two one more look, and finally turned his back completely on them. "Leo! We're leaving!" he called out, not seeing the tawny lion waiting for him.

            A short moment, Leo appeared at his side, a conflicted look on his face. He seemed angry, but remorseful at the same time. Ekene knitted his brows together. "Are you okay-"

            "I'm fine," he growled, surging ahead of Ekene. "Let's just go home, huh?"

            Ekene slowed his pace, pondering what was said to Leo to make him so short-tempered. He was nearly tempted to look back over his shoulder, to see if Ikuta and Winta were still waiting for him. He almost did, until he remembered that he couldn't. Don't look back, he thought. Let's just go home, Ekene.

            "I hope this rain clears up soon," he growled, racing off to catch up with Leo.

            "Well, what do you think?" asked Ngosi as he and Adwin saw Faraj and Haja off from their lands.

            Adwin shrugged. "I told Mheetu, and he just said that we need to look out for this lion."

            "You think they were telling the truth?"

            The older lion turned to his younger counterpart, seeing that Ngosi didn't seem to fully believe the word of the two lions. He supposed there could be reason to that - after all, from what he had learned about Ngosi's past, the lion grew up with wild dogs, rather than lions. Even when the pair met, Ngosi seemed to treat him more with an uncomfortable hostility. It didn't help once Mheetu allowed the pair to join the Savannah pride - Adwin had grown up in a pride system, and knew the basics of the functioning family, but Ngosi had not. Though he had grown used to pride life, and had made some friends of his own kind now, there would still be a part of that hint of suspicion that would remain unchanged.

            "Mheetu told me that the Riverlands and Savannah prides had always been allies."

            "What if they want to attack us?"

            "For what? That lion didn't even like it out here."

            Ngosi shrugged. "It was just an idea..."

            "Not that it was a bad one..." Adwin turned his attention back out to the desolate scenery before them. The messengers were completely gone. "I hope they make it back okay."

            "Hmph."

            Adwin smiled. "It'll be fine, Ngosi."

            "It better be. I'm going to go find Dawn."

            "Okay. If she's with her sister, maybe let them know?"

            "Sure." Adwin watched as Ngosi trotted off, wondering if his friend had made a good point. Could they be in danger? When he had confronted Mheetu about his misgivings while Faraj and Haja had made their welcome, the lion had stated, confidentially, that not many lions wanted to seek them out because of the weather.

            The weather's going to be our best help, he told Adwin. Trust it.

            Adwin did, he always did. He always trusted the ones around him, and the only time he had proven misguided in his trust was with the lioness, Zuri. And he vowed never to make that mistake again.

            "Hey stranger," a sweet voice called upon his side.

            Adwin smiled, turning his head to greet his mate, Timira, with a sandy-colored lion alongside her. "How's Gwandoya been doing?" he asked her.

            They made an unusual family, him, Timira, and Gwandoya. Timira knew Gwandoya because of their shared past together, and had explained to Adwin after she had gotten over her initial suspicion of him that Gwandoya was a challenged lion who hadn't developed properly after birth. How she knew so much of Gwandoya, when they weren't even blood-related, Adwin didn't know, for Timira would not tell him. So he didn't make her, and when he took Timira as his mate, he adopted Gwandoya as his own cub, helping the lion to overcome his difficulties.

            Sometimes it was tough. Gwandoya was prone to gibberish and hysteria, and it often irritated the other lions of the pride. Even Mheetu had quickly lost his patience for the sandy lion. But Timira would be there with him, throughout all his episodes, comforting him. Sometimes there were good days where Gwan would register Timira's attempts at comfort, but other days he would continue his hysterical episode, trying to communicate the name of someone that Adwin didn't know, but Timira obviously knew and understood.

            Being a father to a grown-up adult who thought he was a cub was much harder than it looked.

            Timira tilted her head back and forth. "He had been crying for a bit, but he's calmed down now."

            Adwin looked over Gwan over. It was always remarkable how, after an episode, the sandy lion could just revert back to a distant look without it ever looking like he had a breakdown.

            "Good, that's good," said Adwin.

            "Sooo what happened? I saw that there were some visitors today."

            "They came from the Riverlands. They said to look out for a band of lions that drove out the Outland pride."

            Timira's eyes widened. Even though her face was disfigured by four embedded slashes across her face (attributed by a lion she once thought of as her father), she was still a very beautiful lioness to him. "Drove out? But how?"

            Adwin shrugged. "They just attacked them. They're not that big of a group, and a gray lion leads them."

            Timira seemed to consider the information. "Did he have a red mane?"

            Adwin cocked his head. "What does that have to do with it?"

            "Oh, nothing. I was just wondering..." But Timira still seemed troubled.

            Wanting to reassure his mate, but not knowing how to go about it, Adwin just leaned in and touched noses with her. "We'll be fine. Even Mheetu says we'll be okay."  

            "Mheetu always says we're going to be fine," she scowled, pulling back. "But he's not the leader of the pride anymore. You are, and you get to say if we're going to be okay or not."

            "We're going to be okay," he told her firmly. Then he smiled. "The weather's going to be on our side."

            "Uh...u..." Both turned to Gwandoya, whose eyes were distant and cloudy. His mouth stuttered, and he seemed to tremble as he struggled to speak. "I..."

            Timira was by his side in an instant, rubbing up against him while whispering, "It's okay, Gwan. You're okay."

            Adwin laid his ears back. Oh please let it not be another episode... he thought.

            "Sh... big!"

            "Gwan, it's okay."

            The corners of Gwandoya's mouth lifted into that of a crooked smile. He began to bounce on his paws.  

            Timira threw a look at Adwin, who was just as clueless on how to perceive this different side of Gwandoya. Rarely did the lion ever show