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Estelle was really glad that Zuri was helping her, it seemed at first a number of the pride were just prepared to blame Lady Wema without actually looking for a solution to the problem. Smaller hunting parties and scouting groups were a good idea and she knew that things would likely still be hard but she hoped everything would work out fine. She nodded "That sounds like a good plan." She looked towards the king and queen's cave. "I am curious as well if they were having problem.. I hope they aren't sick or something." She said softly.

Lady Wema could feel her nerves begin to grow the closer she and Kijani got to the royal dens. Luckily, it didn't seem like anyone was intent on following them, and she gave a thankful glance over her shoulder towards Daaruk who was flanking them a few paces behind. His presence was calming, and having Kijani to lean on as she walked helped her feel not so alone and out of place in the pride. She was quiet as they ascended priderock, her breathing shallow as she felt like if she made too much noise, it would draw everyone's attention. Which, of course, Wema did not want to do. The steps, though few in number, felt like an eternity until they happened to finally stop at the den's entrance. "Stay here, please," Wema whispered to Kijani and Daaruk. "I'll go check on my brother and the queen." She knew he had told her they didn't want to be disturbed, but he was only supposed to be gone for a day or two, not four. And they certainly hadn't anticipated the chaos that had cropped up during their absence. With a final, deep breath to steady herself, Wema carefully entered the royal den, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the darkness. "Brother? Laini? Are you both okay...?" she trailed off, a quiet gasp leaving her maw as she stopped abruptly in her paw steps.

Kubwa was, quite frankly, one of the largest lions the pridelands had to offer. Had he not been king, he would have fit in quite nicely with the guards, though hardly anyone had ever seen a snarl cross his features as he was highly regarded as one of the most jovial lions around. The pridelands was often graced by his bellyful laughter and accommodating, patient nature. As king, Kubwa was more than happy to play host and politics with neighboring prides, promoting cooperation and allegiances with those prides who proved themselves to be of a similar, friendly nature.

The face that met Wema as she entered the den was not the joyous king everyone had come to love and adore, but the tired, exhausted look of a proud father who had not slept for many days. In his tangled mane, crawling and pulling on the red hair, were three tiny cubs that mewled and gently tumbled over each other and into his waiting paws as he lay on his belly. "Shh, Laini is sleeping," he whispered back, his tired eyes shining brightly as a smile pulled the corners of his maw upward.

"Laini was sleeping," the queen corrected with a yawn. The pale lioness was nearly as large as her king, with soft, round features that made her look rather motherly. Those who interacted with the queen knew better than to believe in appearances however, as she was definitely the fiercest when it came to the royal couple. Laini was a strict queen, who did not abide by foolishness often, and was more than capable of speaking her mind when she didn't agree with something. Her brown eyes more often than not were sharp and intense as she watched everything closely around the pride.

"Lady Wema, I trust you have good reason to be disturbing us at this hour?" Laini questioned, her eyes doing little to betray how she was feeling at that moment, though her voice was edged in exhaustion. Her and Wema weren't exactly the closest of pridemates, despite Wema being the sister and only living relative of the king. Laini found her sister-in-law to be quite lackadaisical, lazy, and downright frivolous with no ambition of her own. To say the least, Laini and Wema hardly got along other than surface level pleasantries, and Laini made sure Wema never forgot that.

Her eyes were glued to the little bundles of joy that played in Kubwa's mane, and she nearly took a step forward to nuzzle into them when Laini's voice cut her off. Wema nearly balked as the queen laid that question out bare for her to answer, and she swallowed hard. "I... I-" she stammered, her first instinct to turn and run away from the confrontation. She glanced over her shoulder back towards the den's mouth, where the pride awaited the return of their king and queen, and with a hard swallow Wema pushed down the panic that had bubbled up in her throat. "The pride..." she started quietly, before glancing at her brother for what she hoped would be support. "I am no leader. Moyo is doing his best to assist me, but running the pride has been challenging and I could not stop the chaos that ensued," she admitted. "Moyo has gotten them to come together and work on solutions to the problems I've created, and I'm quite proud of him for that, but..." she paused as she saw the slight frown on Kubwa's face and the sneer on Laini's. "The pride needs its leaders back, I am no substitute."

"Oh, little sister," Kubwa expressed, a sincere sadness now donning his tone. "I'm sorry we put you in that position. We never expected to be gone for so long, but the birth was a difficult one, and I vowed to not leave Laini's side until she was ready to present our cubs to the pride together," the king explained, as one tiny cub slipped from his mane and into his awaiting paws below. His expression softened as he bent down to nuzzle the mewling thing, a clear pride and happiness reaching his eyes despite his tiredness. "We have been gone for too long, and I dare say it is time to return to our pride," he said with a glance to his queen, who gave him a simple nod in return.

"Yes, I suppose that's all the rest I can afford for now. Can't have the pride falling apart in our absence," Laini agreed as she shot a pointed look at Wema. She had many choice words she wished to say to the lioness before her, but that would have to wait until Kubwa was no longer within ear shot. For now, she simply pushed herself up to her paws and shouldered her way past Wema to reach down to her king and offer him a hard nuzzle and deep purr. "Come, let us each take a cub and present them to the pride. We must show them that their leaders are strong, and order will once again be restored."

((This is the last post I will be making, and the META is officially considered finished. If you would like to post one final time to finish up any interactions or react to the king and queen returning, please feel free!))

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EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ty so much! May i take cub 1 pls, the blond girl <3333

*waaaatches*

Here is your little prince!

Daaruk made sure no one followed and watched carefully as Wema went into the Royal den, his eyes turned back to Kijani a moment, them back to the others. A strange silence fell over him as she waited for what would come. He didn't know if all was well, he didn't know if they would be facing even more time Without their Royal Family but he felt that things would go much smoother now that the guards had met up, the hunters seemed to be talking about strategy and he watched Ikarta prance her self over to Hamdan and flop over on the stone. He got a small smile on his rugged muzzle from seeing her so happy with herself. He remembers when Ikarta was a cub always trying to be useful, always trying to be helpful to others. He sat there Right next to Kijani and waited, lost in his thoughts.

Potopoto was trying to help settle things, naturally most of the others reaction to him was more or less "yeah I'm okay!". No surprise sense sense he wasn't usually the most approachable type but he did his best. At least he was calm and he took this time to reconnect with his Pride, he wasn't angry with them, he was just aggressive by nature. He bonked his head on the occasional Pride member lightly, showing his intent wasn't for once looking for a scrap. He saw others were settling down, so he decided to move on start his patrol toward where they had discussed needed it while Brunivald got some much needed shut eye. Off he went, moving his big muscled frame out of the group and he made his way toward his patrol, snorting from the settling dust that has collected from the movement around pride rock.