Wahabu was in a cheerful mood. He had plenty to think about, to worry about but sometimes it was nice to just not worry. His family made it very easy on him, too. He could worry about his mother all he wanted but.. she was his mother and she was a goddess, there wasn't much he could do about it now. He was more careful, he warned the kids to be careful and everything was peaceful again. The only problem now was the more he thought about just how large his family was, the older he felt. He had his six with Amadet, at least Kinya had cubs- four, wasn't it? And all grown up now. Habu had his eight with Intombi, Jasiri had a good pawful of cubs hiding away in the swamps, Manuku had just had his girls and goodness knew about Kiki, she'd been gone so long now. And then Jasiri's kid with all the kids.. he was a great-grandfather. The four with Shani were growing fast, too. And on Shani's side, Enzi had his boys and while neither he nor Shani were their grandparents by blood, they were both happy to play the part. And it took some effort not to think about how this made Riko, wherever he was now, a grandfather. And all of that was just the ones they knew about. Vikasini and Persephone were gone, too. Plus it was a little too much to keep track of now for them.
The only downside to his cheer was that it was keeping him up. He was sitting outside the den by himself, looking up at the stars and just thinking about everything and everybody. With everybody getting bigger now, he didn't need as much energy so he didn't feel the need to try to force himself to sleep. Besides, that only ever seemed to result in frustration. So he clung to the happiness and sat contently.
It was hard not to notice when the large yellow fuzzball was missing from the den. Cubs were tiring but that didn't change Shani's awareness of what was going on at night, in fact having cubs around had always made her a little more paranoid and so a little more aware of every thing that happened. She'd woken shortly after Wahabu had snuck away and had given him a few minutes before inching her way away from the cubs- though they could sleep through anything, really- and went out to see what he was doing. She could see his silhouette, she knew he wasn't far. Brushing up against him affectionately, she circled around him before taking a seat by his side.
"You're up late," she commented in a hushed voice.
Lost in thought, he nearly jumped right up to his feet when Shani suddenly appeared by his side-- but immediately he was smiling and ducked his head down to nuzzle back against her as she settled in at his side. Her appearance didn't make him feel guilty for being awake or for bringing her out of the den, rather he was happy to see her even though he saw her everyday and almost all the time. While he was being so thoughtful and happy, it was just right that she was right there with him.
"Just thinking," he said, smiling at her and glancing back up a the stars again before looking back, "I didn't wake anybody else up, did I?"
"Don't be silly," she laughed quietly, nudging him, "They could sleep through a thunderstorm."
She noticed his gaze go up to the stars and looked up herself quietly, wondering what he was thinking about out here under the stars. There were so many things, and the popular belief about the stars in the Pridelands didn't seem quite like the most likely explanation. But it was very beautiful, there was no real reason not to look at the stars. The sky was certainly the easiest thing to see out here at this time of night, and it was especially beautiful tonight.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked.
"True," Habu agreed with a chuckle, glancing over his shoulder toward where he had left the pile of cubs. They were good sleepers and if they were going to wake up now, they'd already be out here harassing poor mom and dad. That in mind, he turned back to Shani with a renewed smile. It was nice to just talk to her without wondering where everybody was or if they'd be appearing any time to bother them. They didn't really have anything they needed to discuss seriously, but just sitting together quietly was nice.
"Our family," he said, shrugging gently, "They're all getting so big so fast, they always do I suppose. Manny's girls, Enzi's boys, and our bunch aren't that far ahead of them."
"They are growing like weeds," she agreed, smiling, "It's nice that they all have each other to grow up with, though. There are always cubs around the pride, of course, but family is so much easily to approach. I was never brave enough to go talk to anybody my age except Ghali, I suppose I never really tried until Enzi and the girls were about grown up." She glanced to Habu with a small, pleased smile. It hadn't been entirely by chance that she and Habu had gotten so close, he took family seriously and tried to keep an eye on things where his uncle had run off and Shani had taken in the cubs. But it had taken until they were much bigger for her to take a chance, he had had Intombi before and then he didn't. She didn't care to dwell on his romantic history but she couldn't ignore it, she accepted his entire family, just as he did for her, when they became mates.
