Welcome to Gaia! ::

Freedom as Azadi was learning was a funny thing. It's something that most coveted as more precious than even the rarest of metals, yet it was also something that so many took for granted if they had never known the feeling of not having it. Some on the other hand would live their entire life without ever experiencing it. It was the drive behind stories, dreams, revolutions, and wars.

For the first time in her life Azadi could say she actually was free, something she had been dreaming about since being a cub, something she had murdered in cold blood for.

Yet she didn't know the first damn thing to do with all of it. She had to wonder if this is what the gods felt like? To have limitless power at the tip of your paws and no drive to do a thing with it? It was a strange feeling, that was for certain.

The one thing that had kept her from slipping into a existential crisis was the order from her new Captain to get to know those who she would soon be fighting besides better. And so she did just that! ...Well after a bath, more fighting to earn the right to own the dark pelt resting on her back, then a few more well earned baths so she'd stop looking like she was trying to become a acolyte to the goddess of blood!

There was one group in particular that had taken a spot right up on top of her 'To meet' list - right after Tethys' own band of course. She had overheard talk about an all female warband and imminently her interest had been piqued. In her days as a slave to prevent unwanted breeding the two sexes had been separated from each other. Despite her best efforts she still felt a great deal of anxiety being around so many males. Don't get her wrong, they had already proven themselves to be decent guys, major dorks actually if one could get past the fact that they could and would kick your a**, but there was always just that level of disconnect that she couldn't fix.

There was only one solution she could think of to solve her little dilemma and internal fears; find and meet this group of females, hopefully come to some sort of agreement with them, and from there ease her way into better dealing with the males around them.

Or this would turn out horribly and she'd end up in another fight, that seemed just as likely and as welcomed of a possibility as well!

The crimson lioness had been given the task of meeting those arriving at their borders, whether someone came along or not. Each day new lions were assigned to the task and each time they were bombarded with the tedious task of witnessing another prove themselves during an Askorun and then be lead to the center most part of the pride. Sabia lived for the fight and so the borde was a great place for her, but she wasn't particularly in the mood for it and in fact had other ideas in mind.

Sabia`deimos had taken her position, choosing a rock to lay upon with her head rested against her paws, tail swishing behind her lazily and claws dragging across the rocks surface - her adornments spoke for themselves more often then not and so she had no need for theatrical entrances or words. So when a couple of lions approached, thinking they were prepared to try.. she readied herself only to see them scoot away from the borders to 'freedom'. She snorted in their direction and cursed beneath her breath.

"Worthless." She muttered to herself, lowering her head again and closing her golden eyes briefly - a nap was beginning to appear more and more like a real possibility. She inhaled deeply, causing her shoulders and the pelt covering them to raise and she exhaled, allowing them to fall. The lioness then produced a gentle sigh.

It appeared her opportunity to fulfill one part of her agenda on her very first trip back 'Home' at least that's what the others had sighed in relief under their breaths. Whether or not these deary, gray mountains would prove to be a sustaining home for the gray lioness after her debt was repaid to the Captain still remained to be seen.

She had broken off from the rest of the band who were gleefully heading up to go revel in their brief return, likely with plenty of drink and song, Azadi had instead turned her focus to the aptly named proving grounds.

Heh, she had something to prove alright. Like many of those brave enough to seek out this place to earn their place in the Stormborn she had an inch in her to enjoy getting down dirty, bloody, and rough.

Amongst all of the others who stood at the ready to face any challengers who had enough balls to step up there was one who stood out. A crimson female who much like Azadi was adorned with gruesome trinkets of suffering on her body. She had seen this woman around before, wasn't she apart of another band that frequented the forward camps? Her exact name escaped her but it appeared her attitude was still as off putting as it was out in the field.

Azadi's ears perked up at Sabia's mutterings. Her pale eyes turned upwards to boredly stare out to the same sight of others fleeing with their tails between their legs in an attempt to keep their precious freedom, and egos, intact. Popping her lips she quietly sat herself down next to Sabia's relaxed body, her focus still trained out ahead of her.

"That's putting it lightly." She responded back with a soft shake of her head. "I would suggest more along the lines of better off dead if they aren't willing to fight for their own hides."

Crimson ears twisted towards the padding of paws and drop of a rump next to her. She made no movement beyond this, suggesting little fear was felt. "It's far to much energy wasted on wishing ill of the lions that already cower before a border." She said, clucking her tongue softly - not usually the type to dwell on wasting energy, but her lazy self was feeling it today. "Are you here to prove yourself?" Golden eyes finally turned towards the lioness that had settled next to her. The pelt was familiar, both the one she'd been wearing as well as the one she was born with. "Azadi?" The name only struck her memory because of the pelt on he back, it wasn't to often she that she had the opportunity to meet someone with her taste.

