Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ciro approached the WarLord's den, giving the guards at the entrance a look. "She is expecting me." The Captain grunted, rolling his eyes at the looks the guards gave him. "Time is of the essence, so if you two would be so kind," he growled warningly, before taking a step into the den. "Warlord Zjarri," he greeted.

"She has arranged to meet near the edge of the pride, by the cliffs. Would you care to accompany me to her?" Ciro did not state a name, nor the domain of the goddess. That was up for Ngaule to decide if she wished to offer to the chieftain. Ciro was just glad the goddess had accepted his word, and chose to meet under the stipulations of it just being the warlord.

"I don't know how long she is willing to wait, so we might want to make haste." Ciro said quietly, turning to exit the den.

He gave a smirk to the patrol out front. "Don't worry boys, I'll take good care of her." Was his remark with an eye roll, glancing towards the blue lioness to see if she was following.

The goddess of survival took a deep breath, releasing it as a quiet sigh. Quietly she made her way to the edges of the stormborn land, trodding on light paws toward the cliffs where Ciro had asked her to wait. She had not wished to reveal herself, even now still appearing as a mortal lioness, her wings and antlers hidden.

It was not that she feared the lions of the pride, or that she thought they might fear her. It was however much easier to move among them as mortal, to quietly help those who needed her without them knowing why they suddenly felt a renewed sense to fight on, a strengthened refusal to give in to the famine. Had they known who she was and what she had done, she feared she would never find rest or peace again.

Ngaule had reached the cliffs before Ciro or the warlord. For a moment she settled on her haunches, tail flicking at her paws, and then she was on her paws again, pacing one way and then the other. She was not certain she was prepared to reveal herself, even to the warlord of the pride. Why had she let Ciro talk her into this?

Her words earned her a 'har har' look from her companion that accented the hufff beautifully. Zjarri could only laugh at his reaction.

Zjarri followed him without question, nor hesitation. Now they were at the mercy of the 'shy' goddess. She wouldn't tempt fate by questioning the choices of one of her Captains in this instance. "Don't fret." She encouraged him along with a small glance beyond his shoulder. Meetings with gods, at least from her experience, were always timed well or at least hidden. Though she recalled a certain god that could barely fit his enlarged bottom through her den entrance. If the situation hadn't been such a serious one she would have laughed at the memory.

But she couldn't. Before she knew it they were upon the cliffs, familiar territory - no matter how far he had taken her. These edges had coaxed and tempted many the young cub that she had seen. One of them being herself. She hung her eager head over it to see the depth of the plunge, her braid swinging wildly against the breeze that splashed wave upon wave against the stone wall. It's power was admirable. She sought to be those waves, but had on multiply ocassions wondered if she was instead a puddle.

"She appears as a mortal." The mortal guise was of no surprise to Zjarri. She recalled the first time she had met a god, the god in her life, and he too had sought to keep himself hidden. She wouldn't blame the deity if she remained in that form for most or all of their conversation. Of course, the whole issue of trust would be swept aside at a glimpse of her true form.

"Welcome to the Myrsky Syntynyt."

Zjarri'fol composed her tone and stride as the political figure she was. The welcome was passed due, by who knew how many moons, but she would make it nonethless. "You have nothing to worry about." She chose her words wisely, though she wanted to say 'fear' she had a feeling that keeping her identity hidden had nothing to do with fear. Not on this ocassion. "I have to keep many secrets, and so long as they do not hurt my home then we have nothing to gain from sharing yours." The lioness seated herself so that a small distance remained between them.

"Rumor has it you may be able to offer some insight to our current situation." She raised a paw and swept her braid from her face and let it rest of her shoulder, which she rolled absentmindedly. The action caused a small pop and she sighed lightly.

Ciro didn't blame Ngaule for appearing mortal. He would probably do the same if he was in her spot.

The Stormborn captain nodded towards the deity, before taking a step back to allow the Warlord to speak. He remained off to the side, an ear flickering as Zjarri spoke. No introduction? He couldn't help but smirk as the dark chieftain got straight to business. His golden eyes flickered towards Ngaule to see if she had noticed. It seemed she hadn't.

Good.

Gods could be funny creatures. If you were to disrespect one, surely they had ways to make sure you didn't do it again. Ciro's thoughts drifted to all the 'mortals' he had spoken with, and if any now were deities in disguised. Had he disrespected them?

