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Fireheart rolled her eyes as Magpie spoke to her. She did respect those older than her and who had seen more, but at times like these she couldn't help but look down on them a bit. Could they not see that the old ways were gone? She had been but a cub when the goddess had left and their pride had been torn apart, but she knew that living in the past was no way to keep a healthy, thriving pride.

"Some day I will be, and I hope we'll have a plethora of young adults and cubs to keep our pride strong." She fell silent after that, though, as Riddle-mouth moved to stand a bit closer to her. She held her head up, ears forward and eyes narrowed slightly as her tail flicked from side to side, showing her distaste for the open argument against what had been done.

It was fine to disagree with what had happened, but to bring it up now, in front of the cubs, certainly wasn't a way to get them to think that they meant them no harm. And indeed, they didn't! No harm would ever befall these cubs if she had anything to say about it. They would be loved and cared for as if they had been born of this pride, since they would one day carry the burden of keeping their new home alive and well.

"Yes, we have stolen young." He agreed softly, "But what's more is we have given an impression. We have shown ourselves to be sly and dangerous, unpredictable and not to be trifled with. That is the point of this little exercise my little bird. The cubs, if they remain, are an added bonus. Unless this pride is especially war-like or especially foolish, we lose nothing in this." He smirked. "Surely a merchant's eye can see that."

He looked to Fireheart and gave her a playful bump to her shoulder. "Hey now, don't you go running off to get your belly rounded out before I've made a lady plump myself. You have your years ahead of you. But..." He looked back to Magpie, "We must always be one step ahead. Especially of ourselves. New blood will be necessary in every generation. We are dishonest to strangers but always true to ourselves. Nothing is more important than this pride."

Renaissance shook his head slowly. Had these been cubs from the pride, Shandor would have been out for blood- clever enemy or not. The members of the other pride would surely be just as desperate, if not more so. Some of the cubs were barely fresh from their mother's sides...

"Well either way." He piped in. "The cubs are here now. It is what it is. What will come will come, but for now I say we get the little ones somewhere warm and see about getting a meal out for them. They must be exhausted."

He looked to Eglantine. "Ah... pardon miss, I don't believe we've been introduced but... perhaps you might find something for them?"

Fireheart glanced at Riddle-mouth as he bumped her, her ears moving back against her head in mild embarrassment. It was true she was still a very young adult, and yet she was already trying for cubs with her informal mate. He was older, after all, and his time for having cubs was slowly drawing to a close, so now would be the only time to do so.

"You'd better act quickly, then," she muttered back, although there was a hint of a smile on her face. "I'm surprised you're still waiting on cubs of your own."

As Eglantine was asked to help find food, she took a few steps forward to the other lioness. "I'll help," she offered, not wanting the soft-spoken female to become too worried or stressed. There were a lot of cubs here, after all. "One of us can go find a nursing mother with a small litter, the other can go find something for the older cubs to eat. Which would you prefer?"

She turned her gaze to the cubs. Most of them looked old enough to have meat, and maybe two or three were still nursing, but just on the cusp of changing over.

Nuzhah looked at the pale cub, seeing another cub, one she didn't recognise she almost lost her bottle. She was trying to seem strong and feisty, like her mother, and perhaps a little stubborn and hard headed like her dad, but being told she had pretty eyes made tears roll from those ice green orbs.

"Mama says I have my daddy's eyes." She pouts a bit blinking away the tears and taking a big sniffling breath. "You still have your mama. Why can't I have mine?" she frowns at the pure white male, stamping her tiny paws, she, like her siblings, we're too young to be weaned, she had never eaten meat and her mother had told her that meat would be in her future.

"I can't eat meat yet, mama said so!" she huffs and sits on her bum frowning a deep pouty frown. "does your mama have milk? Tell your mama mine does. I wanna go home to my mama right nows!" She pauses for a moment wriggling her tail and looking deeply thoughtful "please?"

I shall go procure food for the older cubs," Eglantine replied to Fireheart.

Of those gathered, she knew Bagha’Kali had a littler, but they seemed too old for milk now, so their mother likely was not still producing, and thus could not feed the younger cubs, but Fireheart seemed like she'd know mothers who might. Moreso than Eglantine, who kept to herself and somehow knew very few within the pride.

