Setting: Not long after the last Sky Festival

The moon hung low in the eastern sky, as the Earth Clan had settled for the night. It glimmered down upon a single lion, some yards away from the rest of the group, pacing back and forth. They'd only just joined the pride, and the clan, and already there was some trouble brewing. The silver-maned lion hadn't missed it, even in his newness - His new-found Clan was hurting. The front they put on was lackluster, and while they had some new faces in the clan with himself and Meztli, they were woefully outdone by the rest. Sure, they had the Sky Champion... But that was it. As he turned and walked back in another direction, Minoru looked up at the sky, a frown on his face.

While she'd fallen asleep with the comforting warmth of her mate at her side, Meztli awoke as the moon was rising higher to find cold where his body had been. The dark brown lioness blinked blearily, letting out a yawn before she stretched. Fire-gold eyes looked around before they landed on the pacing lion some yards away. She pushed herself up, carefully stepping so that she didn't wake anybody, and approached the other lion, a frown on her own face - Though for a different reason. "Minoru, what are you doing up? It's after dark, it's time to sleep!" She gave a nod of her head toward the sleeping lions. "Surely you're tired after all the excitement like they are!"

The clay-brown lion stopped, going over and meeting his darker-brown mate and rubbing his cheek against hers. "My mind is keeping me up, that's all." He looked at the sleeping lions, wondering how many truly WERE asleep, then back to Meztli. "I'm worried... Our new-found Clan hosts the Sky Champion of this year, but I don't think we did very well over-all... The pride's leader didn't look too terribly pleased with the Earth Clan." He sat down, closing his eyes. "Only two others joined the clan besides us... And both were male... The Earth Clan doesn't look like it's experiencing much growth."

She frowned, eyes narrowing for a moment at the lion sitting before her. Blue tail tuft thumping a moment on the ground, she reached up and shoved Minoru over, before pinning him. "You worry too much, Minoru! There are others in the Clan that have yet to have cubs of their own, and I think I saw a roundness to Aarazthoorus!" When he gave her a funny look, she stopped off, laughing quietly. "Trust me, Minoru, I KNOW that particular round plumpness!" When he sat up, she shoved him back down. "You were there! And you were a wonderful surrogate father."

He lay back, staring at the stars for a moment, musing over her words. It wasn't that his nephew had abandoned Meztli at such a time - It was simply that she'd wandered off and and more or less lost track of him! He wasn't even sure that his nephew even knew that he'd sired a litter of cubs. Now said cubs were all over the place, in different prides doing their own things. Given how Meztli and her brother and sister had wandered, it hadn't surprised him. And... He stopped, looking at her. "Wait, the way you brought up cubs..." His thoughts came to a halt, jumping from one path to another. "Are you thinking about...?"

She reached up and bopped him on the nose. "What else would I think about, now that I'm sure our future is in a secure place?" She leaned over, running her tongue over his nose bridge. "I know you'd be a wonderful father to your own cubs, as much as you were to your step-cubs, Minoru." Though they were indirectly related through a half-sister, he had still acted as though the cubs were his own. He was loyal, to boot - Meztli had never seen Minoru look at another lioness, nor had he ever BEEN with a lioness. He was a lion that she got to have all to herself... As much as she could in a Clan, anyway. "Now... Stop worrying so much about the Clan... We'll be FINE." She motioned with a paw. "And if anything happens, my sister isn't too far away on the mountain! And failing THAT, my brother is on the coast having his OWN fun!"

"Eeeh..." He sat up, this time actually staying up, before he scooped a pawful of dirt up. "I've just been wondering... If the Clan is in any kind of trouble... What would happen? What would the wanidatsi do, if whatever problems might exist... Aren't fixed?" It was a worry that not even the promising future of cubs could distract him from. What were punishments LIKE in this pride? Especially if something was wrong with the Clan as a whole. He'd met his nephew, Dongo, and had privately had it confided in him that one of Dongo's own daughters had been evicted from the pride. The occurance had been a rare one, and it had been a sorrow for Dongo's mate. The best that the gold lion had guessed was that their daughter had found life so boring, she'd made up a tragic past and found herself believing her own lies to the point of being a danger to the rest of the Clan. Minoru hoped that never happened to his children.

She rolled her eyes, before shoving him over a third time. "Minoru, stop WORRYING! If something's to be done, it won't be until the next Sky Festival! Until then, we can only focus on the Clan making it another year." She nuzzled him, before laying down so that her chest draped over his, partly burying her face and one arm in his silvery mane. "We have other things to think on, anyway..." She turned her head, so that one cheek was in his mane and the other faced the sky. "I, for one, plan on learning everything I can. We've not been here long, but I already love these lands." She smiled, closing her eyes. "I feel more at peace now than I have, ever in my life... It's... Wonderful."

The male smiled, wrapping his paws around her shoulders and nuzzling her forehead. "I'm glad that you're happy here... I'm happy here, too. I've spent my life trying to find home, and I've thought I found it a couple times... But now I know I have." He motioned with his head toward where so ever the Shadow Clan was. "I think I have a half-sister here, too, on top of two nephews, so I definitely feel roots here!" He sighed, then, smiling, pushed Meztli off. "Come on, let's go back to the rest of the Clan... I think I can sleep now." He didn't wait, stepping over her and batting her nose with his tail as he went.

Meztli lay there a moment, smiling as she watched Minoru walk. It seemed their talk had helped his worries, at least a bit, and she got up, following after him. As her paws moved through the grasses, she let out a wide yawn, ready to go back to sleep. When she reached Minoru, she tucked down and settled against him, nestling her body against his. Truly... This was happiness.