attack."

            "Fine and well."

            "Do you need anything else?"

            "No, I just want to rest. Just look out for Winta for me?"

            Khari smiled gently. "Like she was my own child. Sauda, Reno, let's leave him to rest up."

            As the trio left Ekene to recover from the earlier event, Sauda said, "Can you imagine how Mom and Dad would feel about this?"

            Khari sighed. "It's a good thing they don't have to. I think I'm going to go out to the Pridelands myself, and tell them what had happened. Sauda, I'm going to want you to stay here, and watch over with Bour."

            Reno stepped forward, his green eyes blazing. "And what do you want me to do?" he asked of her.

            Khari seemed to consider Reno. "I had planned on maybe going by myself, but perhaps it's safer to go with another. Reno, if you don't mind, would you escort me to the Pridelands?"

            "Of course." A mock grin flashed on Reno's face. "It's been so long since I've last been there. It would be pretty cool to see how things have changed."

            "Good. Then it's decided. We'll head out tomorrow then."

            "And the Savannah pride?" asked Sauda. "They're going to want to know what's going on."

            "I can't make two of me. Maybe I'll send Faraj out with Leo to find them."

            "This is going to be a large-scale event," said Reno.

            But Khari shook her head. "I hope it doesn't have to come to that."

 

            Resting had done Ekene some good, for when Khari visited him, he seemed much more focused. He demanded to see Winta and Chinter, and though Khari had someone fetch for Winta, who was spending time with Yejide, she declined Ekene's request to call upon Chinter for the moment.

            "She's crushed, Ekene," she said softly as she sat across from her brother. "I went to see how she was feeling before I came here, and I'm a little bit concerned. The meat we laid out for her was untouched."

            Ekene laid his ears back, sadness filling his eyes. "I'll go talk to her."

            "No, maybe she just needs some time to herself for now. She must've loved him, didn't she?"

            "Hm? Who?"

            "The lion, Gotto? She's absolutely heartbroken."

            "I don't know if love is the word you would use for those two. It's going to be weird not having him by me anymore." Ekene laid his chin on his paws, a sullen and weakened expression returning to his face.

            Khari licked him across the nose. "Rest. I'll be heading over to the Pridelands to send news of what had happened. Sauda is going to be watching over everyone while I'm gone."

            Ekene nodded his head, which indicated to Khari that she could leave him to his own devices. With that, she began to gather everyone together to give everyone their set jobs. Haja (a red lion who volunteered after he heard the news) would be traveling with Faraj to the Savannah pride, and Sauda and Bour would lead the pride in her absence.

            She said her goodbyes, nuzzled her family, and, with Reno by her side, began her journey to the Pridelands.

            Traveling with Reno was very comfortable, and Khari could not deny that she enjoyed his company. When he and Sauda first appeared in her lands, it was because they had been looking for their cubs, who were certainly not cubs anymore. When there were no leads on their whereabouts, the pair permanently found a place within the pride. That was when Khari found out about their turbulent relationship, and how they were now amicable exes, parting on good terms when the love was no longer there.

            Though Khari had never loved, she was not blind to it. She knew Reno seemed to be feeling the pangs of regret of his relationship with Sauda not working out. She also saw something gleam in Ekene's eyes, the way he spoke about the Shadowland leader. If what she suspected was true, she knew she could not speak a word about it. After all, would she not be a hypocrite?

            Even though she proclaimed that the male, Bour, was her mate, they were anything but mates. Formally attached only through the title, they were friends, but nothing more. Bour had Leo now, and as for Khari, she would watch over their cubs, watching them grow and start their own families. It had been an arrangement to sustain the pleas of the pride, and so far it worked perfectly. No one knew about the lie she had with Bour. No one could ever know of that.

            "Are you okay?" inquired Reno.

            Realizing that her face was scrunched tightly in thought, she relaxed and smiled. "Sorry, I was thinking of some things. So what are the Pridelands like?"

            Reno shrugged. "I don't really remember. They were pretty terrible, that much I know. I grew up in another pride."

            Khari's smile faded away. "Oh, so this'll be the first time for you too."

            Reno nodded his head. "Exactly."

            "Well, then this should be an interesting experience. I'm sure we'll be welcomed with open paws."

            "You're sure about that?"

            "Of course! When I met him, Simba seemed like a very warm individual. They'll have to welcome us, once they hear of what we're going to tell them."

            Reno moved closer against Khari, nearly so that their bodies were close to touching. "Do you think there's going to be a war?"

            Khari licked her lips. Her parents, Nyarai and Imamu, would often tell them about the great Riverland-Outland war that they participated in, and the war which she and Sauda were born during. The war severed relations between the two prides that was never going to be forgotten, no matter how cordially the two prides tried to act between one another.

            "Reno," she sighed, "I hope that it doesn't have to come to that."

 

            From his search, a dark-colored lion stood watching over his land, his black mane blowing in the breeze. Abel, son of Kiara and Defir, was still young yet, barely reaching his fifth year, which guaranteed him as a mature adult male. The land was still not his to rule yet, as Kiara had decided she would wait until Abel was five years old before she would hand the title over to him. He waited patiently for his mother to rightfully pass on the throne, but he still amused himself, referring to the Pridelands as his own, and already calling himself a king in his mind. Zuri even encouraged this, and never failed to pass up a moment of praise for him. He had to admit, it tickled at his fancy whenever she spoke to him the way she did.

            He felt someone approaching him, and laid his ears back. If it were either of his parents, he would've addressed them, but when his grandsire, Simba, came alongside him, Abel only gave him a quick nod.

            "You're so serious standing over here that I couldn't help but come on over to see what you're looking at," Simba said good-naturedly.

            Abel's jaw twitched. He hated jokes.

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