"I'm tired," whined the golden pup as she slowly walked behind the two-legged man. Her nose was low to the ground as he turned around to peer at her practically limping with a belly close to the ground. Without a way to carry the boar meat around with them so they had taken what they needed the day after for a breakfast and made sure it was a large one. The best he could have done was wrap some with him in a leather satchel he had scavenged from the large town. She was clearly hungry though the way her belly hung low and her tongue lolled without it's familiar smile. Gale almost whined as he looked at the poor girl child, her hunger easily seen on her face. The chances of finding another boar or even something big was out of the question, and it was unlikely he'd win against anything bigger than the juvenile wild pig he had managed to kill.

"I'm tired," she whined again, stopping as she peered up at her caretaker. He turned about and crouched down beside her, picking her up into his arms. She didn't protest, tired as she was as she hung in his arms, paws hanging over his arms as she stared at the greenery pass them by. With his long strides it was easier to cover land, and that was something he was glad for. But he was not trained for long distances at all, and it was not something his burning thighs and calves seemed to appreciate. "We'll stop soon, cara mia," he said softly, finding them a nook of closely pressed together stone that blocked out the breeze. It was a nice change of pace to the empty hills and mountains he was used to. It could even be beautiful.

Gale held Yvette in his arm as he used his free one to lay down the lion skin cloak and then lay her down on it. She lay, sprawled out with her limbs akimbo. "I'll.. I'll have to go look for something to eat. Stay here and stay quiet, alright, bambina?" But he didn't know where to begin on this grassland with nothing around him to find. Rabbits were not his forte and he rose, a golden tree in the sea of green.

Sounds good!

He knew that he would have to find her some food before long. He was not sure of how he was supposed to go about taking care of a young child when all he knew was blood and battle and the grip of fear at the prospect of death. But he seemed to manage fine; neither one of them had their ribs sticking out and they both had a normal sheen to their golden pelts which meant they had to be healthy. Yvette was growing fast and she needed food more often than he did, full grown as he was. And he knew she would keep on needing food more often than he until she finished her growth. By then, he hoped, they would find themselves at home so they would not risk starving slowly and making rations last longer than they ought to.

Gale picked up his spear, feeling the smoothed wood beneath his fingers as he checked the point to see if it were sharp enough. It still had a point, not sharp enough to puncture his prodding fingers but enough to pierce flesh with enough force. He stood staring around him, trying to figure out where he ought to head to find a herd or something else. Then he saw the woman as she called out to him. His hand was gripped on his spear in defense and he noticed the one by her legs. He adjusted his grip on it and stuck the butt of it on the ground. "Fine," he said simply, wary of a stranger but still happy to see someone nearby with something that smelled fairly good on the back of her equine. "But my daughter and I have been hungry and I don't know these lands. Would you think about helping some poor viatores?"

His lips tightened at the thought of divulging information that may wind up hurting him in the long run. He did not know what harm it could do so far from the only home he had known, but he also remembered the repercussions his words could bring when spoken unwisely. Gale nodded as the woman dismounted, not much shorter than himself. He peered at her, marveled at the darkness surrounding her, but saw the spear safely secured against her mount and relaxed. The men and women of the clan that controlled their lives had a tendencies to run on the darker side, but perhaps that was simply their breed. He and his sister had been brightly colored, and as he recalled, so had their mother. She had been a white gold tone, but his memory could be old that he had added a glow to it. His father was not dark either but his family had a much more varied selection of colors.

Gale nodded to the woman and turned back to the rock, sweeping around it to gaze down at his niece. She looked up sleepily from the lion's pelt, evergreen eyes tired as she huffed. "Food?" she asked and the man nodded, his smile heavy. "Soon, amorita." She dropped her head but a happy smile had spread across her face. Gale returned to face the dark woman as she spoke of her food and he nodded quickly, rushing to pull together dried grasses and bundles of twigs in a nook of the boulders and stones. "Warm meat is always good to a hungry belly," he said, though he did not often eat his meat raw. Then, he gestured to the girl laying quietly on the pelt.

"Yvette, this woman is going to get you something to eat," he said gently, looking at the woman imploringly. He would trust her, but he also believed in the goodness in people's hearts, despite the evidence to the contrary he had seen in Rome. "I am Gale and this is my daughter, Yvette."

Yvette silently watched the woman do her work, her growling belly making her bolder with a stranger than she normally was. She sniffed and then panted, drool slipping off her lolling tongue. Gale watched the young girl nose toward the large dark woman with hunger in her eyes and felt so guilty for his inability to properly feed her as he would have liked. But what could he do without help? And thankfully, this stranger had come along to help him and his niece, who he had vowed to keep safe and sound for his sister's memory.

