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Gopala and Paropakari stood at the edge of the Jini Msemi pride lands with tears in their eyes. Of their enormous litter of 14, they had already seen some of their offspring off as they were going to leave to begin their name quests, but it did not get any easier, they agreed. Today, the weepy parents were seeing off a son and a daughter: Dhikkara and Bhaya. They both had been surprised that Dhikkara was choosing not to go with his twin brother, but they were glad that Bhaya would have a brother going with her, and in lieu of a twin, glad that she was also not being forced to have to go it alone.



Bhaya and Dikkara were eager to get going into the unknown, glancing at their parents impatiently. They exchanged knowing glances and sighed, knowing that this was just how they were going to be, though, so the adolescents accepted the fussing and the stalling with as much humor as they could. Gopala fussed over her children, licking each of their heads one last time to get their manes just right, asking them if they ate recently enough ago, asking them if they had any idea where they would be going. Paro quizzed them if they knew where their siblings had gone and had success and safe travel. The father had been a rogue for most of his life before he had joined the Jini Msemi in their mountain home during the queen's games. His ties to the pride had mostly been concreted when he had met and fell in love with Gopala. Before that he had not been wholly interested in much of what happened in and with the pride. Dhikkara and Bhaya patiently answered all of their questions and concerns as best as they could. Paro tried passing on as much of his former rogue knowledge to them as he could but his children and mate gently reminded him of how quickly things can change in the rogue lands. Perhaps he was being over protective and a worry wart but he could not help it. It was a parent's duty to be scared at every waking second for their offspring.

Gopala smiled sadly and tiredly at the father of her fourteen cubs. It had not been too long ago that Dhikkara, Bhaya and the rest of them had been driving the pair up the walls of their over crowded den. But now, as their children began trickling out of the den and out on their name quests and into homes of their own, the den felt progressively more and more empty. Were they crazy? Gopala and Paro could remember like it was yesterday the time when they had been desperate to have more room. When they were only getting through each day with the future of not having to worry about stepping on a cub with each step. Those first weeks had been awful, where the parents were absolutely terrified of crushing three or four cubs on their way out of the den to go to the restroom in the middle of the dark night. Thankfully they had all survived. Gopala and Paro credited the help of the pride with their litter's success. Dhikkara cleared his throat and Bhaya shifted her weight from one paw to another. What were their parents reminiscing about now?

"Mom, Dad, we really should be going..." their daughter said, softly and with a very small smile.

"Yeah we really probably should get out soon so we will have enough time to find shelter for the night," Dhikkara added, searching his mother's face, then his father's.

Gopala swallowed hard, feeling the lump in her throat grow bigger and bigger as she choked back even more tears, and Paro nodded as solemnly as he thought a father ought to for the circumstances. The orange daughter and white son allowed themselves to exchange excited glances. They had been trying to be restrained in their excitement, knowing how worked up their parents were apt to get, but the adolescents could scarcely help themselves. They had talked about it at great lengths and yes, actually sought advice from their siblings and other pride members. They felt they had an ideal plan that would take them far enough away from the pride to see an abundance of things, but not take too long. Well, it was hard to predict with a name quest just how long it would take, but they each hoped it would not be frustratingly long. Gopala had tried to regale her 14 with the story of her name quest but it had not taken too long at all before their attention wandered. She tried more than once, too, but at first they were all too young and then they were teenagers and did not take their mother very seriously. Paro would nod for emphasis but could not relate to his mate. He had changed his name upon joining the pride as was the custom, but his choice was more arbitrary than whatever... spirits or something that the pride believed guided them. Dhikkara and Bhaya found it vaguely interesting that their mother had been born in the pride's first territory of the swamplands before the great fire drove the pride out of their home and to the mountains, but the topic seemed to be still a little bit of a sore subject for a surprising number of older pride members so they did not ask about it much further.

"Mind if we see you off a little ways?" Paro asked of his cubs with Gopala looking hopeful beside him.

Bhaya and Dhikkara choked back exasperated sighs. Were they kidding right now? They had already walked them this far... They looked at one another, pink eyes searched orange eyes and vice versa. Their shoulders slumped and they nodded, resigned that this would take them even longer than they had expected it to. But the pair could not refuse their parents. Paro and Gopala had done astoundingly well for first time parents and mother and father to 14. Dhikkara and Bhaya would vouch that they never felt neglected or ignored despite the number of siblings they had as competition for their parents' attention. Paro and Gopala both tried to make themselves as available as possible to their offspring to give them individual attention, as they were all unique lions in their own right– even the twins.

The four lions– two white, two orange– walked closer and closer to the rogue lands and off of the mountains until finally Paro and Gopala let Bhaya and Dhikkara slowly pull out ahead of them. Their children did not realize it for a little bit until they finally looked over their shoulders and noticed how far back Gopala and Paro were from them. Their mother and father roared to see them off and bid them goodbye. The pair had assured them that they would be back and no harm would come to them, but parents would never truly believe it. The two sets of lions were secretly grateful that there was enough distance that the others could not see or hear their soft cries. It was a bittersweet occasion, but they would be rejoined soon.