Welcome to Gaia! ::

Dante had been enjoying a quiet, and exceptionally lazy morning with his lady-love until she felt the urge to run off on some private errand or another. Who knew what the female was up to, now? So, left to his own devices until she returned, Dante had taken it upon himself to explore the area that they would be spending the night in. It could not hurt to learn the lay of the land, or figure out whether or not there were any other 'giet in the area.

In fact, his ears had just picked up a very distinct sound - that of a child's tears. Alarmed and curious, the great male hastened toward the sound. It was not long before he spotted the source of the tears. The child's fur stood out like a brilliant beacon amidst the tall grass. He approached the kip slowly, so as not to startle her.

"There, there, little one. There's no need for tears. What's wrong?"

"There, now. Let's see." He lowered his head and inspected the pro-offered appendage, first checking for blood, then nudging it to make sure nothing was broken.

"Well, now. That's not so bad. No broken bones. No blood. I'd say you've gotten out of it with nothing worse than a bruise. Not to scoff at bruises, of course. They can be most uncomfortable. But I think you'll make it." He winked at her and backed up a little, settling on his haunches.

"Lucky you are, though. The might warrior-king Hagar once sprained his tail. He couldn't sit down for half a month, and let me tell you: it's rather difficult to appear fierce and dignified when you can't even sit upon your own throne." He smiled at the kip, his own tail twitching in amusement.

Dante's smile widened at her question. Regardless of the truth, the minstrel was not above re-writing history for the sake of little girls.

"Oh, yes. He was practicing with his guards when he fell straight on his behind." No. He saw no reason to attempt to salvage the king's dignity. After all, he was more or a tyrant than a leader, and he was ancient history, regardless.

"I'm afraid I don't, little one," he replied. "But I'm sure we will find her." How, exactly, they were going to do that was another matter. Naturally, he wanted to return the kip to her mother, but be was not very keen on the idea of embarking on that journey without Samhain. He had only just found her. Of a certainty, he was in no hurry to lose her.

Ah, but he was getting ahead of himself. First, he needed more information.

"When was the last time you saw your mother?"

Sam found her way back to the clearing she and Dante had slept in the night before. To her surprise, he was not there. She sniffed around and found his scent. Where could he have gotten to?, she wondered. She had only been gone a couple of hours, making her way up to see Lune and tell her about Dante. Lune had her hands so full these days with the kips that it was rare for her to see her friend. Heh, friend. That's new. She remembered when Lune was a literne and used to drive her up the wall.....

She shook herself out of her revere and found Dante's scent, following it through to the clearing where she could see his dark handsome form. What was he doing? She could hear his voice, but couldn't see the small one as she was blocked from view by Dante's large form. Who was he talking to? Himself? Well he was a minstrel, so she supposed he could be talking to himself.... She stalked up behind him silently and was about to pounce when she heard the little kip's voice. She walked around Dante to spot the almost painfully bright kip. "Who is this?" she asked, making an effort to be kind, as the kip seemed to be crying, and looking at Dante for the answer.

Nia looked up at the dark female, her eyes wide with surprise, where had she come from? She was scary, although the kind look on her face made Nia relax a little, she was still scared of her. "Y-yes, my mama's name is Sumitra.... Sumi..." She looked back to Dante, his kind face giving her comfort and then back to Sam. "I'm Nia....." She wanted to ask the lady's name but was too afraid to and looked back at Dante.

Curious as to what could rile his lady so, Dante eyed her speculatively. Of course, given her rather...abrasive personality, it could be just about anything. In fact, there might be nothing wrong with the female, at all. Well, he was sure to find out sooner or later. For now, he had a kip to mind.

"Nia? What a lovely name. And Samhain knows your mama. I'm sure we'll find her in no time at all." He turned back to Sam. "It sounds as though she got separated from her mother not too long ago, so this Sumitra should be in the area. Probably worried out of her mind. Shall we, my love? You do know her scent."