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Antallian was the first to notice. The day had dawned beautifully clear, as was usual in this part of the world, and especially at this time of year. It happened that the sand and white lion was looking up towards the north and saw a cloud.

But...clouds usually came from the mountains in the east. And they didn't usually move that fast. He could actually see the thing growing! That...boded ill.

"Ah think...we should move," Bauble told everyone, adults and juveniles alike. "Thar's a cloud on tha horizon, an' it don' look friendly." He took the time to look at each and every one of his six offspring, to try and express wordlessly to them how important this was. Finally he turned to his mate for help.

Blackbone was playing in the sandy dirt, trying to change Nitida's white fur to a sandy brown like his. It was great fun, since the young lioness hated the game as much as he enjoyed it. Of course, there was an element of danger, since there were parents everywhere and the longer things went on, the more likely it was that he'd get in trouble for it. Again.

Well, that was a fairly normal part of Selet's short life. No big deal. Sometimes he went hungry, sometimes he had to sit and stare at a blank wall of the den for hours. Sometimes he had to go with Dad and listen to boring stories that barely made sense while looking for equally boring plants.

Which made it entirely understandable when he ignored Antallian's shout about an "unfriendly cloud." He only began to pay attention when his mother started shouting orders. Blackbone abandoned his game to look up and around for whatever it was.

Oh...was that it? There was a cool cloud coming at them, fast! It was brown, like him, and growing by the second. In fact, the wind was blowing bits of sand and dirt around all around him. That might just be the coolest thing the juvenile had ever seen!

Hephzibah had been distracting herself with her tail tip, taking the momentary lull to play a game. Though they were all together, in this moment of slowness she had decided that yes, she would someday get her tail tip. It just always seemed that much out of reach.

The black and white cub was easily entertained. She was bright and quick witted, but so easily distracted that her smarts weren't always noticed. She also seemed to find amusement in everything that she likely came off as a little slow. Like now, as she pounced in half-circles, trying to fetch the very tip of her tail!

Sure, it was a silly little game. . . but it was fun! Especially when she'd stop after a few round and watch the world spin . . . . .

Just as she was about to n** at her tail tip, her mother's voice broke through and called her attention. Ears flicking forward, she looked up and . . .hobbled for a moment, steadying herself from her game. The world spun, sand surrounding her, but even as she found her bearing and stifled a giggle, she saw that the sand didn't quite spin . . . so much as dance. And it was kicking up in a breeze.

But what was this all about? Pick a parent? Her pale furred father was closest, so she scurried closer to him. Her red gaze had caught sight of the massive cloud, and she too stared transfixed for a moment. What was it? It was so . . . HUGE. Was it a moving mountain? She didn't think those could move. . . Or was it a cloud? It was awfully dark to be one . . . .

"Papa, what is it?" She asked, knowing she had to stick close to her father, but also wanting to know what was going on. Where had this new haste and anxiety sprung from?

He could see them, the mortal lions below. The storm winds had picked up in this brief amount of time. The young lions - juveniles, he guessed, based on their size - weren't so small that they were being picked up and thrown around, but it was taking a great deal of effort on their part to move against the wind. The adults were more stable, but he could tell that the wind was starting to be an issue.

It looked like some of the lions were calling out to each other, but the wind garbled their words and carried them off before Kamiseen could make any out. He did see that some of the children were moving towards their parents. The god thought this to be a sensible precaution - the larger the weight, the less likely it would be moved by the storm. Not to mention the more likely the group would stay together through the storm and be able to find each other afterwards.

Such strange thoughts he entertained here. Why should he care whether mortals lived or died?

Inatarni was a step above panic. Unlike her mate, she'd seen a sandstorm in person before. Unfortunately, that had also been the last time she saw her own mother. The black lioness refused to allow that to happen to her own children. Never again, that was her motto for life.

She looked down to see Allianti at her side. Thank the gods, that was one child down, two counting Hephzibah over with Antallian, and only four left to find. The lioness spared a moment to look down at her daughter. "Remember, sweetie, no one can understand you when you've got something in your mouth."

Maternal correction made, now to get a hold of the rest of the kids. "Barnixos, Elsen, Eskeleta, Selet!" she called out. "Get over here, now!"

Nitida cowered against her mother's leg as the cloud got bigger and kept coming closer. There were dirt and small rocks now, hitting her in every place that faced the big and scary cloud. The juvenile turned, trying to show it a smaller target. As she looked back in fear, she noticed that her fur wasn't its usual white. Oh no, had the cloud done all that to her already? It must be a mean and evil and spiteful cloud. She was awfully proud of knowing that word, it was special and a grownup type of word. Nitida even knew what it meant - it was to do something mean for no good reason at all, so it definitely was the right word for the cloud!

"Mooooom," she whined. "I'm scared!"

Antallian grabbed at whichever kids he could, relying on Inatarni to get the rest. The sandstorm now screamed its fury to the earth, a roaring that no mortal voices could penetrate. It was all he could do to hurry his family to a small overhanging rock that offered shelter.