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A scent reached his nose that told him... Things had changed. He was no longer the center of his mother's attention, no longer the only constant in her life. A growl rose in the piebald lion's throat as his walk turned into a trot and then a run, taking him swiftly to the site of the den. He had thought they would be ALONE... That he had his mother to himself! But no, what he found... Were cubs. Six cubs in shades of black, red, gray, white... And a little yellow. It disgusted him.

He looked at her slowly, green eyes flashing. "What are these doing here?" He looked again at the cubs, staring at the mass of sleeping furballs. A look of utter disgust crossed his face, before he turned fully to his mother, waiting for her response.

A growl rose up in his throat, and he advanced, looming over his crippled mother. "You had other cubs? What about me? Are you trying to forget me or something?" He got ready to strike, then paused. No, he shouldn't... This was what had led to Sairin beating him up in the first place. The second time had also been because of his poor hold on his temper. He flexed his shoulders, putting his paw down.

Tensing, he backed away, glaring. "How dare you... How dare you try to... To REPLACE me!" With a growl, his paw whipped out, and before he knew it, it had connected. Almost emediately, he heard a deep, thunderous roar. That was NOT his mother... Head whipping around, he looked, and found a mass of very angry, VERY big red lion charging at him. Horror dawned on the piebald male's face as he realised... This was not just a rogue simply gifted with size and strength like Sairin. This was a TRAINED lion! Not thinking much more, he turned and ran.

A roar of pain escaped before he started to struggle, trying to get away from the claws and teeth tearing into him. Old scars were turned into new wounds as new wounds sprang up to join the old. He twisted and clawed, trying to get the other to relent, but the much larger lion had years and years on him, as well as what he thought was some form of immunity to the pain. Finally, he got free, and ran. He simply ran. There was no looking back, no GOING back. He wasn't going to go near Ishara ever again.

Trembling, the lioness looked up. He'd... Hit her? Her own son had hit her? Swallowing, she nodded. It mostly just stung, but it was fading. No claws had been used, thankfully. It was mostly the shock of it all. Getting up, she limped to the cubs. "F-for now... These are my only children..." She looked back, sorrow in her eyes. "Thank you, Bodaway..."

She nodded, then curled around them. She was tired, ready for sleep. Tail curling, she yawned. A tremble ran over her body again, but she ignored it. Laying down, her eyes slowly closed, before sleep won out. She was doing that more and more lately, sleeping. Perhaps it was age, perhaps it was simply chasing cubs around... More than likely, it was both. But regardless, she slept well, dreams filled with the thoughts of the cubs.