They Should've Skinned You as a Cub

[Avalikia]

Characters:
Dushta - Male Black Tiger
Dalaja - Female Tiger
Badajiva - Female Elder Tiger

Setting:
Gentle Slope

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Normally Dushta tends to avoid this path: for too many creatures it's the best way around the cliffs so it's too well traveled for his tastes and the bottleneck of the slope makes it difficult for him to hide. However, today is an exception to the rules apparently, because he can be seen making his way southwards and into his more favored part of the rainforest. His senses are keenly aware of his surroundings, but he fears not what might see him. No, it's more that being spotted could be inconvenient depending on who it is.

Like Dushta, Dalaja tends to avoid this area as well for the mere fact that far too many other animals are here as well. Ones that she wouldn't normally be caught dead around, unless she was to kill them. Her muzzle wrinkled in bitterness even as she stalks through the path, the tigress keeps as quiet as possible, not wanting to cause any undue attention to fall to her from lesser creatures. Though she was always in a mood to kill, she seemed to be in a hurry.

As he has no particular worries, Dushta is taking his time and it's that which allows the hurrying tigress to catch up to him. He can hear someone padding behind him just before she comes into view, but he doesn't attempt to hide; that would be rather difficult in this particular area anyways. Instead he stops and turns to meet whoever it is face on.

Since her concentration was more on where she was headed than her bleak surroundings, Dalaja doesn't notice the contrasted black tiger until she's quite close to him. Immediately her ears pin and her teeth are shown, lowering herself in readiness to pounce and attack if he tries anything that might slow her down. She'd never seen a black tiger before.. and there was a hint of disgust shown on her face. Clearly, a mutation.

At first the black tiger is tense as he waits to see who is coming, but when it proves to be a tigress, he relaxes almost immediately. He's yet to find the female so tenacious as to give him something to /really/ worry about. Instead he quickly takes in her mannerisms: hmm, arrogant, dismissive - he knows just how to handle that type. "Oh, pardon me," he says politely as he hastily takes a step out of her way. "You're obviously in a hurry so don't let me get in your way." As polite as his words are, his eyes don't leave her - there's something vaguely insincere about them.

Glaring up at him as he moves from her path, Dalaja keeps her muzzle wrinkled and thrashes her tail from side to side as she looks up and down the strange feline. As disgusted as she is by the melanistic properties of his coat, it's.. interesting to her at the same time. "How you've managed to make it to adulthood is astounding. A specimen like you wouldn't have made it past cubhood not long ago." She says idly, and brushes past him as if she hadn't even spoken, or even seen him at all.

"Oh?" Dushta asks, not having to fake his curiosity in what the tigress is talking about. "From what little I've heard this place has a far more... interesting past than where I grew up. Of course, I suppose that it helped that my mother was a bit of a hermit," he says with a wry smile. "Though naturally I've had something to do with it myself," he adds as an afterthought. After all, he's clearly not a cub now: if anyone wanted to kill him on the basis of his color it surely wouldn't be an easy prospect.

"There's nothing interesting about it." Dalaja murmurs sarcastically, though she herself wouldn't know about too much of it since a great deal of her time was spent in areas like this, away from the reigning clan so that she could wallow in her own jealousies that she harbored against her brother. At the mention of his hermit-mother, the skinny tigress rolls her eyes and gives a short, mocking laugh. "Did you have a hermit father as well? One that was related? Is that the explanation behind your color?" Yes, his unnatural pelt did bother her that much.

That question actually causes a bit of a smirk. Perhaps surprisingly, Dushta is not used to his color being much of a issue because at home everyone was used to it and since then most of the creatures he's met had at habit of dying. So that it so very much bothers Dalaja is actually entertaining to Dushta more than anything. "Actually, my father was more of a wanderer before he met my mother," he answers honestly, internally delighted that he's able to give an answer that would likely be /more/ disturbing. But then he relents, "But it's not like I know my entire ancestry so I couldn't tell you how related they may have been. Few do. Though neither of them heard stories of one like me in their families."

Whether she was offending Dushta or entertaining him with her mocking questions, she didn't really care. As a matter of fact she was certain that she'd completely forget about this mutated beast shortly after she was able to get away from him, thank goodness. He was very lucky that he was born of her own species; not that that in itself would stop her from murdering him; his size and strength guaranteed her loss in any hypothetical battle between the two. But, had he been a smaller creature, he would've been dead just for looking different. Deformed, in her eyes. Not fit to roam the jungle. "How ..nice." She says in a growl, and shakes her head. "They should've skinned you as a cub and kept you as a novelty, nothing more."

