Okavango

[dakota]

"So my thoughts on this would be to stay and keep the cub company since he's closest to you as far as I know."

Karensha was watching Sefu even though he turned his gaze from hers and was relieved that both him and Basilisk didn't seem to think that her being among them would be that great a risk.
Moving closer to the lion, the snow leopard touched his cheek with a paw, getting his attention. "Thank you....and it's good to know you like a fight, it could come in handy one day."
Smiling, karensha stepped back and looked to where Basilisk stood, and was speaking to her.
"I'm trying to help you here, but you keep waving off everything I offer."

"Maybe your offer of a night in your cave would have been appreciated more, if you had of stopped and helped carry the fresh meat, myself and the cub were trying to pull back to share with everyone, but you were ushering the female to your cave so fast, I guess you missed that part."
Karensha stared at him some more, wondering what it was about him, had her one moment wanting to smack his nose and then the next wondering what his cheek would feel like if her tongue lathered it.
" I'm sorry if I haven't thanked you enough for coming to help me with Naheem, I'm not sure what else I can do, and if I ever want a cave I'm sure I'll take you up on your offer..perhaps.
I haven't had many offers for things ever coming my way, and if they did there was always a catch, something was wanted in return."

Moving away, Karensha took one last look over her shoulder and then turned to the front.
"lets get going then away from here, see what the others are upto, and check on that cub that you say hates you so much Basilisk."

[blaqknoise]

Basilisk listened to Karnesha as she went from angry, to suddenly thankful.

"I haven't had many offers for things ever coming my way, and if they did there was always a catch, something was wanted in return."

"Well, I helped you out with Naheem without asking anything from you in return, it's the same with this."

"lets get going then away from here, see what the others are up to, and check on that cub that you say hates you so much Basilisk."

"That I say? Ha, just ask him what he thinks of me when we get back and you'll see."

Karensha started walking back, so Basilisk followed.

[epppe]

Sefu was still waiting for the conversation to end so that they could return to the group and then he could relax. It seemed to finally end with Karensha apologizing for something and wanting to go see the cub now. When Karensha got up and started to leave, Sefu saw that Basilisk started to follow her in the same direction. He wasn't in much of a rush and started to walk in the direction they did when they were a good distance away.

[dakota]

Karensha heard Basilisk's words and just nodded, she wasn't ready to give all her trust so quickly, but was thankful that both seemed to accept her, knowing she wasn't a troublemaker.

Moving on, the snow leopard kept looking around her, scouting the area with her eyes, old habits died hard it seemed. She could hear Basilisk right behind her, but no sense of the other lion, Sefu. Digging in her feet she came to a stop, and turned slightly almost bumping into Basilisk but side stepped him quickly.
Sitting down on her rump she stared back the way the had just come, as the lion had put some distance between them,and was trailing along by himself. Karensha wasn't going to leave him alone out here, when they returned they would as a trio, she still wasn't sure Naheem had come alone.

"I think we should wait for Sefu, there's no hurry to get back, Jabari and your friend Sera is there to protect Maji and the little female, so we should stay together really."
Letting herself slide forward, with her tummy reclining on the ground, karensha flexed her shoulders and stretched,finally she could feel some of the anxiety slipping away, a small smile graced her muzzle.

Turning her head slightly, Karensha gave Basilisk a quick look over, noticing the strength in his limbs, and then her eyes locked onto his hind leg. Behind him from a rock, it looked like a scorpion had emerged and was on his fur.
Not even bothering to take time to warn him, karensha pushed herself back and twisted, unsheathing her claws she took aim and swiped at his leg, accidentially digging into his skin gouging slightly, as she threw the insect away from them.
Standing there panting she watched as blood ran freely down his fur and dripped onto the ground.

[blaqknoise]

"I think we should wait for Sefu, there's no hurry to get back, Jabari and your friend Sera is there to protect Maji and the little female, so we should stay together really."

"Alright." Basilisk said as he let out a sigh.

Basilisk looked back to see where Sefu was, and it seemed like he was a far ways back, then he turned around and looked at karensha, who had a small smile on her face.

"Looks like shes finally able to relax a bit." He thought to himself.