"Well it's about damn time." The lioness rose to her full height, which wasn't incredible, and as she rose she shrugged her own pelt into place. The sight of the lioness was welcome, that meant Tethys' band had returned - Zjarri would need to be made aware at a later time, for now duty called. Adjusting the bangles on her foreleg so that the small bird skul wouldn't p***k her she felt set. "So, when did everyone arrive?" She imagined it was just recently, but couldn't have been sure.

"Did Tethys send you ahead?" Sabia wondered briefly about that, perhaps it would have given her a chance to prove herself so she could be shown around by him? The lioness pondered on that thought for a moment with a small, sly grin. Boys will be boys.

"How was your trip?" She stretched briefly, enjoying easing into the askorun for once, typically the challenger was.. well prepared to challenge right away - of course so was a viking, but this was a welcome surprise. "Hopefully well, I presume it was or you wouldn't be here." She snickered to herself softly, enjoying her own jokes as she went. "Sabia`deimos, by the way." She said, returning her golden eyes to her companions paler ones.

Taking in a deep breath she gave a lazy roll of her shoulders. "Mmm, something like that I suppose." Though truth be told she had been set out on 'proving' herself since the very second she was accepted into the band- both to herself and to the vikings! Her head snapped down to address Sabia with a questioning stare. Being told off she had expected, perhaps a wary greeting. But being recognized by name?

Well let's just say that was certainly going to be marked down as a first in her books.


"Ah..yes, that's me? Unless you're expecting another gray female with a glorified rug on her back named Azadi?" Clearing her throat nervously she lifted a paw, readjusting her cloak to cover up the majority of her face. Old habits did die hard after all!

She was never more thankful for a subject change than now! With a small sigh of relief Azadi's pink eyes trailed back over to watch her rise to her feet. "No more than two hours ago. The rest I would imagine are still making their way back up to the township." If they hadn't been distracted along the way that is.

Her claws flicked out to briefly fidgety dig themselves in and out of the ground. The action though it was small did serve a greater purpose, it kept her mind occupied from reverting into it's trained submissive state why in the presence of confidant female next to her. "No, I decided to stay back and head this way by my own accord. I had heard stories from the others about the proving fields, it sounded so foreign to me that I couldn't help myself but see them for myself."

"Best damn trip of my life." She replied with a large impish grin forming. "I'm assuming yours went well as well? I saw you around in one of the forward camps before you guys headed back and seeing how you're," She used a paw to make a swiping gesture over Sabia's frame. "Still in one piece, I'll take that as a good sign."

Her back straighten as she lifted herself up from her relaxed slouch. "Wait Sabia`deimos? The Sabia ******** Deimos?" She let out an amused snicker to herself. "Your pulling my damn tail or fate apparently likes me lately. If the former, your one of the women I've been looking for as it were."

The response was an unusual one, something that she hadn't heard from a lion or lioness choosing to approach the border, but she was willing to treat this situation differently as the lioness had already run with a bunch of vikings. Sabia was focused on absolutely nothing and yet missed the questioning stare, not that it'd have made any changes to knowing the name. "Ha." The lioness laughed out loud at the words and the laugh changed into a chuckle as she heard her speak about the 'glorified rug'. "Is that what you see these as?" She glanced back at her own garment with a fondness of an enemy - clearly the pelt belonged to someone who'd received 'special' treatment from the lioness. WHen Sabia did finally look the direction of the grey lioness again she was startled by the way the lioness was acting.

"Peculiar." Was all she could manage to say, but clearly struggled to keep her true reaction under wraps - it was her that had to prove herself, hiding behind a pelt wouldn't be enough to get herself into the pride. Deep down she grew concerned for the lioness, to hide signified fer and yet she was striving to be right where she stood - intriguing.

Her mind grew distractd though as she gave a detailed timeline of the lions arrival. "Good to know, good to know.." She mumbled slightly. Then a great yawn stretched her jaws open - not bored with the lioness, but her body had anticipated some form of battle would take place. Sitting so perfectly still was disrupting the regular flow and her body hated disruptions. "Good choice to come here then, you're on your way to proving yourself a worthy member." She admitted with full confidence, the lioness betrayed herself in small ways though - Sabia could see the desire to hide away and silently gave her gold stars.