Ciro had never seen a god transform before his eyes. The ease of it just amazed him. He stared at Ngaule for a moment, mouth agape before regaining his composure. There was always a first for everything, wasn't there? Ciro just seemed to be experiencing those firsts a lot more lately.

"Do you know where this Famine is?" Ciro asked quietly to Ngaule.

Ngaule shot a glance at Ciro, a slight shake of her head. Were the situation not a serious one, she might have laughed at him. Oh Ciro, close your mouth, you look like a cub who just learned what girls are. It wasn't as if this was his first time seeing her as a goddess...

"I encountered him at night along the borders, he is called Jaddis god of famine.
He is stubborn and arrogant, and claims he is here to punish your pride. He suffers under the delusion that he has caused no death himself and did not seem troubled that he is harming the innocent or the other creatures who dwell in this land."

Her attention had focused on the warlord as she spoke, the flick of her tail growing more furious with each word. It seemed she was still angry at the stubborn god, it was not right to harm those who had done no wrong, to cause the needless suffering of children. This famine was unnatural, it violated the balance of nature, it was not his right to harm them!

"I tried to reason with him myself, he would not listen, but perhaps he will listen to you."

Maybe take a rock to knock some sense into him.

"I am sorry, I cannot stop him, and I cannot heal. I can only help your pride to find the strength to fight and survive. I will continue to offer the help I can until he has gone.

Something had certainly happened to bring out the famine. She didn't have to wrack her brain, nor did she have to fumble about with words. Her frustrations were growing, and had been bubbling over more recently. Zjarri'fol was finally close to a plan, close to discovering just how to bring about salvation for their pride.

Home might become comfortable again, that was the hope.

"I can't disagree with you there Ciro." There was no way she could. Many had been swayed towards death. She herself had heard the cries of her people and though she could do nothing to help them, she did what she could and would continue to do what she could. If that meant greater sacrifice.. well she would have to wait and see what happened.

Ngaule confirmed for her, something that Ciro had already said, the God would be at the border and hopefully available for confrontation. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of doing this on her own, but she hid that as best she could. A fool wouldn't be nervous to plan a meeting with a God.

"I'll see what I can do to find the source. If he's vengeful, then perhaps the sacrifice should be made." She was unsure of what type this God might be. Most weren't so involved in the day to day of mortals, so this was a whole entire beats of it's own. Finally she turned to Ngaule. "Thank you for the support you've provided our home." A gurgle of her stomach thwarted her moment, stealing from her the small bow she wanted to give the goddess.

"Should I go through Ciro again if I need to get in touch? Or will you be around?" Her eyes didn't lift from the goddess until she mentioned Ciro's name, to which she respectively looked towards him before turning back to the goddess.

Sacrifice? Ciro quirked an eyebrow at the comment. What sort of sacrifice would be needed? Hadn't their pride suffered enough at the paws of the unnatural famine.

The Captain watched the exchange before the two females, opting to take a step back from the two. His job really was done here, there was no need for him to stick around. He paused when Zjarri brought up the next question. He...really didn't know how to get in touch with Ngaule. He had only manage to stumble across her by chance. He glanced towards Ngaule, who was looking at the feather around his neck. Right the 'magic' feather. He had yet to use the trinket, and still didn't believe it actually would work.

"I plan on staying in the pride to help Njia watch over the kids until the brunt of this famine is gone." Ciro advised Zjarri. "So if you can't find Ngaule here just seek me out and I will assist." He explained.

He gave a small bow of his head to both the War Lord and the goddess. "If you ladies would excuse me," He said quietly. He was not needed anymore.

"I understand, please find me if you need my help."

Ngaule gave the lioness a respectful bow of her head. She truly hoped the god of famine would be reasonable, perhaps he would be more likely to listen to a mortal of the pride. She did not know what other measures the warlord may have been thinking of, but whatever they were she hoped they would not be necessary.

"I am sure we can meet again under better circumstances."

The goddess sighed, closing her eyes for a moment as her form shimmered once again. A moment later her wings and antlers had faded, returning to her mortal guise. She gave a last look to Ciro, a wish good night before she too moved on from the cliffs. She could not help the warlord any further for now, but there were others she could.