Trembling with doubt and fear but also more than a little anticipation Zecora goes and opens the door, where stands a man she hoped she would never see again, and yet, in this moment, cannot help but feel blessed to have show up at her door: Prince Ibhubezi IHliziyo (Direct Translation: The Lion's Heart: Translated for Meaning: 'Lionhearted'), her betrothed husband, but he looks different from when she last saw him 7 years ago.
He is more mature, has lines of both wisdom and pain around his eyes, his coat is darker than she remembers, and his left fore quarter is scared with the slash of a Lion's claws.
"I know who I see, but how did you find me?" She asks after a second.
"May I come in Zecora?" He asks in the language of Equestria which these four years gone speaking nothing else have made effectively her 'native' tongue, apparently no longer keeping up their culture's practice of unmarried mares and stallions speaking in rhyme to ward off evil spirits...
"Pardon the mess, but my answer is 'Yes'." Zecora declares and opens the door fully.
The room is a huge mess, pots, jars, food wrappers, and books scattered everywhere. While Zecora is punctilious about keeping her hut clean and organized at all times she does not take as much care of the rooms she rents this time of year, just tidying things a bit each morning and letting the landlord deal with the rest of it once she takes her stuff back to the Everfree after the season is over: though she does warn them in advance that this is how things will work, and the one she has worked with the past 3 years is fine with it.
Prince Lionhearted comes in and sits on the chair, then takes off his saddle bags and looks Zecora hard in the eyes. "Ingabe namanje ukhulume ulimi lwakho lwendabuko?" ("Do you still speak your native tongue?") He asks.
"It has been so much time, I forgot how to rhyme." Zecora declares.
"Lokho akusho lutho kusaba Zecora." ("That doesn't matter anymore Zecora.") Prince Lionhearted states, eyes still boring into her own.
"For a Shaman it does, else out comes 'The Buzz'." She declares, referring obliquely to the wasp/locust like daemons of their homeland, distant cousins of the Parasprites native to the Everfree, but far more dangerous and hostile, which allegedly will be summoned up ether by referring to them by their proper name outside a consecrated space or not speaking in rhyme if you are an unmarried shaman...
"The Gates of the Netherworld opened fully Zecora: most of our people are dead, and the demons cannot be summoned forth any more, they are all dead or already here." Prince Lionhearted informs Zecora, who sits heavily on her bed.
"Ngitshele konke!" ("Tell me everything!") Zecora demands, lapsing back into her milk tongue, though now with an awful accent.
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