Upon arrival to the Helleborus territory, she was hit with a strong but intriguing smell. She didn't have anywhere to be, so she decided to check it out. She followed the scent to a flower placed on a riverbed. As she approached, she realized it seemed to be placed there on purpose. She studied it, wondering why it was placed there, or even plucked from the ground in the first place. After a short while, she got bored and turned around to leave. Since she was so focused on the out-of-place flower, she didn't hear Sonya approaching. When Sonya said hello, it startled her quite a bit, and she stumbled backwards into the river -- but only her back paw got wet. She shrieked and quickly turned red with embarrassment. She was almost at a loss for words, but she managed to stutter, "A-are you the only one that saw-- er,, heard that?"
Sonya saw that she was obviously embarrassed, so she simply replied, "It's alright, no other lions are around, just me." Then she whispered, "and I won't ever tell anyone about it."
Sadie sighed with relief, "So... it never happened?"
"Never happened."
Later, Sadie humbly asked if she could join Sonya, and she accepted her almost right away. Sonya asked if she'd like to be her healer-in-training (deputy) but Sadie politely refused, "I would love to! ... but ... I can barely tell the difference between a stick and a snake..." Sonya giggled, "That's too bad.." Sadie poked her, but started to giggle as well. More jokes and giggles arose, as the sun descended to touch the water that had been so daintily touched before.
The next day and so forth they kept joking and playing with each other, safely away from the water of course. And at the end of the week, they had grown so close that they both agreed that they felt like they had just discovered their long lost best friend.
Even though Sadie still had the moment engraved in her head, whenever she looks back on it, she does remember the embarrassment, but also all the kicks and giggles they shared as well.
(356 words)
