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The laughter grew louder. Hraga tensed, his eyes scanning the open space for unseen enemies. Someone had the better of them, but who?

Remembering a few of the lions were still up on the ridge, he turned around and called up to them. "Do you see anyone?" he yelled. His voice mingled in with the laughter echoing about the rocks. It was a female laugh, but occasionally it sounded like she was being joined by another. How many were there- and what were they up to?

"Show yourself!" Hraga said again. "We already know you're there, so its not much of an ambush!"

Up ahead, if one was looking so carefully, they might have noticed a shadow appear. Lit by the drifting sun, the form of a lioness seemed gigantic amongst the rocks. Surely it couldn't be Roho? Who else was left? Hraga growled low in his throat. "If you don't come out-"

Almost on cue, a lioness appeared from behind the lip of one of the taller rocks. Her white fur contrasted sharply with the shadow that had continued to strike the rock behind her. The laughter stopped, replaced with a rather amiable smile.

"...Aunt Kaanga? Uncle Mpaji?!" Hraga blurted in surprise.

The lioness's eyes only softened. "We are here!" she said in her unusual tone. She tended to emphasize words in her sentences that did not need to be. "We have an ambush for you, yes, if you are ready! She thinks."

Hraga blinked. He couldn't remember Aunt Kaanga ever fighting anyone before. The ex-princess always seemed so...different... "I...uh. Yeah, yeah I guess we're ready."

"Good! Then we have riddles to solve!"

'Kero slipped out from the narrow passages among the rocks shortly before the laughter began. She frowned and edged along under the shelter of the rocks, eyes narrowed and scanning for where the source might be. She glanced at Saharan with wide, quizzical eyes before turning to see the two step from the shadows across the way. This wasn't an area 'Kero was familiar with at all, but then she had only gotten to know a very small portion of the Firekin den areas in the couple of days she'd been here. Not knowing the layout was a distinct disadvantage, but was no different than a real fight scenario. She wondered briefly if the others realized the flaw in the wargame... that everyone knew the landscape and thus had equal advantages. Well, everyone but her and maybe a handful of others who were new.

For now, as riddles were mentioned, she began to edge away from the main group, off to one side. If this was a delay tactic, it was working. Everyone had stopped to consider what was being said, though at least it seemed wariness was there. She was attempting to see if they could flank the two lone lions, find a way to hem them in and either get by them or take them down. The enemy generally didn't stop to play word games in the midst of a battle. This exercise wasn't exactly for fun, so the purpose of riddles was lost on the dark lioness.

Naar nodded. They would speak later then and she didn't mind that. Ryujin was one of those lions she actually found comfort in being with. Mostly she tended to feel out of place and somewhat in the way. She offered him a brief smile and then gave a shrug. She had no idea about the purpose of a riddle.

"Maybe...maybe the answer will give us some sort of advantage?"

Although it being a delay tactic would prove very smart indeed. A distracted foe was a weak one. Perhaps they were being flanked right now, not even aware of it. She stepped closer to Ryujin again, shuddering and apologising meekly. Again she tried to tell herself to be brave. To make her family proud. "Do you think--" Oh, wait, Kalama was on watch to make sure no one was going to sneak up on them. That was good. Her held breath rushed out of her lungs as she waited, nervous with anticipation.

Saharan was right with Kero on this one. She knew this area better, but also saw not the point of word games, fun and interesting as they might be. "Stay low," She reminded her new friend, creeping behind her and hanging as much as she could to the shadowed edges. Why on earth had Hraga stopped? And what about those left up on the rocks? Surely from above they could see if there were others around, and get a literal drop on these two...odd lions.

Naar's idea that the answer might be of benefit also seemed strange. Sure, it probably would. Or it could be a trap, sending them the wrong way, or into a worse trap. Wouldn't it be better just to tag them out, ignore this jabbering (Hraga had just said that the Nergui liked to do harm in ways other than killing. Couldn't verbal abuse lead to some forms of distress? What if they could do wicked things with their voices? Saharan surely was paranoid, but for good reason.) They ought to just tag them out and be done with it.

She peeked carefully into each den opening they passed as they slowly wound around to the pair. Hearing the riddle, she grumbled to herself. "Time, obviously..." Hopefully someone else who WASN'T stalking these fools would get it.

Sitting with the others, Saoiraed had to grumble. He couldn't see! Well, if anything happened they'd know soon enough. It seemed like a good spot for a trap to him, the area near the dens. Impatient, he stood and walked along the sideline a ways, trying to find a better seat.

Uh oh. Busted. Damn she had good hearing. Saharan motioned silently for her friend to keep circling and stopped dead, tail lashing. Maybe they'd not notice the other lioness continuing on, but she'd ruined her own chance at surprising them.

The princess leaned back, the smile never leaving her face. "Really? A riddle is not worth viable enemy intel? That's too bad! Kaanga has seen a war before! It might be good to listen to her. Mpaji too, we remember. Lots of waiting and uncertainty. Only a small handful of grand charges and glory."

"Should be patient. Not good to show your friends that a riddle is your undoing. They are bound to tease!" She motioned to the others. Then, she pantomimed a disapproving shake of her head. She mouthed a small 'tsk-tsk'.

"I promise my information is good, you do not need to worry about that. I am rarely wrong, you see."

Mo'o, the skink, sat on a nearby rock listening to the lions speak amongst each other. He heard the riddle and his tiny brain could not comprehend it. The words puzzled him. He could not help but think on them. Even though he thought very hard, he could not think of an answer. Then when one of the lionesses said patience, he was sure that she was right.

Mo'o, the skink, turned his head as others thought of answers. Clearly, some had just as much brains when it came to this stuff as he did. Then another lion spoke up, a male one. The answer he gave made Mo'o have to think again. Energy sounded good to him too. He nodded to himself, yes, it was a good guess. Perhaps the answer is energy. He really wanted to know what the answer is. Who knew that lions that fought all the time would have a riddle in a game.