It's unlikely that Dushta can get much of a sense of the types of murderous thoughts going through the tigress's head, but perhaps what vague feeling he gets from her in that direction is what makes her more interesting to him than irritating. "Ah, but then most of the rainforest would be so much more boring right now. Surely that counts for something? Or must I do more to redeem myself since I am so marked?" he asks, his brow furrowing in a false indication of sincerity as if he really was looking for the tigress's approval thanks to his vaguely stated deeds.

The look on the male's face only does more to irritate Dalaja, though there wasn't much that /didn't/ irritate the tigress, so it couldn't have been all his fault. "The fact that /you've/ been able to .. make the forest less 'boring' is an insult to what minimal amount of honorable creatures still lurk here, if there are any anymore." Thrashing her tail to the sides again, Dalaja growls while glaring Dushta in the eyes, and finally her tone sounds more questionable than sarcastic or annoyed. "Why do you feel you have to redeem yourself to me?" Maybe he was familiar with her heritage? Maybe someone spoke of her? Who knew.. she certainly didn't.

Actually, Dushta's attitude is entirely based off of the way that Dalaja is acting. She seems like the type of tigress that needs to be agreed with, so he is agreeing with her. Just as he was overly flattering for Baimei, so he's willing to adapt his demeanor for a tigress. As long as she meets /his/ approval that is, which Dalaja has, if tentatively. "Indeed, my efforts have been humble at best - there simply isn't that much of a challenge in this forest," he says a bit sadly, "And I hope that you don't misunderstand, but you've judged me harshly because of my color, which I feel may be premature given what kind of tiger I am, so I hope to change your mind." He ends that with a hopeful grin, though since he just met this tigress he has no idea if that's enough.

Agreeable he is, freakishly so. Generally people strayed away from Dalaja's high superiority complex, but Dushta seemed to enjoy listening to her insults, at least a little bit. This alone made her blood boil and she wished she were a bit heavier, and far stronger. Then she'd show him what was what. "That's because all the challenge was wiped out long ago. All that remains here is filth, and the more you rid this forest of, the better.. though it might actually be worse if someone like /you/ were to save the land." Mulling this over, she listens again and rolls her eyes. "It's not just your color.. it's your very being. You're unnatural, and frankly, unsightly. Just looking at you makes me pity whatever family you came from.. though they're equally as shameful to the rest of our species for not ending your miserable life as soon as you slithered out of the womb." Tucking her ears back, she bares her teeth and takes a step forward, her claws extending outward. Clearly, she'd had enough of his presence.

"Oh, don't judge my mother so harshly - she did a good enough job of that herself. And my father, well I was his only son," Dushta says almost apologetically, though really neither of his parents had much of a problem with his color. They saw it as odd, yes, but not enough to see it as that much of a problem, especially when he had no trouble learning to hunt. "But tell me, what should I do then? I'd rather not end my life if there's an alternative, you see, and I believe that I'm quite capable of doing anything else you may suggest that would prove my worth to the forest," he says reasonably. All the while he appears to be completely unbothered by the tigress's aggression and advance, aside from a notable increase in how carefully he's watching her - if she tries anything then he'll certainly respond in kind, but if she does not then he'll merely hold his ground.

"Seems to me she should've been a bit harsher with herself.." Dalaja mutters, and retracts her claws once again, knowing very well that she wasn't going to attack the far larger male. Such an act would be suicide. Or, at least very foolish. Then what good would she be to her deceased father's cause? At his persistence, Dalaja scoffs and casts her eyes to the side. "There's nothing you can do so suddenly that would make you instantly worthy. Such things take time, and multiple tests."

At this point, it should come as no surprise to the tigress that his response is, "Very well, then what is the first test?" He grins before adding, "I've never had someone else give me a test before - it sounds interesting." And to judge by the heavy level of confidence in his tone, it's clear that he assumes that whatever challenge the tigress cares to give him would be something he'd be able to do. Whether he would actually do it is another question entirely - it would depend on how interesting he finds it to be.

