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How could she be so stupid? That was probably the onlu coherant thought running through Akasha's panicked mind. She scrambled to get a better hold on the rock that was probably the only thing keeping her from falling to her death. She glanced downward and immediately wished she hadn't. It would be a long drop and a very sudden stop.

Then, as if her prayers had been answered, she heard a voice and when she looked up she saw Zemar peering over the edge at her. She wanted to reply with a sarcastic comment when he asked her about knowing how dangerous it was around this time of year, she'd never visited during this season, but held her tongue. Zemar, een though she was pretty sure he didn't like her, would help her right? Or would he just leave her to her fate.

To her relief a few seconds later he lowered himself carefully over the side of the gorge and down towards her. He hldout his paw for her and told her to take it ifshe wanted to live, which she did. She lifted one paw an immediately slid back with a yelp of fear. She reached frward but she couldn't quite reach Zemar's.

Zemar noticed that it was abit harder for her to reach out, he lowered himself abit more and almost slipped as he held out his paw to her. He streched out alittle more and gripped her paw tightly" Alright now i want you to trust me, I need you to use your other paw and grip the rock above you"

He knew she probably thought he was crazy" Don't you worry i promise you won't fall i've got you okay" He gripped the rock with his other paw tightly and grabbed her paw alittle tighter to make sure she wouldn't fall" Trust me for now and when we are at the top you won't have to trust me again"

Zemar shifted down and grabbed her paw, it took nearly all of Akasha's self-restraint not to yell for joy. Zemar wouldn't let her fall, even though he didn't like her and she'd done a good job of chewing him out the night before, she was confident of that fact. Then he ruined it when he opened his mouth and said what she had to do next.

"W-What?!"

Was he crazy? Another glance down at the sheer drop that awaited if Zemar let go or she lost her grip was truly frightening. Her eyes then went to the rock in question, it would require a jump to reach. Was Zemar right in the head? She squashed this thought down, she wanted to live another day and that meant she had to trust Zemar's judgment.

"Ok! Ok! I'll try." she said when he tried to reassure her.

Her back legs scrambled for a good foothold on the rock, her dark blue eyes fixed on the rock and then she closed her eyes, prayed to whatever deity would listen and jumpped. She launched herself through the air and just about managed to grab the rock and haul herself onto it. The rock she had been clinging to previously gave way and fell, the sound of it hitting the ground reverberated through the gorge.

Zemar smiled alittle and nodded" Good okay your doing fine.." He used his other paw to help lift himself up slightly. He felt the rock crumble abit under his weight but helped her get up alittle bit higher towards the top before letting go and grabbing on to another rock quickly before he fell.

Zemar sighed" Okay now do it again grab a stable rock infront of you and lift yourself up.. your almost at the top so just trust me and do it"

Akasha gave a nod at Zemar's words, he had managed to get them this far without dying so she was just going t trust what he said and do it without questioning him. She reachd up and tested the rock with her paws and, when it didn't give way, pulled herself onto it.

She looked up, they had only a little further to go and then they'd be out. Her eyes then darted to Zemar...he'd risked his life trying to help her...and she'd been horrible to him the previous night when they'd first met. Guilt began to well up in the lioness but she pushed this down, she could apologize when they were safely out of the gorge.

"Thank you." she said softly.

Zemar chuckled abit" Don't thank me untill were out of here first" Zemar launched himself up and grabbed the ledge of the gorge making sure it didn't crumble under his paws. He smiled and looked down at Akasha" Alright one more time and then you'll be at the top with no problems okay..?"

Zemar gripped her paw alittle tighter and helped nudge her up more towards the ledge of the gorge" Come on you can do it Akasha"

Zemar's words gave Akasha the encouragement she needed to reach up to the ledge and pull herself out of the gorge. She peered over the edge again, almost in shock of what had just happened. It seemed almost ridiculous that she had managed to get herself into that predicament.

Her eyes then turned to Zemar...he had saved her. Even though she had been horrible to him the previous night...he had still helped her.

Zemar grunted as he lifted himself over the larger rock and pulled himself up to the ledge. He sighed and looked over at Akasha" What do you say we get away from the edge before you fall over again.." He started to move up ahead but stopped and looked back at her" Your alright enough to move aren't you..?"

Akasha nodded numbly at Zemar's questions and pushed herself shakily to her paws. Her mind was consumed by what had just happened, the full weight of what had almost happened had crashed down on her...she could have died.

Her eyes flicked from her paws to Zemar. The lion had risked his own neck to save her, she wasn't sure she deserved that, perhaps she had been wrong about him.

"You saved me." she said "Thank you...I didn't think you'd want to after..." she trailed off.

Zemar stared at her" After the fight we had yesterday.." He shrugged" Weather or not i was mad about it wasn't the point" He sighed as he looked away" you were in trouble.. so I helped you.. Im not shallow sure i don't like Enzi and probably wouldn't have helped him had he been in your posistion but.. i won't let a female die because of an arguement..and besides you only said what was on your mind."

He moved away from the edge" You had every right to get mad at me just as much as everyone else did but i cannot change what has been done so i accept my punishment even if i feel it isnt worth it." He chuckled" Anyway your welcome..so where were you going anyway..?"

Zemar's explaination only succeeded in making Akasha feel even worse about her tirade "Whether I was speaking my mind or not...it was still wrong of me...I don't even know you that well. I'm very grateful for your help. I really am...so I'm sorry about last night. I tend to jump to conclusions about people."

Akasha's eyes focused on her paws for a second and then Zemar changed the subject and asked her where she was supposed to be going.

"Home." Akasha answered with a whistful smile at the thought of the lush jungle "To the Waterside Pride."

Zemar's ears twitched" Waterside pride you say..?" He huffed" Enzi's sister is in the waterside pride..with the king adrian i think his name was.." He looked over at Akasha" Can you make it back okay on your own or would you like me to help you there too..?"

He chuckled" Most of the conclusions you jumped too were sort of right anyway so its fine i guess."

"Yeah, the Waterside Pride...I was born there." Akasha nodded but her look of happiness changed into one of confusion when Zemar seemed to know quite a bit about her pride...had he come across her pride before...she'd never met him before the previous night.

"Yeah, Shani is there and her mate's Adrian...do you know them?" she asked curiously "You can come if you want...it's just across the desert in a jungle...it's very different than the Pridelands."

Zemar looked at her as he started walking" I well when i was a cub i use to know Enzi not for very long but.. he told me about his siblings.. we weren't really friends but we were competitive so we were always fighting over something."
His ears lowered abit" Then we both met Jia and well it was way worse i was always trying to get her attention but she was more focused on Enzi which got me angry.."

He sighed" We would constantly fight even more then usual and his sisters Dafira and Shani had constantly defended him but Shani was nice to me sometimes, she knew i liked her and felt bad for me but she also heard about what i did to her brother so she's gonna be hating me for awhile."

Akasha listened to Zemar with a tight frown. She knew he had loved Jia, he still loves her, and it was becoming harder and harder to pin any real blame on Zemar...he was doing what he thought would make Jia love him. Could she really blame him for that? Granted, his method wasn't a very good way to go about it.

"That must be hard. I've never really been in love so I can't really say much but I know Jia loves you enough that she didn't want you to be exiled...she might not love you but you are her friend....and if you want...you could come with me...meet up with Shani again. I'm sure she'd be happy to see you."