Safety in Numbers

Today would be the day that changed the Shadowland pride forever. Today would be the day that they gained a total of six new rambunctious members to their pride. The journey would be taken by their king and his eldest son. Whispers were set among the pride that morning, and everyone was fearing for the worst to happen. It wasn't a secret to anyone what had happened to the former king, Ni's older brother, when he went out on a journey of his own. That sure didn't set the new queen at ease, especially with growing cubs in her womb. But Ni promised that he would be back, he wasn't going to go out like his older brother did. As it had already been decided, Ni was to bring along his son Kiasi as he had promised him this months before. Ni was never one to break a promise, so he hoped that Makosa would understand. The two sons of the creamy-golden lion were growing up fast, becoming adolescents now and their manes starting to grow in more than ever. There were obvious traits for their biological parents that the two retained, but Ni could easily make up stories about his ancestors in order to keep his sons in the dark about what had truly occurred on the night of their birth. Setting out from the Shadowlands was easy, the duo had a long drink of water and food in their bellies to last them for a day or two. It was once they exited the Shadowlands that things got very difficult.

Having to make their way between thorn bushes and raging sandstorms, Ni wondered how anyone in their right mind could survive out here. But after an afternoon of braving the elements, the two were graced with a calmness that would last the rest of their journey until they returned home. Ni took this time to talk to Kiasi about ruling a pride, and what should and shouldn't be done. "Safety in numbers my son, you must always remember that. When ruling a pride as you might do so when you are older you must know when to move your pride away from danger. Always take a trusted pridemate with you, make sure that you keep your eyes open at all times. Anything could be lurking around every single grain of sand," The king alluded to the fact that Kiasi would one day have the possibility to rule the pride, but only he and the queen knew that he nor his biological brother would ever rule the Shadowlands. They would have to overthrow their dad in order to take the throne, either that or whichever new brother or sister Ni chose as his heir. As Ni had become older, he had become wiser as well, and his vocabulary and speech patterns showed that greatly. He stood a little taller when addressing things such as royal duties, but he was always the fun and lovable Ni that his mate and children knew and loved. Unlike the neighboring tyrant, Ni would drop his kingly ways and play with his cubs whenever they wanted, because they were the most important things in the world.

Going on this adventure with his son was everything that Ni needed in his life, just spending some time with his son out in the wide open savannah. Soon the duo stumbled upon a paw print, not much bigger than Kiasi's own. Ni nudged his son to look and smiled, "It seems fresh, we might be close Kiasi," Soon the two were greeted with something that seemed almost foreign to the two, grass. Actual legitimate grass. Ni wondered if his son had ever felt the plant life before, for he surely had to of been accustomed to the smooth rock floors of the Shadowlands. It was exciting for Ni, he had only felt grass during his brief stay in the Pridelands many, many years ago. The creamy-golden lion smiled and sighed, turning his head to his son. "We'll rest here for now, we've been walking for quite a while now," But as soon as Ni went down to rest, something was in the corner of his eye moving in the distance. The king quickly stood up and walked over cautiously over the hilltop where just mere feet away was a trail of indents in the grass from where the figure had walked across. Ni motioned for his son to follow, quickly apologizing for the change of the plans. The two would follow the trail for a few minutes before stumbling upon one of the most astonishing sites that Ni had ever saw. His heart would be broken, and his fatherly instinct as well as his royal instincts would kick into high gear. Today was the day the Shadowland pride changed. But today was also the day that Ni himself would change.

Today was the day that Kiasi would get to take a trip with his father, the trip that seemed like he'd been promised ages ago. He knew Makosa was probably jealous but his brother wasn't the kind to really hold a grudge, and Ni was in no way playing favorites, there was no way their father could love one of them less than than the other. Kiasi had barely kept his excitement in check, he'd kept himself clean today, though that was hard with his gangly limbs constantly tripping him up. He was close to 2 years old now and it showed, his mane was coming in more and his features had grown more strong and distinctive promising him to be a larger lion than even his father.

