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There was leftover zebra for breakfast, if the cubs wanted it, but Ghazaala was not particularly hungry. She had slept poorly the night before, plagued by dreams of violence and shadow lions and cliched phrasing, and it had put her off the idea of eating even after she woke up. Even the smell of the carcass was turning her stomach a little.

As far as she could tell the cubs were still asleep, and she knew she'd picked a safe spot for the evening, and so she thought nothing of leaving them for a brief period while she went to get a drink of water and try to settle her stomach. Maybe she could find some grass to chew on which would help. Or it would make her sicker. It could go either way with grass.

Vol wasn't sure when he had gotten to be a respected figure among the Stormborn. He'd always seen himself as sort of a middle-of-the-pack sort of lion. Not especially talented, but certainly not untalented. He was good at what he did and not really ambitious enough to try for a captaincy, though he probably could have been a captain several times over by now.

What was really strange about being noticed though, was that people weren't looking to him as a leader of lions or anything like that. They were looking to him as a mentor. Probably it was all Ru's fault. They'd seen or heard that the boy came into the pride as a barely-adolescent and begun training with him and then been made a captain when he was barely an adult. Vol wouldn't deny that he had a large part in that, but a lot of that had been Ru, too.

Anyway, with this newfound status he'd recently acquired Vol decided he wanted a thrall or two. Someone to keep people away from him and keep his den tidy while he was off viking or avoiding people who wanted him to train them.

Ghazaala shouldn't have been surprised to hear Meera asking her if she was okay, but she was. She had lived for a long time on her own after leaving her mother, and she had still not really adjusted to having cubs tailing her morning, noon, and night. She made herself smile at her daughter and reassure her even though she still felt uneasy herself.

"I'm fine. My stomach wasn't feeling very well and I thought a drink of water or a chew of grass might help. Did I wake you?"

That last was a stupid question and the moment she spoke it she regretted it. For the most part Ghazaala treated her cubs as though they were miniature adults, not really knowing any other way to behave with them. Mostly it seemed to be working out all right. It was too bad she couldn't remember how her mother had been with her when she was young, because she remembered enjoying her childhood a lot more than she suspected her cubs were enjoying theirs.

He didn't intend to spend a lot of time hunting for a thrall. Vol hadn't even bothered to bring along another reaver to act as a witness or messenger should anything unexpected happen, which was sort of against pride policy. But it wasn't so much a rule, or even a guideline, that policy, and lions ignored it all the time.

Probably it would have been easier to just take on one of the thralls someone else had already brought back to the pride. Perhaps that pale striped lioness he'd helped capture on Ru's viking would have done, but she seemed to come with the unpleasant one, who could really use some breaking in. Besides, a part of him felt it was sort of cheating to take on a thrall that someone else had broken.

He had been waiting at this water hole for an hour or so, knowing that soon the sun would rise and creatures would come forth to drink. He could just conk one of them over the head and be back at the stronghold by lunchtime. When he saw a lone lioness come up to the shore to drink he'd been elated. Maybe he could make it back by brunch!

And then he'd seen the cub. Hm.

Meera was lying. Ghazaala let it slide. She had never been one to care if other people lied, even cubs. In truth, she had always sort of admired people who could lie convincingly. It was a skill she would have liked to cultivate in herself, actually, but she didn't see enough people that she had the opportunity to do so. And she would have felt guilty about lying to her few friends just for shits and giggles.

"We'll go back in just a bit," she told the dozing cub. "You just keep on leaning there. You can hold me up in case I pass out from exhaustion and fall into the water or something."

Sometimes Meera's clinginess could get to her, particularly when she was really craving some time alone to pretend to be a grown-up. She'd never been all that good at being a grown-up anyway, but all her failings in that department seemed to be huge, glaring problems now that she had cubs to take care of.

After watching for a short time longer Vol decided that he could deal with a cub. It looked like a pretty, docile thing. That wouldn't be so bad. And maybe he could do like Aesir had done with those pups his daughter's thrall had, and give the cub to someone else as a gift.

