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Nala continued walking past Fauzi and out of the large spacious commons. Already she was unconsciously following the laid stone paths that connected the different areas of the shrine. Nala passed several more lounging lions and eventually found herself in a more secluded hollow. Like the one where she had eaten the foal with Mirembe, the main feature here was a low, carved stone shrine. The paved path ended and Nala considered continuing on into the wood proper. She considered continuing past the wood entirely and leaving this strange, heretical pride of lions to themselves.

Nala sat in the center of the hollow, regarding the shrine at the opposite end, tail flicking back and forth. "They do not honor the ancestors." Nala said quietly to herself after a time. Then she whispered, "They do not honor the ancestors." Nala looked at her feet.

How could such a basic disregard for the way in which the universe was organized have come to pass? What was it Fauzi had said? They believed that all things possessed some vital spirit, not just lions and their prey in the Great Circle, but rocks and trees as well. To include lesser things and equate them with the mighty kings of old rankled, but Nala supposed this belief did not exclude the truth.

Nala stared at the shrine. If she looked hard enough, she thought she could imagine some of the shapes therein to resemble animals. Some of the shapes had four legs at least. But there was this bargaining. The kings in the sky were to be respected and it was assumed that they would have the best interests of their offspring in mind, but one did not have the presumption to ask boons of them. And more, there was this oracle business. Did Mirembe's mother suppose that she had it within her power to predict the future? Surely such power belonged only to the ancestors. To think mortals capable of such a thing was yet more conceit and presumption.

And yet... And yet, the idea was tempting in and of itself. Nala had never supposed that one might seek to adjust her own destiny or pact with the gods. Perhaps these spirits were of mind to grant boons to mortals. Though perhaps also they asked a price in return.

Well of course they did, Nala thought, she did not often consider helping strangers without some cause. But was it as simple as building and honoring these little shrines of stone and the bits of wood that hung and clacked in the air? There was more to consider as well. Just look at the state of this pride, large and all its members properly fed, even unto obesity. Then there was her pride, stricken with drought and starving. Which did the gods seem to favor?

"But that is Scar's fault." Muttered Nala, staring at the smooth stone ahead of her. "Not because we follow the Ancestors."

Breathing deeply and smoothly, Nala felt almost as if she were adrift in the river again. She was not a theologian. She certainly did not feel up to or worthy of the task of weighing and judging two different systems of belief. And maybe still, it was only the belief which mattered in the long run.

Nala's reverie was interrupted suddenly by quiet footsteps behind her. Without thinking, Nala sprang back and then forward at the shape entering the hollow from the path. The heavy weight of a full grown lioness met her paws and both of them stumbled and fell, Nala because of her starvation weakened body, the stranger because of surprise.

"Nala! Have you lost your mind?" shouted Uzuri, picking herself up from the dusty stones.

Nala clenched her paws, mortified. "I am so sorry, Uzuri. I didn't know it was you." The pridelander picked herself up as well, and helped the older lioness dust off her coat.

"I knew wild lions would have better reflexes, but I didn't even see you turn around. Do you often get ambushed?" Uzuri sounded more tickled than offended and relief flooded through Nala.

Nala shook her head without thinking. She apologized again and said, "I guess I'm still getting used to things around here."

Uzuri grinned and said nothing. It was something to say about being well fed and healthy that she was able to shake off being pounced and rolled to the ground in just a few steps. The lioness took a seat before the shrine, closer than Nala had been, and her tail invited the pridelander to sit beside her. Nala went and sat.

"I got out of Fauzi that you are of the old religion." Said Uzuri without premise after about a minute of silent contemplation.

Nala frowned, "I suppose I should have expected him to spread tales." Though this wasn't true, lions were expected to boast, but tale telling was more or less resigned to lionesses in Nala's experience.

But Uzuri waved a paw. "Hardly. I had to take him into a mbosho and twist his leg. I knew he was hiding something when I saw him take you off alone. I thought..." The lioness who was the eldest of the sisters Nala had seen so far, but still young, drew a breath, "But it does not matter what I thought."

Nala could guess, but she did not feel the urge to encourage speculations by talking about them. "I honestly did not know that there was any other way to believe until I got here. I did not know that belief in the ancestors might be considered... old."

Nala had said the last word ungraciously, but Uzuri's even temperedness seemed unshakeable. "You know, this isn't the first time we've been visited by wild lions. Usually, lions in this region have at least heard of us, but we are aware that we are something of an oddity rather than the reverse."

"Then why don't you acknowledge the Ancestors?" Nala asked, a little heat in her voice.

"Who says we don't?" said Uzuri shrugging. "There is room for them too in the world of the spirits."

Nala huffed, exasperated. "But surely the ancestors are more important to venerate than rocks and trees."

Uzuri shrugged again and a grin blossomed on her face. "Perhaps, perhaps not.' Now she turned her head away from the stone shrine and looked at Nala, "What I do know is that ever since we expanded our religion from human teachings, the pride has known nothing except prosperity." She touched Nala's forepaw with her own. "What's important isn't so much that we have a different set of beliefs, but that these beliefs allow us to coexist with the humans. What you saw back there, what you ran from." Nala's eyes fell to her feet for a moment, but returned, "That is the future. With humans we can be safe and secure and not always fighting, usually with us at the end of their spears or their guns."

"I..." But Nala's voice escaped her. She paused, drew a breath and then thought. There was truth in Uzuri's words, one only had to observe the pride to see that. And maybe, just maybe, this prosperity could find its way back into the Pridelands, if Nala chose to help it happen. "Perhaps the ancestors brought down the flood for a reason, to bring me here and learn a better way of living." Nala said at last with some effort. "I would like to learn more about the pride and these humans."

Uzuri beamed and patted Nala on the back, then rose. "I hoped you would say something like that. Come, I shall explain how we operate to the best of my ability. Do you feel up to a walk?"

Nala's mind felt oddly clear. "I feel up to anything." She said and began walking up the path after Uzuri.