Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kanoni's ears perked up as she heard her Queen call out a greeting. She returned a quieter squeal as her own greeting. After all, it would not do to be louder than ones Queen, and as she was fairly low ranking and fairly new, Kanoni was very careful to observe social rank, at least with the Queen.

She rose to her feet from where she had been lounging in the dust. She stood almost statue still, save for the gentle swishing of her ears. Her head was held not up, but not exactly down either, and she kept her tail low.

It was good to be in a clan again. And this would be a good clan. They were strong, their Queen was strong.

"Will you have Ladyships accompanying you on this run as well?" Kanoni inquired. It seemed likely, there weren't enough baronesses yet to have just them accompanying the Queen, but it never hurt to be clear and sure of what Uchawi wanted.

Kanoni was impressed though. She had been in one clan before this one, a long time ago, and her old Queen had never thought to keep a particular herd in their territory. It was quite an ingenious idea, and even if it didn't work this time, it would surely work again the next time, or the time after that. In all honesty though, she rather suspected her old Queen had not been very smart which had certainly attributed to what had happened to her clan, but that was another time and another life.

She hoped she would be included in this run, Kanoni liked to run. She was glad that while there were still fewer high ranking hyena's she would be doing some of their duties, like perimeter running and such.

Iah's ears twitched when he heard his queen call a greeting to the clan. He lifted his head up, from where he was lying in the dust, and responded, before laying it back on his paws. He was in a position where he could see most of the clan, and, as he looked at them, was glad that he had, after striking out on his own, joined this small, yet strong, clan.

He watched the queen as she explained her findings, knowing that she wouldn't lead the clan astray. He could tell that there was nothing to worry about, and knew that, at least for now, everything would be calm among their clan.

Teska yawned slightly and opened her eyes from her nap when she heard Uchawi's call. She wrinkled her muzzle slightly and got up shaking off. Her leg was healed and was better now so she was able to go where ever her queen needed her. She trotted slowly towards the place where she heard the call. She was looking forward to fighting, she wanted a good tussle and was aching for some sort of patrol. Teska breathed in the scents of the others as she got closer and made a mental note of their scents so that she could pick them up quickly if she needed to anywhere and know not to kill anyone on accident, that was in her own clan anyways.

She pushed her way closer, although she was a teenager to most hyena standards, she had been in numerous battles, especially when she was on her own and had learned how to put up with a lot of odd situations that were unfamiliar to her and may even be a bit scary to her at that time. She was intellegent though and could make quick judgement and remember certian strategies so that she could get out of situations like it later. She stood completely still, her muscles settling like rock, something she learned to do long ago to outsmart prey and predator alike. Her ability to stay completely still had saved her life on numerous occasions.

Teska rarely said anything unless it was really important to be said. She never had much company, even the cubs in her old clan shunned her. Social contact and interaction was foreign territory for her because of that, so she had learned to not say a word and blend into the scenery. Another cause of this is that she now has trouble learning to trust other hyena, so it takes a while for her to warm up to other hyena. She cackled softly letting the Queen know she was now among the ranks and remained completely still waiting for an order or something else. Only her eyes moved across the other hyenas wondering what rank they were and why they stayed here.

So we will be hunting. she thought and a morbid smile played across her muzzle.

Teska blinked slightly and then stiffened when she realised it was herself that was being talked to. The blue jay looking hyena approached her and she stood her ground her amberish eyes locked onto her every move making, grading them and making sure that she wasn't any harm. Any false move that the hyena made and Teska would be on her in a flash, defending herself so that she would be alright. She knew that if the other hyena made first move, she would be dead.

The hyena began to speak to her and Teska's ears perked forward slightly, her rigid stance was showing that she was giving her full attention to the older hyena, and that she wasn't simply ignoring her. Teska had learned long ago it was absolutely necessary that she would be respecting to the older hyena, that way if she was ever in trouble, they were more likely to help her. Now this didn't mean that she was a suckup, she just had a tendency to do what she was told by them without a word. She was extremely silent and studied the hyena, her eyes showing a wiseness way before her time.

