"It was a long time ago, and things have worked themselves out since then," Maral said, in the hopes that would reassure Sar somewhat. He couldn't truthfully say that everything would be all right as far as hyenas were concerned.
It hadn't occurred to Maral that Sar might be afraid of hyenas based on what he'd said. Maral had been fiercely determined to kill any hyena that tried to hurt his family at the time, though he'd been very young and every bit as shy then as he was now. He hated hyenas, and couldn't think of any nice things to say about them, but that didn't mean he had to terrify his younger siblings, he supposed, even if that was the prerogative of an older sibling.
"Mum and Rei wouldn't let anything happen to any of their cubs," he promised. "They were really brave last time about fighting them off, and they'll be just as brave if the hyenas decide to come back and try again."
Maral couldn't remember being really afraid at the time, though he guessed he must have been. He mostly remembered thinking with horror that there were so many cubs in his litter no one would notice if a few went missing, and being a little bit obsessed with knowing where all of his siblings were at any given time. In hindsight it was a little silly, but not unforgivably so.
"Sure, I can do that," he said. He wasn't any more afraid of hyenas now than he had been as a cub. In truth, he was less afraid of them because he was bigger and better able to fend them off. "Let's go."
