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Iki was sick and tired of all the evasions and not-actually-answers that her mother gave her on the subject of her grandparents, and especially her grandfather. Her father tended not to speak up at all in those conversations and Iki could understand that, since he'd always been the less confrontational of her parents.

But she was sick and tired of not getting answers. Her parents had a lot of low-voiced conversations and while the young lioness was certain that the two loved each other and would never split up, the fact that they had so many conversations their children weren't privy to worried her.

Not to mention the fact that her grandfather was clearly an important member of the pride and yet Halili had never once brought her children to meet her father.

Now that Iki'renkli was an adolescent with a rank and responsibilities, she fully intended to get the truth. So no more asking her mother, the black female wasn't in the mood for more evasions. She'd go right to the source. Her grandfather, Uchanjaa.

The coppery red lion was going about his business as usual. Despite the changes in the pride, he was still a Guard and still had responsibilities. Tonight he would be going on a long patrol around the outer borders. It was the sort of duty he'd once preferred, as it gave him a chance to get away from the press of people he'd been unaccustomed to when he, Kibi, Nkosazana and the murderess had returned to rejoin the Mwezi'Johari.

Now he understood it for being a convenient way for the Royal Guards and Shangyue's supporters among the normal Guards to keep him out of the way while they intimidated and terrorized the pride. Still, he had faith that not everyone would sit and take such abuse so calmly.

These were his thoughts as he headed out, not paying much attention to the lions around him. After all, many had chosen to avoid him after he'd made himself a target in public, standing up against Shangyue and refusing to leave the pride afterwards.

He didn't seem to be paying attention to her, or anyone else for that matter, Iki'renkli observed. But she didn't allow herself to think he wouldn't notice if she came up next to him - he was a Guard after all and had been one since before her mother had been born. His whole attitude said he didn't want to talk, but screw that. She needed answers. Now.

There was no particular reason for tonight being the night, Iki had simply grown tired of waiting for answers which she now realized were never going to come unless if she actively sought them out.

"Uchanjaa!" she called out, coming near. "Grandfather!"

He stopped at the sound of his name, and was in the process of turning when the voice called out a second time. Pale purple eyes narrowed as they fell on a young black lioness. She was too young to be Nyeusi, and frankly, he'd heard some disturbing things about that granddaughter of late, which meant she must be from Halili's newer litter. He'd never met any of those cubs, having stayed away due to his disagreement with his daughter.

He supposed it was the girl's right to seek him out, but his jaw tightened as he wondered what she'd been told about him. He knew the cubs - well, clearly adolescents now - weren't of the low class, but they'd been raised by Halili and Orion, who was now a Royal Guard. The Great Lion only knew what they'd been taught.

"What," he answered harshly, not wanting to have this meeting here and now.

Eyes only a few shades darker narrowed in turn at the less than welcome response her grandfather gave. So, it seemed there was a good reason why she'd never met him before. But, he obviously had hte answers she wanted, and she wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Hello, Grandfather," she greeted him, now that she was certain she had Uchanjaa's attention. If her words were a bit cooler than she'd hoped, well, he wasn't exactly encouraging her here.

"I've been wondering," the lioness went on, "oh, all my life, why my famous grandfather wouldn't deign to even meet his grandchildren. You can't imagine all the scenarios that ran through my mind - that he was embarrased to have Slaves for children, that he never truly loved his family, that his High class was too high to mix with us..." Iki let her listing trail off as the older lion watched her in a tense silence.

"So, I want to know. Why?" Her voice cracked slightly on the last word, as she poured her raw emotion into it - fear, anger, love, hatred, despair, hope and so much more.

It felt strange, being called Grandfather by this girl he'd never met before. His mouth was open to ask her to call him something else when she started speaking again. His jaw snapped shut and tightened with tension as the girl - he didn't even know what her name was - began listing off his possible "crimes" against the family, against her generation.

When she finally stopped, he was silent for several long moments, thinking. What could he say? What on earth could he say to this girl? He had absolutely nothing he could tell her, as it had been his choice to stay away, his choice to not make the effort to see or even meet her and her siblings.

The adult turned away from his descendant. "Ask your mother," he told her as he started heading for the border once more.

Iki'renkli watched him intensely as he stood there, silently. She had absolutely no idea what he was thinking, what he thought about her here, asking him. The black female was starting to think about apologizing for springing this on him out of nowhere when he finally spoke.

And crushed all her hopes and dreams.

The adolescent's temper flared up. "I'm asking you!" she shot back angrily. "Obviously I want to hear from you why you wouldn't even try to connect with your own grandchildren! What my mother says doesn't matter here and now!" Tension and anger were written in every line of the young lioness' body, and her claws were extended. Not that she had any intention of attacking her grandfather, but his answer was so infuriating that it made her want to shred something.