He turned away from her so she was now to the left of him, and looked into the direction they would go in once Sefu caught up. He sighed to himself again wishing he would hurry. He didn't like waiting.
He looked over at Karensha once more, and noticed she was eyeing him with an odd look on her face. Then, without warning, she jumped at him. Her claws were unsheathed and they dug into his hind leg. Basilisk jumped back away from her and unsheathed his claws, just in case.
The thought crossed his mind that she might be betraying him, just in case he was working for her father, but he quickly dismissed it, seeing as she didn't jump at him again.

"What the hell was that for!?" He yelled at her.

He looked back at the spot she clawed and saw that it was bleeding pretty bad. Looking up at her he took a few steps closer, almost growling at her, and wanting nothing more than to swipe back at her. He couldn't bring himself to do it though. If it had been anyone else they would have a bloodied face right now. He backed away from her and lay on his side trying to stop the blood by putting pressure on it with his paw, but it didn't seem to be working. He lifted his paw and saw that it was covered in blood.

"Well this isn't good." He said quietly under his breath.

[epppe]

Sefu couldn't see or hear the other two anymore and started to relax in peace. It wasn't like the others were too annoying, he just found being alone was better for him. His steps kept getting slower and he knew that he should probably hurry up. Picking up his speed so he could catch up, He heard Basilisk yell out for some reason.

He hurried to see what the problem was and saw that the lion seemed to be bleeding. It looked like Karensha cut Basilisk for some reason, but knew there wasn't a fight since they weren't continueing. He just looked down at that ground and let out a sigh.

"I leave you kids alone for two seconds and you manage to get yourself hurt."

Looking at Basilisks now cut leg, Sefu saw that the bleeding wouldn't stop too easily. It seemed like he got cut pretty deep seeing how much blood here was.

"Looks pretty bad. I'd help but I don't know what to do with cuts that deep." He looked over to Karensha now. "Do you know anything that might help the kid out?"

[Kirsui]

"You know...you may as well let him go, we don't know how long Karensha will be, she took off after some noises she heard, she seemed almost paranoid about it. I think you know that we can't move fast enough to do you any damage, so why don't you wait in comfort as well?"

The cobra hissed another of her laughters, but didn't seem to be letting the cub go any time soon.
"Worried of my comfort, are you?" she asked.
"Or iss it that you are not comfortable around me, esspecially when I am holding thiss little one?"
She hissed a laugh again, then slightly loosened her hold on the cub so that he would be able to wriggle away if he wasn't in too much shock to move. Meanwhile, she simply stared at the three adult felines with her tongue flicking in and out every now and then. The open-mawed, amused smirk was still on her face, hinting that she was enjoying the whole situation.

[dakota]

"What the hell was that for!?"

Karensha swung her gaze back to Basilisk after watching the scorpion half dead wriggle away, back under the rock where it came from when she heard the harshness in his voice. Her eyes dropped to where she could see blood pouring down his thigh.

"Basilisk I'm sorry, all I was reacting to was seeing the scorpion crawling on you, and had to get it, before it got you..... ummm and I think my mind was still a bit with what happened to Naheem back there."

Realising Sefu had finally caught up with them, she quickly turned to face him in case he had any preconceived ideas that she had attacked Basilisk for some reason.
"I didn't do it on purpose Sefu, well I did, but it seems I sharpened my claws a little to much before I met up with Naheem and....accidents happen."

Walking closer to where Basilisk lay, she could see he was attempting to stop the flow without success, and had just made the wound open more by rolling around.
"BASILISK.... just stop with the movement alright, move your paw away so I can get to it ".

Turning to Sefu, she found her eyes kept wandering to the hook shaped scar on his face, she wondered if he had a good story to go with it, at least her scars were mainly hidden by her fur and tuft, not out in the open for all to see, well except when nightmares plagued her every once and awhile.
"You better have a seat, I have to fix him up, seeing I did the damage and then he'd better not move for a little bit, till it congeals over."

Karensha moved closer to where the lion lay, stopped and sat on her rump, bought up her front paws and dug them into her lilac fur tuft and with claws extended started pulling sharply at the strands, till in her paws was a good sized clump of fur. Shaking her head slightly to get rid of the slight tingling, she dropped down to the ground close to Basilisks thigh.
" Please excuse the pain, but it has to be done."
With her fur rolled into shape, she pushed it into the wound and plugged where the most severe bleeding was, and held her paw gently against it for several moments, and then pulling back, seeing that it had done the job, smiled at the lion.

