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Kuzimu narrowed her blue eyes against the sun as it glinted off of the sea. The Firekin had been making nice with the sea lions of the Bahari for some time now and, as interesting as the ocean had been, she had quickly grown bored with how...dull the lions were here. There were many that gave them lots of room and didn't interact with them at all, and those that did were far too nosy in their own right. The lioness had distanced herself a bit from the pride, moving away from the borders and exploring on her own. It was quite the sight to see so much water, but to learn that it was all undrinkable was a huge letdown. What good was all of that ocean if you could only swim in it?

With a shake of her head she continued walking own the coast. At least the sand felt familiar beneath her paws, and every now and then a wave would wash up over her toes as she strolled along. The salty air did smell nice, she had to admit, and her fur was starting to curl at the tips just as the Bahari lions' did. So far this trip hadn't been too informative as far as what happened outside of the Firekin desert, but she had to admit seeing everything that she had seen thus far was new and - at first - exciting.

Ikhti didn't know much about the lions of the ocean or their prides and he hadn't cared to find out. Ever since his mother had passed on to the great beyond he had simply been surviving. If he paused too long to speak with the locals they would inevitably begin asking him questions that led to answers he didn't have.

It just happened that surviving, right now, meant being close to the ocean and the prolific lands it supported.

The dark pelted lion emerged from the waves, drenched to the bone, with a hefty fish caught and wriggling in his jaw. Rivulets of sea water ran through his fur and left trails of salt in their wake. Not that it mattered. He had the look of a rogue used to roughing it, hard and strong and wild. As his eyes swung out to survey the beach where he had reemerged, they lighted upon the lioness.

Great. Time to make excuses for hunting to close to pride land, he was sure. He dropped the fish far enough from the shore that it wouldn't slip back in, making sure his eyes stayed on her. He didn't bother to speak yet though.

Kuzimu continued to stroll down the beach, eyes darting out to the sea from time to time, and she was quite surprised when a lion emerged from the depths. She paused and stared at the male as well as the rather impressive fish he had caught. Ah, she thought to herself, one thing she had overlooked in dismissing the sea. It was full of food...if you knew how to catch it. She hadn't tried swimming here yet, having been warned of the tides and waves that were much different from a still body of water, but she was sure if she put her mind to it she could catch fish like that.

They stood in silence for some time, even after the fish had been dropped. Its flopping and slapping against the sand was the only noise to be heard aside from the rushing of the waves and the occasional bird. Finally Kuzimu began to stride forward again, eyes locked on the male.

"Are you going to eat it?" she asked, not at all bothered by the proximity they now shared. She was a large lioness after all and a talented warrior at that. There was no single lion she feared, especially one that she didn't know.

Ikhti stared at her beneath the tuft of his drenched white mane, trying to decide if she meant him harm or not. She was strong and sure of her footing, he could read that in the way she moved and the lack of fear in her bones. There was somewhat odd about her too, even if he weren't taking the peculiar bone marking in to account; she didn't look much like the pridal lions he had seen in the area. For one, she was much bigger. As the son of chaos, there weren't many lions that he ever felt were large enough to outweigh him in a fight but her..

"I certainly don't catch things for sport," he retorted, then dropped his gaze from her long enough to put a paw down on the amphibian's head with his teeth lodged carefully just behind the gills. One quick jerk and the flopping, ridiculous creature went still. A second and the head was torn clean off to expose the meaty flesh and guts.

"You aren't from around here, are you?"

He glanced back up from decimating his catch, catching her eyes again.

Kuzimu flicked her gaze down to the writhing creature as the male made short work of its life. The smell of fresh meat hit her nose as the head was torn from the body and it mixed surprisingly well with the salt water it had been pulled from. The question made her lift her head again, light blue eyes staring unblinking at the other lion.

"No," she said simply, not bothering to elaborate. "Neither are you." He was far too big to belong to the Bahari by blood. He could have been a joining rogue, but his fur wasn't curled as the Bahari's was. Granted, he was soaking wet so it was hard to tell, but he just didn't seem the type to fit into the pride. That and they technically weren't in the pride at all. Perhaps he lived in this area of the rogue lands. It was a rather nice spot.

"Although you would fit in well back home," she added, noting his coloration was perfectly in line with the Firekin standards. He was quite large as well so he'd certainly blend in.

The stoney mask of the rogue's face broke just faintly, a small curl at the corner of his jowls that was nearly a smile or a smirk at her retort.

"Fair enough."

He dipped his head and began to pull strips of the meat apart, swallowing the bits of salted meat with a satisfied concentration. Her presence was not dismissed and as she made her second remark, both of his great ears tilted forward to acknowledge her. It was a moment longer before he pulled his head up from the half-consumed fish, bits of scales clinging to his fur as he brought sun bright eyes back to hers.

"Back home?" He searched her again, looking for any sign that would indicate what she was and not bothering to hide the curiosity. He had a wealth of knowledge about certain prides but she could have belonged to a dozen or more that his mother had visited and drilled into him over the years that they had wandered the lands. "Is there some qualification to be met?"

