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Fireheart glanced back as one of the cubs asked her to wait, and she growled softly before resuming her job. She nudged the older cubs into the bushes, leading them to the waiting lioness. They were far enough away from the conflict, but close enough for other lions to come and protect them should they need it.

"All of you need to stay. Right. Here. I don't care if you see someone you know out there. If there's a fight, you'll be killed underfoot and that is something none of us want." After her speech, she turned to go retrieve the cub that had took off in the other direction. By the time she found her, she was seated with a juvie from her own pride, Zuria. She approached the two just as a new lion appeared on the scene. She ducked her head to keep herself focused, pressing her head against the smaller male.

"Come on, Zuria. If you're going to stay with her, you both need to get out of here. Take her to the watering hole just through those bushes. The rest of the cubs are there. Keep an eye on them and make sure they don't come out."

It was a big responsibility for the juvenile, but the lioness couldn't watch all the cubs at once, and giving the male a goal would help keep him focused. "Go," she snapped slightly, getting impatient. The other lion was talking now. She began to push the two towards the bushes, glad that they were still hidden from sight from the stranger.

Furiko straightened his shoulders and stood taller as Ram came into view. He kept his expression blank but his eyes held a ice cold stare for Ram. He would have loved to get ahold of the king and tear him to shreds but he wasn't going to start the fight. He would let Ram start it if he planned to.

When Ram spoke directly to him Furiko had to bite his tongue to keep from making a snappish response. He had to keep reminding himself not to start the fight but oh he wanted to. He simply kept himself positioned behind Riddle Mouth and allowed his king to speak but he kept his ice cold gaze on Ram ready to strike should the other king attack.

'Kota gave a nod and whistled through his teeth, a streak of gray dropped from the sky. "Keehah lad, find me some lions, locate tha cubs, come back."

The slate winged bird gave a nod and clicked his beak "Should be simples. Be back I will."

The dark male smiled a quick smile. The backwards way his bird companion spoke always made him laugh. This was far too serious a situation to be smiling though and the sombre look dropped back on to his maw almost immediately. "Aye an tha sands are fair in an uproar where we come from lad." His coal black eyes fell upon the leader, being mocked by a creature that had stolen from them, he had a feeling this one was mad, could madness forgive what they had done?

Looking around he raised a brow at the large female, formidable, and the blue male. He had been told of the captive, but listening to Ram speak of the other lions captivity game him the chills. He was starting to think that something was going to go wrong here. "Na be listenin' lad, we don't be wantin' no fight, just our babes back." He wasn't sure if it was out of place for him to speak so openly, clearly this was the leader, he should perhaps have left the talking to ram, but being spoken to in such a twisted way when they had done what they had done. He could smell the cubs too, the familiar scent of Afina, his grand daughter, the cubs were close. If it came to a fight, they might be able to just cub nap them back.

High above their heads the ravens keen eyes took in the situation. Half a dozen lions in the rocks, the cubs and a single female, a cub he didn't recognize. He tilted his sleety wings and dropped from the clouds landing with a quiet thud on the large maned head of the black and white lion. "Dozen there are half and cubs not far away, hiding near hole full of vaters, not beeg vaters like ours small vaters."

'Kota nodded his head, Keehah was hardly subtle, he said these things loud enough for everyone to hear, at least these lions would realise they were not fools, amateur dramatics were not going to chase them away. He says nothing keeping his gaze on the extra large female, if it came to a fight he had a feeling he would have to fight her.

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Nuzhah smiled a little nervous smile keeping close to the white juvenile. She wasn't sure what was going on, it was getting more frightening by the second and the atmosphere had become tense. The fear she had felt before was different, she feared something really bad was about to happen and she couldn't put her paw on it.

The little chocolate cub pressed tightly in to the side of the familiar white youngster. Familiar enough that she could cling to him as a friendly face. The lioness seemed angry and this made he feel more frightened she wanted to curl up by her mothers side, feel the warmth of comfort of being loved and protected. She didn't know if that would ever happen again, so, for now, she could have Zuria as a crutch.

"W..Whats happening? Is something bad happening?" Something bad? Hadn't something bad already happened? What could b worse than this?

Eglantine had been hunting douwn small game for the kidnapped cubs when the Bahari came. Gripped by fear, the lioness hid - certani that they would know she had been one of the kidnappers - albeit regretfully - and would kill her on the spot. She was scared, so scared, and she hated it. She never wanted to feel so scared again... If she was able...she wanted to make up for what she and the pride had done....but how...

Slowly she tried to make her way back without being seen, the small rabbit she had managed to catch just before they came gripped tightly in her jaws.

The lion laughed. A clear, confident sound that spoke of anything but humor. It was without hesitation or thought but it spoke volumes of his thoughts on the lion's insults and threats. Settling almost as quickly as he'd broken into hysterics, he leveled his dark eyes on the assumed leader. If not of the rival pride itself, of their military. Short, gruff, and to the point. He liked that. "What sad times we live in when a stranger calls hospitality 'theatrics'. Lad, if I had planned any theatrics I would have dressed more appropriately!"

He took a few more easy steps forward, his dangerous smile widening all the more. "My my, quite a tongue on you. Confident, strong..but rude." He held up a claw. "First, introductions. My name is Riddle-mouth and these-" He motioned behind himself, "Are but a few of my good friends. You see- as cowardly as we are but a handful of us managed to slip in and take something so... well unguarded from you lot. A hole in your defenses you may want to patch up, I might add. Secondly, I think you misunderstand..."

He smirked. "Firstly... cut a gypsy into ten pieces isn't the way you kill one, I'm afraid. Do that and you'll just have made ten more gypsies. Things could get quite messy. And crowded. Which brings me to the cubs."