They stood there, grandfather and granddaughter, staring at each other, bound by questions that would not, could not, be answered.

Uchanjaa watched his granddaughter, feeling his heart twist inside of him. He didn't want to have this conversation with her. Hell, if he was honest with himself, he didn't want to have this conversation with her mother, and that was the one person he really needed to have it with, if they wanted to heal this rift.

But sure as sunlight, the black adolescent had her mother's temper and he could feel the chance to heal his family slipping through his paws. But she was demanding answers he couldn't - wouldn't - give.

He wanted to tell her she didn't need to know. He wanted to say that it was Shangyue's fault. He wanted to let her know that he didn't mean it, it had nothing to do with her, that he was perfectly willing to start over with her and her siblings.

But the words caught in his throat and he couldn't speak any of them. She deserved more than the simple answer - "It's complicated." Much more. And yet here he was, faced with such a perfect opportunity and he simply couldn't do it.

Uchanjaa closed his eyes in anguish for a moment before looking at this child of his child again. He began to draw breath to speak, but it was already too late.

Iki'renkli waited for him to say something. Anything. As the moment stretched onward in silence, she could feel her will to resist crumbling. She desperately wanted to forge a relationship of some kind with this lion. She'd been aware of Uchanjaa for all her life it seemed, had always known that that big, strong lion was her grandfather and, for all that her mother wouldn't say anything more about the Guard, she'd idolized him. He'd been strong and independent, not caring what anyone thought. In many ways, the black youth had fashioned herself in his image.

It hurt, so much, that he wasn't even acknowledging her to her face. Hopes and dreams she'd almost forgotten about were dying painful deaths in her heart and she felt herself grow cold inside. The silence continued and as it did, she felt all chances of reconciliation dying.

Fine. If that was how he wanted it, that was what he'd get. She saw him open his mouth and knew that if she let him get even a single sound out, her resolve would crumble. Not again. Never again.

"So. The stories of your bravery are just tall tales after all," she observed, tone condescending. "I suppose it's just as well. If I was a coward, I wouldn't want my grandchildren to know that I was a big fake either." The black female then chose to offer him the same insult she'd taken - she turned away.

Uchanjaa closed his eyes as the girl's barbed words struck home. She had a point. What good was standing up to a murderer like Shangyue if he couldn't even answer to his own granddaughter? No one liked to think of himself as a coward, but she had a very good point. The brave thing would be to try and fix his broken family, not exacerbating the wounds. He'd been going to let her leave like that, when an unexpected interruption occurred.

The newcomer was young, though still older than Uchanjaa's granddaughter, and also mostly black. But in this case, the Guard knew the other male's name and even a bit about him.

"Alfajiri," he acknowledged the younger Guard-turned-Hunter - not that he could blame the boy, not in this political climate. "I'm supposed to be on border patrol shortly, but that is....my granddaughter." There really was no way to avoid it, especially since the younger male had to have heard the raised voices. But there was no mistaking the flat tone of voice Uchanjaa had used when speaking of the black lioness.

"Excuse me, I must be going," he informed Alfajiri, and abruptly started stalking off to the borderlands.

Iki'renkli had heard the exchange, but was determined to have nothing more to do with her fallen hero of a grandfather. She wouldn't hurry off the way he was now, but she wasn't going to stick around to listen to meaningless pleasantries being exchanged. She had work of her own she could be doing and while she was somewhat grateful to the other lion for deflecting the tension long enough for her to leave with dignity, she also resented him for spoiling her exit.

Which meant, of course, she was going to pretend he didn't exist while she headed off.

He was, Iki decided, far too cheerful for her at this moment in time. She would've preferred if he hadn't come at all and had just left her alone. But there he was, walking next to her without a care in the world. The lioness sighed.

"Look, Alfajiri, was it? This isn't a good time." She felt tired, and drained, even though the night was still quite young. What she wanted most was to go curl up and think of nothing at all until the fuss she'd just created died down. In a moon or so.

And yet, she couldn't just tell him to leave. He seemed nice, and genuinely eager to help. How could she tell him that she didn't want to get anyone else involved in her family's problems?

She was grateful that he didn't seem to want to press her. At least something was going her way today. Now that she had failed to get the answers she so desperately wanted from Uchanjaa, Iki'renkli felt tired and drained. She didn't even know what to do next - she hadn't been able to see beyond confronting her grandfather.

"Yeah, sure," she replied noncomittally, attention on things far more important to her than the black lion beside her.

Great Lion, what on earth was she going to do now? Her hero was a coward, her mom was still a mom, her dad wouldn't talk about certain things and now people were saying her older sister - one of the only two still in the pride - was crazy.

Wasn't she lucky.