Hasierara looked at his surroundings. He had made it to the mountains at last. Over the years he had tried and distance himself from it. The day him and Bukaera escaped was something he didn't want in his memory. His brother, Bukaera and him were separated that day. He was the one who told his brother to run a different way than him. He thought that the lions who held them captive would have a harder time catching them if they separate. At the time he thought it would be a matter of days till they met up. Those were the days when he thought the world was small. He was born and raised in the pride lead by cruel tyrant lions. They made him and the other non-lions their slaves. The lions even made it so they had to change their names. Torm, was his family name, the one passed from his father. Hasierara was the name the lions gave him. It meant beginning. They named him that because he was the first of a litter of four. His other two siblings didn't make it. Bukaera did though. His name meant end.

The lions who held them captive probably didn't give much thought to their names. The fact was though that Hasierara and Bukaera loved their names. The beginning and end of a storm, their father would tell them. It was their father that started making plans for the slave's escape. He passed away though before he could see his plan fulfilled. Hasierara took control. He escaped with his fellow slaves. Not all of them made it though. Hasierara always felt guilty about that when he looked back on the events. He should have thought of a better plan.

He let out a sigh. It was no good dwelling in the days of old. Instead he should be looking for a new home. Since he left his old pride, he's had trouble staying in one place. There were plenty of prides he joined, but he would always end up sneaking away in the middle of the night never to return. Part of it was that he wanted to find his brother. He desperately wanted to find him. The other trouble with staying in a pride was that he didn't ever want to burden other pride members with his past. Night after night he would have nightmares of his old pride, of never seeing his brother again. The past haunted him and he hated it. He didn't want to put his troubles on another, so he kept going.

Bukaera on the other had did find a pride. In fact he had a son of his own now. He joined the pride in hopes that they would keep his son safe while he did his 'duty' for the pride. His rank in the pride was a scout. He would seek out females to take to the pride that were willing to help mates in the pride have cubs of their own. However Bukaera hardly ever went to the rogue land in search of females. Instead he looked for his brother. After years of searching he never gave up on finding his brother. Today wasn't any different.

He left the underground pride and looked around, letting his eyes adjust to the light. He started climbing the mountain near the pride. It would give him a clear view of the land around him. As he climbed he passed other felines and the occasional canine. He ignored them without much fuss. Once he made it to the top he looked around the land. This was the first time he really saw how massive the land was. As he looked he saw a leopard climbing the mountain. He was purple with white stripes. Without taking a moment to think Bukaera raced down the mountain toward the leopard. There was a similarity to his brother.

Hasierara noticed a leopard running down toward him. He first thought was that the other leopard went mad. However when the leopard got closer he saw that the leopard was familiar. A huge grin went on his face. He darted toward the other leopard. The two stopped when they were close enough. “Bukaera! I can't believe it's you!” Hasierara stated as he circled around his brother. His brother was now larger than he was and looked much more fit. During his travels, Hasierara constantly had to go weeks without food. His size suffered for that. “Where have you been? I've been searching for you for years!”
It didn't matter really where he was. Only thing that was important was that the two of them were together again. “We will have to discuss about our adventures. I honestly thought that you had died. It was just astounding how long I looked for you and never could find you.” He was about to give up his search for his brother. He figured that if the gods wanted them to meet again they would. “Why don't we head toward the lake over there are talk? It looks like there might be some prey there.

Bukaera laughed at his older brother. Hasierara had always been the strong one, the one who could defeat any feline that he crossed paths with. Now he looked like even a juvenile could take him down. It became obvious that Hasierara hadn't faired as well as he had. During his travels Bukaerara was able to manipulate those around him to make sure he lived a comfortable life style. Even living in Mazunguko he had felt comfort of the brotherhood.

“I am actually living in a pride now. Mazunguko. I live there with my son Ekaitz.” Bukaera explained. He knew that it would be interesting to see Hasierara's reaction to that. Bukaera never showed any sign of wanting to be in a family or in a pride. When they were younger Bukaera would constantly remind everyone that he would never join a pride. “The lake sounds good.” He followed his brother down to the lake.

“A son? You?” Hasierara laughed as they walked toward the lake. It was odd. He was always the more mature one. His family all thought he would be the one who would settle down and Bukaera would be the one who would travel the land. “Who is your mate? She must be one tough leopardess to have to deal with you.” They made it to the lake and sat down on the waters edge.

“I have been traveling. There were moments when I would stop and question what I was doing, but I would always continue on my journey. I've gotten into my fair share of fights. Only thing that saved me was father's training I reckon.” Hasierara sighed. “What is your pride like anyways? I've never even heard of it.”

Bukaera felt a bit of guilt come on him. His family had put a great importance on them. In their old pride, family was all you really had. He knew that his brother wouldn't like the idea that he left the pride and started having flings. When he was on his own sometimes he needed company. The flings he had were just that. If any of the females he was with wanted to keep him around he would have stayed and helped raise the cubs. The truth was that they didn't want him around and he couldn't blame them. He met Ekaitz mother and was lucky enough let Ekaitz stay with him. After thinking on it Bukaera decided to tell Hasierara the truth.

“Ekaitz mother was a leopardess I met. We had a fling. Later we ended up running into each other. I saw the cubs and asked if I could take Ekaitz off her paws. We haven't met since.” Bukaera confessed. “Ekaitz doesn't mind having just one parent. There are plenty of adults keeping an eye on him at Mazunguko.”

“Mazunguko is an interesting pride. I met the aunt of the current king. She convinced me to come. I thought it would be a safe place to raise Ekaitz so I went. Most of the pride is made up of males. There are a couple of females though. The pride members are all really close.” He explained. “I would like to take you there sometime. I think you would rather enjoy it.”

Hasierara didn't say anything. Instead he focused on catching a fish in the pond. At last he was able to snatch it. He pulled it out of the water and started to snack on it. “Lucky there aren't that many females in the pride or they would have be pregnant with your spawn.” He meant it in a joking way, though it didn't come out that way. Flinging wasn't something Hasierara or the rest of the family would have approved of. Bukaera was an adult however and could make these decisions. It wasn't right of him to come back into Bukaera's life and tell him what he should or shouldn't do.

“I would enjoy visiting your pride along with getting a chance to meet my nephew.” He finally said after finishing his fish. “I think it would be interesting to see the pride that has tamed my little brother.”

Bukaera laughed and the two brothers headed toward the secret entrance of Mazunguko.

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