"Good to hear." She chuckled warmly. "Mine went well, not enough fighting yet - not even enough pillaging." She sighed and rolled her shoulders in a lazy shrug. "That'll come with time, I've been told it's not the purpose of these particular Vikings." She snorted slightly, clearly not impressed. "But, it is what it is."

Sabia Deimos was woken from her partially unaware state to the loud body language and words that boomed from the lioness. "Yes?" Her golden eyes stared at the lioness at first, not sure of wha to get out of the reaction. "Oh, yes." She smiled again, the warmth in her eyes returned for this. "That would be the one, I'm her." She snickered softly and then forced away her chuckles for focusing on the task. "What did you need me for?" She queried.

Her ears flicked back slightly as she was silently studying the number of adornments that she wore. They had been crafted with much more purpose, care, and what she would even go so far as respect. So vastly different from the mangled pelt and remains of a mane she had proudly draped over her back. "Perhaps not your own set but that's certainly how I regard mine." She answered with a loose shrug.

There wasn't a reason for her to go into exact details on why her feelings of the pelt were so tainted nor the reason why she had decided to fight so hard to win the pelt in the first place. Like she suspected the same reaction would come from the lioness before her there were just some things that we're best left as personal matters. Their pelts and the backstories behind them seemingly being two wonderful examples.

Azadi elected to ignore her little remark about her actions. Particular she knew was a vast understatement to most people when they got down to describing her, which was completely fine. She wasn't born a Stormborn, she didn't know how to act like a proper Stormborn, and nor did she have any drive to make herself look like a fool pretending to be someone she wasn't.

Rising to her feet she gave a tiny flick of her tail before slumping back down to her rump again. As if Sabia's lazy attitude was rubbing off on her she leaned her body against the stained boulder that was providing shade for both of the lionesses. She was opening herself to an easy attack, sure, but if Sabia had wanted to provoke a duel between them she surely would have done so by now. At least...she hoped. "Thank you. I can't lie and say that I wasn't hoping to perhaps be mistaken as a challenger. Even if it didn't win myself a spot in your ranks it would've been nice to expel some extra energy." She replied with a beaming smile. Hearing validation for her choice to come here was certainly something she wouldn't scoff her nose at, no matter how small it might be!

An eyebrow rose into her hairline as she barked out a short laugh. "No, it certainly is not. Your reputation certainly overshadows your lot at the moment. Not the level of thieving, punching, stealing babes from mother's arms, burning down prides, and other overused big bad tropes as rumored, ya know?" She teased back. A toothy grin showing off how though she might be playing it up, she certainly wasn't disappointed by the lack of looting and murder being done by the groups.

Coming from a pride that took what they wanted, abused their charges, and were slowly killing themselves because of the infighting? Heh, she could damn near say she was impressed with the Stormborn's restraint.

"There's nothing in particular I desire from you, so don't worry about being offered some favor or deal." With a flick of her wrist she waved off any silly notion that she actually needed something from her. "I just have heard about you and Zjarri's band, I respect what you two have accomplished and wanted to meet the women in charge."

Sabia`deimos was bewildered by the statement, mostly because if the lioness didn't regard her pelt in a positive manner then why wear it? Curiosity was alight in her eyes as she wondered this to herself, but chose not to voice an opinion - she herself enjoyed wearing her articles very much, often times she would think back to the day she'd gotten them. Peeling pelt from muscle, blood spewing this way and that then she had to clean the bones. An amused look crossed her face for a moment, but faded as she returned to reality.

"Well I presume anyone approaching the borders is a challenger, don't think I didn't notice your desire, but you approached in a calm fashion - so why rush things?" She offered casually, if there were any Captains about they'd have likely given her a stern look or two for not engaging with the challenger immediately, but she cared very little for their attitudes. "Would you like to get it over with now? Or simply enjoy a little downtime before we get into the thick of things?" The lioness certainly hoped for the latter, she was recuperating nicely and enjoying the heck out of it - if the lioness was intending to push her into a fight then the fight would be powered by the silent rage of having to stand.

Her pair of golden eyes turned towards her companion in time to see the bizarre look upon her face. It was clear the lioness found their lack of violence amusing as well - good. "Now, I'll have you know we don't steal cubs from their Mothers arms.. perhaps the front yard at times." She grinned devilishly at her companion then looked away, taking a moment to laugh fairly loudly at the comments - they were accurate as all heck.

"Women in charge."

The lioness seemed to taste the statement and appeared delighted. "My, my.. never thought I'd hear something like that again." She chuckled fondly. "If you weren't here to challenge your way in I'd have been tempted to capture you as a thrall - you'd feed into my ego nicely." She paused for a slightly large yawn. "But your energies and abilities would be wasted as a thrall anyhow.. you'll want to meet Zjarri`fol when you earn your way into our lands. She is the brains of the operations - you're looking at the muscle." Another chuckle accompanied her statement.

