Lion Head Mesa Cliff

"My boy!" @Ibrahim. It is somehow easier with the royals gone, but it is cruel how it is when he returns. Maybe it is good time for his children to adjust, even if not for himself.
They've not asked of the mother– Mesen-ka has not left for Zharille either. Soon.

Today, he brings Ibrahim outside with him. He shines a teasing fathers smile that is filled with many terrifying unknowns to a child. "Would you like to learn how to track today?"

the boy trots closely after his father, weaving between his stones for legs. track what? an elk's stinky butt? he snorts, his little tail swishing in the air.

the royal children were gone, which meant he had less punching bags. though that didn't stop the little ogre from finding new, bigger ones.

"I like your thinking!" Elk's stinky butt was a treasured menu item for many. For them, however, they should be tracking something less lethal for little Mesen babes!
Blue belly lizards are basking in Ra's sunlight on top of warm rocks. They will scatter the closer they grow to be and dart into shadows, crevices. For now, they are at a distance..
"Do you see the scaly fiends upon the rocks? Look closely. They blend in."

father laughs, which tells ibrahim that they won't be hunting stinky elk butt today. he huffs and grunts, following still after mesen-ka because what else was there to do? but the boy's pouting ceases when his targets are redirected.

yea.. he whispers, narrowing his golden eyes. lazy things, they spent their mornings the way he liked. but if he can't sunbathe, no one can. do we kill 'em?

The father nods with a brief grunt. Their steps begin to slow. The lizards are stupid things with slower brains, but with lighting feet.
Ibrahim chooses to quiet now. He has naturally good timing. Then, he'll quiet too! "As many as you can catch, they are yours to do with as you please, my son," Mesen-ka mutters and drops low. He knows they will vanish, but if Ibrahim can catch one before they dart, it is just as good and a skill in itself!

The scaly fiends might as well be glistening with their plump fat.. Blinking with their freakish lids as if flirting with the belly..

he clung close to the earth as his father taught him. the sun shined on their shimmery scales, outlining them as perfect targets. perhaps a second too soon after one lifted their head, he pounced. his little jaws snapped at their scrambling figures, successfully only grabbing one.

it dangled from its tail, flailing uselessly as ibrahim then quickly yanked and twisted his head around. it broke off from the tail, fleeing right behind its kin but it took the golden boy to notice, only once he was about ready to slam his imaginary lizard against the rock did he realize he only held onto its tail. and — stupidly — he smiled.

look, baba! i ripped its tail clean off!

Mesen-ka launches with Ibrahim and ever so conveniently misses them all.
Imagine the day a blackguard threatens his son! Their tail, clean cut and snipped from their then barren stinky butts! The blue belly lizards have darted and scurried to the crevices in the mesa surface. Some much farther than others, and some much closer, but they are now hiding from their furred butcher.

A dismembered tail flicks relentlessly in his boys mouth and a heartfelt laugh echoes momentarily. "WOW! Good job, boy! That's how you get them!" The lizard either dropped it or Ibrahim truly cut it with his teeth. Which of the two does not matter. His boy still got a blasted fiend and had a souvenir to tell the story! Sniffing the ground then before announcing: "We have to find the rest of its mangled self before it thinks it's better than us!"