The svelte piebald gladly followed Horizon, nodding in greeting and smiling at the lionesses as she passed them by. Her smile grew as she saw William.

"Good evening" She greeted him bowing her head slightly "There is no need to apologize, this visit came as a surprise to me as well. I'm here on the orders of Alnair and Chara, the King and Queen of The Peaceful Spring."

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William matched her smile, his eye crinkling up with old wrinkles. "Alnair and Chara . . ." he echoed, obviously straining to remember if he knew these names. "I'm sorry if I've met them, my memory's not really so good anymore," he said apologetically. "Bu, um, I would be very happy to speak to you. We met, didn't we? You're . . . Menhit?"

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Bastet chuckled at his response.

"I don't believe you have met the leaders of my pride. We have met before, when little Sweet Pea was close to choosing her new pride. I understand the faulty memory, my mentor has been having problems with it as well. But you were sort of close with the celestial names. I'm Bastet"

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"No, well, that's good," said William genially. "It's not so easy getting old." As she corrected him on her name, he gave her a sheepish smile. "My bad, I did remember it was Egyptian - it is Egyptian isn't it? - but I couldn't remember much more, could I?" He chuckled in a wheezing way. "I'm Sweet William, by the way. Did I already tell you that? Well, you can call me Will, anyway."

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"I can only imagine. Some of us are not destined to live long enough to experience the process of growing old" Her voice grew a little somber as she trailed off on that thought, before she shook her head, letting a smile return to her muzzle, although it did seem more forced than before. "It's nice to meet you again Sweet William. I do recall having learned your name in the past, but it's nice to have a reminder of it nonetheless."

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William tilted his head at Horizon's comment, and a sadness to match hers came across his face for a moment. Horizon gave a solemn look as well, though not filled with quite the same understanding. William chose not to elaborate on it, but gave Bastet a warm look as she continued on. "Well, now that our greeting are out of the way - unless there's anything else you want to add - I hope I can be of help?" The way he talked was far more like a =n old friend offering favors than any sort of king. "What did your king and queen send you here for?"

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Bastet cleared her throat before she spoke.
"My leaders would be interested in forming an alliance with your pride. My King is hoping to arrange a meeting with your leader on neutral territory to discuss the terms of the alliance. The place of the meeting has been left for your leader to decide. I would go to your king myself, but I heard from Horizon that it's best to confront you first."

(As a fun fact I can say that the previous Oracle of the pride, Joka, has foretold that Bastet is destined to die at a young age. Bastet learned of that fact a while ago, and that's what she has been refering to in my last post. I doubt Will would know about this. It's not something she shares with other lions. So, in what way did he understand what she said?)

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"An alliance sounds like a very good idea in these difficult times," Will nodded. "Of course, it's not my decision, ultimately, but I suppose I can talk to Monarch of the Veldt and get him to meet your king at least." A ripple of worry furrowed across his brow, as though he weren't really certain he could get Monarch to listen to him. "May I ask, though, if Monarch happens to know this king? It's just that we've never been approached by an unknown pride before and asked to form an alliance." He laughed. "Not that we're not flattered."

(Yeah, I figured it was something like that. But because the way she said it sounded almost as though she were talking about someone else, I was referring to Will's understanding of the tragedy of lions dying young, which he's seen many times in his life. Horizon hasn't seen any die young, which is why she doesn't really understand.)

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"Your effort would be great enough. I've heard it might be difficult to get your leader to agree to something like this. I'm afraid he and Alnair don't know each other, but in my opinion it's better now than never." She leaned in closer to William, and whispered loud enough for him to hear it. "We've heard about, and seen some alarming sings on the territory of your pride. They are deeply concerning for us, due to the prophecies our Oracle spoke of. We believe we could help each other in a moment of crisis."

(Understandable. William is older than Horizon, so it makes sense he would see lions die young more often than her)

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Will leaned in the meet Bastet, and Horizon perked up her ears, though she made an effort to appear like she wasn't listening. Will nodded heavily, glancing into the rippling water at his own reflection. "I'm afraid we've had similar words of warning from the orishas. I can't promise anything, but I'll do the best I can. Goodness knows what's going to happen to this pride if we don't fight whatever's going on. And I know I won't be here much longer to keep this pride from ruins." He sighed heavily, every wrinkle on him accentuated.

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"Your help is greatly appreciated" Bastet smiled warmly at him "Perhaps I should come with you to speak to Monarch? I might be able to help you convince him. I have my ways" She said and loudly cleared her throat afterwards.

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Will paused a little longer than was comfortable, and then said uncertainly, "Well, yes, I suppose you can come with me." Whatever 'I have my ways' meant, he didn't seem entirely convinced.

Horizon backed up, making it clear that she wanted no part of talking to Monarch. "I have to get back to the cubs," she told them, smiling at Bastet. "Good luck, and I hope he's willing to listen."

Will shook out his mane, which was still rather damp, and moved to one of the trees, where a rabbit-skin cloak hung. With his back to her, some old scars were visible along his back, but he covered them up with the cloak and looked around. "It's strange, I thought Monarch would have been down here now," he said, frowning. "Maybe one of the girls have seen him."

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Bastet returned Horizon's smile and waved her goodbye. Although she did not understand why the other piebald wasn't keen on talking to her leader, she figured he must be worse than she thought.

As she turned to Will, she noticed the scars along his back, which made her frown slightly. She didn't bring them up though and simply smiled again once William's attention returned to her.

"Should we go and ask them?" She said, while looking directly into the older lion's eyes.

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Will nodded, leading the way to the lionesses, most of whom were watching with veiled interest. A few greeted Will as he padded up to them. "Has anyone seen Monarch lately?" he asked, peering through the crowd at a few select lionesses. Some shrugged, some murmured no, others didn't bother looking up.

One of them, white-winged with a golden glow like an angel, rolled onto her back lazily and said in a musing voice, "Uh, I think he might have gone off with Wine and Roses."

There was a tangible ripple of alarm, and Will looked disconcerted by this. Fortunately, though, another lioness piped up, "No, she went out hours ago. He's downriver patrolling."

Will relaxed and motioned to Bastet to follow him. "About these prophecies: if you don't mind me asking, what are the details? I feel it would be good for me to know now."

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Bastet's eyes focused on the white lioness a little longer than the rest. Her expression turned immediately to fear as her body tensed. However, she relaxed after a few seconds and her eyes shone a bright gold for a split second.

She followed Will without much of an issuse.
"Well, how about you share the prophecies of your Orishas with me first. If you can remember them that is. I'd like to know what is going on first before I draw any conclusions. After you tell, I'll tell you what I know" She responded when William asked about the prophecies.

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