Really, she should've known that he was going to accept her challenge. The trouble was, she had nothing really lined up. It caught her by surprise, and her eyes narrowed on the mutated male before she swished her tail behind her, and released a 'tch' sound. "You're too eager. And I still don't see what you want to test yourself for.. stay here for all I care. The jungle is large enough to host a disgrace such as yourself far from my sight." Another insult, yes. And though her tone was serious and unfaltering, it was probably double-served as a cover to the fact that she had no idea what to test the stranger on first.

When she doesn't give him the test, Dushta easily guesses the real reason; after all, how is being 'too eager' a valid reason for not allowing someone to prove themselves? "I don't think that one /can/ be too eager to prove their worth when it is questioned, miss. You have accused me of being a disgrace, and since I am certain that I am not, of course I wish to change your mind," he explains, pausing for a moment before his brow lifts in an idea, "Perhaps I might start by assisting you with whatever it is that you are doing? You seemed to be in such a hurry that I have no doubt that what you're doing is terribly important."

The fact that he wanted to change her mind was what she thought was so strange about the male. Why? What difference did it make to him? Like she'd said, the jungle was large, and she kept to herself. The two of them could go on in their lives without crossing each other again ideally.. but he was hell-bent on proving that he wasn't a disgrace to the species. Then the offer came, for him to help her with whatever it was she was doing. Many might seem grateful, or flattered, but Dalaja just stared at him apathetically. "No." She said, and began to press forward again. Hopefully, he'd just lose interest in her and let her be on her way.

Unfortunately, the same sort of interest that causes him to be so willing to at least consider trying to get on her good side is also the same sort of interest that causes him to be unwilling to let that one word answer be it. Instead he starts considering whether or not to start following her strictly for his own amusement as he comments, "Are you sure? I could probably convince my clan to help you. I /am/ the leader of it after all, so they would if I told them to." Well, some of them would - some of the others would have to decide just how entertaining it would be to help first.

Given that Dalaja was completely unaware of the forming clan, she could only assume that he perhaps belonged to; even led, as he said, the Do-Rakhana. The clan that was made up of the treacherous filth that helped kill her father and destroy her birth clan. Turning around sharply, the tigress' muzzle wrinkles and her teeth gleam as she hisses toward him, her claws once again exposed. "You must be completely stupid to think I would need the help of your /clan/." Though, ironically, she was probably the stupider one for assuming his allegiance to the Do-Rakhana.

Fortunately for Dalaja, Dushta isn't nearly as unintelligent as she assumes. Given the speed and negativity of her answer and the relative newness of the Ran Garjana to the area, he can only assume that she's thinking of some other group. Either that or she /does/ know of his group and will definitely need to be eliminated if that's her opinion of it. But even as he realizes this he keeps his relaxed expression and merely comments, "Oh, well if you feel /that/ way about the Ran Garjana..." Now she's placed him in the position of having to find out how much she knows. Lovely.

The Ran Garjana would never be the Sakht Nakh, but they were a great step up from the Do-Rakhana.. and that much she would have to learn through questioning of this Dushta. Curious now, she glared intently at him before once again, her claws were sheathed and she seemed at least half-calmed. "Ran Garjana.. the name doesn't even sound familiar. The only one I've even heard mentioned is the Do-Rakhana.. and I'd just as soon see them all beheaded and their bodies left for the filthy rats to feast on." Saying this seems to have calmed her even further, for she sits down a distance away from him, and curls her tail around her legs, the very tip of it still twitching against the ground. "The only clan I would ever give my allegiance to is long gone."

That reply has so many things that are just right in it that as relaxed as Dushta has been this whole time, he visibly relaxes just a slight degree more. "Yes, I've heard of the Do-Rakhanaa - a few in my clan seem to be very concerned that they may come after us," he comments with a grin, as that would put them on the same 'side'... more or less anyways. And he seems to speak about that other group without the slightest bit of concern - he keeps getting told that they'll be a problem, but has he had any proof of that? No, and given how long he's been 'operating' in the area he'd assume that if they were that powerful that they'd have done something by now. Then again, perhaps he was underestimating just how subtle he'd been until now. "Would that be the Sakht Nakh?" he asks with a curious tilt of his head.

The mentioning of the other clan has Dalaja irritated just thinking about them, more or less because she's thinking not about the clan as a whole, but her own brother, Bhata, and how greatly she'd like to kill him. "They seem to be the calculating bunch. They'll wait.. and when they feel the time is right, attack. At least, that's what I'd expect from them." She says, looking away and seeming disinterested again until the name of her birth clan is said. Her ears visibly press forward, and she gives him a suspicious look. "What do you know of the Sakht Nakh?"

