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Where had solitude gone? Where was peace and quiet? Nyunya had things on her mind, pressing things, things she wanted complete quiet to think over. She wanted to sort through the mess alone before she turned to others for comfort. Well... to Taabu. Ithi was a fragile as she right now, and with the news her adoptive mother had brought about Denge, there really was no one left for Ny besides her mate. Her cubs were far too young to understand, and too young for her to want to burden them with her sorrows. Not only that, she felt they were also too young to hear the grandmother they had never met was no longer with them.

Speaking of her cubs, though... She watched her oldest daughter, Amani, as the lively juvenile bounced ahead of her and hummed softly with no real tune to it. It made her smile despite the weight on her mind. If there was anything that could ease her stress for a few precious moments, it was this: watching her little loves frolic and play, happy and without a care in the world. If she was honest with herself, and didn't find something to grumble about as she liked to do, Nyunya would rather be surrounded by her little family than on her own like she'd enjoyed being before she and Taabu had gotten together, odd twist of events that had been. But... she did like to grumble, even if only within the confines of her mind; so she would, simple as that.

Amani was a little shocked at Damu's response to her. She was being nice, wasn't she? Everyone liked to be greeted nicely, or so her parents had said. Manners were rather important, and Amani always tried to remember that. But if she was using her manners, why did this daddy-look-a-like have to be horrible and snappish? He certainly wasn't like daddy in personality! Her ears flattened back a bit against her skull, but she gave him a stubborn look, being a little like her mother in this respect in that she was quite stubborn when she thought - knew - she was in the right and whomever she was facing down was most definitely in the wrong.

Her tail stopped flicking and instead curled around her right hind leg as she fixed him with that look - though, unfortunately, it didn't manage to carry off the somehow intimidating firmness that her mother always managed to display, despite the adult's lack of size. "I was only being nice to you," she said, and despite looking as if she was going to be giving him the telling off, her voice sounded sullen and pouty, as though she had been the one to receive the ear-bashing. "You don't have to be mean about it."

Seeing Damu's reaction to her daughter's greeting - which, while unnecessarily loud, had not earned such an aggressive tone, nor the angry way Damu held himself - Ny's intention switched abruptly from talking to this young male to get to know him, to talking to this male to give him a firm piece of her mind. If Nyunya was to step into the role of super-parent and raise cubs that were not her own as if they were, it wouldn't be all that much effort to teach this young whipper-snapper a thing or two about manners. That was something she insisted on for all those she raised and loved as her own: manners. It was the same for all of them, whether they were placed under her care and accepted, or whether she 'volunteered' them into it. They would all learn, eventually; she would make sure of it.

Stepping up behind her daughter and fixing Damu with the stare that only a stern - and peeved - mother can manage, and that Amani unwittingly tried to imitate, Nyunya said coolly, "I think my daughter is quite right; your rudeness was uncalled for. An apology is in order, and I think after that my Amani will be happy to give you one in return for accidentally startling you." She raised an eyebrow slowly, the look saying that he'd damned well better hurry up and be quick about it.

Having got the apology she wanted, and far, fear easier than she had expected, Nyunya's gaze softened. It was still not as soft and mild as her eyes usually looked since finding love and motherhood, but no longer did it look as though she still might physically beat sense and manners into Damu. Of course, she might anyway, if she ended up thinking he was only showing manners because he had to. But for now, at least, he was a bit safer than he had been.

Hearing his weakly-offered defence, though, Nyunya found herself unable to help but smile a bit. Damu may look a great deal like her mate, but this little male lacked Taabu's verbosity, or much of her large, loveable mate's personality. Not only would Taabu not have reacted in such a way to being startled, but even if he had, Taabu would have worded it in such a way that it left most believing he was innocent in the charge of being 'mean and grumpy'. Not Nyunya, though; he'd never fooled Nyunya that way. "But still you were mean. My daughter can't help that she's energetic. Just because she startled you and made you a little soggy is no cause to be so snappish. But she does owe you an apology, as well.

Right, Amani?" Nyunya's firm gaze now moved down to her daughter. She believed in equal treatment, and both would apologise.

Amani felt it the moment those eyes moved to her, like intense rays of the sun beating on the back of her head. And yet still, reflexively, she turned her head to look up at her mother, swallowing when she saw exactly what she thought she'd see. This was one of the rare times that Amani had ever gotten that look when she hadn't been sneaking off somewhere she wasn't supposed to, which was generally anywhere that was out of reach of either of her parents. Other than that unfortunate little habit that she had unknowingly inherited from Nyunya herself, and also perhaps a bit from Syeira to Taabu to herself, Amani was a good girl; she hated getting that look for any other reason. It always made her feel intensely guilty.

She obediently turned her head back to Damu, lowering it slightly. "I'm sorry I made you jump," she mumbled to him, no longer sounding too cheery and loud.

