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Life had been much simpler since her months here in the pride. It was turning out to be a rather nice place to live; so long as you were careful of the meaner pads. They were not afraid to harm or threaten you.. And she had learned that rather quickly. Her bright blue eyes glittered in the sunshine as she looked up at the clouds. She was almost entranced.. seeing shapes and colors and trying to pretend she was floating among them..

Her tail twitched idly side to side and she just sat there.. She likely looked a bit odd, staring up at the sky the way she was. However she hardly noticed, nor did she care. She had done her duties for the day, she was free to do as she wished.

Ilyas was exhausted. He had spent the morning keeping the cubs occupied and entertained, which was even more exhausting now taht they were juveniles. When they were younger he could tire them out far more easily, but now they had more energy, were more able, and some of them had smart mouths. Ilyas had been surprised to learn that his cubs thought he was a bit of a dork. At least, many of his ideas were dubbed childish or lame. His pride hurt a little and he sort of missed when they were smaller and more affectionate. Maybe if he had more cubs, he could spend more time with them and they wouldn't think he was boring.

He didn't know why it bothered him that his cubs found him kind of dull, but it did. He was very impressed with Afsar and Elsa's ability to keep them entertained. Of course, they were growing up and growing independent, and that had been a large part of the problem. Soon they would be going out to bring back their first banu. It was just amazing how the time had flown. More amazing, even after this morning, he found he really wanted more cubs. But not while this litter was still in the den. There really was no room for them.

Well, it was something to take up with Afsar, he thought as he stretched out in the grass, looking up at the sky. Later, though. When he wasn't falling asleep.

When her eyes had tired of staring into that big abyss, she looked down and blinked a bit to adjust her eyes. Standing, she stretched out her body, toes spreading and claws unsheathed; the really good kind of stretch. Once it was done, she smiled, and couldn't help but let a little purr escape her throat. She wasn't sure how she felt about Ilyas, much less Asfar. Asfar had been nice, but she felt like she was messing in her territory, and that was the last thing that Elsa wanted to feel. She was invited after all, she hadnt merely took over hte other females den. Yet her paranoia caused her to constantly wonder about the subject.

She had turned to head back towards the den, which was a dangerous thing in itself as the cubs were beginning to be quite a handful. She really didn't feel like 'mom' to them, but she helped nanny them and care for them.
Her thoughts were interrupted though, when Ilyas came into sight, stretching in the grass. She gulped, but started towards him.

Ilyas was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. The warm sun was kind of overwhelming him and no sooner did he open his eyes with an effort then his eyelids would drop once more.

He was somewhere between sleep and wakefulness when Elsa began walking, and completely unaware of her presence, even as she drew nearer to him. By the time she saw him he was sleeping lightly, more tired by his time with the cubs than he would have cared to admit. He also would have been somewhat embarrassed to know anyone had caught him snoozing with his paws in the air.

She knew Ilyas to be a very kind lion..One that treated her with alot of respect and she was greatful for it. Especially because hse had been raised to believe she was a noble after all.. Here she was a nobody, though Ilyas tried to make her feel better about it.

She wasn't aware he was sleeping until she had touched his shoulder oh so gently with her paw. She had been hoping to get him to open his eyes sure, but she hadn't thought he was breathing that deep breath of sleep yet.. and if she knew she was wrong she'd be terribly embarrassed.

"Ilyas?"

"Hurr?" he exclaimed with a half yawn. "Wha-?"

His eyes did not want to open, but at last he made himself open one halfway. This was humiliating, he thought sleepily. Some son of a vizier he was.

"Y'okay Elsa?"

"Oh! Um..yes.. I just woke you from sleeping, didn't I?" She asked. It was obvious in her face that she felt sheepish and it had indeed not been her mission to rouse him from a nap.

"I wanted to see if you were okay. You were lying rather awkwardly, and I.. couldn't live with myself if I didnt check." She said, sitting and curling her tail around her legs. She looked away from his eyes and down at her paw.

"That probably sounds really stupid." She chuckled.

"Nurr," Ilyas said, trying unsuccessfully to deny that she'd woken him. He was so sluggish!

"Fine. Go ahead." By which he meant to say that it was fine, and she should go ahead and say whatever it was she'd wanted to say, but it seemed she was doing so anyway. It was sweet that she was checking on him, but a little embarrassing that she'd seen him sprawled in such an undignified pose.

"Good of you," he said, finally dragging himself to consciousness. "But I'm all right. You?"

She smiled, clearing her throat and trying to remain proper around him. She still hadn't learned to relax around him just yet. It might have had something to do with the fact that she feared to feel for Asfars male. He was hers right? Where did she fit into this? That was her question but her mouth didn't want to utter the words now that she had Ilyas here.

"Im good, Pad Ilyas." She said, and cleared her throat once more in an attempt to gain courage. Taking a deep breath, she looked down at her paws but still spoke.

"I did wonder though.. What am I supposed to be to you?" With that question she looked up at him. She wanted to be closer to him, but she feared that was going against her place in life..

Ilyas rolled over and then looked away from her as he yawned so that he wouldn't yawn into her face. When he had finished he felt no more awake or alert than he had been before, but at least he could pretend to be so for Elsa's sake. Gods knew, she had been making a great effort to fit in and behave like a proper banu. He had explained what he could, but most of it he'd left to Afsar. Now he wondered what had been left out, either accidentally or through design.

"That depends on what you want to be, Banu Elsa," he answered, using the same formal address she had.

"I brought you back because you wished to be quit of the rogue lands and I needed a banu to replace one of mine who had gone missing. It was a convenient arrangement for us both at the time, but perhaps things have changed and you would prefer to alter the nature of it?"

