When Kalos had decided he wanted to open his valley to those who might wish to stay, this was not what he'd had in mind. The cheetah and the ragged wild dog were certainly of the sort that seemed suitable for his little family, but this lioness? The big male had serious doubts as to her suitability.

"I am not in the habit of accosting my guests," he told the black female mildly, "but if you insist on attacking my healer while she is attempting to help you, I will be forced to take stronger measures." His expression was anything but mild, however. He was standing over the dark female, whom nobody seemed to know the name of as yet. She was crouched in the back of what they were beginning to think of as the healing cave, her hackles raised and her fangs bared, a snarl trembling in her throat.

Oddly enough, it wasn't aimed at him at all. No, it was the wild dog that hovered behind him. Neera had already looked after the wild dog and settled her into a ground-level cave for the time being. That one had been no trouble at all. Rather, she'd been quite tractable and grateful! This one, however, was a different story entirely. Neera hadn't even had to come fetch him, as he'd been coming to check in on his guests when he'd heard the yowl of an irate feline and the yelp of a startled canine. Neera had nearly run into him as she skittered out of the cave's entrance, ears flat.

"I am not letting that... that... dog!... put a paw on me!" she yowled back at him, the fur down her spine standing up in outrage. "Bad enough the cheetah was fussing over me! And to travel with a wild dog besides!" She practically moaned this, as if it were a horror and shame beyond telling.

Neera piped up indignantly from behind him, "What, to use poison am I?" Her disgust was evident, even through her odd ways of phrasing things. "Better to leave suffering?" Her ears were still canted way back, her glare back at the lioness accusatory.

"Neera is a healer, not an enemy, ma'am," Kalos told her sternly, doing his utmost to remain calm and in charge. "She can't treat you if you won't let her near you." He suspected he knew what the problem was, although he'd never seen a lion with such an ingrained dislike of non-lions as this female was exhibiting.

"She is not touching me!" insisted Maua, unwilling to admit just how close to panic she was. This was going all wrong. She'd somehow had the feeling that, although there were certainly other species out in the wide rogue lands, lions were the most common and most dominant. At least this male seemed to outrank the wild dog, but even so, Maua couldn't imagine putting a canine in charge of tending an injured lion! How could he trust it?! "If anything must be done, you do it. I'm sure you are more capable anyway!"

Hysteria gave her voice a shrieking edge that trembled, triggering recognition in Kalos. This wasn't just prejudice, it was fear. With a head injury, perhaps he was expecting too much to think she'd accept the minstrations of Neera. He cast the wild dog a look and murmured, "Can you tell me what to do? Will that work?"

Neera, though still quite insulted, saw the wisdom in her leader's words. It did no good to argue with the lioness when she was in this state, and doing so might actually make any brain injury worse. With a thoughtful look, she nodded slowly. "Staying here to work, to guide, to listen, though," she told him. "Do and must as I say," she added firmly, turning to begin pawing through things nearby.

Kalos nodded to the dog and approached the black female. "First, tell me your name." She gave him a sharply suspicious look, but finally replied reluctantly with, "Maua." He let his throat rumble in an encouraging purr, then reached a paw slowly towards her shoulders. "Now then, lay down please, Maua, with your chin on your paws." He figured this would give him the best angle to where the swelling had been, according to the cheetah. Neera gave a snuff from across the cave, wordless approval of his choice.

"Touch the spots, see where hurting is," the dog instructed him. He kept his hesitation to himself and gently probed the lioness' head. Neera peered at the female's expression intently, nodding and muttering to herself. "Remember spot there," she told him as his soft touch produced a particularly strong wince. The lioness growled again and glared at the wild dog from the corner of her eye. Kalos responded with a super soft growl of his own... a warning.

As Neera busied herself with putting ingredients together and doing whatever mysterious things a healer did to make plain leaves into the nearly magical substances that helped heal the body, Kalos regarded the reclining, suspicious lioness with disfavor. "She only wants to help, you know," he told her softly, keeping to one side so Maua could easily see what the wild dog was up to. "It is who she is. Tending wounds, growing plants, making medicines comes naturally to her." He frowned as Maua rolled an eye to regard him with disdain. "You are wrong to treat her so," he added sternly. "She does not have to ease your pain or help you see straight again. It may be her job, but she can refuse to do it."

"I wish she would, then," answered Maua sharply, despite a sudden searing jab of pain through her skull, reminding her how necessary this was. "Maybe then I could be tended by a real healer!" The very idea of a dog being as capable as a lion was entirely unfathomable to her.

However, the look the male gave her gave her pause. It was a mixture of pity, exasperation, disapproval, and waning patience. "You do not understand. There is no one else. If she does not help you, then you are on your own. We would do our best to make you comfortable, of course, but that is as far as our assistance could go." He gave her a pointed look. "Do you know how to treat a head injury?" That made Maua frown unwillingly, which of course sent another jab of pain through her head. He had a point, after all. Not everyone could hunt well. Not everyone could heal others. It was a singular gift, to be sure... but a canine?!

She subsided grumpily as the treatment proceeded, including tightly wrapping her head with something mushy against her fur, as well as a mixture for her to lap up from a rock. She regarded it warily, but the male gave the rock a nudge towards her with his paw and leaned down to stare into her eyes sternly. Unsure why, she meekly consented to consume the concoction, which surprisingly didn't taste too very bad. This male had a great deal of clout, and she found herself bowing to his strong will, even against her own.

It was with some surprise that, as she began to feel unnaturally sleepy, and before this could alarm her, that she heard him inform her that he would be staying by her side as she slept. Oddly, she found this comforting, despite his being a stranger and she in a strange place. For now, it was enough that he was her species and seemed determined to protect her, even from herself. Confused, soothed, and feeling faintly mutinous, she slid beneath the gathering shadows in her mind and slept dreamlessly.