"Do you suppose things will get a chance to quiet down again?" she asked, her tone changing ever so slightly.
"Well, I'm glad you braved up," he said brightly, leaning against Shani. He tried not to think through everything about how this had all happened, it was confusing enough sorting through everything he had felt around that time but what he knew was he loved Shani and that was perfect. He wrinkled his nose when she asked about things quieting down, not entirely sure what she meant but it at first-- but it didn't take him more than a couple seconds to realize. Things had certainly quieted down for a while after he and Intombi split, and after Shani's bunch was grown.. they all kind of had families against all at once, which was how all the cubs had so many playmates in the family.
"I don't think so," he said, shaking his head, "I mean, even if we stopped, this great big crowd we have around now is just too obnoxious." And he chuckled at his own little joke about them, he certainly didn't mean obnoxious in a bad way.
Shani's ears flicked back at one particular bit of what he said, her smile wavering but not disappearing. He had a very interesting point-- were they going to have more cubs in the future? They certainly had grandcubs and beyond but that didn't make them old, really. Not too old for more family, anyway. But how busy they were with all of the other family might factor in, except they already gone through a very busy time. And it just might not stop, especially since this bunch could soon have their own go at family.
"Well now," she said, trying to think through how to articulate the question, "Are we going to stop?"
... Well, he should have expected that. And still he kept on smiling, especially since she hadn't really stopped smiling when the question had come up. He had to do some quick mental math before he could respond properly but it didn't take him long enough to put any doubt into Shani's mind-- at least he hoped. With his luck, his rush to answer would result in some bad math. Then they'd be having another conversation, perhaps trying to figure out who he forgot or who else there might possibly be.
"I don't know," he said, grinning at her, "Between the two of us, we have 24. Do you think we really need any more than that? Goodness."
Shani did, in fact, check his math-- and it checked out as far as she could tell. He had six and eight, she had six and together they had four. That was twenty-four. She had to resist the urge to stick her tongue out at him for what he said, though. She could argue that they really only had their four together but she would never not count their other children. Just because you had a new mate and another family didn't mean you forgot about the rest of them.
"I don't know about you, great-grandpa, but I don't think I'm done," she said.
Habu had no hesitation in sticking his tongue out at her when she called him great-grandpa. He couldn't just let her get away with that after all! Even if he had no issue with the rest of the statement. He leaned back from her so he could actually get a good look at her- and so she could get a good look at him sticking his tongue out at her. But then he reached out and put a paw over one of her's.
"No, I'm with you, grandma," he shot back, then smiled.
"Hmph!"
Shani pulled her paw out from under his, nipping at his tongue when it was stuck out and then leaning back onto her back legs to give him a good shove, "I guess that's settled then."
"Ah!" he started when suddenly he was shoved, nearly toppling over-- Shani was rather strong. He smiled sheepishly when he steadied himself and realized he had raised his voice. A quick glance to the den told him the cubs hadn't really heard- or if they had, they really didn't seem to be worried about it. He shook his head and looked back to his mate, just in time to hear some shuffling back in the den. So much for that thunderstorm.
"We're never going to sleep again, are we?"
Shani giggled at him when he reacted to her shove, and again as she watched him check back on the cubs only to be shown that he really had woken them up that time. Or at least one of them. When he spoke, she got to her feet and stretched out. Brushing up against him again, she circled back around opposite the way she had come to sit in the first place, pausing by his other side.
"Not if we spend our nights out here chatting," she said, nudging him to follow, "Come on."
"OK, OK," he agreed, shaking his head and getting up to follow after Shani and go back in before anybody could come wandering out here.
Fin.
