Sphinx - normal
Kasai - bold

Iron filled her lungs as the battered lioness settled herself beside a bolder, leaning all of her weight into holding herself up right long enough to lap at the open wound on her shoulder. It had been a long week of recovery, but Maya was on the mend thanks to Xibalba, without the Goddess's help Maya would have surly fallen along side Calypso. Her mind wandered at the thought of her dark friend, was she alive? Had she somehow made it back safely? The thought of her life ending made the lioness cold and bitter, still, she had come back to the Stormborn to get the answer for herself. Maya would not leave without some sort of conformation, closure was needed here.

Xibalba had left to hunt for the pair, so while her sister was away Maya started off toward the pride, limping slightly as her paws carried her across a sandy coastline, leaving a tail of paw prints behind her. Xibalba could come to her if needed, this was a strategical move on Maya's part. She was weak still and though most of her wounds had healed over the cut on he shoulder was deep and festered with a heat that burned her with every step she took.

So for now Maya would be careful, no matter how confidant she might have felt, her body just wasn't ready for another battle so soon.(edited)

Kristanf huffed as he stalked out of the den. His trinket he had stolen from the young thrall had disappeared, along with his daughter. The latter he didn't care much about, but the necklace? There was something about that glowing charm that the male craved and needed. He saw red when he thought about the disappearance. How dare someone would steal from him?!

The reaver growled as he sunk slowly into the sandy beachline of the Stormborn lands. It may have not been evident, but this area he found himself in brought peace in his otherwise riled up mind.

However, while the shores were normally quiet, today was different. The scent of another nearby caused a sneer on his lips. Who would dare be here while he was here? Light eyes scanned, spotting the source not too far from him. He couldn't see her appearance from where he was, but he did see her limp slightly as she moved.

Great, another weak thrall! Ah, time to go play.

Kristanf moved closer to Maya, growling his next words in his raspy voice. "It's a good day to die." How she responded to the traditional Stormborn greeting would tell Kristanf just who this lioness was.

As the red haired male appeared Maya stopped in her tracks with a deep frown settled across her lips. Green eyes followed him as he spoke, words she had once heard Calypso speak. Her nose winkled as the bone jewelry in her bridge settled with her frown. "-Move." Today was not the day, Maya had very little time for a duel. At least she assumed this lion was looking for a fight, having already spared with Ciro months before, this custom seemed meaningless from the outset. At least, right now it did. She was tired and emotionally hollow, nothing really felt settled inside her chest.

"I am looking for Calypso, news of her appearance or death." Maya needed to know, it wasn't going to leave her mind until she knew for sure. Not after everything the burned lioness witnessed and endured. As she spoke her lean figure stood still, body completely exposed for his eyes to examine. She was in rough shape, but most of her scars looked old and withered, time had healed them as best it could.

"-I was with the band that attacked the Outlanders." The lioness added as her eyes shifted from his figure, settling on the sea that swayed violently beside them. Mist and salt would cover her pelt as the tide rose in and out against the shore.

Move?

"Excuse me?" Kristanf growled out, tail thrashing at the curt tone Maya had used. "I will do no such thing. You are in my territory. Besides, telling a reaver to move, when you yourself are something insignificant. Hah." Even if the lioness was what the new war lord considered a shield maiden, or valkyrie, she would still need a male to venture out with her. Therefore, inferior in Kristanf's eyes.

The pale lion took in her appearance. Scrapes and healing wounds, and a wicked scar running the length of her upper torso and limb.

"Haven't heard a thing." Kristanf didn't keep up with the news. He was suppose to have been on that viking, but he had been preoccupied and missed their departure. "Though if someone fell in battle, they are better off dead anyways."

"Would you like a trinket for that?" Kris asked, rolling his eyes. "And how many did you take down hmm? Other than those wounds, which appears to show your lack of skills, did you bring any spoils back with you?"

As the lion spoke Maya rolled her eyes and sighed. "-If you've heard nothing you mean nothing to me." Maya spoke with very little regard to how he felt or what he had said, in her mind he was useless without the information she desired. "I will see the Warlord and ask him myself." She knew enough about the pride to know who to seek out, so the lioness would do that as soon as possible. Her one track mind kept her focused. His words had no effect on her, as her wounds were as old as she was, time had removed those soft feelings and replaced them with pride and a numbness she couldn't escape.

When he spoke of falling in battled her fur bristled, still, she kept her composer. "If you do not know about Calypsos whereabouts, has a lion called Ciro returned from the battle?" Her eyes would shift back to his as she ignored almost every comment that escaped his mouth.

"I have something I need to return to him." Her tone was very matter-of-fact, tired, but alert enough to stand her ground.

Kristanf smirked as she mentioned the new Warlord. "By all means. Perhaps I should accompany you there. He seems less fond of females, so it should be at least an entertaining feature for me." Though that would require him to keep up with the female, and right now he wasn't sure that was what he wanted at the moment.

"Ciro?!" Kristanf felt the hair on the back of his neck stand as the name. "Ciro'mekaitso you mean?" Surely there were no other Ciro's in the pride. The last time the male had encountered the dark captain, he was thrown to the ground for attacking the thrall b***h Aldan had claimed. His hatred for the male had grown tenfold since then.

