Makaa:
Makaa walked out of the family den, out to search for his friend, Zapa. He'd talked to Kenna and was quite sure Zapa's mother was a part of the pride. He just wrote his father's lack of knowledge about the lioness and her family as simply not knowing them. So today, he was going to introduce his friend to his father and explain how her family was a part of the pride.
But first he needed to find her, and then find his father.

Zap:
Zap, meanwhile, had been busily tumbling about with several of her siblings in an attempt to keep their minds off...well, recent bad tidings. She herself still didn't want to--wouldn't accept it. Momma was just...gone. She could have beaten tha rogues, and was hiding out with her brother to keep him safe. Of course, her heart knew the truth, even if her mind denied it. She was no mother, but she did her best, one small cub trying to lift the spirits of the others...Eventually she needed a break from her siblings and she wandered a ways off, dropping down onto a shaded patch of sand in the lee of a stone, and letting herself relax.

Zaph:
Zaphod slowly lifted his head off his paws and let his eyes trail after the cub. A quiet wince pulled at the corner of his maw. It wasn't any of his buisness...but of the little hellions, that one was perhaps the most merciful towards his tail and ears. Sighing inwardly, the blue slave lifted himself up from the sand and padded some distance behind the cub.

Makaa:
Makaa finally came across Zapa, all curled up and on her own again.
"Zapa, why are you on your own again? I mean... Well, you should be more careful," he said, but more or less trailed off with a shrug.
"Hey, you wanna go for a walk?" he asked, looking down at her a bit and tilting his head.

Zap:
Zap had smiled to herself, spotting Makaa's familiar red form headed her way. She stood when he got near and pricked her ears forward, happy to see him, though she'd long reigned in the urge to pounce him on first sight. His question got little more than a shrug and, "I'm taking a break, that's all." She still didn't see why it was bad to be alone. The den was near, just a moment away if she had to run...But Makaa was Makaa, and he worried. She nodded at his offer to walk. Now it was her turn to have her mind taken off...things. Her siblings would be alright without her for a bit, she knew.

Zaph:
Zaphod made a habit of keeping out of the way- and out of sight if at all possible. While his pelt was as visible against the red sand as a flamingo in a herd of zebra, he could move quietly, casually, and keep close to what little there was to hide behind. In his present case- a large, jagged boulder. He slowly peeked around the corner. A female from the rival pride. The slave let out a sharp gasp- which he silently cursed himself for a moment later.

Makaa:
Makaa was about to turn in a direction towards where he thought his father might be, but his ears flicked backward at the soft sound of another's gasp. He frowned and turned, ears trained on the rock where the sound had come from. He glanced back to Zapa and shrugged.
"We'll get to that walk in a second," he said and turned back towards the boulder.
"You might as well come out, now," he called towards the rock. Who could it be? One of his siblings? His litter mates were more likely than his older brothers and sisters, who no doubt had much better things to do than follow their little brother around. Father wouldn't follow him covertly, either. So who was it?

Zaph:
Zaphod rolled his eyes and slowly stepped away from the rock. "....you....should get permission before you walk off....it's dangerous."

Zap:
Zap blinked at the strange lion that rounded the rock. He certainly wasn't red or black or white or orange...He didn't seem too happy either. "He just came to see me...nothing wrong with that, is there?" She waddled a little towards the blue lion, smiling kindly. "I'm Zapaliti...I don't think I've seen you before, but you sure stand out!" She turned and looked back over her shoulder at Makaa. "Doesn't he look like that piece of the sky that we found?"

Makaa:
Makaa huffed and rolled his eyes.
"Zapa's right, I didn't go far and I-" he stopped when she brought up the piece of sky. His mouth turned up just a little bit with a smile before it was chased away.
"Zapa, this is my sister's slave... Zaphod, isn't it?" he asked, walking towards Zapa and standing a little between her and the older lion. His father had told him to talk to the blue lion sometime, but now wasn't really the time for that.

Zaph:
"....yeah." Was his only response- to all questions. He had a quiet, rhaspy voice. There was a reason he didn't talk too much. His expression remained deadpan. "...we...should get back."

Zap:
Zapa offered the blue lion another smile. Regardless of his being a slave, he seemed nice, and he did remind her of the fun time she'd had before..."Aww, can't we go for a walk first?" She bounded back to Makaa's side, eager to have a little relaxing time. Though she supposed walking back to wherever Zaphod meant they should go would technically still count as a walk.

Zaph:
He sighed and gave a short look over his shoulder. Something seemed to send his entire body bristling. Nearly every hair along his back, neck, and crown lifted up as his head threw back. His breath seemed to studder, choking and stammering out a string of half-words. After just a moment, his posture slumped forward, forcing him to catch himself on one paw. "...I see..." He panted quietly, musing to himself. "...g...go ahead...."

