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While Zua may have been having a bad day, her one-time acquaintance was having quite a good one. The now quite big male was trotting along toward home, a limp baby gazelle clutched by the throat in his powerful jaws. Ever since he had begun to creep toward adulthood and had gained an unexpected growth spurt (for which he gave credit to his foster family taking him in and caring for him), Ilizi had been growing in confidence as well. He had even got the nerve to go out of the safety of the den and into the wild as a prefator himself, rather than as a timid young pup afraid he was going to be made prey.

This was his first successful hunting attempt. It was said that the third time was the charm... but it hadn't been so for him. The fifth attempt for the young male had been the one to bring a result, and so he had to suppose that maybe it went in uneven numbers. He was now planning to head home and show off his achievement to the rest of the family. He was, of course, feeling unreasonably proud of himself. When he had first met Ibada, the idea of him ever having the necessary confidence in himself to be able to make a catch like this had been laughable. This was just another proof of how much Lamaye and her sons had saved his life, and why he wanted them to have this meal, small though it was.

But about halfway back to the den he shared with them, he spotted a familiar splotch of blue on the ground (how could he forget such a bright colouring on a hyena?) and his paws automatically turned him in the appropriate direction. He caught Zua's scent on the wind before he got close enough to really be able to tell it was her by sight alone, and he slowed his quick trot to a walk and finally a complete stop as he drew up beside the female flopped on the ground.

"Zua?" It came out muffled around the tender flesh of the gazelle gripped in his jaws, but since it was a simple word, he managed to make it mostly understandable, his head tilting as he stared down at her in confusion, wondering why she was laying stretched out on the ground that way.

At the mention to his rather obvious growth spurt, Ilizi smiled and rolled his shoulders in a shrug that clearly showed he was made shy by it. He may now be big enough to stand a chance of defending himself, but in some areas, he'll always be that shy and uncertain little pup, beyond modest and never out-spoken.

He set the limp gazelle down on the ground. "Yeah... I guess I have. It's down to my mother feeding and looking after me, though. I didn't do anything to help it..." And that was exactly what he thought, too. He fully believed - no, he knew - that he would never have survived without being taken in by Lamyae. He owed her so much. And Ibada as well, for finding him in the first place and suggesting to Lamyae that they add Ilizi to the family. He loved them and he was completely devoted to the whole family by this point in his life, as he had been for a very long time.

"Hm?" He looked down at the gazelle, blinked, then turned his head to nod in the direction he had come from. "There was a herd over there... I don't know if they're there now. They stopped running away after I caught this one, but they might have wandered off anyway." He nodded in sympathy, having felt exactly the way Zua did until about half an hour before. "It took me all morning and part of the afternoon to catch this little thing."

As always, Zua's bubbly personality left Ilizi feeling a little bit off-balance and at a loss as to how he could keep up with her energy. Everything she did was lively, whereas Ilizi preferred to take things at a slower, more relaxed pace. Her quick change of subject left him with barely enough time to begin making a gentle protest about having anything to do with his sudden growth. Blinking, he was forced to let her proud look slide as he tried his best to keep up with this next topic.

"I don't suppose you can," he replied, giving a little laugh himself, with as much of a shy edge to it as he'd had before. He may have grown in body, but everything else about him was hardly changed at all. "It's an easy mistake to make, though," he added consolingly, making an effort to help her feel better about her lack of luck in finding prey to hunt. "And it's all part of learning, right? We have to learn from our mistakes in order to go forward." That was what he had been told, and he was going to stick by it.

At her question, the young male simply shrugged his shoulders and then sat down. "Oh... nothing, really. I've just been spending time with my family and learning to hunt, so that I can help out." It was very important to him to take the strain off Lamyae, just so it wasn't solely up to her any more to feed the mouths of three rapidly growing young boys. "Other than that, I haven't really been doing anything. What about you, though? I'm sure you've been doing much more interesting things than I have."

Ilizi smiled. "I'm sure you'll be coming to tell me in no time at all," he replied. He had every faith that Zua would learn to hunt soon. After all... if he could pick it up, anyone else could. He was naturally hesitant with anything new he set out to do. As such, he often messed it up because he lacked confidence. But if the bumbling male had managed to catch something, surely Zua would, very soon. As soon as she found the right side of the graveyard to hunt on, of course. "I'll be looking forward to hearing about what you've caught."

His eyebrows rose just slightly, and he actually looked impressed. "Really? You're living on your own now?" He gave a bit of a sheepish smile, watching her from under his white bangs. "I haven't taken that step just yet..." To be honest, he was still a bit nervous about being on his own, and Lamyae was too nice to tell him to walk on his own four paws. It was another reason he wanted to help provide for Ibada and Kefir, and himself and his mother... just so his presence wouldn't be too much of a burden as he got bigger and bigger.

Ilizi tilted his head at Zua's words. He supposed what she said made sense, but his home life wasn't the way hers was. His brothers would get told off by Lamyae, sure, but he always made a point of being on his best behaviour for his foster mother. He knew he was there because she had decided to take in one more mouth to feed and pup to protect. It was the least he could do to behave himself, even if Ibada tried to coax him into doing naughty things. Even at their ages, Ibada was still mischievous. A little more freedom to do what he wanted wasn't a concern for him.

Plus, there was safety in numbers.

The space sounded good, though. He himself was getting bigger and bigger at an almost alarming rate, and Ibada and Kefir were catching up to him quickly. Soon, there wouldn't be room for all of them to fit. As the biggest, and as the one who didn't truly belong, Ilizi did suppose it would be him who had to go eventually. Or at least first. He couldn't say it was a happy or comforting thought to have.

At mention of the graveyard, however, his ears lowered slightly. "Graveyard...? N-no, I... I'd prefer to stay out here. Lots of... meaner hyenas in the graveyard. And l-lions." Or so he'd heard, at least. Not that he ever wanted to go in there to find out for himself. The rumour - or fact, if it was - was quite enough.

Ilizi smiled weakly, seeing what she was doing, and grateful for her attempts to make him more comfortable with the idea of entering into the graveyard. He couldn't help his feelings, though. Though he had met three kind female hyenas, he had never met a male who would want to do anything other than eat him, and even with Zua and Toma and Lamyae in his memories to make him less afraid, the number of agressive hyenas he had met dwarfed those three. Unless something dramatic happened, he could never put himself into a group of hyenas that large. He would simply be too frightened, for his mental scars ran deep.

Ilizi shifted on his paws, feeling a little awkward. And mean. He had perhaps just insulted her home, and even her. It hadn't been his intent, though, and the thought that he had distressed him a bit. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I didn't mean... to say bad things about where you live. I just haven't met many nice hyenas. The ones I came across always tried to hurt me when I was young... before I found a family to take care of me."

His eyes were sad, and pleading with her to understand that he hadn't meant any harm. He was rather scared even now - scared of losing the only hyena he'd ever been brave enough to make a friend.