He curled his lips with amusement as the lion went on, inviting Sahir into the mix, even. "You won't make a cuck out of me," he denied with a grin flashing across his face––the devilish kind that showed all of his yellowed teeth. The scent of the lion had settled in the atmosphere to blend with the salty sourness of the ocean's beating waves, and it felt like familiarity. "I am a prophet. I would see you coming," Sahir added on for good measure. The lion asked him, "are you and your family new to Amaryllis?" Sahir nodded his head. "Yes, new. The stars say to stop here," he explained vaguely with another concise nod. @Corinthian

Corinthian’s brow furrowed, and after some hesitation he said “I believe its pronounced ‘cock’, sir.” He said, innocently at first. Then a ghost of a grin suggested he knew his impishness might be flirting with danger, but that was all right for just a minute. It was entirely pleasant to be shooting the shit. Then the next thing Sahir said gently disarmed the Rivani-born merc. A prophet? In Rivani, prophets were common things, sprouting up overnight, like weeds his father had always said. In fact, Corinthian had always lingered a bit too long to hear their talks in the markets. It had worried his parents when he was young, and aggravated his friends as he got older, regaling them deep into the night with he newest sermons and philosophies he’d picked up from passing seers and spiritualists on their stumps. Not that he had anything against them, but this piece of information did needle into his awareness with a certain wonder that was difficult to shake. He casually glanced at Sahir again, but the intensity underneath his informality was as warm as gentle firelight.

The black sands, the wine-dark waters, the stars and the man’s familiarity, it was almost a tangible sense of being in Rivani again. “What do the stars say tonight?” He asked, a bit conspiratorially. But there was no hint of teasing. There was a genuine, burning interest that defused any chance of being mistaken for taunting in his voice. Corinthian had always thought himself a simple soldier, that the ancient wisdoms and secrets of those greater than him was such an irresistibly romantic notion. He looked up at the stars and wondered what the stranger had saw there that made him land in Amaryllis. He wondered if they said anything about he and Ishhara. The light gleaned in his good eye as it swam amidst the stars, a child at the foot of a prophet yet again – in spite of the previous gaiety of their conversation.

@Sahir

"الله," Sahir swore with a breath of a laugh and a shake of his head. "Well, I already have much of that," he countered as he gave the alabaster lion a testing stare. If he thought about it, he would realize that he had not been able to resort to these immature subjects of banter since he had been home with his brother. The thought would have felt like fire burning in his veins. Though Corinthian stared at him, he could not have guessed what thoughts swirled behind his blue eye. Perhaps some would suspect him of reading minds in this way, but Sahir was no god. He only knew himself to be a lion who paid attention to what their universe said. "Tonight?" He echoed the word with a lifted brow, immediately turning his own gaze of firelight up toward the heavens. He had been studying them before company turned up, but he wondered just how much this lion cared to hear. Sahir considered lying and saying they promised he would be a great warrior–something any fighter lion would be satisfied with. He flexed his toes in the grainy layer of sand beneath them. "The Roc," Sahir started out, his words especially accented, "is just over the horizon. The great bird predicts a new rise to power. It is what I followed here," he explained with a sideways glance back at his companion. @Corinthian

sunt mala quae libas, ipse venena bibas the garden bites, "The Roc." He repeated, reverently, a disbelieving smile at the familiar term. Eye glittering in the starlight as it swam through it, landing on the constellation that Sahir referenced- Corinthian considered the words of the prophet. He had always been a soldier, and he always would be. Power was something he could wrap his mind around but it did not call to him in the same way it did for others. In the same way he suspected it called to the man reclining next to him. Ishhara, though...ah, she was another story. There was another thing, too. The Roc. He hadn’t heard those words since a boy. His grandfather once told stories of the great bird, as big as a mountain, who could carry an elephant in his claws. He remembered at times wishing he could be that big, that powerful. Corinthian could barely believe it, yet Sahir spoke of things which had a direct line to Corinthian’s heart. Maybe even his soul. It was like smelling a spice or some other scent reminiscent of childhood meals, and feeling the pang of a home you will never be able to return to. "That is a mighty destiny, indeed." He said, after a long moment of reflection. "I never caught your name." He glanced back at Sahir one more time, his voice propped with a newfound deference. @Sahir -exit

They sat in silence for a while, only the waves of this cursed shore to mark the passage of time while Corinthian considered Sahir's words. "That is a mighty destiny, indeed. I never caught your name," he offered, prompting a moment of surprise from Sahir as he looked back on the few minutes prior in wonderment. It amazed him what words had already been pulled out of him by the ivory lion before he had even offered his name. "I am Sahir Najma," he introduced himself with a dip of his head. After another beat of silence, he began gathering himself to his paws and leaned backward with a light groan of a stretch, his tendons popping into place. "I'll leave you now, but I am sure we will meet again. I frequent the labyrinth," Sahir confessed with a brief gaze of earnest. Only waiting a second for any protest from the lion, he turned on his heels to make the journey home through the sands. "Good night." -exit- @Corinthian +5 - Preach your beliefs to someone