It was morning, early but not crack of dawn early as Eva continued her search through unfamiliar territories. The skies overhead were angry again and a cold, damp wind caused a shiver to run down the lioness’s spine. Her spirit was low - a mix of fear from being alone for the first time in her life and hopelessness at how impossible finding one lion she’d never met before and only has a general idea that he might be in amaryllis was starting to wear her down. That and the weather. She’d really like a nice warm den and a dry place to take a proper nap. With an audible sigh she moved forward. Her senses in high alert for signs of someone, anyone might be able to at least direct her in the right direction, she just had to find them to ask.

Though she did not want to admit it, Avreya was somewhat disappointed by the events that had transpired for her up at the peaks. Or, rather, what had not transpired. It still puzzled her why she was received in such a manner, but regardless, and much to her dismay, it only reinforced her apprehensions about living as part of something larger. Even if going it alone was beginning to feel a little...lonely.

Sighing, the woman paused her stroll to take in a deep breath of the thick spring air, drinking in the smell of impending rain. With it, though, came another scent: one of a stranger. Nostrils flaring, Avreya lowered her head from the sky to skim her surroundings, where on the horizon she spotted its source.

The other lioness looked a little worse for wear, but in this weather, Avreya was willing to hold her tongue. One might be able to hold themselves accountable for staying fed and rested, but one could not control the rain, which had the potential to make for a much more cumbersome landscape when paired with the spring snowmelt. "You look like you're looking for someone," she rumbled plainly once she was close enough, with a curious lash of her dual tails. @Evanthe

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Eva blinked as suddenly a figure materialized on the horizon before her. The peculiarities of her appearance weren’t even enough to cause her to mask the sheer relief of finding another of her kind in this strange land (she hadn’t seen a lion with not one, but TWO tails before!)

As the stranger grew closer Eva heard the question poised to her and waisted no time nodding. I am actually. she confirmed. Have you seen a black lion, with red flowers in his hair? she questioned, risking a nervous smile as another chilled breath of wind battered her. At least the clouds were holding their burdens still. His name is Fissure. she added the sole piece of further information she had as she looked in at @Avreya with a desperate, pleading hope.

The other woman's eagerness piqued Avreya's interest, namely in the form of a creased brow as her eyes trailed over browns and blues and committed them to memory. She did not appear to be in any apparent danger. No injuries. Nobody seemed to be after her. So why, then, was she so eager to find him?

Avreya bit back the urge to scoff at the name and description given to her. It would be her luck to have to face his likeness again. Not that she had any reason to hate him, necessarily, but she certainly had no desire to devote anymore time and energy to him after his dismissiveness toward her. And she was not too keen on indulging him through another either. "I have," she huffed, "and if you ask me, he isn't worth searching the ends of the earth to find." Her words rolled off her tongue in a patient rumble. "Who's asking?" @Evanthe

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The breath caught in her throat as she held in a breath while @Avreya spoke of knowing him, only it let it out in a motion that was positively deflating at her opinion of him. With the softest of sighs, almost indistinguishable unless you had a very keen eye, she forced down a small twinge if disappointed. My name is Evanthe Bastet, you may call you Eva though. She introduced herself, claws digging into the soft dirt under her as she let the woman’s words pierce her. that’s quite unfortunate to hear. she admitted before shaking her head, an obviously forced smile crossing her face again as she looked up towards the two tailed lioness again. He saved my older brother though, father says I am to be payment for his heroic efforts. she said plainly - not hiding what she was, what she’d always been since the moment she was born - currency.

Avreya watched the stranger deflate before her eyes, and at first she wanted to roll her eyes and smack some sense into her, though she would not let this show on her face, instead regarding her with relative sympathy for having had to break such news. Of course, these lionesses did not know each other, and it would seem she knew this Fissure character better than Avreya ever would; perhaps she did not have to be so cold. Yet, as the woman, now named @Evanthe, elaborated on her reason for needing to find the male, she became more solidified in her stance...though for different reasons beyond what had originally irked her.

"'Payment?'" she echoed through narrowed eyes, unable to hide her snort this time. "Perhaps that's what your father said, but I don't see a man anywhere near us who's prepared to trade you to someone like a deer pelt or some other good. Why chase it yourself?" Unless she wanted it, something Avreya could not fathom.