Before they had left Kiasi had made sure to nuzzle his mother and reassure her before nuzzling her belly softly where his future siblings were growing. He had been elated to learn he was going to be a big brother again and he'd taken every opportunity to speak to the cubs even if he knew they couldn't really hear them, so with his goodbye's said all around he'd set to following his father towards the open Savannah. The trip was by no means easy, making the pair trek through vicious sandstorms and sharp thornbushes that snagged some of Kiasi's growing mane making him wince when it was pulled out. But they eventually came to an area of calm and it seemed the hard trek was over for the pair and they turned to calmer conversation, conversation that Kiasi was well versed in by now.

Kiasi had made sure to ask his father more about ruling a pride, Kiasi had calmed some as he grew and had a more level head on his shoulders. His fight with Jabari had discouraged him from breaking pride laws more than he had to and he'd settled with exploring the neutral lands only after the incident to keep himself and his brother out of trouble. Kiasi nodded at his fathers wisdom and warnings, he had learned the hard way it was best to travel in numbers, "Yes father, I'm sure if I have no one else, Kosa will always be at my side" he hadn't yet dreamed that he and Kosa would ever seperate. His father hadn't kicked any of the males from his pride out and so Kiasi wasn't aware that was sometimes a common practice because of the competition.

Kiasi paused when his foot almost cleared a pawprint from the dirt and he looked to his father who had confirmed it was fresh. A smile lit his muzzle and he eagerly looked out to the grasses, they were close, he would finally be able to show his father he could be the good ambassador he'd boasted he could be. For Kiasi the grass was nothing new, he had experienced the feeling of it in the Lowlands but he had missed the softness of it and he resisted the urge to roll in it with a quick huff. He was more dignified than that...for now. When his father gave the clear to rest however the growing cub flopped into the grass scattering small pieces and rolled onto his back, however Ni didn't stay sitting long and when he stood Kiasi rolled to his feet on alert immediately, "What is it father?" he asked in a low tone and crept up behind him.

He saw it as clearly as his father did when they topped the hill, the trail had just been made and they quickly followed after it. He would also feel that astonishment that his father felt but his heart wouldn't break for he didn't understand how lonely or horrible it could be on your own without parents. He would feel more excitement than anything and soft word slipped from his mouth before he could stop it, "Wow..." he murmured and glanced around at the sight before him.

Kuubi sighed heavily and let her paws lead her across the earth, away from the other cubs as she often wandered. She wanted to find them all some food, but all she could think of was how she'd failed her sister. She let out another sigh and sniffed away the tears. "Oh my sister, I have failed you and for that I am sorry." She said to the air as she stared up at the sky, as if she could see her sister through it. How could she just abandon her kin like that in a time of such dire need? She was a terrible lion and she tried hard to make up for it every day.

Focus on the hunt, she told herself and lowered her body to the ground as she spied a big, fat lizard. Behind it was a few other lizards - possibly it's female companions, possibly it's children. She didn't care, they needed food. She lifted her rear end into the air, her tail low behind her as her eyes narrowed in on the lazily moving lizards. She wiggled her butt slightly and scraped her claws against the earth as she waited for the perfect moment. The lizards had failed to notice the cub hiding within the tall blades of grass, and within a moments notice she'd soared through the air and her paws had landed on the big one. Before the girls could scatter away, she slammed her back paws onto them and held each lizard in place. She showed no regret as she slashed her claw through each one. She moved them into a pile and smiled proudly at her work - but she knew it would not be nearly enough to feed them.

Kuubi wished that she was big enough to catch a big gazelle. She remembered once that she'd captured a baby gazelle, but that had only been once and it had just been laying there, sleeping. She felt horrible when she did it. She moved around and rolled a large rock over to the lizards and hid them from view with the rock without crushing them. She didn't want some vulture stealing her catch. She looked around and walked around, sniffing at the air. She saw a flash of white and whipped around and saw a hare. She crouched down, her stomach fur brushing against the earth as she moved into attack position again. A hare would be the perfect thing to feed their little stomachs. She propelled herself through the air, paws out-stretched as she captured the hare and let out a growl of success. She sank her teeth into it's neck and carried it back over to the rock, dropping it down and looking at her findings with pride.