Makaa:
Makaa sighed and nodded.
"He's right. Come on, Zap. I was wondering if you wanted to meet my father today," he asked, looking at her instead of Zaphod. He needed to tell his father of Kenna telling him that Ripuka had been her storyteller.
And then the blue lion started acting... odd. He blinked and frowned at Zaphod.
"What was that?" he asked, taking a step towards the older lion.

Zaph:
He didn't answer. In fact the only response the slave gave was a silent glance through his dusty blue mane.

Zap:
Zap cocked her head. That was...strange. "You okay, Mister Zaphod?" She asked, nosing towards the blue fellow. He looked almost like he was in pain, or ill...She ducked low, tryign to better see his face. "Did something scare you maybe?" She wondered. "Makaa, what happened?" She'd never seen such a strange action...

Makaa:
"I don't know..." Makaa replied and frowned a bit, remembering what his father had said.
"Zaphod, tell me. Did you see something?" he asked, ears perked forwards a bit, eyes showing a curiosity that he would forever have.

Zap:
Zap looked back and forth from Makaa to Zaphod for a few moments. She didn't like to leave the blue lion alone when he seemed be having..trouble somehow. But he had said to go, and she wasn't sure what good they could do anyways. "Maybe...he could come with us?"

Zaph:
"Go." He said again, "I'll.....follow."

Makaa:
Makaa frowned at Zaphod's refusing to answer his question, but he decided not to press the issue.
"Come on, Zapa. I think I know where my father will be," he said, took one last look at the blue lion and started walking back towards the den. Father would be nearby, he was certain.

Zap:
Zap slowly started after Makaa, keeping an eye on Zaphod. He'd come along, she knew. She sped after Makaa, sand kicking up in her wake as she hurried to reach his side. She was interested in meeting his father, but part of her was a little worried. Hadn't he been the one to think her family was from the Simo?

Zaph:
Zaphod slowly ran his claws through his mane. Kenna didn't like it when he looked flustered. It meant he was likely working at something he shouldn't be working at- or pushing himself too much. Either way, he let the cubs go on ahead of him.

Mwali:
He was hardly active in his younger years... it was almost sad to realize it only now when his body was starting to show its age. He was laid out in the sun, his eye only half open as his mind wandered far past the desert. Even as a cub, he'd spent much of his time doing just that. He couldn't help but let his mind stray back to Koho, back to her warm smile and their young family away from the sun's glare and the sand's dangerous bite. What had become of her? Or the others... Malik had mentioned looking for his brother.

Makaa:
Makaa saw his father stretched out, it looked like he was dozing.The young lord looked to the female at his side, a small smile on his face before slowing down as he approached his father. He had practiced how he was going to tell his father about Ripuka for a while now. He couldn't bring himself to come right out and say his father was wrong, but he could mention that he had talked to Kenna and that Ripuka had come up and Kenna had cleared up the issue.
"Father? Are you awake?" he asked when he got in speaking range.

Mwali:
Mwali jumped slightly. All age seemed to fade for a brief moment as the male snarled and threw his head upwards. A common instinct from a firekin, most especially one who had been raised under the paw of Makadari. Once his eye settled on the two cubs, the aggression melted back into an elderly fategue. "Makaa... is it time to hunt already?"

Zap:
Zapa had begun to hang back once she'd spotted the lounging lion. He was...big. Sure, her own father was, but this wasn't her father. He was a stranger still, and when he leapt up, snarling, she skittered behind Makaa and hunkered down out of instinct. Of course, the agression was more surprise, and she peeked back out of hiding once he'd settled. So this was Makaa's dad...She could see the resemblance not only in their shared markings, but...something about how they held themselves. She wondered if she acted at all like her mother...She took a moment to glance back, to see where Zaphod had gotten to.

Zaph:
Zaphod, good to his word, stood a few paces behind them with his head lowered, eyes hidden beneith the dusty mane. He was quite used to Mwali by then, if not curious as to why the large male had suddenly grown...soft. It wans't his place to ask.

Makaa:
Makaa tensed a bit when his father came up in a battle-stance, but he understood. A lion of the Firekin must always be on his guard, and he had woken his father suddenly, which had caused the reaction.
"No, it isn't, Father. But I wanted to... I talked to Kenna and that lioness I had talked to you about, Ripuka? She came up in our talking. Kenna said she was one of her storytellers..." Makaa trailed off there, glancing behind him. Something in him swelled a bit at her hiding behind him. It showed she trusted him to protect her, even if another part of him hoped she'd be more brave than that. He returned his red gaze to his father.
"I wanted you to meet Zapaliti, Father. My... my friend."