An old, battle-scarred tigress lumbers along following Dalaja's scent-trail. Her left ear missing, her right fore-paw twisted grotesquely -- though she walks on it only slightly unsteadily -- she lumbers down the Gentle Slope from the Upper Rainforest area. "Dalaja, dear," she calls to her daughter softly and warmly. "You must be Dushta, Raja of Ran Garjana," the ugly old tigress rumble greets, bowing her head slightly. "I am Badajiva, Raani of the former Sakht Nakh and faithful servant of the late Raja Vijavi."

"Very little," Dushta replies in all honesty. "I only heard of them in passing from one of my older clan members that the prior existence of the Sakht Nakh would give them a very good reason to quickly object to the presence of another tiger clan due to the similarities between them. And that's all - I didn't think to inquire further." It's then that, quite abruptly, they're unexpectedly interrupted by a very old tigress that seems to know a rather lot about him. Still, he doesn't look more than a little bemused as he glances over her and gives a polite nod as he says, "I am - though I don't presume to call myself a Raja." Not that he doesn't think himself deserving of such a title, but it just doesn't, well, suit him in his opinion.

Her focus torn from Dushta, Dalaja can hear the lumbering steps of her mother and can smell the old tigress once she gets within a certain range, and her tail begins to twitch a bit more. She isn't happy nor upset to see Badajiva, but she is surprised to an extent. Straightening up, the skinny tigress follows her mother with her eyes, until she's stopped and bowed her head toward Dushta. Sneering, that alone confirms that her mother did not deserve a greeting, and instead of speaking further with Dushta, she listens to the two of them with a rather disgusted look plastered on her face.

Badajiva snorts a bit at her indignant daughter. She's rude, but ... at least she isn't a traitor. "My apologies if my daughter has been sassing you, Dushta ... err ... do you have a title you prefer?" she asks.

Her daughter? Oh, really? Well, that's /very/ interesting then! "No need to apologize, madam. And please, just Dushta is fine - if I do my job right then that will soon be an adequate enough title on its own," he answers the elder tigress easily. While one might say that Dalaja has been 'sassing' him, it's certainly not been something he'd object to - if he had then she'd certainly know it! "May I ask how it is that you know of me?" he asks, for he's still not nearly well-known enough for the tigress to know all that without having talked to someone.

Growling non-threateningly at her mother, Dalaja scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Mother, you can't possibly think that a .. creature like him is deserving of an apology anyway?" She says calmly, looking over to Dushta and staring at his black pelt again, that she never would quite get over, even if she never saw him again. Remaining sitting, she blinks and is too baffled as to how Badajiva heard of the tiger, though, she had to admit that her mother was far more social than she was.

Badajiva answer, "By means of an old wartime comrade, Ananth, who convinced me to see Ran Garjana with my own eyes and have hope that Bhata's treachery against tigerkind might not be a wholly insurmountable failure. These lands are certainly ripe for a new empire to rise, with the right leadership ... wise to what worked and what failed in the past." She looks to her daughter. "I suppose you'd prefer a handsome charmer like Bhata, my dear? Is Bhata's appearance more to your fancy?" She mocks her daughter with laughter. "If modest size and traditional pelt colors are all you fancy, you will find your accomplishments shallow, Dalaja."

Watching mother and daughter interact is more than a little amusing to Dushta, though he manages to only show it by the gleam in his eye and a slight broadening of his grin. "Ah! Well I'll have to thank him next time I see him," he says with a nod. Not that he thinks that one aged tigress is much of an addition to the clan, but that's the nice thing to say. "But you'll have to forgive me - I only just gained leadership of the Ran Garjana and there is much that I don't know. Who is this Bhata?" he continues, still polite, casting an apologetic grin Dalaja's way for any and all of his faults as a tiger.

The mention of her brother has Dalaja's eyes practically turning red, and for her mother to mock her in such a way only adds fuel to the fire as far as her anger is concerned. Lowering her head, she bares her teeth at the aging tigress and growls again, though it's clear that she isn't going to attack. "Bhata owes his appearance to his superior genes that he gained from father.. at least he looks normal." She says, and looks up to Dushta again. However, her pure hatred toward her brother is so extreme that she doesn't even answer the question. For her to do so would only bring about her odd fantasies of killing him in creative ways, and not necessarily delve any information as to who he is.

