tinged with pride. Drauhir Tollaire. Son of Kvare and Sunder Tollaire. King of Caladan Cove and your daughter's protector.

ART BY RABBIT, CODE BY DEE

Ego was written all over that boy. Bruno pursed his lips as he regarded him, uneasy familiarity rising up within him as the lion snorted at the idea and jutted out his chin, the gesture practically begging to have it punched back into place.

Patience.

He locked the introduction to memory, noting his parents' names as familiar if not readily-recalled. How strange it was, to live to see another generation rise up – as if his own daughters were not already adults, themselves.

"I was a king at your age, too," Bruno murmured thoughtfully, flicking his tail behind him as he recalled those early days. It was another lifetime and it was yesterday. It was both and it was neither. "Be cautious of who you can truly trust. It is one thing to agree in person with an alliance on the table – another when your back is turned and you are outnumbered." It was advice and warning both, perhaps soon relevant if he had any idea what the boy wished to discuss.

"I am Bruno Stärke-Rike, once King of Ecrosia Mire, son of Alaric Stärke and Erna Rike." He lifted his own head to maintain his gaze. "I am assembling my family to take what we are owed. Why should she remain with you and not me?" Though a forward question, it was just as much an opportunity to be convinced.

---

@Drauhir ♔

art - scarf | code - daanyen

The news that this man had been a king once before did not surprise him. Disregarding her sentimentality, Dalila carried herself as a princess should. The words of wisdom he was given were received only in light of that fact. Who would know such truths better than a king? Someone who had lived it?

He could think of no one else.

But his praise for this @Bruno ♔ Stärke-Rike, son of Alaric Stärke and Erna Rike, ended when he questioned why she should remain with him. It sounded suspiciously like he might need to fight to keep her. It was what he blood demanded. But... he would attempt diplomacy. It was just as important, as he had learned.

Because I have looked after her since the fall of the Mire. I have protected her. I have grown to love her, he said. But I do not ask your permission on the grounds of my affections. I am a king, and should you succeed, she will be a princess once more. I do not believe one who has lived your life would miss the clear opportunity to unite our families.

ART BY RABBIT, CODE BY DEE

"Because I have looked after her since the fall of the Mire. I have protected her. I have grown to love her."

He could not have expected the response – not truly. Matters of property and possession were familiar to the born-prince, but love? It was not a word Bruno had used in all his days. Just when he thought he knew its face, it skirted further out of reach – a cryptid others spoke of so casually.

"Love?" He echoed the word despite himself. His mind threatened to ouroboros with the idea of it right then and there, a single blink marking how he forcibly pulled himself back into the present moment. Ultimately, he could not know the sincerity of the sentiment coming from the new king. Perhaps it did not matter.

"I do not believe one who has lived your life would miss the clear opportunity to unite our families."

"Perhaps, but I would not unite with just anyone," Bruno spoke up at last with a thoughtful drawl to his tone. "The balance of the peninsula is precarious at best. I would expect you to fight for me as I would for you, and that will put you at odds with about half the valley." It was no measly threat for a new king – and all for one, lone lioness? Bruno would never take such a deal.

But, Bruno would not have called upon a girl's father in the first place.

"Is that what you want, then? To marry her." They might as well speak plainly.

---

@Drauhir ♔

art - scarf | code - daanyen

Love was a gentle word.

Love did not encapsulate that which he felt for Dalia. He wanted to possess her, understand her very soul, tie the threads of their hearts together in a manner that would rend them impossible to separate, but that, he learned, was love, and so love was what he called it.

But he did not elaborate.

The former king speaks of balance, of expectation and now it was his turn to have a flat tone. That is what an alliance is, yes. Was this man condescending to him? He was certain the answer was yes. But you speak of half the valley. Who are your enemies? He would make sure it did not clash with what he had already laid in place. An alliance with the Hollows, for one.

But the question of if he wanted to marry Dalila was met with a tilt of his head, as though he did not understand the words coming from @Bruno ♔'s mouth. She is already mine, he said plainly. What I propose is that you may benefit from it.

May.

ART BY RABBIT, CODE BY DEE

"That is what an alliance is, yes." Strike two.

Bruno set his jaw at the needless comment, chest panging at the offense when he had meant to enter the deal on transparent terms purely out of courtesy. He flexed his claws into the jungle mud below.

"The Sigrún and the Greyflood oppose me – the Savante too. I don't know how lasting all of their grudges are, but I would sooner kill a Sigrún than politic with one." In fact, he would sooner kill a Sigrún than willfully watch them breathe.

"She is already mine. What I propose is that you may benefit from it."

Strike three.

He stood in taut silence as the reality of the audacious statement settled over him. No – no man would steal a daughter of Bruno's out from under him as if he had no say in the matter. Certainly not some fresh two-year-old! The very next moment he launched himself forward in an attempt to bowl the younger lion over, left paw aiming for his right cheek in an attempt to shove his face down in the mud.

"Would you like to try that again?"

---

BRUNO vs. @Drauhir ♔
for Dominance
Round 1 / 3
Hits:

Rolling 8d20: 5 + 2 + 6 + 15 + 9 + 10 + 3 + 11

Dodges:

Rolling 5d20: 20 + 11 + 16 + 4 + 15

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 5 + 8 + 11 + 20 + 9