I Went On My Own, But Now I'm Alone

Squirrelflight's ears pricked upright at the response she received. Just based on the voice, the stranger was fairly young. Perhaps no more than apprentice age, Squirrelflight reasoned. She was just as lost and alone as the she-cat was, and for a heartbeat Squirrelflight felt a pang of sympathy in her heart. She couldn't just leave whoever this was by herself.

"I can try. Stay where you are. I'm going to come closer," Squirrelflight mewed. Slowly at first, Squirrelflight started to pad in the direction Tiifu's voice had come from. She could feel her heart fluttering a bit just at the idea of having company. For too long, or so it had felt, she had just come to accept that she would be all by herself in the darkness. Just like she deserved, some nasty voice at the back of her mind tried once again to tell her as she quickened her pace. This was not the time to be listening to such a thing. She needed to help this stranger as best she could.

Once near enough to get a better idea of Tiifu's scent, the dark ginger she-cat stopped moving. The darkness still was far too much even for her, so she couldn't make out Tiifu's appearance. She still could see a shape, though. That was enough. Just based on that, Squirrelflight felt as though she had made the right decision. Tiifu was bigger than her, but still sounded so young that it made Squirrelflight want to draw her tail around her to keep her safe. No harm was going to come to this other girl. Not if Squirrelflight had anything to say about it.

Ashfur can do whatever he likes, she thought, if he really was the one in charge of this place, but this is just a child, surely. The least I can do is try and help her. With that thought in mind, she let a gentle purr rumble up from within her throat. If nothing else, she hoped that that might be of some comfort to Tiifu.

"It's going to be okay. We can figure some way out of here if we stay together. What's your name, poppet?" She hoped that the words would be comforting. If they could get to know one another, then they could help one another. Surely that had to be the case, right?

"You can? Oh, that- that's so good, thank-you!"

Her voice cracked with relief as she dared to hope that she really wasn't as trapped, wasn't as alone here as she had been fearing. Another time, especially if she had been around Zuri and Kiara, Tiifu might have found that embarrassing; at present, however, she had far more pressing concerns and didn't even give it a second thought. She held as still as she dared, as if simply by not moving, she could make it easier for the friendly voice to reach her.

There was another reason, too, why complete darkness like this was so scary to Tiifu. Lions were renowned for their incredible night vision; but even they needed some light, no matter how minor, for their eyes to magnify it effectively. At night, the moon and stars provided enough of a glow, faint though it would be to human eyes, that they could see incredibly clearly even in the sun's absence.

But here, there were no moon and no stars; there was no light at all. For a species with such strong night vision, such abject darkness was even more terrifying than it would be to animals who were more accustomed to not being able to see... or at least, that was the case for Tiifu. Anything could be hiding in the shadows, anything at all-- Even as she squinted desperately into the darkness for a sign of her companion, the youngster felt the fear start to build in her chest again, gripping at her with its cold claws--

And then, suddenly, she was aware of the presence near to her now, and of the gentle rumbling purr rolling from the other's throat. The sound was more soothing than Tiifu could have expected, and for a moment she found she was able to get her anxious breathing a little more under control. She still couldn't see the other, but between that gentle sound, and the warmth of the stranger's voice, the little cub found herself unclenching ever so slightly.

"I- I'm Tiifu, Ma'am. Do... you really think we can find a way out of here?"

She hoped, she so desperately hoped... and she was wary of doing so, of getting her hopes up just to be crushed again, when this terrifying darkness seemed so eternal. She managed the very, very weakest of tentative smiles.

And then another voice spilt the silence. Tiifu leapt about six feet into the air, so unexpected had it been coming from behind her... but this, at least, was a voice that she recognised. While she'd never given a great deal of thought to the younger members of the royal family - after all, Kiara was the one who was going to be queen, not Kion, so she had never seen him as completely worth her attention - he was still a presence she knew, and that much was incredibly welcome.

"Kion--! Yes, it's me! We're over here, where are you?" She squinted vainly into the darkness.

It seemed, however, that where he was was very close by; his voice already sounded nearer when he called out again, and Tiifu took great comfort from that fact. As soon as she could detect Kion's presence, even in the inky blackness, she slipped towards him, pressing herself up as near as she could to his side. It was, perhaps, not an appropriate action when there was no particular closeness between the two of them... but the presence of someone familiar was the most comforting thing in the world to Tiifu in that moment. Kion was big and brave after all, right? He'd know what to do.

She wanted to ask if Kiara was there with him, too - though he probably wouldn't know any more than she did, there was always the chance - but, Tiifu supposed, she ought to answer his question first.

"This is my new friend. She's... um..."

It dawned on the girl, slowly but surely, that she didn't actually know who her companion was.

"Actually, I don't know her name. We only just met." She swivelled to glance back at the place where she'd last heard the other's voice coming from. "Ma'am, uh... what should we call you?"