The question made Kuzimu nod and although she didn't show it, she was pleased that he had stopped eating to pay attention to her again. She wasn't particularly hungry, but watching another lion eat in front of her was almost like a challenge. She enjoyed being able to hold his gaze.

"Coloration," she said, nodding to him. "Red is desired, but white, black, grey, and tones of that nature are welcomed. You must also be able to pull your weight and rogues must duel a member of the pride to prove their worth. Other than that, the ability to survive in the desert." Three fairly reasonable qualifications if she did say so herself.

It might not have mattered so much to him when he was younger, when his mother's law ruled his life and his will was not his own, but somewhat about what she said struck a cord deep within him. He had been raised under the pretense of greatness with a mother that expected him to prove his worth to her every waking moment of his life.

You are the son of a god, he could hear her, even now, there is nothing in this world that can stop you.

"The desert is damnably hot," he mumbled, but even a fool could have seen the difference in his demeanor, now. This sounded like a challenge of a caliber he had not taken on in a long, long time. He, too, was growing older - not so old that he felt his bones might fail him soon but old enough to know that he would be better prepared for the later part of his life if he was somewhere safe, not wandering. His mother would approve of this, he thought. She would approve of her blood proving its worth among tough warriors.

"This world works in the most peculiar ways," he muttered, loud enough for her to hear but low enough that it seemed almost as if he were speaking to himself. For weeks he had been plagued by bad dreams that never made anymore sense than they had since they began but, like always, he found himself confronted with a choice soon after they started to plague him once more.

Speaking louder, he added, "a duel, that's really all it takes?"

It was almost like she could see the gears in his head turning over the information she had given him. Kuzimu wasn't one who went out actively looking for new Firekin to join the ranks, but the manner in which she had met this male and the fact that he wasn't shying away from her made her quite interested in him. He was large, he had emerged from the sea with a giant fish, and he was the perfect coloration for a Firekin. Why wouldn't she want to bring him back?

As he spoke to himself, Kuzimu waited for him to come to a decision as she flicked her tail back and forth, her blue eyes still staring at him intently. The smell of the fish between them made her lick her lips, curling over her whiskers and ending with a wide yawn. Finally he spoke again and she nodded.

"You must prove you're worthy of joining, of course. If you fail you can try again, but it's not just dueling. It's winning. And all Firekin are trained from our youth to be warriors." It wasn't as if he'd be going up against some unskilled Medic. Their Medics could just as easily tear apart an invader as they could patch up a wounded Soldier.

"And after that there is a probation period to ensure you will pull your weight and be a valuable addition. The pride didn't always welcome rogues," she added, adding a bit more of a challenge to him. "It's only fairly recently that they have been welcome."

Ikhtiyari nodded along as she explained the customs of her warrior's pride, staring at the half-eaten body of the fish in quiet contemplation as she did. It was only as she mentioned being trained from youth to be warriors that his stony thinking face broke and a small smile curled the corner of his jowls.

"That's good, so have I." So at least they weren't yellow bellies pretending at war. He wasn't a pride lion, he was the first to admit, but his mother had trained him to be so much more than a simple rogue. She was a fierce lioness with grand aspirations and that knowledge was never lost on him. He wondered, perhaps, if there weren't kindred spirits to be found within this newcomer's pride? Others that might appreciate hard work and a fighter's soul?

It was worth considering, at the very least.

"How long will your group be here?"

His head jerked in the direction she had come from, assuming they must have been staying closer to the pride he had encountered when he first wandered to the coast. He'd been doing his best to avoid them, mostly. Sea prides seemed to be a somewhat.. peculiar folk.

The male's comment made Kuzimu's normally stoic expression shift a bit, something of a smirk tickling her lips. She had never pegged herself as a recruiter for the pride, yet here she was, reeling in this lion with hardly lifting a toe effort wise.

"Not much longer," she said, glancing back in the direction of the Bahari. "Perhaps a few more days at most. It was never our intent to stay long. We will be away from the Firekin for a few moons, I believe. But the majority of the pride remains in the desert to the northwest of here, if you are so inclined to inspect it. They won't take kindly to someone simply poking around, though. If you wish to challenge, simply approach the border and make your intentions known."

The great white mane bobbed a bit as he nodded his head along with her words, his thoughts ticking away, memorizing each little thing that she said. Northwest. Border. Challenge. He still wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do - he had never been a part of a pride and had never really thought to be but he knew that when his visions tormented him most that he would do better heeding them, even if they didn't make a damn lick of sense.

"Alright," he nodded, staring down at the fish for a moment and then turning his attention up to her, "I don't make promises. I'll remember you're here, though."

Then, as his gaze dropped back to the fish, he found that his appetite had waned a bit in the wake of his gut feelings going haywire. With a disappointed frown, he flicked a paw at it before he turned to head in the opposite direction, away from her.

"You can have this if you want."

Kuzimu nodded slightly, knowing that she'd probably never see this male again, but if she did she'd certainly remember his face. She glanced down at the fish that was pushed her way and she didn't hesitate to reach down and scoop it up, sinking her teeth into the still fresh flesh. She lifted her head and stared at the male a moment longer before turning and heading back down the beach the way she had come. She wanted to eat this little gift in peace.