Zuria leaned back at the sudden tears, looking almost afraid. Apparently, mentioning the little cub’s eyes had been the worst possible start of a conversation. He glanced at his mother with a worried expression before he tried to calm the cub down. His mother had told him not to mention the cubs’ parents so, in a way, he had already made a mistake.

“I can share mine…if you want…? She’s a good mom…” he asked tentatively, even though deep down he knew that offering a replacement mom was kind of stupid and might not go too well with the cub. “And right… you’re still little… mom has a bit of milk but not much. I… my brothers and sisters… we eat more meat now.” That little “please” at the end pierced him through the heart in a way that the young lion had never experienced. Why had his pride done this?! Was this really necessary? He looked back at Kali with a pained grown, the silent questions dangling between them.

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“We will find milk for them, Zuria. Don’t worry.” She certainly didn’t have enough to feed little growing cubs. The girl Zuria was talking to was cute, Kali had to admit. And while her base color wasn’t colorful and bright like she’d been raised to prefer, she had those splotches of color all over her body and very striking eyes. Because her son was with her, it was nearly impossible for Kali to ignore their conversation. She’d explained to her cubs what had been happening lately in the pride in a simple way they’d understand but without omitting the less-than-pleasant details. Her son’s eyes were burning into her soul with the kind of innocence that she hated to shatter but she wouldn’t spare them vital information about their current reality. If there was a war coming, she might die in it. And that was something she’d also have to explain to them soon if things proceeded as she feared.

She eyed Riddle Mouth with the kind of expression of one that was about to roll her eyes but her dark eyes softened after a brief moment. Males. Not worth getting upset about.

“I understand the why and I will stand by your decision. I still think you underestimate the pain and anger of parents who find their cubs missing. I was once a warrior and I am now a mother so maybe I see things differently but I don’t think there’s any doubt that they’ll come.” Her eyes turned to the cubs and her voice lowered considerably. Some things, Zuria didn’t need to hear. “But I also think you’re right. They won’t come for a fight at first. Not when we have so many little hostages, I don’t think.” But she didn’t see how that other pride could respond in any other way than to demand the return of ALL the(ir) cubs. And if her leader refused them in order to show no weakness, what other way was there if not to fight? Yes, Kali was already sharpening her claws, preparing herself for the mess she was certain was coming.

Wren typically stayed on the edge of pridal politics. She was more than happy looking after both her own cubs and the offspring of others. Having been a nanny in her old pride she had plenty of experience in the role, and while she had grown to love her new home, she missed the role she used to hold. Now labeled as a gypsy, she still spent most of her time with the pride's young. The day she had given birth to her own cubs had been the happiest of her life, even if she didn't know where their father was, she would not forget him or the week they spent travailing together. Now with her own litter of four to worry about, she had truly found her place in the world, as a Mother.

Glancing down as she felt her eldest bump into her shin, she smiled softly, carefully stepping over the cub. He was certainly the liveliest one of her brood, and the one that caused the most trouble, yet he was a good cub and did his best to be the 'man' of the small family. She was proud of him and all her children. The other three were currently with her close friend, Mari'ah, who's own cubs were only a bit older than hers, having just turned adolescent, the large family were more than happy to help share babysitting duties, as Wren had done the same for the older lioness when the Auditore's youngsters were still reliant on adult care.

Now however, she let her eldest trail along as she approached the clearing and the spot she had heard a suckling mother was required. Not entirely sure what was going on she had the vague notion of kidnapped cubs... but regardless of who they were, if there were youngsters in need, Wren could never say no.

Stepping out into the area where the cubs were, she padded over to the huddled youngsters, Shahin at her side. "Hey there. I'm Wren." Smiling gently she laid herself down next to the uncertain cubs and watched then with kind, caring eyes.

Shahin had snuck away from his siblings and elder cousins (as he considered the entire Auditore family to be related somehow despite no actual blood ties, after all they had grown up together and Mari'ah was his 'aunt'). Following his mother he had been sought soon enough but he knew she never minded if he tagged along, so long as he didn't cause trouble or get lost. So the adventurous youngster stuck close to his dam's side as they approached the band of strange cubs. Wrinkling his nose as he saw a familiar white adol already there, he padded in front of his mom as she settled down in what he called her 'nanny pose' and approached one of the unknown youngsters. "Hi there. Who're you?"