Badajiva's politeness fades momentarily as she snarls. "A traitor. Beloved son and heir to Raja Vijavi ... only to turn on and kill his own father. Serves the wolves and the other lesser beasts. Probably mates with them, too," she grunts. "He had everything ... we had no reason to think he, of all, would betray Sakht Nakh. That was our great failing ... our faith in blood over righteousness. Maybe he was pampered too much, maybe not enough." She looks again to her daughter. "That's my point, my dear -- looking normal doesn't mean a damned thing. To build a clan, a strong clan, requires leadership and skills, not looking normal. It demands wisdom and insight, keen senses and a mind that can plan and react. None of that has one iota of relativity to whether one's fur is striped or solid-color. Bhata is no more a tiger than that three-legged fleabag he hangs out with all the time."

"Appearances can be deceiving, I'm sure," is Dushta's double-edged reply to Dalaja, but as she doesn't answer his question his focus is turning more and more towards Badajiva: he'd /rather/ be listening to Dalaja... Oh well. He listens to the elder tigress rant and rage with interest, but no real amount of passion. He sees what happened to the Sakht Nakh as only vaguely relating to him, after all - he can already tell that they had a different set of beliefs even if the Do-Rakhanaa find them similarly objectionable. "I see," he says mildly when she's finished, "Then perhaps we have very common interests. You see, I object to tigers who object to the existence of my clan, and if this Bhata has aligned himself with them then he's sure to die by our claws at some point." And given how much both of these tigresses seem to dislike the traitor-heir, he's sure that's something they'd like to hear.

Listening to her mother carry on about Bhata, she listens in irritated agreeance to all that she says about his upbringing. Dalaja remembered how pampered he was as a cub, how well treated and groomed he was in order to take Vijayi's place. Not that she was treated badly, but she was always jealous of him. He never respected the Raja like she did, but she had no hope in being favored in her father's eyes due to her gender alone. But at the moment where she begins to talk of how appearances don't matter, again, Dalaja sneers. "Maybe.. but allow one deformation and ultimately you end up with more, and more, until looking different is common. We look the way we do for a reason, mother." She said, talking down to the elder tigress at the last moment. Suddenly though, her head snaps up and she tucks her ears back, glaring harshly at Dushta. "/My/ claws. Not yours or anyone else's in your clan.. I will be the one to kill him."

Badajiva looks to her daughter. "Every Sakht Nakh survivor, every tiger who is true to their own kind wishes him dead, Dalaja!" she snarls. "Consider him prized prey. Whomever /does/ track him down and kill him will deserve fame. No one should 'save' him for anyone. I will certainly not pass up an opportunity should I find it ... fame or no fame." She flits her remaining ear as she turns back to Dushta. "Have you heard of Bhaskar and his band of jackal-lovers? Bhata deserves death ... but they demand true caution. They have spies everywhere, even eagles in the sky. Bhata was the traitor who let the invading army in, the Do-Rakhanaa worshipers were the invading army."

The glare that he gets from Dalaja and her mother's reply is amusing enough that Dushta can't suppress the resulting laugh and he says, "If it means so much to you and the situation presents itself, Dalaja, I will merely wound him and leave the kill to you. I can't say the same for my clanmates, however - they all do very much delight in that sort of thing." Whereas Dushta's hit count is so high, what's the loss of one more? And he finds something absolutely delightful about how eager she is to kill. Once again he's finds himself vaguely jealous that someone has something to seek vengeance for while he does not - he can't take that away from someone else. "Yes, eagles, we ran into one of those," he responds to Badajiva, vaguely glancing upwards, "All I can say is that aside from that their presence has been virtually non-existent as far as I can tell. Still, we're already preparing our defenses. And our clan is growing quickly - though I'm guessing it wouldn't please your daughter to hear that I am not the only odd-colored tiger among them, only the most unique."

