Amleth stretched herself over the large bone, letting her forepaws drape over the edge. It was nearing midday, but the graveyard was dusky yet, splinters of sunlight filtering through the dust and bones weakly. The lanky lioness looked tired, and indeed she was. Not particularly physically tired, but spiritually exhausted. She hadn't had any time to herself since... well, she couldn't remember. Normally Amleth couldn't stand being alone, and avoided it at all costs, but for some reason she felt the need to be alone with her thoughts.

She loved Duhushi. That much she knew. She'd probably always loved him, somehow, even though he occasionally made her angry. She loved how valiantly he was trying to pull his old pride back together, and yet... a little voice inside her wished it could go back to the way things were before, when they were cubs. Wandering the graveyard together, exploring... they both had so much in common. both lost souls, both relatively estranged from their families, both stubborn, they'd clung to each other through everything. When food was scarce, when the hyenas prowled, when...

Amleth shut her eyes tight. She hated remembering, and the fear rose up in her like bile. She remembered feeling so small, and the stark feeling of absolute terror. For herself, for Duhushi... And even after their escape from the Pridelands, the fear had never really left her. Every day, in the back of her mind, was the nagging worry that they'd be back. Logically she knew it wouldn't happen; after all, the two brutes had much better things to worry about than her, but still, it was there, especially now that she had a family.

And her family! She loved them all, of course, and it wasn't that she regretting the cubs, not really, but... she felt that perhaps they hadn't been ready for them. And there was so much now, with the sudden transfer of power from Ausha, and now they had cubs to look after..! She longed for the simplicity of her younger years.

Almost as if on cue, she heard a soft mewl from below her. She glanced sharply down, and her eyes softened. Here was her son, the heir of the pride, himself still rooted in his cubhood. She worried for him. As carefree as she'd been as a cub, Lysander was the opposite. He was small and serious, a thoughtful frown always on his face, a look of contemplation and worry. She had no idea where he got it from, though she knew that his sisters occasionally picked on him, as Duhushi's sisters had. She offered him a soft smile, slipping down off the bone to meet him. Though Amleth hated the idea of playing favorites, something about Lysander's soft-spoken melancholy struck a chord with her. That, and he was nearly her mirror image. The mark on his shoulder upset her slightly, though...

"Lysander," she murmured, lowering her head to run a rough tongue along the top of his little skull. "What are you doing here? I thought your father took you out on patrol."

The cub endured his mother's grooming patiently. "No, he went on his own today."

{Continued}