Of Lions and Lambs

Some months after the attack by the Axum Lion folk on the palace, Sage had decided it was time to go out and see the world, after having built up Puntland into the regional powerhouse. Metal refineries were now churning out steel of higher quality than the EU could manage, at early 90s China costs. Thanks to the presence of scholar clerics, a lost civilization had been found, and clues were naturally, to be found in ancient Axum.

Forgoing an escort, Sage had instead opted for familiar company and made the journey in her animated carriage. Or rather, several carriages, of large and luxurious (naturally) design that resembled American RV’s, carrying obscenely large amounts of water and other supplies. (Sage liked to take a hot tub dip each night watching the stars). Pulled by a coterie of a dozen mechanical horses, the ride was a smooth and steady experience, complete with animated servants serving fruit smoothies in the main lavishly appointed apartment carriage. Sage watched as the silver lion pendant they’d been supplied with tipped in one direction, guiding them deep into the desert. She sighed as the days passed, sipping her banana-mango smoothie.

The mechanical chef, who was attached to the kitchen area, was crushing some ice and blending fruits with his worrisomely large blades, when, the carriage would come to a halt at an Oasis. The pendant finally powered down, and Sage opened the doors of the carriage, the steps extending to let her disembark comfortably.

“Greetings and Welcome, Seneschal. The Tribe of Mufasa welcome you to our Oasis. Please, sit.” Three lion women armed with staves were the welcoming committee. These three were present at the attack, and had even personally crossed arms with them. Today, they were friends, or allies at best.

“And Greetings, Cleric Latara. I am honored by your gracious hospitality.” Sage responded, acknowledging the spread of wild fruit and freshly killed and roasting game- zebra, antelope, even crocodile – they were skinned, prepared and garnished as fine meals for their guests. A large stone slab, flattened out and smoothed, served as a large dining table, while bowls of wood lined with banana leaf serve as the sole utensil. The meal would begin with a type of seaweed garnished with strong vinegar, onions and tomato, as a salad, while pots of strong, wild fruit wines were poured in ancient goblets as drink.

well, this was unexpected then again so was a dragon lady asking you to go camping with her. so meeting big talking kitty for lunch would sound more normal then.

Jeannie was quite happy to see Sage and no big bugs this time. the robot carriage thingy, she was curious where Sage got so many robots from even the ponys were robots. dnd logic suggests gnomes and dwarfs were involved as they make stuff, yeah and they'd make stuff for dragons if they didn't want to be eaten.

Jeannie's mouth watered as she smelled the meal and the kitties, the air was felled with all kinds of smells.
she looked curiously at the wild assortment was some of these critters even food? well, meat is meat she guessed.

Thanks for the snacks kitty ladys she goes about tying the foods, and watching sage, and the one she guessed was the boss kitty.  talk cleric? so you can do magic? neat I like magic, huh too bad Dabby isn't here. she's our friend that's a witch so she might be interested in kitty magic she turns her attention to sage so besides having lunch with kittys what are we up to? Are we going to go to kitty village and meet the elder kitty who sends us to find some lost treasure or something? Jeannie is surprised the random animals the kittys made were taster than you'd think they could be, crocodile definitely didn't look yummy.

Huh we could make a jungle pizza with all these yummy meats. probably a good burger too she ponders on the idea of writing a jungle cookbook while they were here.

In several interviews Alexis had gone through, she had been asked a simple question: 'What's your greatest strength?', followed shortly thereafter by 'What's your greatest weakness?'.

Alexis would always answer them both the same way, 'My ability to multitask,' followed shortly thereafter by, 'My inability to stop'.

Indeed, in the grand tradition of working parents and professionals that had completely thrown out all notion of work-life balance, Alexis was using the long carriage ride to catch up on work. She had a satellite phone connected to her ever present laptop, and was even now typing away at a speed dizzying to watch.

Recent manifestations of her power, in addition to her amazon-like physique and need for far less sleep, was the ability to 'pre-book' time temporally and co-locate between various projects. She could literally multitask so hard she broke the boundaries of space and time.

This had the downside that her 'present' self was sometimes booked for other appointments at other places and times. If left idle too long, she would simply cease to exist in one place and reappear at another, more pressing time.

This meant that vacations were not something she could, strictly speaking, do.

Thus the Sage's invitation was met with almost joyous acceptance. Due to the fact it was a work function, Alexis could remain in place so long as she kept up a normal work routine. She could chat pleasantly with Jeannine and have intellectual discussions with her sworn sister Niao, and leave some of the stress behind.

Even her role here as Niao's attache was her way of keeping herself affixed in space time. She took care of every preparation she was able to, as a matter of necessity rather than actually being productive.

Ever at the Sage's elbow, she picked at the food with little enthusiasm. Lately, her diet had consisted mostly of coffee and protein bars, and she found her appetite had suffered as a result. Alexis felt vaguely nauseous half the time, as if her stress had come alive and was even now eating her from the inside.

June said she needed to meditate and indulge in more self-care. Every time Alexis closed her eyes even for a moment she was whisked off to some other problem. Frankly, being here was nice after all that.