It was very suddenly that foreign scents hit her nose, and she tensed immediately. She sniffed at the air again, immediately recognising the scents to be that of her own kind. She growled and turned around, standing in front of her loot for her little group protectively. If they'd come for her food, she certainly wouldn't let them have it without a fight! Even if she was just a little cub, she was exceptionally fast and could possibly get in a few painful scratches and bites. However, she saw no one and looked back towards the rest of the group, concerned now. She picked her loot up in her mouth and carried it over to them, dropping it down. She could feel eyes on her, and she looked around. "I fear we are not alone." She hissed to the others.

While Kuubi went off to find food for their little pride, Kusubiri was just doing his usual daily routine of scouting around, waiting for food and occasionally talking to the others. The day was calm and sunny, with a cool breeze blowing across the plains. There were many animal herds in the grasslands and around the lakes as usual, foraging, drinking, hunting or just migrating seasonally. Birds flew overhead, crocodiles basked on the lake's banks, while hippos bathed within the lake for the day.

Then, he saw Kuubi return with food in her mouth. He just glanced at her and laid back down, thinking. She had caught a hare and several lizards, that were a satisfying snack, yet they weren't enough to feed all six mouths of the pride. Kusubiri didn't go to hunt very often, but when he did, he was quite good, regardless of his gender. As a rogue he had to know some hunting skills until he found a pride. And when he would take the place of Pride leader, he would learn to ambush prey.

He heard Kuubi's mentioning something. She said they were being watched by someone. Then, in a usual way, he raised his head and asked: "Huh? Who's following us?" He soon took short look around the Savannah, to see if there was anyone on their tail. However, he saw nothing and laid back down, looking at the food they have received.

A dark golden form slipped through the tall grasses, the male lion clearly showing signs of his maturing. Chocolate colored fur sprouted from not only his elbows now but his chest as well in a patch that ran up his neck, his man tuft had finally grown out but it had grown so heavy that for now the swirl had disappeared from it and left it laying over his face so that he had to push it to the side so that he could see properly. Thankfully it hadn't been too much of a nuisance during hunts, as much as the others like to hunt it was Maliki and Kusubiri that could take down the larger prey and so the two of them often brought home the larger meals.

The others still helped of course but Maliki felt responsible to keep them full, which was what he was endeavoring to do now. His lanky form was pressed close to the ground and he watched with sharp blue eyes as the herd of gazelle grazed in front of him, unsuspecting and ripe for the picking, a small smile graced his face and his tail laid flat in preparation to spring but just before his feet kicked him from the ground the herd of prey lifted their heads spotting something and springing off. He dropped his face in the dirt with a groan before barely shimmying to get a look at what they had seen to spook them. It wasn't hard to spot the pair of lions moving through the grass, one and adolescent and the other a well mature adult.

Their colors were similar enough that the young lion pinned them for family but he could have been wrong, he was too far away to hear what they were saying but one flopped into the grass like a cub, the other almost sat but suddenly stood quickly the other following his lead. The action brought a low grown from Maliki, he knew what was over that hill, his little pride. He didn't want to attack them if he could avoid it so he slinked through the grass a safe distance away, thank the Spirits that the wind was blowing his scent behind him rather than in front of him or it would have been impossible to track them and it could have cost him his life. The two followed a clear cut path through the winding grass and Maliki cursed mentally that someone had left the trail but it wasn't their fault, it wasn't as if they regularly had lions trying to track them now.

Of course they had been lucky no males had come along to challenge the boys for the girls in their pride, the females were still young but some lions were depraved and likely wouldn't care about that. When the pair stopped atop the hill, their eyes wide, Maliki knew they had found the others and he finally lifted himself from the grass and walked slowly towards them, climbing the hill from the side so that he could come from their side rather than behind them. His gaze was stern but not hostile as he looked over at the pair before clearing his throat. "Excuse me, what is your business tracking my...us?" he didn't want to claim ownership of them, his was no King or even a Prince and it felt wrong to claim any sort of ownership over the others. If he had to call them anything, it would be family, for now he simply wanted to know what these two lions wanted with them.