Hyder waded through an ocean of dead grass. It whispered in his ears and tickled his ribs. The white titan took his steps lazily, in no great hurry to reach or return to anywhere in particular. He flicked an ear, and swished the ghostly remains of his former tail, imagining how the tuft at the end would tickle through the stalks. He missed the searing heat of home, where the years were marked only periods of wet and dry. Yet, he had not felt quite at home their either. In this land there were no lions, and yet, to his kind any land without others was theirs. How could he pass up such a lush place as this? He had found himself most at home here in the west and south, yet the landscape was so varied he could no longer guess what he might find over the horizon, so who was he to say? So long as it was not another pack of wolves. He'd found himself quite fed up with the little gatherings, their inflated sense of power and purpose. His last encounter had proved less than fortuitous, so he lost himself in the vast no where in between. "Talk" "You" Think

Oh dear. She couldn't see. At all. Grass, grass, grass, grass, grass - what had she gotten herself into? Arrgh. The cat sneezed, loudly, and rubbed her nose; the damned short grass tickled her nose. She continued pushing through, eventually popping out into an area with shorter grass that she was able to see past if she sat up on her hindlegs. That was no trouble to her; she was quite capable of balancing much like a meerkat critter. It was fun, even! Taking a deep breath of air, she dropped back into the grass, ready to plunge through when a movement caught her eye. In a heat-beat, she was back up , scanning around... and seeing a giant, large, lion. Albino one, too. "Ooooh!" Amaranthe hummed, dropping back to all fours. A lion, eh? She'd not seen very many other cats in this area, let alone a lion - she truly ought to see what it was doing here.

She plunged into the grass once more, heading for where she spotted the bright white creature. He, of course, was in the deeper grass, because he didn't have short problems like her. It didn't take too long of darting through grass to see the giant white paws - jeesh, they were as big as her! - and she bounded to keep up, the grass shivering violently as she pushed through. she let out then a yowl - "Hey!" She was half tempted to jump on his back, but figured that likely wasn't the best course of action. After all, lions could get violent. Thankfully, she was quick and could be quite silent; if he became violent, well... she'd just try to slip away.

"Speech"

Hyder almost did not hear the tiny creature when it called out. Looking down, the titanic feline needed a long moment before he could pick out the scrap of his distant cousin among the grasses. The lion could not contain a scoff, eyes narrowing in amusement. This little one had nerves of steel. "Lions are dangerous, little one," he said in a low, rumbling bass. Again his absent tail swished through the grasses. He stopped his mindless trek so that he could turn his head and get a better look at her. She was small and black with mismatched eyes, but he had seen many other felines and it was not difficult to recognize her as a distant relative, despite never seeing one quite so small before. He swept out a massive paw, flattening a tuft of grass that stood between them, pressing his weight down upon it so that it would not rise again. "There," he said. "That's a bit better. What are you doing out at sea, little one?" He asked with a dry chuckle. Certainly she was in over her head... literally. Then again, he'd heard the scurrying of more mice than he could count, feverishly digging for buried seeds among the thatch. It was probably a feast to one so small and nimble. He had no patience for hooking such tiny morsels, so the more the merrier for her. Surely in any of case this trek could only be folly for her. "Talk" "You" Think