After the hyena, who introduced herself as Kanoni, sniffed her she sniffed back and then lowered her stance into what looked like a respectful bow. " My name is Teska." She said softly, her voice sounding like she hadn't spoken a word in years; a quiet shy sound. That was all she said to Kanoni, but she shifted her stance to be a bit more relaxed, although unless you were really looking at her, you wouldn't even see the change. She felt a bit comfortable with Kanoni which was not normal when she first met someone, but Teska felt that she knew Kanoni from somewhere. Letting out a small sigh she looked at Kanoni again, her muzzle pulling into a shy smile. An act she put on because she didn't want other hyena to know she just wanted to be quiet. Teska was far from being shy.

Teska remains standing and at full attention to the hyena in front of her. She had learned never to take her eyes off a potential threat the hard way and because of that, she didn't trust anyone now. At least not at first. So far, Kanoni hadn't done anything that seemed way to far out of the ballpark for Teska to start feeling a bit nervous around her. However, at the first odd momvent, Teska would attack or she would run. She wasn't sure of this hyena's strength yet, and Teska was still growing so she didn't want to get into too bad of a tangle.

At Kanoni's sudden movment of her head, Teska started and then regained her composure. Her lips had curled back into a snarl when she started and it was taking her a bit of time to relax and get out of attack mode. Looking at Kanoni, she had thought that Kanoni was trying to bite her or hurt her when she brought her head down, so naturally she had gotten ready to defend herself, but then she realised that Kanoni wasn't doing to do anything to her. Teska nods at her suggestion but says nothing at all, waiting for Kanoni to move so that Teska could follow.

When Kanoni moved again to crack her back, Teska started even worse than she did the first time. She arched her body low and her fur and mane bristled, a low growl curling out of her lips, before she realised that Kanoni was stretching and was not trying to take a chunk out of her. Sighing with relief and with a bit of embarassment at how untrustworthy she was of other hyena she grinned sheepishly, the grin looking odd placed on her scarred muzzle. She was showing no sign of fatigue even though she had been sleeping only a bit before, and was hiding every bit of it with her acting. A hyena being on it's own for such a long time must learn how to appear strong and fearsome so that other predators didn't try to make a quick meal out of them.

Teska grinned a bit more relaxed now and nodded slowly again. Hunting sounded very good to her at this point, and it may help her bond to Kanoni a bit more.

Teska blinked at the hyena and saw the look within her eyes was showing a mutual understand that her starting was okay for now. Kanoni most likely didn't want it to continue when they got to know each other a lot better and so Teska would try and be a bit more relaxed around her. Although they may come to be friends, it was almost a guarentee that Teska would be the same way then. After all, her best friends had betrayed her and had pushed her out of her clan to die. So therefore, she could trust no one, and it would probably take a very long time for her to forget what had happened in the past.

Teska had also wanted to go out for a hunt, but she also knew that there was no going against the queen. Smiling grimly, she said nothing but her muscles twitched with anxiety and she wanted to get it out by maming something and she wanted it to be big. Eyeing Kanoni, she knew that she shouldn't attack her, she was being so kind to Teska, and this was new to her. She didn't want to harm the only hyena that was being kind to her. Licking a canine she closed her mouth and watched Kanoni's movements carefully.

Teska's ears flicked forward and then back, her body still in that rigid stance, like her muscles had concrete in them so that when she stood the stone came together and caused the movements to be rough. She was only this way at this point because it was her trained stance, and also because she wasn't sure if she trusted this hyena, so she tensed up in nervousness so that she would be ready to attack, or guard should this hyena turn her fangs on Teska.

Kanoni mentioned a snack to Teska and watched the wink with confusion. She had never seen a wink before so she was a bit confused at what it meant, but when Kanoni took off, Teska loosened her muscles and started off at a hopping walk. Her leg was recovered, although her muscle still wasn't so as she moved yp into a trot, her trot was marked with a clear and sharp limp. Despite of the limp, she was quiet on her feet and was still able to keep up with Kanoni, careful not to get in front of Kanoni, to make sure she didn;t get attacked. She also kept a watchful eye behind her and on the sides of her to make sure Kanoni wasn't leading her into an ambush.