" There, tricks of the trade Basilisk, now just rest for a little, later on when we get back to the waterhole, you can bathe and my fur will just slide away."

Moving back from him she gave another glance towards Sefu, who it seems had been watching all she had been doing.
"Don't worry Sefu, while I'm around none of you will bleed to death, I do have positives as well as the opposite."

[blaqknoise]

"Basilisk I'm sorry, all I was reacting to was seeing the scorpion crawling on you, and had to get it, before it got you....."

"Oh..." Basilisk replied, "I guess I over-reacted a bit then... sorry."

Basilisk moved around a bit, trying to get in a more comfortable position, guessing that he might be there for a while.

"BASILISK.... just stop with the movement alright, move your paw away so I can get to it "

Basilisk lifted his bloody paw so that Karensha could do whatever it was she wanted to do. He was quite eager to see what she had in mind.
He lifted an eyebrow as he watched Karensha pull out strands from her fur tuft and rolled it up into shape. She put the fur into his wound, causing him to shut his eyes tightly for a moment because of the pain. As soon as she was done moving it around, she looked up and smiled at him.

"Don't worry Sefu, while I'm around none of you will bleed to death, I do have positives as well as the opposite."

"The negatives probably aren't anything we can't help you with." He paused for a moment, staring at his wound, "So, how long do I have to wait before I can move around?"

[dakota]

Karensha watched Basilisk's wound, it seemed the fur had indeed done the trick, as gradually the flow stopped all together. Using a paw she scooped up some sand and gently rubbed it over the congealing blood down the side of his leg, cleaning it away, so it wouldn't draw the attraction of any insects, that could also possibly invade his open sore, and then stepped back away from him.

"So, how long do I have to wait before I can move around?"

Turning back to Basilisk she grinned.
"Till I tell you, you can of course."

Settling down between the lions, karensha looked around at her suroundings, trying to think of a way to broach the subject with Sefu, after all he was hardly a big talker, but her curiosity was building. Finally she just came out with it in a rush.

" Sooo... Sefu... would you care to fill me in on how you got that amazing shaped scar on your cheek?"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jabari looked the cobra over, it seems that karensha owed them another explanation if/when she returned, the cheetah was hoping it would be the latter, he wasn't particularly looking forward to caring for a cub, especially seeing the cub had withdrawn into him self the moment the snow leopard decided she needed to investigate particular noises she insisted that she had heard.

"If you were going to kill the cub, you would have done so by now, for some reason you feel you need to show off your prowress of sneaking up while we were occupied, and then rubbing it in our faces, Well you have succeeded... if you want me to say I'm impressed, so be it... now what, we all just going to stand around playing the waiting game."

Moving back, Jabari still kept Meri's view blocked of the cobra, he'd just let her calm down and try and relax a little, if that was possible, but he turned till he could see the cheelion.
" Sera, instead of sitting there trying to hold your tongue, I'm sure you have something to add to the situation, some words of wisdom you'd like to share ?"

[epppe]

Sefu watched cluelessly as Karensha seemed to help the bleeding from Basilisk's leg. It seemed like she also knew how to help wounds instead of just causing them. He tried examine everything she was doing just incase something like this happened again.

When the leopard was done, Sefu wondered how much longer it was going to take for them to get back to the group. He was kinda surprised when Karensha asked him a question.

" Sooo... Sefu... would you care to fill me in on how you got that amazing shaped scar on your cheek?"
"No need for you to know," Sefu said while getting up, "I'm going back to the rest of the group to see if they are alright so far. I'm sure I can trust the both of you to make it there, without anymore injuries, from here."

He didn't wait for a reply back before he started to walk in the direction towards the group. From whre he was at, it wouldn't take him to much longer since he wasn't cut up or bruised like the other two.

[dakota]

Karensha was taken aback slightly at Sefu's response to her.

"No need for you to know, and I'm going back to the rest of the group to see if they are alright so far. I'm sure I can trust the both of you to make it there, without anymore injuries, from here."