He snorted to himself. Who would he be gifting? He barely knew what he was going to do with a thrall. What would any of his friends do with a baby thrall? Eat her, maybe. He snorted again at the thought. Time to do this thing, before any more cubs showed up.

He broke cover and began moving along the edge of the water. It made no difference if they saw him. At this time of the pre-dawn morning, what threat could he possibly represent? He was just there for a drink. Like everybody else. No danger here, ma'am.

"Hah."

Ghazaala's dark eyes were also wide and searching now. It took almost no time for her to focus on the same large, dark figure her daughter had seen. When she saw him, she felt much the same temptation to huddle, hunch, and make herself invisible that Meera demonstrated, but that wouldn't do any good. She had to be the grown-up here.

"Good morning," she greeted the intimidating lion. "I hope my daughter and I haven't woken you."

What she didn't say, but which probably came across very clearly, was that she and her daughter would be leaving now, with his permission, and not returning to this particular spot. Ever.

Likely Meera's sisters would be less than delighted to be woken and told that they would be moving on now, but it was for their own good and dammit Ghazaala was their mother. It was her decision.

Vol nodded and continued to come closer, unconsciously looming as he walked. He was very good at looming. It was that old Stormborn blood in him. He was a large lion with thick fur and a commanding presence. Most sensible cats would react as Ghazaala had.

"You needn't hurry off," he said. He didn't sound friendly, no matter what words he chose here. "The water here is good and clean, and there is plenty for all if you wish to call to the rest of your cubs to have them join us."

The talking wasn't usually anything except a screen to allow Vol to come closer. Most people were raised to sit and listen to a person talk even if they knew that when they were finished talking, something bad was going to happen. In this case, that was more or less how it would go down, but Vol also wanted to know how many cubs this lioness actually had.

Ghazaala's heart beat painfully in her chest. This lion was dangerous. A threat. She knew it without being able to say exactly which of the many signals he gave off had set her so on edge. Probably it was the scars combined with the way he carried himself. No one could possibly be scarred like that and still so confident unless he'd won every battle that had given him those marks. Otherwise he would surely be cowed and broken.

"Thank you, but we must be going. My mate and his family are expecting us by sunrise and..."

The lie died in her throat when she realized how close she had allowed this predator to get to herself and her daughter. There wasn't a great deal of conscious maternal instinct in Ghazaala, but unconsciously she knew that her cub was in danger and it was now her duty to remove the child from danger by any means necessary. Even ones which would doom her.

"Meera, run. Now. Don't even stop to wake Tahti," she ordered, shoving her daughter behind her with one paw while simultaneously adopting a defensive stance.

Aw. She was frightened. They both were. Good. At least they weren't stupid. He couldn't abide stupid thralls.

The lie had been a very entertaining bit of fiction that Vol had not even bothered to consciously dissect. He could tell from her scent that there had not been a male in her life recently, just as he knew now that she had other cubs, all female.

He also knew that there were no other lions near enough to their present location that she could possibly hope to meet them by sunrise because this particular location was very close to the Stormborn and people tended to avoid it unless they knew no better. The pool was, basically, a trap.

So, ignoring the female's lies, he snapped one forepaw out with his claws sheathed and struck her on the side of her skull, dropping her instantly. That was easy. Now, did he want to take the cubs?

Ghazaala was unconscious.

"Shut up or I'll do the same for you." He grinned nastily. "But since you're smaller, you probably won't survive."

Before the cub could decide to do something stupid which would force him to do something infanticidal, he warned her, "It's all one to me. I'm really only interested in your mother. You're much too young to be of any use to anyone for several seasons."

He bent down to examine the unconscious lioness without a hint of concern for his well being. To his mind, a single angry cub did not constitute a significant threat. Hells. Such a cub did not constitute a threat of any kind.

"You can run now."