"Don't tell me. He left you wanting more of him from a one night stand, is that right?" Kristanf insinuated. He knew Ciro would sleep with any willing female. If one lady was looking for him, it wouldn't surprise Kristanf that what she wanted.

"Don't flatter that degenerate." Maya snapped as her eyes narrowed in anger. "-He might have tried but I would sooner bite my own tongue off." As the lioness spoke she clicked her tongue against her teeth. "I met his son on the battlefield-" Maya confessed with little hesitation. "-and I took his eye as my prize." She shrugged and gave the pale male another frown, as if what had happened hardly mattered to her at all. With or without his help she would get the information she came for.

"I wanted to give it to Ciro." The motives behind her sending his son's eye back to him would be totally lost on this new male, so she wouldn't try to explain it. It seemed this lion had an issue with Ciro anyway. Maya felt indifferent toward him, and hadn't lost sleep over maiming his son. With another swift glance the female flexed her shoulders, speaking once more.

"-Now, if you'll move aside."

Ah, a female who did not enjoy the male's advances. A point in Kristanf's book. However, her next words piqued his interest.

"You met his son?" Kristanf knew Ciro had children, but how intriguing she had met one of them on the battlefield. "A b*****d that isn't part of the pride?" So, Ciro did get around a lot, didn't he. He was taken aback when she mentioned she took eye.

"...An eye hmm?" The male shifted his body towards Maya. "And your plan is to just return it to him? Why not give him some grief about it. Make him suffer for what he has tried to do to you? Make him live in torment know his 'precious' son has been blinded by one of his own." It was the first time Kristanf spoke as Maya a member of the pride. If what she said was true, there was some mad respect for the lioness. He wouldn't admit it outright though.

"But, if you wish to just leave him the parting gift." The male took a step to the side, letting the female pass if she wished. "By all means. Although, I do hope you seek me out once he gets it. I would love to know the male is in distress." That would be the perfect time to get his revenge. Perhaps... get him to go on a viking with him?

As the lion spoke of his sadistic fantasies regarding Ciro and the plucked eye Maya tilted her head, ah, so this was what mattered here. Perhaps Ciro had offended this male, perhaps he had stolen a lover or slept with his mate, no matter the reason his reaction made Maya smirk. For a moment she stood lost in thought.

"I could give it to you." Maya exclaimed as her eyes settled back on his marked face. "-and you could make sure it arrived to Ciro safe and sound." Her intentions weren't to cause drama between herself and Ciro, in fact it was more or less her way of saying sorry, no matter how off putting it might have seemed, still, this lion seemed to lust for some sanctification. Perhaps she could give it to him. As a parting gift. If he wanted some sort of proof, she would gladly give it to him.

"What do you say?" A smirk crossed her face as her eyes slithered along his figure.

"Ah...That is quite a...tempting offer." Kristanf would have jumped out it, if it hadn't been for his missing item.

"Alas, I seem to have someone with sticky paws in my midst." Whether it was one of his thralls, his children, or someone else, Kristanf would have to find out sometime soon. But for now, he just shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps you can hold on to it...for safe keeping until I need it." He had plans in his mind, and right now, he wasn't sure how he would put them to action. However, knowing this, that his son had been blinded and a piece of him taken from the battlefield...surely that would aid his ploy against the captain.

"Maybe we can come to some sort of...agreement. If you are looking to rise up from the pitiful rank you have been bestowed, then I can help you with that, in exchange for the eye of course."

"I am no thrall." Maya firmly stated as he spoke, nodding in agreement. "I could however be tempted to part with it in exchange for passage through the pride. I have to find the band that caught the Outlander Prince, I have to know what happened to Calypso." Maya would be rewarded for her efforts that day, but that wasn't on her mind right now. Until she knew the outcome of the battle and the fate of her kindred spirit her heart wouldn't rest easy. Her body shifted as she moved a bit closer to the lion, her limp noticeable but pain borderline nonexistent from her face. Maya stood stone cold and unafraid.

"For that I will gladly give you this treasure." Most females she knew slept their way to the top, Maya wasn't like that, for all of her life she had to fight tooth and nail for what she wanted. This moment was no different. An equal exchange, she would owe this male nothing. "I'm Maya-." The lioness gave her name as her green eyes settled back to the sea. "The Blood Reaper." A title she was given soon after the events of the Outlander battle.

"Ah, Royalty was also caught? Well...perhaps I missed out more than I thought." Kristanf mused, mentally kicking himself for not going on this mission. Ah, well, he would make do with it.

"I think we can make that arrangement. Although, don't expect any easiness to be given to you, just because you are female." Kristanf snorted. "Hold on to that trinket for now. I will assist you with getting the information you needed. Once I am ready to acquire the eye, I will seek you out. That is, if you haven't sought me out first." A smirk to his maw as Maya introduced himself.

"Call me Kristanf, Blood Reaper." He extended a paw, to seal their deal. "Are we in agreement?"

When Kristanf extended a paw Maya stood in silence, eyeing him intensely "Agreed." Slowly she reached a paw to his before quickly tapping it them together, agreeing to the terms made here on the beach. She wasn't one for physical interactions with males, so she would keep her distance where she could. "lead the way." Nothing could stop her now.