"You make a fair point, there certainly is an excess of free time to use on punching other's if one so desired." For now she was quite content in speaking with the lioness, it was nice to finally meet someone like minded as her. With a snort gave a shake of her head at the notion of putting forth any physical activity. "Bah! Parish the thought. As you said before there's no reason to rush things. What is it that you Stormborn say..ah I'll kill you but not today?" She teased with a grin. There might have been others who had taken offense to such a aggressive saying but Azadi had come to learn that they quite enjoyed the notion. Dying in battle, being bested by a worthy opponent whom you respected? There were few things that sounded better to a true Stormborn than that.

To further prove her point across Azadi's legs kicked out from under her, putting her in a much more relaxed and almost lounging position. If Sabia or anyone else wanted to rose her into a fight at this moment then they were likely going to have to drag her along kicking and screaming!

"My word! Sincerest apologies for not realizing your honored cub-stealing boundaries you all have set for yourselves!" She dramatically exclaimed with a sigh. Lifting a paw to her forehead she tossed her head back against the rock she was using as a chair. "Dishonor on me, dishonor on my name." She added on before breaking out into a snicker at her own joke.

It took her a few moments to calm herself down from the fit of giggles that the poor joke had caused. Finally her head slowly craned it's self back up, peering at the red lioness with an bemused stare. "You don't hear it often?" She inquired, her eyebrows rising into her hairline out of curiosity. It was shocking to hear that they were not more readily recognized for their accomplishments.

As quickly as the good mood between the two appeared it soured with the mention of thralls. Sitting herself back up Azadi's legs curled back into her sides as she visibly retreated back into her shell. Her expression hardened as her eyes lowered to the ground. "You would not be the first to think my flattery as a good reason for slavery. Certainly you could have a prize for a period, but I refuse to kept as a pet." A sneer followed closely behind her remark. She knew she was getting offended over a small joke, it was a sensitive subject that Sabia had no way of knowing anything about.

Yet...she could not help herself. The wounds were still far too fresh both in her mind and on her body to treat the prospect of being a slave again with any humor. She had no intention of falling back into that lifestyle. Either she would die fighting for her freedom or she would find herself adding to her personal kill tally.

Running a paw through her short tuff of hair she let out a sigh. "Once I'm able to I definitely will be seeking out Captain Zjarri`fol, hopefully she will be in the same agreement about the abilities I could bring to the table as you."

"I'll kill you, but not today."

She was amused by the way the phrase had been used. "Precisley right." Her response was filled with a chuckle that served as her confirmation of amusement. "Glad that we are on the same page today then." She nodded and allowed herself a moment to close her eyes and inhale deeply, the process relaxed her and she opened her eyes as she sighed softly. When her eyes opened she looked to Azadi who had made her point concrete by dropping into a comfy position. The new look made Sabia smile fondly.

"You'd make a fine Bard, Azadi. Dramatic enough to be telling stories to just about anyone." The crimson lioness had took to laughing once more while she spoke as she admired the lioness draped against the rock. "I'll remember this.. dishonor lives on forever." She smirked and reached down to knock her shoulder a touch. It was a terrible thing that she couldn't simply adopt the lioness - Azadi seemed cut from the same cloth.

Golden eyes had stared ahead briefly and then slowly returned to the lioness as their laughter subsided onto more serious topics. "No." She replied coolly. "Though I hadn't been here through most of it I understand that historically the pride hadn't been so free with females. It's not that they were treated poorly perse, but they weren't allowed to hold ranks above Freeborn." Her nose crinkled quite a bit. "Imagine being below males." She snorted.

But the conversation had already be going that way.

Sabia`deimos hadn't read the situation correctly and in all of her time as a lioness among the Stormborn, or even among the roguelands, she had never been talked to in such a way. She stood, slowly at first, then quickly moved to leap from the rock. A violent snort and a rumble confirmed that she was displeased. "You dare to think that you'd be able to fight your way from being a Thrall, Azadi?" Golden eyes narrowed, but she had chosen to seat herself before the lioness - the adornments often spoke for themselves, but now she included her narrowed eyes and a deepening of her voice.

She wouldn't be verbally assaulted - her Father had beaten that chance away years ago.

Then the tables had turned and it seemed Azadi had come out of whatever was ailing her. "I'm sure she will." Sabia found herself writhing with anger, but she managed to keep it form boiling over again - she felt for whomever decided today was the day they wanted to join the pride.