Before she could even apologise for annoying him, apparantly talk about himself made him go even quieter, he got to his paws and walked off, heading towards the other waterhole and shelter, where they had left the others behind.
Turning to Basilisk, she shrugged her shoulders and sighed a little.
"Seems I have said the wrong thing once again, guess we'll have to wait and see what he's like when we make it back as well,in the meantime it's just you and me."

Karensha stretched and then lowered herself to the ground leaving a small gap between them and gazed at the wound and then back to his face.
" So... you sort of know why I'm here, why are you travelling alone, or have we yet to meet 'your family' ?

[Genie]

Maji was breathing hard as his heart beat fast in the coils of the snake, the shock was wearing off and he noticed the grip was no longer as secure as it had been. He wiggled and wiggle and sudden he popped out from the coils and hit the ground with a bump. He looked momentarily stunned before he scampered away from the snake.

[blaqknoise]

"So... you sort of know why I'm here, why are you travelling alone, or have we yet to meet 'your family'?"

"I was travelling alone, but I'm not traveling anymore. Once I found that cave, and made sure it didn't belong to anyone, I just decided to take it and stay here. It's a nice area. It has water, and food to hunt, I figured I wouldn't find any place better than this. I left my family a long time ago. I wanted to go out and explore on my own, and so here I am. I haven't seen, or heard from my family for many years."

He stretched out his limbs and got in a more comfortable position. He assumed he might be here for a while waiting for the wound to heal a bit more.

"That's about it. I'm not very interesting."

He paused for a moment trying to think of something to ask her back. Quickly, he remembered Naheem, so he spoke up again.

"So whats the history you have with Naheem?"

[dakota]

"That's about it. I'm not very interesting."

Karensha smiled at the lion " you know what some call uninteresting, others might yearn for.. it's called normality."

"So whats the history you have with Naheem?"

" hmm my history, well he's been around ever since I can remember, he thought after killing my brother that he would 'rule' but my father surprised them all and decided it was going to be me, something that I had no say in, at times I wish he had of had me killed as well."

Karensha looked at Basilisk quickly from under her fringe that she had let drape over her eyes, it was very useful for hiding her emotions at times, but it seemed he still had a straight face.
" I was segregated at Naheems bequest, seems my father still trusted him as his right hand man, and everything Naheem put to him was granted, so began his and my father's 'training' of me."
Looking away staring into the distance, she didn't realise her voice had lowered as she wandered off into past memories.
"I have had to kill for sport or be killed, at times I wanted to give up and then, I wouldn't let Naheem have the pleasure of seeing me die, so I fought back. I've been placed in situations to 'test me' he said, all they did, was give me broken bones or other damage, I still have nightmares about a couple of those.''

Trailing off karenhsa looked back at Basilisk
"So you see I would have gladly traded my life for a 'normal' one, it holds great appeal."
Moving to her paws she reached out and gave his wound a gentle prod, watching to see that no blood emerged.
"How about you get to your feet, and we'll see what happens, I think, you'll be fine to walk, as long as you go slow and no sudden flights."

[blaqknoise]

"So you see I would have gladly traded my life for a 'normal' one, it holds great appeal."

"I see what you mean. It makes me wonder what they will do if a spy spots your or something and reports to your father."

"How about you get to your feet, and we'll see what happens, I think, you'll be fine to walk, as long as you go slow and no sudden flights."

Basilisk got up slowly, making sure he didn't cause himself to bleed again. He found that it hurt to put too much pressure on it, but not enough that he couldn't walk. He felt that the wound had healed enough, so he began limping back to the rest of the group.

"I think we can call us even now. I didn't help you and the cub drag back food, and you've slashed my leg making me slightly disabled for a bit." He said looking back.

[Kirsui]

"Sera, instead of sitting there trying to hold your tongue, I'm sure you have something to add to the situation, some words of wisdom you'd like to share ?"

The cheelion glanced at Jabari sharply. What was he thinking? That she knew how to persuade a snake into doing... well.. anything else but what the reptile seemed to be doing right now? Well the cheetah was out of luck if that was his intention, for Sera had never had to deal with snakes before... Especially one of this size.

Turning her gaze back at the snake, she noticed how Maji finally managed to wriggle himself free from the snakes grasp, and stumble away from the scaly creature. Seeing her chance, the cheelion quickly dashed forward and snatched the cub, bringing him with her to where Jabari and Meri were. She estimated it to be a safe distance, though she wasn't sure how far the snake would be able to reach. She placed the cub on ground between herself and Jabari, hoping that Maji would not be afraid of them and decide to run away.

