Egil stood at the mouth of the den where he lived with his mother and two sisters, and watched the sun come up. Further down in the valley, he knew that Naja would already be at work, moving rocks with that big green lug. Egil had no desire to say farewell to her. They had never really gotten along, and Egil wasn't sentimental enough to want to say goodbye just because they shared parents.Amalie . . . he had never had much to do with his other sister. She wasn't as annoying as Naja was, but Egil spent his time out of the den, trying to teach himself fighting, far away from Amalie doing whatever Amalie did. Egil wasn't worried about saying goodbye to her either.
Really, the only lion he had any desire to say good bye to was his mom. And he felt he owed her that much, to at least say good bye and let her know where he was headed. She worried about them. So he waited outside of the den for his mom to return, so he could set out with a clean conscience.
Pumzi had noticed her cubs getting bigger, but they had hardly just been born. Even though they were nearly adults, they still seemed tiny to her. They had been strange to her at first, but Pumzi was very attached to them now. Padding slowly homewards, she smiled when she spotted her son standing outside the den.