Amani couldn't say why, but she didn't quite like that look Damu gave her. Having never been in contact with hostility, she didn't recognise it for what it was, that and the glint being so small it was barely recognisable. She just knew it made her uneasy and uncomfortable looking at him, so she stopped, letting her eyes move over to the watering hole Damu had been sleeping by earlier. She didn't really want to be here now, but she knew better than to say this to her mother. Nyunya would consider it rude, and she made a point of instructing her cubs not to be rude.

But this part of the conversation was not directed at her, she knew, and so she quietly settled herself between her mother's legs, happy and oddly relieved when one of Nyunya's legs curled around her. It was a small comfort, and made her feel better.

Nyunya missed that tiny look in his eyes, probably because it never occured to her to look for it in someone so like Taabu, physically at least. What she did notice, however, was her daughter's unease; being a vigilant mother, it was practically impossible for her to miss. As her oldest cub squeezed herself between her paws, one of her own wrapped around her daughter. She was satisfied when she felt Amani relax a bit. So long as her daughter was not distressed, she was happy.

"My name is Nyunya," she said, watching Damu closely. "And you are?"

Amani was most certainly made uncomfortable by Damu's grin. She didn't want to look at him grinning at her like that, but she couldn't stop herself from glancing at him every few moments out the corners of her eyes. He was seriously beginning to creep her out, so much so that her long, sinuous tail was twitching agitatedly over the dusty earth. But her mother didn't seem to be put off by Damu, so Amani was left to suffer in silence, leaning against one of her mother's legs for comfort.

Nyunya looked a tad surprised as Damu suddenly perked up, rather abruptly. He hadn't seemed the type to do such a thing, had seemed too... serious for it. But Nyunya smiled herself as Damu revealed he knew who she was, one of her genuine smiles that were always pretty and that Taabu had gotten very few of, if any, when he had been Damu's age. "That's right, I am." Just admitting to that made her smile widen even more. She was unreasonably proud, though she'd probably never tell him, of being Taabu's mate. Her love was noble, honest, kind and loving, the perfect mate anyone could ask for - and Nyunya had him, not some other lioness. That was something to take pride in, she thought.

As Damu introduced himself, though, Ny nodded as though she had known all along. Her suspicions were correct; she knew Taabu had a wealth of younger siblings now, and now she knew Damu was one of those siblings. "So that's it. I thought you looked extraordinarily like him. It's good to meet you finally, Damu. But seeing as I'm Taabu's mate, that would sort of make me your sister..." She looked down at her daughter slumped against her leg, and smiled. "And it would make my little Amani your niece. She's mine and your brother's oldest cub."

Nyunya, of course, noticed how Damu's mood seemed to be hopping around like a live fish left on the shore. She had met some interesting characters, and with the sort of antics Amani pulled and the things she said, there was hardly a dull moment in her life now, but she'd never met anyone with such a proneness to mood swings like Damu. She thought it a touch strange. In anyone else, she might have started trying to back out of conversation and escort her daughter away, but this was Taabu's brother. There couldn't be anything worrying about him... could there?

As Damu asked about the rest of her cubs, she looked down with fondness at her daughter, leaning down to give Amani a little nuzzle. She was so proud of her children it was bordering on ridiculous, especially considering how adamant she had been that cubs weren't her thing. And she could have asked for no better father than Taabu. She knew her babies idolised him as much as she did. "We had four all together. Our girls are Amani, here, and Tifu. Tifu looks so much like her father. And Njozi and Mirengo'Kauta are our boys. Mirengo is still with me, but Taabu took Njozi with he and their grandmother."

Her heart went out to Damu then; she had felt dismayed that Taabu had had to go, too. She knew the reasons, he'd told her before he left, and she supported the decision, and understood it all. Still... it was lonely without him, and though she knew Taabu and Syeira would look after young Njozi well, as a mother she couldn't help but be concerned for her son. "I don't know... I'm sorry." It was true, she didn't. Taabu and Syeira hadn't known where they would go before they left. "But your mother and Taabu will be back before you know it, I'm sure."

If only Nyunya knew what affliction of the soul Damu carried. If she did, she would not allow this lion so close to Amani, or any of her children, blood of Taabu or not. He would be viewed as the threat he was, and she would take whatever action necessary to keep said threat away from her young. When it came to protecting her cubs, Nyunya was as fierce in her duty as any other mother who had walked the earth before her, despite her small, diminuitive size. She had no fear when it came to ensuring their survival; not even the threat of death would deter her from keeping them alive.

Her brows furrowed, and she frowned, wondering just what had happened to this lion to make him think so. "Don't be silly. Of course she is. And of course she loves you. All of you. Every mother loves her cubs. It's impossible for it to be otherwise." She shook her head slowly. "Taabu had to leave abruptly, too. He stayed only long enough to wake Njozi and tell him they would be leaving. And then he was gone. But I know he's coming back, Damu. Just like your mother."