emotion.

            "Adwin!" It was Ngosi who was crying out. "Lions are coming!"

            Adwin sucked in air, gave his mate an apologetic look, and then raced up towards his friend. Behind him were two lioness and a gray lion - Dawn, her sister Imani, and Azazel.

            "Where?" Adwin panted.

            Azazel gestured his head. "Not far from here."

            "We heard what happened," said Imani. "There's a gray lion."

            Adwin's heart sank. "No..."

            "Those lions must've led them here," growled Ngosi. "What do you want us to do?"

            "I can distract them," offered Azazel. "I don't really do battle plans with others."

            Imani nudged him, glaring. "Shut up."

            "Let me think!" Adwin cried. Mheetu! He'd know what he'd want me to do! "Uh, okay! Ngosi, let everyone know what's going on. Imani, Dawn, can you look after Timira and Gwan for me? Azazel-"

            The gray lion smirked, bouncing a bit on his toes. "No problem."

            Imani turned to him. "You be careful or else," she growled.

            "I'm always careful, princess." With a kick of dirt, Azazel darted back into the fields.

            Adwin made sure everyone went off to do their part before he went off to find Mheetu. The older brown lion was resting underneath a dead tree, his pale mate beside him. She raised her head as Adwin approached them, smiling softly. "Oh Adwin, how are you?"

            At the mention of Adwin's name, Mheetu sat up, brushing the sleep from his eyes. "Ah, Adwin. Did our guests finally leave?"

            Adwin laid his ears back, sheepishly pawing at the ground. "Mheetu, there's a problem."

            At once the brown lion rose to his paws. "What's going on?"

            "Those lions are heading for us."

            Mheetu scrunched his face in rage; Paka stood alongside him, an anxious look on her face. "Are you serious? Ugh, Adwin, station everyone to surround our grounds. We're not going to be driven out like the Outlanders."

            Happy with being given a command, Adwin shot off, yelling Mheetu's order to everyone. He made sure, when he found them, that Timira and Gwandoya were stationed in the dead center of the pride, as their members formed a perimeter around them.

            "If they break through, just run," he urgently told Timira. Adwin gazed at Gwan, but the sandy lion was still ecstatic, unaware of the danger they were about to face.

            "They're coming over the hill!" Azazel cried out as he rejoined them.

            Assuming his place on Mheetu's left side, Adwin readied himself as the first lion appeared. Indeed, he was a gray lion, with scars across his eyes. This was the one they were talking about.

            Following him emerged a tawny lioness, and next to her a larger gray lioness. The rest of the lion's group followed after them.

            "There aren't that many," Adwin heard Azazel growl behind him.

            "Azazel, be quiet!" snarled Imani.

            "I gotta agree with Azazel on this one," said Ngosi, who stood behind Adwin. "How did these guys chase out the Outlanders? They're not that big."

            "Never underestimate the enemy," said Mheetu. "They have small numbers, but they still chased out the Outland pride. They must be strong."

            The group was getting closer, though they seemed to be taking their time arriving. It's all for show, thought Adwin. They know we know what they did. They just want to scare us more. Well, it was working. Adwin hadn't felt this afraid since Mheetu had asked him to become a leader. Or since Zuri.

            "Gwan, no!"

            It was too late for Adwin, or anyone, to react. Gwandoya broke the line and raced towards the oncoming group. Timira had chased him only until she came alongside Adwin, and then she froze. Adwin was startled to see her begin to shake, to see tears starting to rain down from her eyes.

            "N-No! It can't be!" she cried.

            "Get your cub back here!" demanded Mheetu. But no one dared to chase after Gwandoya, not even Adwin, who was so petrified by what had happened that he just found himself frozen to the spot.

            Gwandoya stopped short of the group, and began to pace. And for what happened next, Adwin could not have believed his own eyes. The group stopped, with the large gray lion breaking from her group's formation to trot up to Gwandoya. Adwin felt his claws unsheathe, but the way she approached him... it was as though they had been friends. There was no hint of hostility, or any kind of surprise attack waiting for his adopted son.

            No, this lioness trotted up to him, and began to shoo him back.

            Beside him, Timira took a sharp intake of air, and she too broke the line to run up to her adopted son. This time, Adwin could not ignore it. "Timira! Come back!"

            Timira refused to turn back, and as she got closer to the pair, she too came to a slower pace until she fully stopped. Gwandoya was now facing Mheetu's group, his ecstatic look gone and replaced with his casual look of indifference, as if what had just happened never happened.

            Adwin squinted his eyes, trying to decipher what was going on with his mate. He studied the gray lion, the leader, and saw that he too must've been confused by the sudden event. Finally, after a long standstill, the large gray lioness turned and trotted back to her group. She paused, said something to the gray lion, and then trotted back the way she came. Then, to Adwin's great surprise, the gray lion followed after the lioness, and with him so did the rest of the pride.

            How could this lioness have enough power to effectively shutdown what would've been a bloodshed? Adwin turned to the rest of his pride and saw that they all thought the same thing.

            With the promise of a crisis averted, Adwin trotted up to his mate, who was now sitting down, her eyes staring straight ahead.

            "Timira?" he prodded.

            "She's back," she whispered, tears still streaming down her face. "She wasn't a ghost either. She's really back."

            Knitting his brows together, Adwin moved to within his mate's line of sight, effectively snapping her out of her illusion. "Timira, what happened? Who was that?"

            Timira's mouth trembled. "L-Lindiwe. She's back."

            How dull, thought Abel, as a light breeze carried past him. It was yet another day of uneventfulness within the Pridelands, the only recent excitement being what Simba had told the entire pride - a group of lions had attacked the Outlands, driven them from their homes, and were now out seeking other prides.

            Even though Kiara and Defir had been worried, Abel was excited. A group of lions, attacking