He took a step closer and narrowed his eyes. "You strike me as something of a warrior so let me speak your language." He held up a paw, "A many lions is a many lions... but when you do not expand outside of that many and that many begins to become... well two-by-two. Their little ones have half the selection of their parents, and their little ones have but a fourth. Now our numbers are quite impressive...but in a generation or two, what's to become of us? And... I suppose more importantly- what's to become of you? Sloppy border patrol, really, that was just a test run of our thieves. Quite good for a first try, wouldn't you say? Perhaps we should give them applause."

Lewenharto didn't like the tone of either leader. His maw creased into a tight frown and his eyes narrowed. The intruder was rightfully upset and rightfully threatening. Shandor, on the other hand, was almost testing the other male's temper. Judging by the quick response to the cubnapping, this male wasn't the type to hesitate in dealing blows.

"Pardon." He spoke up. Their cover was blown and if he was to remain in position it was far beyond the point by then. The small male eased himself down the rocks and slowly stepped forward. "I came from the outside myself... I... don't suppose I can play mediator here? No one wants blood on their paws... I don't think. I hope."

"Now you see there, it wasn't a complete loss. You might have lost some cubs and a bit of pride but you gained a very valuable lesson. Trusting tradition is a very bad idea. Safe one day, chaos the next. Such is life I'm afraid. Now you'll leave here a wiser lion." He smirked and cast a sidelong glance at Renaissance as the strange lion interjected. Always playing the mediator... first within their pride and now outside of it.

"One moment, Renaissance."

Ignoring the indignant look on the lion's face, Riddle-mouth dropped his smile and locked his eyes with the stranger's. "You will have your new bloods back but first we will have a few words. You see... we are not a lot to be trifled with. There may be five of us, there may be five hundred of us, and as we've shown every one of us is loyal only to those we choose to keep close. The little ones were never in any danger."

He raised a paw to cut off any interruption. "Now. We are dangerous, under-handed, and perhaps by your standards- we are cowardly...but we are dangerous cowards, friend, and such lions are not to be kept on the wrong side of anyone. I have a proposal... sounds like misfortune is a close friend of both our prides. We do not like to leave any meeting with empty-paws so perhaps you will be willing to hear me out."

Leo glanced shortly to Shandor who gave him a jerk of his head in permission. It was all he needed. Carefully positioning himself between the two angry males, Renaissance offered the incoming male a tight smile. "I am not from these lands either... in fact I was brought here by a very persistent female and a very rough rope. However, while their methods are questionable I don't believe their hearts are entirely in the wrong place."

He glanced to the pride behind him. "You see rogues from prides long gone, you see members of the old ways who's muses and inspirations left with their goddess, you see young mothers who just before your arrival scolded their leader with the holy vengeance that only a mother's lips can call forth, and you see a leader who foresaw a number of problems and resolved to mend them in his own way."

He looked back to the stranger. "And you see a rogue who would speak on their behalf before you and your behalf before them. We were stricken with our own disaster and it shattered our spirits. Many left and those that remain have no new blood for their new families. Many lines may end... we also needed a way to show that we were not a pride without claws. I myself cannot agree with the methods. I believe this can be resolved. Your pride needs protection and our pride needs new blood. I see no reason why we can't put our fangs behind our lips where they belong and come to a compromise that takes this hardship- on both our parts, and points us to something better."

He softened his tone. "Are we not all brothers and sisters?"

Confident that her son was safe, Kali moved forward again and listened to Riddle Mouth. It took a great effort to refrain from sighing, smirking or nodding her head in disbelief but the purple lioness remained quite still, looking relaxed and at ease. She remained stoically composed when a bird left one of the approaching lions and circled the area before returning to them. That wasn’t good.

“We should get a few of those.” She whispered to no one in particular, her words honest but her expression and tone far more calm than she truly felt.

It was a terrible thing when one felt compelled to agree with an opponent’s words during a confrontation but Kali remained in her place as the king spoke. If at first she felt like smacking him in the head like a naughty cub who needed to learn some respect, by the end of his speech she was seeing how some of what he said actually made sense. The way he played with his words and took control of a very tricky situation was as impressive as it was disturbing in her opinion.

She watched the intruder carefully. The comment regarding the fertility of her fellow pride members barely registered in her mind as she was a relatively new addition and already had a litter of five. So she could keep her cool through most of what was being said, her respect from the stranger slowly increasing. When Renaissance spoke of “young mothers”, however, Kali’s head turned abruptly to the male and the purple lioness belatedly realized she might’ve given away the fact that she had little ones in the pride – nothing that a sideway glance couldn’t tell as her cubs hadn’t been weaned that long ago but still...

She kept her eyes on the intruder but her ears were turned to Riddle Mouth. She was curious as to how he would respond to the other lion’s words.

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Zuria allowed the adult to push him with little resistance, trying to set an example for the little chocolate cub. He moved to the bushes as quickly as the younger cub could follow until they were safely hidden in the shade. Well, hidden from lions at least. Zuria had no idea that the other lions seemed to have aerial support.

“It’s okay, let’s just wait here while the adults talk.” … or fight. Oh, this was such a mess. He knew his mother was going to be angry that he hadn’t obeyed her command and fetched his aunt. And now everyone was so tense that his mother’s words were really sinking in and he was beginning to understand the meaning behind them. That was when the chocolate’s cub visible trust in him became his own crutch that kept him in place even though he was suddenly afflicted by a strong urge to run forward and hide under Kali’s legs. “Everything is going to alright.” He whispered in a surprisingly even tone though he was probably talking to himself more than anyone else.