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It had taken a bit of mind-wracking for Ilyas to come up with a reason to get both Farrah and Itzel out of the den they all shared. Any activity that two of them could do, they were more likely to do as a trio, which meant he had to come up with separate errands which they could perform individually which would take a sufficient amount of time for him to become intimately acquainted with Afsar. The kind of intimacy for which he really didn't want an audience. So in the end Itzel had been sent off to gather grass and fragrant plants to make the den more habitable and Farrah had been sent off to the lake to see what news there was to be had.

The tasks, he thought, suited each of them very well and ought to keep them occupied for a while. Farrah was a fairly social creature and well-known in the pride, so sending her to the lake for news was a good way to keep her busy. And Itzel, sweet and simple could either perform her task or forget it and it wouldn't make a difference to him, but the distance she would have to travel initially, while she still remembered, would be enough that she should find distractions if she forgot her original purpose. He wasn't quite sure how long it would take for him and Afsar to do this, but the sun was setting, which meant his time was somewhat limited. His other banu would probably return come dark no matter what.

"Well. That's that," he said to himself.

She didn't know what her Pad had in mind when he sent the other two out and about without giving her any instructions. It threw the orange lioness off and made her curious. Now, curiosity and Afsar never got along very well, but she was an adult now. Somehow, she had to curb that so she didn't overwhelm Ilyas with her questions and prying personality. That's the kind of lioness Afsar was. Curious, always wondering what was going on. It kept her from getting bored. Most of the time. On occassion it made her even more anxious when she didn't get an answer she liked.
In the days Ilyas had come back and her life had settled down, Afsar didn't find anything interesting except hanging out with her long time friend and Pad. Ilyas had changed so much, and not at all, since he'd brought back Banu for himself. He matured and she wasn't sure how to react to him anymore. She got used to him not being there, and then he suddenly showed up and she was wisked away to her new den. It was great, without all her parent's cubs about, and not having to babysit her siblings. Her two younger brothers drove her up the wall with their competetions. Zuberi and Gubari were too much alike and too different all at the same time for her to really like them. Well, she liked them just fine. They were family, but it was so very complicated. Maybe it's because Afsar saw herself in those three. She rolled her eyes at that and then looked around the now empty den.

Her ears twitched when he spoke and she arched a brow. "Wonderful. There goes all the entertainment." She was being sarcastic and trying to lighten the mood, but if it worked, she hadn't the faintest idea.

Ilyas wanted to die. He wanted to drop dead on the spot and have the ground open up and swallow his corpse entirely. Why couldn't she make this easy on him and know what he meant? There were lionesses out there in the rogue lands - he'd met them - who were Afsar's age and even younger, but had neither ignorance nor shyness about this act. One or two had even offered to do it with him, but he'd refused. He couldn't approve of such lionesses, and he wanted no part of it. He preferred well brought up ladies, like Afsar. It was a high standard for others to live up to, and he hadn't realized he had it when he set out.

When he first set out, Ilyas had been convinced that he would just take the first lioness he met back to the pride and be done with it so that he could be with Afsar that much sooner. However, in his months away Ilyas had learned that all females were not equal, and he was not interested in returning with a substandard banu. He also wanted to be sure that his banu could get along with Afsar and accept that she would always be first in his affections. Itzel was that, definitely.

"Well," he said. "You've been my beybanu for a while now, but we've never actually. Um. You know. I thought maybe you might like to. If you're not too tired from today."

Good gods above, he was serious? A flush swept over her so hard and strong that it left her light headed. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to steady herself again, the lioness looked up at him through thick lashes. Ilyas, the awkward boy who asked her to wait, was asking her about THAT? Biting down on her lip the lioness shrugged and looked away coyly.

This shouldn't have come as a surprise though. They'd been 'together' for a long time now, and the thought never occured to her. Could she have been that dumb? How else were they going to start a family. "...I'm not... tired?" What else was she supposed to say?

Ilyas nodded and muttered with a fond smile the additional and very necessary, "Finally. We finally have the den to ourselves." He looked at Afsar guiltily. "It was harder to arrange that than I expected. Not that it was too much trouble or anything." He didn't want to sound like he was trying to guilt her into agreeing.

Except, wait. She had already agreed. Just a few moments ago. How had he missed that? He must have been too preoccupied with his own discomfort to pick up on it, that was all. That was also pretty embarrassing, actually. But not nearly as embarrassing as being refused or denied.

"So, um," he began, figuring if he was embarrassed, he might as well get it all over with at once. "I've never really done this. I don't want to hurt you or anything. So you'll have to tell me if I do."

Woah, wait. That whole finallly comment threw her off and Afsar blinked. How long was he planning this for? Now she grew even more nervous and looked to the side. No one said anything about any pain. Was there pain? Damn it, why didn't she ask her mother about this?! But obviously, she was going to tell her mother after it happened and when Ilyas slipped from the den again. Clearing her throat, the female furrowed her brows and licked her lips.

"I'll..... let you know."

The light was slipping from the den, they were losing time. Stupid quickly setting sun. If this was going to happen, it needed to happen before the others got back. "So... uhm... Let's... do this?"