She felt her heart flutter when he spoke to her.. That was why she had wanted to know where she stood.. She had been developing feelings for him, and she had needed to know whether or not to squish them now, or let them continue.

"I-I... I'd quite like to know you better. I've been here awhile, and I've done my best to make you proud as a banu." She wasnt sure what she was really asking. Was she asking for babies? Was she asking for love? She was pretty sure she wanted both, but she was scared to ask.

"It would be nice, to have someone care about me, and to be able to care about someone." She confided, trying to look in his eyes though her heart pounded through her chest.

Ilyas blinked in surprise. He would not have minded getting to know Elsa better, but he had been trying to give her space, to let her be and adjust in her own time. He had not really gotten any sense that she was interested in him as anything more than a protector against the wilds of the rogue lands and the potential abuses of his own pride. At least he was pretty good at that, and it didn't even require him to expend any effort. His name and lineage were sufficient.

"You've done nothing as a banu that would make me anything other than proud," he told her, although in truth he had not paid enough attention to her doings to say whether she'd done anything worthy of being proud of. Mostly he had been distracted by his sons' activities to notice anything else. They were his pride and joy, even if they thought he was a boring old lion.

"I do care about you," he said and was a little startled to find it was true.

She felt herself perk up at the information. Proud that she had achieved being such a good banu, and happy that he had said he cared for her. He really was a good guy, keeping her out of harms way. She smiled, looking up at him for once and meeting his eyes.

"Do you really? Because.. Because.." Well this last question was just far too difficult to muster. Maybe he would want to know her more before she bore him cubs.. but should she at least let him know she was interested in doing so?

"I know Im not as special as Asfar, and if Im crossing the line, please tell me." She was sure he would, but she felt it was respectful to ask him to tell her in advance.

"Do..Do you have cubs with anyone other than Asfar?" She asked, mostly out of curiousity at the moment. Though depending on his answer, it might have been more.

"You are differently special than Afsar," Ilyas reassured her, wishing that he could be more awake for this conversation. "Your upbringing makes you seem like you could be a fit banu for the sultan himself. It is a source of pride to know that I have a banu of such quality and breeding in my harem."

He stifled a yawn and shifted his forepaws before continuing: "You're crossing no lines. At least none that I'm aware of."

And he ought to be aware of most of them, given his upbringing in the pride as the elder son of a vizier. It was actually a good sign that he had a banu who wished to get to know him better, get closer to him. Particularly since their relationship had not been a romantic one as some pads' relationships with their captured banu were.

"As to your question...I don't think I do. I might have fathered cubs on Itzel before she left, but I have no way of knowing whether I did or not."

He was good at making her feel better, and she felt her nervousness sort of edge away. She didn't see why she should be so nervous around him. He was so kind, and at least good at letting her down easily..that was..if he let her down. Now that he had yet.

"Im sorry about that." She said, offering her support for the cubs he might not know. She thought that was heartbreaking, but he wasnt sure either..Shes upposed that made it a little easier.

"Ilyas..Would you ever sire cubs with..me?" She asked, turning her gaze curiously at him as she lie on her belly so that she was on his level. She didnt want him to be uncomfortable..and she could tell he was tired.

Ilyas sighed and tried not to feel the anger and resentment he felt toward Itzel for leaving and possibly taking cubs of his with her in her belly. He could always go in search of her and try to determine whether she'd had cubs - his cubs, that is. But he and Afsar had looked and looked soon after she vanished and they'd neither of them seen the slightest sign of her. It was far too late now to renew the search.

"These things happen," he said. "I do have the boys though, and they're wonderful. But they'll be leaving soon and the den will feel very empty, won't it?"

Also when the boys left he would be left more or less alone with Afsar and Elsa and have to deal seriously with that dynamic and he didn't want to do that. It would be preferable to have another litter of cubs to fill the void and keep them all at a cub-friendly distance for a little longer. And it really was part of Elsa's duties as a banu to give him sons, though he had not asked it of her.

"I would if I thought you wanted them," he told her.

She was unaware it was her duty to produce cubs, thankfully Ilyas had never pressured her with such information. She was more than happy to willingly give them to him without knowing. She smiled. She wanted to nose him gently, to show that she was serious.. Some sort of affection, but she wasn't sure how touchy feely the male would be. That, and they were in public. Sure not out in the open and no one was about.. but someone could walk up.

"I really do want them..Terribly." She said, and her eyes redirected themselves back to the ground.

"I think I could have good, strong cubs."

"I think you could, too," Ilyas told her, nudging her with his nose. "Our noble lines could do nothing else, I suspect."

This would be something new for the family. He and Afsar would have to talk about this at some point in the future, but not this very minute. He was the master of his den for all that he tried not to be tyrannical about it. If he decided he wanted more cubs and wanted to have them with Elsa, everyone else would just have to live with it.

"So let's see what can be done about that sometime, shall we? Perhaps there will be a new litter in the den by the time the boys are off to find their banu." He liked the thought.

"Yes. Thank you, Ilyas." She said, dropping the formal title from his name. She figured they werent really on the formal level anymore. Not around just each other. Smiling, she stood to lean in and nuzzle his cheek, before pulling away and smiling softly.

"I'll leave you alone now. I hope it wont be too hard for you to get back to sleep." She said softly.

"All right, Elsa," he said as he smiled after her.

It wouldn't be hard for him to get back to sleep at all. Despite the serious nature of his conversation with Elsa, weariness still clawed at Ilyas' mind and body and it would be only a matter of moments after her departure before sleep would once again find him. This time though, he would be dreaming dreams of blue-eyed cubs with blue and purple swirls. Lots of boys again.