Mwali:
"...oh right." He chuckled a bit. "I've... not been the same since before the war. I'm sorry." He glanced over to the small female and offered a small nod in greeting. "Zapaliti then. I've heard about you already. I'm...sorry for the confusion." His eye trailed over towards the slave. "I see you have yourselves an escort."

Zap:
Zap had come out of hiding a few moments more after Makaa's father had calmed down. He seemed nice, once he was awake. She nodded back to the big lion, unable to keep herself from smiling at him. This...this was exciting! Meeting Makaa's father...wasn't he a lord? Oh, maybe she'd better nod bigger or bow...she didn't know how to bow! Oh he'd think she was so rude! But now he was talking and oh! She remembered to breathe and held still, bobbing her head again. "It's okay...Momma was in the den a lot lately and...It's not your fault." She looked again at Zaphod. "Yeah! He went walking with us!"

Makaa:
Makaa shook his head a bit.
"It's okay, Father. It's hard to keep track of everyone, even when there's not a lot of us," he replied and glanced back at the slave that had followed him when he had left the den.
"He followed me, to watch out for me. I'm sorry I went out by myself again, Father. It's... It's a habit, I think," he added and bowed his head a bit, looking quite contrite.

Mwali:
"Ahh." He nodded to the little female. "It's good that you had some protection...though next time you may want to ask someone more...able." He tried to sound as gentle as possible, "Sinbad or even Afzal...just in case."

Zap:
Zap's ears tucked back a little at the scolding, before she realized the humor there. How many times had Makaa said almost the same thing to her? Plenty by now...everyone seemed to think she needed to be protected, or with someone all the time. That wasn't needed, if you sked her, but she'd never tell Makaa's father that. Instead she just nodded. "We didn't go too far, but next time I can ask one of my brothers to come." Of course her only adult brother was Wakia, and she saw little to nothing of him lately.

Makaa:
Makaa's pride made the thought of asking one of his older brothers to escort him around made a sour taste fill his mouth, but he nodded anyways. He sat down and looked from Zapa to his father again.
"Zaphod did something strange right before we came back, didn't he?" he brought up, looking to Zapa again to confirm his statement.

Zap:
Zap nodded, glancing over at the lion in question. "Yeah...he looked like something scared him...or hurt him maybe." There was clear worry in her voice. She didn't like others to hurt, even if they were slaves.

Zaph:
Zaphod's jaw set once more. It wasn't any of their buisness... All at once, he felt their eyes on him again and shuddered. "...I...had that thing again."

Mwali:
Mwali winced. "....it's...hard to explain. My oldest daughter did the same thing when she was young...she's what many call a seer. But Tekeza could never make sense of what she saw or when it happened."

Zaph:
Zaphod nodded slowly.

Makaa:
Makaa scrunched up his nose a bit and considered things for a moment.
"Well, what if what he saw's important? Shouldn't he share it... or something?" he asked, looking from the slave to his father.

Zap:
Zap tilted her head. They saw something? Then she remembered that day...when they'd told her Momma wasn't coming back. One of her sister's cubs had stumbled, and there'd been talking about seeing things. Lots of worried yelling. "Was it important, Mister Zaphod?"

Mwali:
"Speak up." Mwali lifted his eyes to the now very tense slave. "What did you see, or can you make any sense of it at all?"

Zaph:
"....I saw two suns." He answered quietly, "Both burning as bright as the other in a sky of gold....then one dimmed and became nothing but embers. The other remained." He glared up through his hair.

Makaa:
Makaa frowned as he tried to process it. He... had no idea what it meant, other than it wasn't literal. Part of him felt bad for somewhat getting him in trouble, but he pushed that aside. Instead, he looked to his father, and scooted towards Zapa, so that she could lean on him, if she needed to. He had seen something in her eyes when she had asked Zaphod her question.
"Do you know what it could mean, Father? Or do you have any ideas, Zaphod?"

Zap:
Zap had wondered, feared, and hoped the vision would be about her mother. Where she was, if she was well...Her hopes had soared when she'd heard the first words about the 'Suns' in the vision. She knew of her youngest brother only by the pet name she'd given him, 'Sun-brother', for the color of his fur. Two suns? For an instant she'd imagined that her mother had had another golden cub, and hidden it away, and taken Sun-brother to join him...two suns, two sons...but then she'd lost the idea. A sun fading to ashes...The only thing she could think of that had to do with her idea involved...death. And she would rather it have nothing to do with her family at all than mean she might lose Sun-brother too.

Zaph:
"I don't." He said simply, defensively. "I just saw it."

Mwali:
"...they don't always mean something." Mwali offered a faint smile, "Let's not worry about it. Think of it like a sneeze. It comes, it goes." He slowly pushed himself up to his paws and shook out some of the sand that had collected in his mane, "Is there something the two of you needed?"

