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Ai immediately begins to tickle him back, seeking the tender spots where his legs meet his torso, grinning wickedly.

Neither one seems to pay any attention to the fact that they are attracting an audience.

"A gold on the white one..." quips the familiar voice of their old friend, Johnny.

"Naw, Kero's the younger, he'll outlast him for certain."

"At first I thought it was some sort of mating ritual... ?"

Rough male laughter quickly brings them back to reality. Ai rolls off the younger lion to face John, the inn keeper, and the tanner, all three decked out to go hunting.

"Oh well," says the tanner. "There's certainly no game left in this neck of the woods."

Johnny flips him the universal salute and the three men shoulder their bows, walking away towards the tavern. If they seem to be moving at a faster than usual pace, they could always say they want to get there before the afternoon rush.

Ai collapses on the ground next to him, breathing heavily, grinning like a maniac. "Well, aren't you going to chase them away, Mr. Big Bad Lion." he asks flicking him with the tip of his tail.

Ai hops down and flicks her tail at the men, prancing her way into the tavern. They can hear her calling for two hard ciders in a bowl all the way to the gate. Leaving them to stare at her night dark counterpart, who is sitting in front of them carefully cleaning his claws, one by one.

"You didn't run..." he states wickedly, looking up with mischief in his eyes.

"Try to eat me and ye'll get a stomach ache. I'm a tough old buzzard. Move aside, kid... I've got customers to serve." grumbles the inn keeper with a gruff laugh.

Ai comes walking out of the Inn shaking her head. "Hey Kero, why did I order cider for you if all you are going to do is sit out here and harrass the locals? Besides, I've ordered us some lunch... I could hear your stomach growling all the way back to town."

"Fish I hope..." replies Kerobian sauntering his way inside.

"Would I order anything but when it's the dish of the day?" laughs the lioness, leading the way to their table. "But deep fried tastes awful when it's cold."

Ai looks down at her large flat, webbed paws and sighs. When would the cub learn she had difficulties in this shape. Still, she could always sing with him and her voice sounded so different from Tam's there would be no associating the two in people's minds. She orders another bowl of cider and listens to the gossip as it swirls about the inn, learning that knowledge of the events up on the hill had finally filtered it's way down to the town at large. No one knew exactly what had been amiss, but everyone knew it had been something large and very very dangerous.

"Lady Ai, have you any news from your healer friend?" asks the barkeep as he brings her her bowl.

She nods. "Master Mica and Shar stopped by the cottage shorty following the mishap, to assure us all was well. Apparently they were attempting to exorcise some demon from a piece of temple property."

"Elephants? What are those?" asks JOhnnie as he checks over his arrows for necessary repairs.

Ai laughs as she savors her cider. "Think of an animal that is a good six times the size of yer largest bull, with a nose like an arm thick rope and ears like vast fans. It has tusks like a boar but they are straight rather than curved. Tame ones are often used in logging in their homelands, but wild ones are not to be trifled with. They can and do tear down trees in their foraging. Thankfully they are herbivores, living off of plants. I'd hate to face something that size if it was out to eat me."

"I saw a picture of one once..." offers the tanner, looking smug. "Old Servus has this book down at the pawnshop. It had a house on top of it's back."

Ai chokes down a bit of cider and chuckles. "They're not quite that big, but I can see how you might think so, if no people were in that picture. The people of those regions build these shelters to ride in, kind of like the coaches we use on the roads around here, and they sit in them on top of the beasts. Be kind of hard to have one pull ye along behind... one little accident and ye'd be covered in... ewwwww."

Needless to say, Ai knows this and having drunk several bowls of cider, finds his reaction hilarious. She begins to giggle uncontrollably, laughing until tears run in silver streaks down her cheeks.

Johnnie looks at her and reaches for her bowl. "You, m'Lady, are officially cut off... better fetch her some java, Brion." he tells the innkeeper with a wink.

"What! And lose the favor of one of my best paying customers?" laughs the man shaking his head.