LK: Blaze in the Night

[Moonlight]

Although the gray lioness' disruptive behavior was unsettling, Kina edging away from her somewhat but still trying to keep an outwardly calm composure, it was painfully obvious both of the golden males - Brothers? - were growing quite tired of the other lioness' antics. Glaring fangs at her, even. The undersized female's dark tail tuft twitching, shifting her small paws.

Seca, they called her. It was clear that she was hardly one that could be called welcoming - Similar to the golden lioness sitting in the back of the den, said lioness' smoldering blue gaze focused intently on her. Kina's ice blue one meeting the golden lioness', unabashed. Wounded or no, showing too much weakness would only invite trouble during her stay.

Nodding to the one that had introduced himself, however. Taro. "... Its all right ... And I understand ..." Kina returned, though glancing at Seca as the lioness stalked out. Twitching an ear as the golden lioness made move to follow her after a long moment of preponderance.

* * * * *

The deep umber lion moved through the tall grasses calmly, just outside the now adjoined boarders. Taking in the opportunities carefully, weighing his options. It seemed that fate had saw fit to all but hand him a free kill - But it was not of prey.

Jumping onto a large rock underneath the shade of an acacia after a moment, his dark fur nearly as onyx as his mane in the shadows. Resting his head on his paws as he looked out at the lands before him, amber eyes perfectly calm. But eager.

[Zorayda]

Seca crept by, fury emanating in waves from her figure. The grasses hid her well enough for her to sneak up upon a small gopher, and she slapped a paw upon its head, effectively snapping its neck and killing it. She didn't really feel all that hungry, though, so she simply tossed the small body aside grumpily.

A familiar scent came to her nostrils and she smirked, her angry mood almost instantly lifting. She couldn't see him, but she could sense his presence...

"Remba?" She asked quietly, waiting for an answer from the unseen lion.

------------------

Taro decided to let Kina be to let her voice heal for now. She was in no condition to keep talking at this rate... as the king moved away, Yora leapt up to mess with Kitasa and Kina, though she was careful not to bump into the lioness too hard.

"Hey, Kita, I toldja Kina'd get better," she smirked. "Wanna come play tag for a while?" She asked, batting her eyelashes and glancing at her mother. Zorayda rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Only if you stay where I can see you from outside of the den," she said, effectively giving her rambunctious daughter permission to play outside and explore.

"Yippee! So, you in, Kita?" She asked, putting her rump in the air and waggling it playfully.

Shyla, who had finally awoken, chuckled quietly to herself at the cub's behavior. Soon, she would be the one to be handling little ones like these cubs...and hopefully she would do a good job in raising them.

[Moonlight]

Remba's head lifted as the grasses rustled, catching a familiar scent. His muzzle twitched with anticipation, knowing the pretty lioness coming as a friend. "That's my name, dearest," the umber lion returned in a lazy drawl, smirking playfully as he draped a paw of the the hard perch he was laying on.

* * * * *

The smaller, coppery cub laughed lightly at Yora's invitation and Zorayda's following permission, before bounding after the other cub. Starting to come out of his shell some, having a playmate and his guardian getting better substantially improving his mood. "Yeah!"

Mradi, though, was far less enthusiastic about the noisy cub and the lioness he had arrived with. Just one more distraction for Amri, one more lioness in which for him to deliberate longer on choosing his Queen. Something that was particularly irksome to her, like brambles stuck in the soft fur of her belly hair. That it had been six moons, and she hadn't been chosen, was simply infuriating.

Her claws subconsciously digging into the floor, before abruptly pushing herself up and stalking past the weakened runt.

[Zorayda]

Seca's head whipped around to see the umber lion call to her in his lazy way, his voice a sensual purr to her ears. Though he was older than she, the gray lioness had a hard, blinding, mind-numbing crush on him, and she believed herself to be in love with the muscular lion. Immediately upon hearing him utter a pet name for her, her entire demeanor changed from being in the cave just moments before. Her face heated in a blush, though she grinned in a silly way, and she stumbled over her paws in her rush to run and greet him.

"Oh, Remba, it's you," she sighed girlishly, sitting on her haunches. "I'm glad you're here to make my day better... a stupid rogue lioness got injured and is holed up in our cave, and to make matters worse," she whined piteously, "Our two kings bossed me around when I didn't even do anything!" Her face was one of self-pity and hurt. Seca placed a paw tentatively upon Remba's, even that small touch sending shivers shooting down her spine.

"They're nothing like you, Remba," she gushed, saying his name reverently and meeting his eyes for a split second with her own amber ones before averting them again. Seca held the lion in the highest esteem, and was obviously absolutely obsessed with his presence.

* * * * *

Yora hesitated a split second before jumping to play with Kitasa, seeing a pride member (Mradi, maybe) glare in Kina's direction before following them out of the cave, choosing a different direction to stalk off than where the cubs were. Confusion wrinkled the brown cub's brow for a moment, her emerald eyes worried, but her new friend's enthusiasm quickly distracted her, and she never thought about it again. With a happy growl, she pounced at Kitasa, eager to have a playful scuffle or maybe to play tag.

**********

Shyla smiled as the two cubs went out to play, happy that Yora had finally found a playmate. Taro was busy talking amongst the other lionesses and Amri to really give her the attention she constantly craved from her beloved mate, so she shifted to roll over when she felt something strange coming from her belly. A twitch, two. A sharp pain that made her gasp.