The woman gestured to the lion's pelt and the man's brows furrowed as he thought. He could not tell her that he had fought for others' pleasure and had almost died for it. He smiled as best as he could as he fed more sticks and twigs into the crackling little flame. "Lion. Lion pelt. Live in Africa, out on the savannah." He was not sure where in the world that was, but he knew it was south of Rome and across the Mediterranean. Broad hands gestured to the marks on his chest from the lion's claws. "Fought him and won, though he tried as hard as me to live. Then I got his skin as a reward." He knew that he and that lion could have been comrades, if not for both of their status's in the world. Gale was a slave who fought, and the lion was a prisoner captured to kill.

Gale looked at the woman, watching her butcher the meat. "Are you from a nearby pack?" he asked lightly, unaware of the woman's nefarious background.

Siv asked the expected questions, which Gale did not know how to answer with skill that would lead her away from further questions about himself. He stared at the fire for a moment, knowing the pregnant pause was more than enough to condemn him. The fire crackled as he stared at it, though the flames gave him no enlightened solution. "No one, I fought for myself," he answered eventually, his words slow as he fought back the memories of men he had killed, the jeering faces of the spectators, and the cruel blows of his training masters. If they left scars, he would have them all across his back. Instead, they gave only bruises and broken bones to punish. Scars were won and worn proudly. The lion's scars were proof of that. "There were rings for fighting, in London." He did not like lying, it was against his nature. But he refused to risk being sent back to them, back to his hell.

The woman prepared the meat, and Gale saw her rub something on the meat. Herbs? Oh, what herbs there had to be here, that he had not yet tried yet. London had been a place of opportunities but for a poor family, there had been only a plot of land and hunting. Perhaps the woman would share some of her herbs with him. "Herbs?" he asked, his mood brightening slightly as he moved to join Yvette. "Would you be willing to part with a few samples?" He had nothing to part with but he wanted so badly to find a home. "This Kingdom of yours, what's it like," he asked further, hoping to switch the focus from himself.

Gale took the bag the woman offered and opened it up after a glance at her warm face. There was no malice there and he smiled in return. A deep inhale told him of the contents of the pouch, warming his nose from the new and familiar scents. "Most appreciated, I assure you, Domina." Gale set the pouch on the lion skin cloak, prompting Yvette to nudge at it with her nose. She sniffed, then turned away disinterested with a sneeze. Her focus was the meat that was making her belly growl more. He bowed over the fire and gestured to put the meat on the fire, on sticks if needed to keep them from burning. The memory of the boar rumbled in his belly as he peered at the meat, the hunger in his eye matching his niece's.

The woman continued on, and the man knew he was dealing with someone shrewd and clever. That made him nervous. He was not the best of thinkers, and his was a moment by moment logic. Gale was best at simple, quiet things like gardening and weaving, but he was better at fighting for his mind was strong in the moment and his body quick. Here, he struggled with trying to lie to the woman, to be clever. He knew he could not win against her, not if she was more clever than him - it was highly likely he could not lie forever. "Ah, no, no," he said absently, forgetting himself as he pulled open the pouch of herbs and pinched out a bit to put on his palm. "Not my first fight, but the first alone against something so strong." He sniffed the herbs, then recoiled at the unfamiliar scents. "The masters were trying to kill me," he added, then flinched at his words. Masters. That was not something he had meant to say. Gale prayed that she would assume the ring masters and not his slave owners. "You say you've seen other cats? What kinds are they?" he said quickly, wondering if he had seen those species before.

He believed she did not understand the gravity of his slip up. The woman passed him a drink from a leather skin. He eyed it, then sniffed cautiously. It was fruity, but it was not a familiar blend to him. As a gladiator he had drunk mead and ale and wine when water was hard to come by. Summer made it harder to get clean water and the old aqueducts were long since defunct. Gale was used to watered wine and this was something new. His aquamarine eyes peered at the dark woman before taking a drink from the skin. He did not give his niece any, for he knew that there was enough water here for her. Alcohol was not for someone as young as her. It was fruity and heavy as it slid down his throat. It sat rather thickly in his belly and he furrowed his brows. He returned the skin as things began to swim.

"Ah, leopards?" he asked, his words slurring slightly. Something was wrong as he slid against the boulder, eyes narrowing and brows furrowing. The dark woman was blurring in his sight began to fade in and out. Motion was different as he listened to her, half delirious. "W-wha..," he began, eyes jerking to Yvette who stared at her uncle in worry. The woman's features swam into his sight and he reached out a swimming hand to push away the woman and her words. "No.. own?" Gale knew what was happening but it was out of his control and he could not fight the drug in his system. "W-why..," he said finally, before slumping over silent.