Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sairin padded along the river silently, nose testing the air as he strode along the land. He was, as normal, silent, bearing around his neck what was once his mother's bone necklace. But now, she was gone, and the youngest was able to fend for themself, with the pride's help.

For the first time, he was truly alone. Uneeded.

And the great lion resented it. He longed to protect, he longed to be needed to guard someone. It was what the young lion knew. Breifly, his mind danced to the stories of his childhood, and he sighed. They were but stories to him; barely real. And slowly, surely, the great lion continued walking along the river, until he came upon the lioness.

Her fur was what, as the snow of the mountain, and his own mane, yet her shoulders were marked almost like wings. She struck him as very odd, but very young. A sniff told the great beast she was older than appeared, and he looked around, unafraid. The female was sleeping. But there was another. Silently, Sairin sait on his haunces to wait.

The larger lion flicked his ears and looked at the other lion. A piebald... Almost like Toshiro. But this was no adult. And he seemed a bit nervious. Calmly, the adult rose, and padded over, the hyena bones swaying as he approached, staring coldly.

"I do not harm those whom bring no harm. Why are you in these lands?"

The question was not aggressive, but the silky muscles were more than enough warning.

The sound of voices awoke Kabichi as well, the loiness groggily sitting up before blinking.

Oh Gods. A Native.

Sairin blinked, hearing of the land he once wished to live based on stories. His jaw dropped slightly. The stories of the Pridelands were good-- could evil truly exist there?

"Your.... Father?"

Kabichi nodded, padding to sit next to Shin protectively.

"His father beats him."

Sairin narrowed his eyes, remembering his own lack of a father.

"Why?"

Sairin sighed, approaching to teen to try to give him an encouraging nudge. He bent down, and stopped, nose in the boy's shoulder.

That scent.

The female's, and an unfamiliar. But that scent.

Toshiro. Toshiro had done this. Sairin rose slowly, lips beginning to curl as a deep, gutteral growl began to rise in his throat.

Kabichi reacted first, leaping to cover Shin with her body as she snarled back at the larger lion, who only turned away.

"Your father. His name is Toshiro, isn't it?"

Sairin studied the young lion a very long time, tail swaying before he rose, turning away wistfully, remembering the day he met his brother.

"I do. He is the one who slew my mother." Sairin sat, hanging his head, wishing he could have spared his mother the heartbreak of her son rejecting her. His words....

"Your father is my brother."

Kabichi's ears pricked. Toshiro killed his own mother? An involuntary shudder, and she moved near Shin nervously.

"Why did he kill your mother?"

"Because my brother is consumed with hatred."

Sairin glanced at Shin, thinking silently for several minutes, about what his mother would do. She'd have taken him in. Sairin took a deep breath, and padded back to Shin.

"Then I will protect you."

The lion licked the others' ear affectionately, purring deeply in his chest.

Sairin nodded slowly, rising.

"I will. I don't doubt he would harm the others either." Sairin growled.

"We'll need to move quickly. We can go through the mountains--"

Kabichi, however, finally piped up, shaking her head.

"That'll take us through the elephant Graveyard, where the hyenas live!"

She quivered slightly, not forgetting the tormentors she once met. Sairin studied her face, and sighed. "Perhaps a round about route...."

"That would work." Kabichi nodded, looking back at the larger lion behind her. Sairin nodded-- if they knew the way, he would follow. Slowly, he began following, giving one last look over his shoulder. His family would be safe without him. It was his neices and nephews that needed him now.

With that thought, the massive lion began to follow the younger duo, paws not making a sound.