Oh...

Aquila, the closest lioness to her, trained her violet irises to her queen questioningly as Shyla made the strange sound. The queen met her gaze with an alarmed expression, and in that exact second, they both understood.

The next pang made the queen yelp in pain and surprise, making Taro, Eeve, Kitama, and Zorayda all look her way, as well as some of the rest of the pride.

There was a second of complete surprised silence when Eeve leapt up, squealing.

"The cubs??!! Is it...?"

"I... don't... know..." Shyla panted, now on her feet. Taro was at her side at once, looking scared. Another yelp made his fur bristle.

"K-Kuukeni?! What do we do??" he shouted, sounding not at all like his usual kingly self.

[Moonlight]

It was hard for him not to laugh at Seca's over-eager demeanor, lacking the true grace of a fully mature lioness. In love with the idea of love, it seemed. But he would not begrudge her the company she so clearly craved - it would be just ... cruel.

Leaning over on his rock as her paw covered part of his, listening to her fawn over him. A deep purr rumbled from his throat, idly licking the side of her face in a 'true' greeting. "Oh, come now. Do you really want to get your fur in a knot over a rogue and two useless balls of hair?" Remba chided playfully, still purring. "You look so much better when you're happy, dearest," the dark brown rogue continued, his black tail tuft idly swishing as he spoke.

An ear twitched in the opposite direction after a moment, picking up a familiar scent on the breeze. He lifted his head after a moment, muzzle twitching in vague amusement. At Mradi's sour mood in particular. "I take it that Amri still has not chosen his queen?" the lion queried coolly, and knowing from Seca, that the rogue's arrival only delayed it further.

"Keh ... Is it that obvious?" the irked lioness returned, deep blue eyes hard with annoyance. Her red-brown tail tuft curling around her haunches as she sat, observing the pair now. She had no issue with Seca's little distraction, and - truthfully - found it rather amusing. The lioness looked to be the same age as the new rogue, although she did rather doubt that Seca would survive taking a cub through the Barren Lands. The younger lioness just wasn't mature enough.

* * * * *

Kina's pale gaze snapped to the very pregnant queen as Shyla cried out, miniature chaos blooming as everyone jumped to their paws, milling around the pained lioness. Edging out of the immediate way as Kuukeni promptly ushered all of the excess bodies out, only motioning Kina over with Amri and Taro as another contraction rippled through Shyla's taut stomach.

Restraining herself from limping at the deep bite on a foreleg as she moved to the side of the medical dais, seating herself next to the assortment of herbs. Knowing that her mother had asked her to help for that very reason - her own knowledge spared Kuukeni of distractions while helping birth the cubs.

Amri's gaze following both the healer and Kuukeni's proclaimed adopted daughter, somewhat bemused that she was both a combatant and one who knew herbs. But he could hardly begrudge their shaman any assistance, knowing that Taro was only growing more fantic by the moment.

Kuukeni rested a paw over Shyla's forelegs with the third contraction, keeping her from curling up on instinct. "Relax ... You have to breath, Shlya. Deep breaths. It'll be all right," the grayish-tan lioness coaxed, her voice soft, persuasive.

[Zorayda]

Seca giggled giddily when Remba leaned to lick her cheek, ecstatic at his attentions.

"I... guess not..." she answered, immediately agreeing with him. "Oh, do I?" she asked at his second comment, tucking her head down with her ears flattened. "Th-thank you..."

Mradi chose that moment to show up, popping Seca's soft bubble of happy solitude with Remba. A small frown appeared on her face at the intrusion, but she said nothing and simply stood off to the side as the golden lioness spoke.

"Why do you want to be that brute's mate, anyway?" she sniffed at Mradi. "There are so many better choices out there..." she pointed out, her eyes darting in Remba's direction.

* * * * *
Zorayda made a slight oomphing noise as Kuukeni literally shoved her out of the cave along with all the other lionesses, but all of them immediately gathered around the entrance out of curiosity and concern. Murmurs and whispering could be heard as they watched. Zorayda shook the dust out of her fringe and approached them from behind.

"Maybe we should leave them be for now..." she suggested softly, remembering how intimate the moment between herself and Yora had been when she'd been born. It was something she certainly thought Shyla didn't want an audience for.

******

Yora's ears perked up at the strange sounds coming from within the den, sensing rather than seeing the commotion and change from the norm.

"Hey, Kita... I think something's going on in there!" she shouted to him. "Maybe we should go and see..." Sudden worry for Kitasa's guardian, Kina, flared in her mind. She found herself hoping that her wounds hadn't gotten worse or something like that... Glancing at her new friend, she dashed towards the den where the lionesses were all gathered, including her mother.

*******

"Shyla! It's okay, I'm right here," Taro kept saying over and over again, his pupils reduced to pinpoints. He was right next to her head, letting Kina and Kuukeni work and stroking his mate's shoulder absently.

Shyla panted irregularly until Kuukeni told her to take deep breaths, so she counted to herself as her belly spasmed in pain. She gritted her teeth and dug her claws subconsciously into the ground, gouging it with several raking marks.

"I d-didn't know... it would be this p-painful," she gasped in surprise. Taro nuzzled her in response, ears flattened in worry.