Even though she didn't like it, Dalaja was well aware that no one was going to save the kill for her. Bhata had many enemies, and all of them had a violent streak as well, though perhaps none that ran quite as deep as hers. She did take pride in her killer imagination, after all. "Just so long as we're understood that I won't pass up the chance either.. and when I'm through with him, there won't be anything to mangle up just for the fun of it, either." She says, smirking just a bit at the end there, twitching her tail pleasantly for a moment before she falls quiet, listening to their talk of eagles. Eagles didn't concern her. Spies, most likely.. but everyone knew that she was the daughter of Badajiva and Vijayi. At least, everyone who knew of them. It was clear what "side" she was on. The mention of odd-colored tigers has her sneering once again, and she lifts her nose in a sort of snobbish way, before she stands and hops onto a bit of higher ground. "I've already said; the only clan I'll align myself with is gone. It'll take more than half-shared ideals and the promise of other deformed tigers to interest me."

Badajiva chuckles. "They've probably withdrawn to all the far corners in a panic once word spread, then they'll ally with each other and try to find any nook or cranny to work themselves into. A year or so after Sakht Nakh founded, we suddenly found prey scarce ... it turns out, pesky little insignificant dholes were driving the prey away while hiding in thickets where we could not pursue. You might consider a few allies of your own. Vultures, maybe ... they flourish on the death you can bring to those who would defy Ran Garjana." She looks to Dalaja. "I hold my judgment, Dalaja. I do not presume Dushta to be a superior leader, but from the sounds of things by that lake a bit upstream of the temple, he already has a strong clan in the making."

"Is that where they wandered off to?" Dushta asks innocently. And for once, he really is innocent - it's a pity that they decided to go off and have some real fun the morning after last night. Then again, they'd have had to be very hard pressed to have as much fun as he'd had last night, so perhaps that's only fair. "We've already recruited a pleasantly mean-spirited honey badger - I'm sure that there will be more as we find them. More tigers as well," he says, with a glance towards Dalaja, to whom he adds, "I'll not try to convince you of that then, though it /is/ probably your best chance of making sure that Bhata winds up dead." That is, after all the only card he seems to have to play with her. Turning back to Badajiva he comments, "And I'll not try to convince you either. Whether I am the leader for you to follow or not is your choice, and given your loyalties I see no problem in allowing both of you to visit the Ran Garjana to see them for yourself. I doubt you'll betray us."

Taking in a breath, Dalaja looks to the both of them, her eyes still lingering on Dushta for longer due to still being completely baffled by just /how/ things like that happen, but eventually she gives her head a shake and sways her tail from side to side, her eyes flashing at the mention of other creatures; other than tiger, that belonged to the new clan. "Your ways of doing things are strange; stupid, even. But .. I will do the same as my mother and reserve judgment of your clan, I guess." But just because she reserved judgment didn't mean she approved of it, and far less, that she would ever join it. Even though he was long gone, her loyalties remained with her father and his ideals. He would never approve of mutated tigers and lesser species in one clan, she was sure of it.

Badajiva bows her head appreciatively. "I shall take you up on your gracious offer, Dushta," she says. "I look forward to seeing your vision bear fruit."

The Ran Garjana are, indeed, likely to be a completely different bunch than what anyone with fond memories of the Sakht Nakh would want. Between the variety of pelt colors, the inclusion of a non-tiger, and the fact that their wholesale slaughter is based mostly on amusement rather than any sort of ideals they rather fly in the face of everything the Sakht Nakh stood for. Still, they have the same enemies... "I suppose that's the best I can hope for," he says with a grin, "If you'd like to visit now, I was just headed back myself."

Though she was walking away, she wasn't walking away particularly fast, and Dalaja heard the offer of going back with him. Of course, she would reject that offer though. "I am in no hurry to meet your clan.. and I'm sure it'll be easy to find you if I ever feel the need." She says, and gives her mother a moment's glance, before she looks away from the both of them, and with an odd sort of grace leaps to another bit of higher ground, wandering off to wherever it was she felt she needed to be.

Badajiva shakes her head a bit as her daughter goes. "It really wasn't fair to her," she says. "So much damage from one privileged cub's betrayal. I think she'll come around eventually." She looks back to Dushta. "I will follow where you lead."

Watching as the younger tigress leaves, Dushta can't help but feel a little disappointed. Still, he's more than confident enough in his own skills to believe that eventually she'll see that his color has absolutely nothing to do with anything. He's more than a match for most tigers, regardless of how fantastic their bloodline is! But his eyes don't linger on the direction that she went for long before he turns his head southwards and starts padding further down the slope. "This way then," he says unnecessarily as he heads back towards Ran Garjana territory.