i'm all alone.

She'd been gone for a day or two at the most; she'd been down at Lake Mambaziwa, where she'd met the most curious, if not arrogant, cub, a Coldlander named Jabari, who had for some reason sent buterflies twisting in her stomach, and since they'd parted ways had faded until thoughts of the muddy hued lion cub flared up. It was strange, but Kiseki didn't dwell on things unless they directly affected her -- and up to now, the thoughts of Jabari were persistant, but they weren't clouding her judgement, for now.

For now, rather than returning to the rag-a-tag group of cubs she called her family, and being lectured for wandering without taking someone with her, she'd chose to wander the grasslands; which usually full of migrating creatures was lacking, filled with the odd clump of zebra -- which she gave a wide berth, she was a lone cub and she didn't have a death wish, unlike what most thought of her -- and the odd flock of birds. She wasn't interested in chasing anything, which was strange, but her thoughts had strayed, once again onto the coldlander cub she had met.

What was like it having a pride? Not just a group of mismatched cubs, but an actual pride run by a king and a queen? It was what her thoughts had been centered on the majority of the day, since she had woken up -- she had only had a mother, a father and a sister, not a full family, like a king and queen with princes and princesses, and aunts and uncles, she wondered if Jabari had more fun than her having a full family. The thought stung slightly, and with a snarl of frustration -- one at being unable to get rid of the thoughts that plagued her, and the burning sun that was positioned high in the sky and making the heat practically unbearable -- she shot through a clump of grasses, startling a flock of birds in the process; she shot after them, eyes trained on them as she hit the ground in a hurried, but graceful, run.

She lunged for one of the birds that was close to the ground, but lost her footing and sent herself flying muzzle over paw, and landed in a ungraceful heap in a clump of grass, which stuck to her coat; scowling in pure frustration, she huffed angrily, and righted herself as she pulled the grasses off her with a quick pull. She wondered whether it was worth just going back to the group to have the lecture; the boys always worried about her, she was adventurous after all, and almost always the most flirty -- though she didn't correct them on that point, she had no reason to flirt unless they had something she wanted. Spinning in a circle, she looked around for something to hase when she spotted something haring towards her; it looked like Kuubi at first, but then she realised it was Adia. What was she doing out here? She'd once been the youngest in the group, and as such everybody watched over her, and if Kiseki was honest, she still preferred watching over Adia than the youngest.

"Adia. What are you doing here?" She asked, as the lioness cub finally reached her; a curious, if not concerned gaze was cast behind Adia, before assertaining she hadn't been chased towards her.

Where was Kiseki? She hadn't been with the rest of the cubs in two days and Adia was starting to worry. So in the early hours of the morning, Adia slipped away from the group, waking Kuubi for only a moment to tell her that she was fine. The chocolate grey cub was still small for her age, but that was only due to a lack of nutrients and she hoped that it would change over time. With her legs she climbed her way up the sand dune that had been protecting their little pride that night and looked back. Kuubi was already back asleep and Maliki and Kusubiri were huddled together as well. It was fun to see her family all together, but Adia had a mission, she had to go find Kiseki before the elements claimed her. It was a dangerous world, Adia knew that, but she couldn't fathom losing any member of her small pride. They were all each other had left now, there was no family that was going to come looking for them. They would most likely grow up together and die together as rogues. And to lose one of them now would be heartbreaking especially since the cubs were so young. Adia's golden eyes scanned across the savannah and came across a place where the grassed rolled as far as the eye could see. It had been a long time since Adia had really felt grass, so the plant life beneath her paws felt new and rich to the touch. But soon a familiar voice filled the air and Adia smiled widely when she found Kiseki.

Adia found it strange how the tawny female in front of her was wondering why she was out here and the cub shook her head. "Why am I out here? I think the question is why are you out here? Big brother's been worried sick about you Kiseki!" Big brother, referring to Maliki as he was the first of the cubs who found her near death. Adia always had and always will look up to the blue-eyed leader of the group and considered him the closest thing she had to family. At first, Adia referred to Kiseki and Kuubi as her aunts while Kusubiri as her uncle, but now that she wasn't the youngest anymore she found it time to let go of that place in the pride. She might be younger than the female in front of her, but Adia still chastised her as if she were the youngest. "You could have been killed out here Kiseki, what if some rogue came along and found you as food? Safety in numbers, isn't that what big brother stands by?" Adia paused for a moment and eyed the notch in the old female's ear, "What if your father ended up finding you? He would have recognized you right off the bat and killed you!" These neutral lands were not safe, especially for a band of cubs with no family but each other. The possibility of them being killed was high, but the possibility of a family member killing them was even higher. They were all hated by their mothers and fathers, and only Adia knew for a fact that her parents were dead.

It was a gruesome sight to see her mother's body lying all slashed up next to the lion she assumed was her father. She couldn't open his eyelids to see if he was the one that gave her the golden eyes, nor did she want to. Little did Adia know, the two were killed not by each other but by someone else. Someone who was locked in the prison to the south far far away. The cub had no idea whether or not the rest of the cub's families were alive or dead, she knew that most had been abandoned after they were old enough to live on meat. Kiseki was no different, although Adia knew that her family was probably still out there. But with being so young, Adia was surely naive to the fact that every single one of them were fighting death every day, and the thought would probably scare the chocolate-grey cub more than it should.