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She flinched slightly as @Avreya questioned her, blinking at the mere thought of not fulfilling her promise. She could just not do it? Stop searching and go elsewhere? Oh no no no! That wasn’t an option, she shook her head. A promise was made and must be fulfilled. she said, not quite willing to meet the other lioness’s eyes. Besides, if my father found out, my little sister… she trailed off. Her younger sister had been the lucky one. Happily ignored as a spare, knowing that unless some there were to happen to Eva her life was her own to love. She’d been the only of her family to truly love Eva for the lioness she was, even her mother had been distant and unwilling to intervene.

She sighed and began to turn away. You wouldn’t understand, if you won’t help me find him I’ll just have to keep looking on my own. there was a determination in her words as she began to walk away, the first heavy drops of rain finally escaping the dark clouds above them. Great, just great.

@Evanthe's flinch told Avreya everything she needed to know, but the mauve woman was still eager to hear her reasons for why it so important for her to find this Fissure. To give herself over to a man she had never met to fulfill the debt of another man who was not even here to ensure the transactions went through. Brother or no brother, it was clear this had been decided for her, and if anything, this was her best chance of escape. So why did she seem to continue to insist that this was the only way?

Because, the darker woman claimed, a promise was made that needed to be fulfilled. But that promise wasn't yours, Avreya thought, struggling to wrap her head around her logic. But as she went on, it became marginally clearer.

While the promise had not been hers to make, it was her choice now to fulfill it--not for her father but for her sister, who might apparently face some consequences if Evanthe did not comply. As someone who did not have any kin, friends, or other close loved ones to consider--partially for reasons like this--the possibility of needing to do so was not typically the first idea to cross her mind. Now, though, it tempered her distaste, if only just long enough for her acquaintance to whirl around on her heels and stomp away.

"You wouldn't understand."

At the same time, rain began to patter against Avreya's hide, slowly at first but enough to darken the colored fur, causing her tails to twitch and her eyes to narrow with irritation. Eventually, with an exasperated growl, Avreya padded after her, waiting until she determined she was close enough to confess: "He's up north, at the top of the peak."

Confident that the information would stop the other in her steps, she skipped only a beat before continuing, her tone perhaps less scrutinizing than before. "He's not a bad man. Dismissive, perhaps, but he seems to mean well to those he thinks are worth his time." Avreya, for whatever reason, had just not been one of them, but she had no doubt that a wife delivering herself straight to his den would be worth every ounce of his attention.

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The hope that had ignited in her when @Avreya had stated she knew the lion she looked for had all by died in the time it had taken Evanthe to turn her back to the woman. She was surprised then when more words met her, these much more helpful than the discouraging assessment of the man she was promised to whether she liked it or not. She turned her head back towards the lioness, not turning completely around but most bing enough so that she could look at her comfortably. Or as comfortably as someone now getting pelted with quickening rain could.

As she listened to her new, softer assessment of the man the corners of her lips twitched upwards in the softest, saddest of smiles. Thank you. she responded simply, now turning towards the distant peak she’d indicated and sighing again. Of course he’d live in the most difficult of places to reach. As she thought over what the woman had said about him being dismissive she shook her head. She’d just have to make him listen to her. She was not trekking all the way back through this strange continent to tell her father he couldn’t be bothered to see her.

And so as the rain continued to pour, she moved forward again. One step closer to her goal.

-exit-

Such resignation was not uncommon from the mauve lioness, who only needed to be reminded not everyone always shared her sentiments, but it was also not to be taken lightly when she leaned into it. It was true that Avreya had felt slighted by the man, but then, she had had the option to walk away from him. According to @Evanthe, however, she had no such options. It would seem she had been groomed into obedience, a mindset that was not easily negotiated, altered, or defeated. But as much as it irked the mauve 'ess that the other was oblivious to this golden opportunity for freedom, on some level she understood, for she had once been similarly vulnerable.

Evanthe offered her a small "thank you," to which Avreya responded with a nod before watching her disappear into the fog and rain. A huff and a full-body shake before she turned herself with a lash of her tails to find shelter until it passed.

-half ass exit lmao-

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