Makaa:
Makaa simply shook his head... And laughed a bit as he shielded his face from the flying sand.
"No, not really. I just wanted you to meet Zapa and her to meet you," he replied with a small shrug, though his humor was still in his voice.

Zap:
Oh yeah! they were supposed to be meeting Makaa's dad! She'd nearly forgotten in all the excitement. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Mwali, Sir!" She piped up, glad she'd remembered his name and the right title to use. "Thanks for letting Makaa come play! He's a good friend, and he's good at protecting me and stuff." Of course she thought Mwali had willingly let Makaa join her.

Mwali:
"Just Mwali." He offered a smile, "But a pleasure all the same. I'm glad to hear that Makaa's learned to be a gentlemen. Hopefully he can teach his siblings a thing or two."

Makaa:
Makaa snorted at that one.
"Oh, I don't think I'll be able to do that," he replied, smiling a bit in good humor. He hoped he'd be able to do something for his brothers and sisters, too, but he wasn't going to put his hopes on it.

Zap:
Zap beamed, enjoying the upbeat mood of the two flame-colored lions. They were so very alike. Seeing Mwali was like seeing an older Makaa, maybe. "Mwali." she repeated. "He has too! He even found me a piece of the sky." she giggled. "But I lost it to a lizard."

Mwali:
"A piece of sky?" Lord where did cubs come up with this stuff? He'd never been that creative as a cub. Then again, he hadn't been much more than a sleeping champion.

Makaa:
Makaa looked a little bit uncomfortable over that, but hadn't it been his father that encouraged him looking at things for what they were, not the color?
"I found, uh... It was a small, soft thing, attached to some grass in between the rocks I like to go to, to think. It looked like this," he paused there, drawing a rough sketch of the star-like flower, before continuing, "Zapa said it looked like a piece of the sky, because it was the same color."

Mwali:
"...ooh." He smiled a bit, "It's called a flower. They have a lot of those outside of the desert, but it's the ones that you find growing here that are truely special. Desert blooms...very rare, very special. Some think they bring good luck."

Zaph:
Zaphod scoffed behind a paw.

Zap:
Zapa watched Makaa draw the piece of sky, and when he was done she quickly slipped a paw in to draw out how it'd been attatched to the grass. She looked back at Zaphod's noise. "It was colored like Mister Zaphod. Really pretty!" Of course, she knew she should like the good colors better, and she did. But that didn't mean blue wasn't nice too. "Flower?" She turned back to Mwali. "Oh...I should have kept it then." She drooped a bit, thinking of how it'd been gobbled up by the lizard she'd caught for Makaa.

Mwali:
"....you shouldn't pin a formality onto his name. Not where others can hear you." He frowned a bit, "He's a slave...Kenna's slave. Just...use his name. Just like you use mine." He glanced back. A blue flower? He'd not seen one in forever...

Makaa:
Makaa nodded at what his father said.
"Father's right, Zapa. You don't want to get in trouble," he agreed and nudged her a bit, smiling just a little.
"And it's not your fault. The flower fell and got eaten up. Nothing you could have really done about that," he added and looked back to his father.
"Will we get to see the lands beyond the desert, Father?"

Mwali:
"...when you're old enough, perhaps." He smiled, "Maybe I can show you the way there. It's difficult....especially if you've never been there."

Zap:
Zap ducked her head, contrite. "Sorry...Just Zaphod then." She didn't want the blue lion to get in trouble if others heard her talking to him the wrong way. She butted her head against Makaa's fondly. "Yeah...But I got that lizard! I guess it wasn't a lucky flower for him, huh?"

Mwali:
"Certainly not. But you caught it! Already a developing huntress. Very n ice." He reached down to toss her hair around a bit.

Makaa:
Makaa could have reacted in two ways. Either he could be jealous at his father's praise at the unrelated female's abilities. OR, he could be proud of her, since he had more or less told her he'd teach her what he knew, that they would sort of learn to be great fighters together, and plus because he had picked her to be his friend.
The latter won.
The red cub smiled a little and nodded his head.
"Besides, there was another one on the grass between the rocks. We can go see it later... If that's okay? The rocks really aren't that far away." He had looked to his father with the last question and clarification.

Zap:
Zap squealed happily at the fond pat. Maybe she should think about being a huntress after all...Oh it was still too early to decide! "Was there really? Maybe this time you should hold onto it though...your head doesn't get stuck between the rocks." She looked up at Mwali expectantly. They'd been to the rocks before, twice even, and no one had gotten hurt. So they could go again, right?

Mwali:
"Yeah.... so long as you have an escort. If something happens, I want to make sure that the both of you come back. It's not safe for us..."