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"Absolutely NOT!" bellowed the elder, Olivian's father. "You offended their cheif, betrayed my good will and sullied our hospitality. You will not get ou-"

"He provoked me on purpose! How can you be so blind to that?" interrupted the lion prince. That was a mistake, he knew. He was already on his father's nerves after the debacle with the Hyena's a few months ago. The last thing he needed was to invoke his father's ire. <I can still feel the aches and scratches from my punishment...ugh.> The elder cast a long dark gaze down at his son. It was an easy thing to do when he stood over a head taller than his diminutive boy.

The elder lion moved towards the flap at other end of the hut and passed through. Moments later he returned with a round scroll wrapped in a bundle. He then addressed his son and handed him the item. "You will go to their tribe -now- and deliver this personally. I can only hope it will convince him that our offer was genuine." Olivian took the bundle into hand. The instant it touched his skin he could sense the tingling resonance of something magical contained within.

"Wait, father, you can't be serious! You're giving them some of our magics? Are you insane?!" The words lept from his mouth before he had a chance to think. Such things were natural for the hot-headed brat. The only reaction he got was a lethal stare from the man standing above him. A single finger rose and pointed towards the exit. He wished the older lion had just struck him instead. That was the end of their discussion. The prince knew there wouldn't be any way to worm his way out of the consequences. Not without his hide getting flayed at least.

Olivian returned to his private dwelling shortly after. It would be a few days travel to the boarder of his people's territory. A few days more to reach the plains where the bovine's roamed in great numbers. He packed his shoulder bag light: some spare dried rations, his pipe and tobacco, a knife, medicinal herbs, and waterskin. There was also the wrapped scroll in there as well. Something would need to be done about that depending on what it would contain. That's when Olivian got his idea. He checked over his shoulders to make sure he was indeed alone in the home before removing the scroll from its leather wrapping. He peeled back the beeswax, careful not the break the seal or the papyrus it stuck to. After unfurling the thing flat on his bed he looked all over the inscriptions. "What is all this...?"

This was some advanced piece of magic, no mere simple incantation or cantrip. A few of the symbols and pictographs he did recognize. Something to do with vitality or strength. Another resembled 'mind', and another yet seemed to resemble 'friend' or 'ally'. "Tch. Typical father; give something to make our rivals more powerful. Yet you'd never share this with your own kin," he scoffed and rerolled the scroll before shoving it into his bag and storming out.

The pouty cat walked straight through their village without stopping or making eye contact to anyone along the way. The few who did walk through his path quickly stepped aside to give him room. <At least some people here respect me,> he thought to himself. "Oi, Olivian!" He heard the hollering voice from his side. He knew the voice before looking to see who it was. Oh no, not him again. S'kerrith swaggered up towards the prince, temporarily leaving his party of other hyenas behind. "Weeeeell, it's nice seeing yer hide here again." Olivian through about gouging that smirk right off his face.

"What do you want, S'kerrith? I'm busy. I've got important matters to attend with." The prince crossed his arms. He hadn't seen the hyena it a while. The memories of their time together a drunken blur. A few of the more lucid portions held images he'd sooner forget if he could.

"Busy? With what? Going to talk to the bulls?" he said with a dismissive wave of the hand. "Yeh, I heard. We all did. Yer papa is a loud one. Waste of time. They won't listen to any-" he paused. Something about the feline seemed to steal his attention away. "What's that, in there?" he asked pointing at the bundle carried on Olivian's shoulder. "Let me see." Without waiting for compliance, S'kerrith reached straight over the lion and pulled the bag off his shoulder.

"H-hey! Give that back, you filthy dog!" Olivian snarled. He reached to retrieve the scroll. A firm shove the to chest by the hyena interrupted any attempts to retrieve his belongings.

"Shut it! Lemme see here..." The taller hyena unrolled the magical item and began reading. Olivian hated to admit it, but S'kerrith knew far more about the magical arts than he did. "Ooh...this is some serious stuff. Dangerous in the wrong hands. Can't believe your papa would hand this over so easily."

"What? What is it? What does it say? Speak up!" Olivian tried to look at the scroll and gain some insight on what he'd discovered. He was only met with another small shove pushing him away.

"You have any idea what this would teach to the bulls? Phew. Yer lucky I'm here to help you avoid the disaster." S'kerrith reached back into the medicine pouch on his belt to retrieve a few items.

"W-wait, what are you doing?" Olivian inquired. The hyena had retrieved a quill and some ink and started making careful edits to the symbols and circles covering the parchment.

"A favor. I'm doing you a favor. That means you're going to owe me one later." S'kerrith dashed off one last arcane symbol before carefully rolling the parchment back up. "Now, don't open this, y'got that? It's going to cast spell on who ever looks at it."

"Tell me what you did with this, now." Olivian tried to speak with some kind of authority. S'kerrith only rolled his eyes and stood with hands on his hips disapprovingly.

"I told you. It's a favor. Who ever looks at this is going to forget you were ever there. Just show it to the bull chief, he'll get some bogus vision about your tribe's magic, then he'll start forgetting things. Including that you were ever there." Olivian seemed skeptical about all this help. <Why is he being so helpful to me so suddenly? It must be to gain leverage for that favor later.> He didn't have much choice anyway. It was either this or do some groveling and begging before the other tribe. He wouldn't debase himself, royalty, just for something like that.

"Fine...thank you, S'kerrith. We'll talk about the debt after I return, assuming this works like you claim."

"It will, oh it will. You go on now, don't be late." S'kerrith waved him off with curious grin stretched over his muzzle. Olivian puzzled over that reaction, yet he couldn't dwell on it for too long. It was a long journey ahead and it wouldn't be long before the sun would begin its descent. He took one last look over his shoulder before turning and heading off on his journey. The next time he'd see that scroll again is in the presence of the bull chief.