---

The cobra didn't even try to stop the cub from escaping. After all, the moment she had loosened her hold she had decided to let the critter go if he wasn't too over come with fear to do so. She paid only mild attention to the spotted female picking up the cub and placing him near herself and the cheetah. Instead, she turned her head to look around, until she found a fairly comfortable looking spot. It was a large rock, near the water, and the sunlight had most definitely warmed it up enough to make her feel comfortable on it. She gave no glance at the felines for now as she moved towards the rock and curled up on it, feeling the heat from the stone as well as the sun warm her nicely after her fairly long dip to the waterhole.

[dakota]

Karensha stepped away from Basilisk after she saw his wound appeared ok and watched as he slowly got to his feet, throwing her a question as he went.

" It makes me wonder what they will do if a spy spots you or something and reports to your father.".

Karensha wondered for a moment if it was the lions way of telling her she shouldn't be going back to where the others were by the waterhole.
" With Naheem out of the way, I think the others will breathe a sigh of relief and not be going around looking over their shoulders to see if they were his next plaything to suffer at his paws, so I doubt anyone would follow my father if he gave orders for them to find Naheem, and I hope they all are smiling that I finally got away."
Karensha chewed a little on her bottom lip, stopped and finally said what was on her mind.

"If it worries you Basilisk, I can always travel in the other direction, I don't have to come back with you !".

With her eyes boring into him, she heard his first comment,
"I think we can call us even now. I didn't help you and the cub drag back food, and you've slashed my leg making me slightly disabled for a bit."
and she muttered under her breathe a quick reply.
" pff he thinks showing off for a female and me saving his life are the same things, he's got some things to learn."
Standing there she then waited for his reply to her last question, the one that mattered alot to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jabari's ears twitched as he heard the cheelion finally make a move towards and past him to reach the small cub and then sprint back placing Maji behind him but by Meri and herself.
The cheetah allowed himself to relax a little and turned to Sera.

See... instead of using words, you used your automatic reflexes to save someone .. wisdom Sera

Giving her a small smile of thanks, Jabari turned just as the snake started moving, but it ignored the four of them and headed to a warm spot on the rock where Maji had been lying beforehand.
Looking at Sera and then Meri, the cheetah moved towards the cobra, but kept a respectful distance and pointed past her to the left, where he had seen karensha with Baslisk following .

"If you really need to find Karensha, she went that way, please don't let us keep you, if It's important to see her ."

[blaqknoise]

"If it worries you Basilisk, I can always travel in the other direction, I don't have to come back with you!".

Basilisk was just about to answer back when she muttered something, but it was loud enough for him to have heard it.

"pff he thinks showing off for a female and me saving his life are the same things, he's got some things to learn."

"Oh relax, I was just joking. You'll get used to my sense of humour soon enough. Now, to answer your last question. No, it doesn't worry me, I was just saying we should keep an eye out, but you say that they'll be happy that Naheem is dead now and won't do anything, so we're fine. I think it's safer for you to come with us anyway, just in case."

Basilisk took a few more steps forward and looked back at Karensha.

"I can walk now, slowly though. We should probably get back... that cub will be thrilled to see you."

[dakota]

"I can walk now, slowly though. We should probably get back... that cub will be thrilled to see you."

Karensha listened to him as he turned back to her, her eyes fell to his thigh, it seemed her hair plug was still attached, she'd keep a watch on it as they walked.
" Yes, guess we'd better make a move, I hope Sefu made it back ok and hasn't taken any detours, seems I owe him an apology for being too nosy, better get that over and done with as soon as possible, and then see if anything been happening while we've been 'missing'.

Trailing behind him a little but to his right, she could easily glance at his flank without him seeing, plus she could watch all around her, so no one could sneak up on them, she already had blood on her paws once today, another wouldn't matter if if came to keeping enemies away from the group. Flicking her head she felt her fur tuft rise and fall back down, the layers covering over her eyes sheltering them from the harsh glare of the sun, but still allowing her full vision.
As she walked different thoughts came and went, until she knew she had to ask.

"Basilisk.... would you have attacked Naheem if I hadn't of called your name, would you have waited like I asked?"