“Shove it! How dare you even as much as speak to me, backstabbing vermin?” Kani had growled in disgust, her otherwise pleasant voice now broken by hate, “The likes of you shouldn't even be allowed to so much as breathe!”

At which point Kani had refrained from further insults and just decided to put her words to actions. Much to the shock of the hyenas around them who had been ordered to guard them, Kani had jumped the other lioness, immediately followed by two other of the wounded lionesses who seemed to have shared her point of view. The targeted lioness didn't bother to resist. It was at that point that Kiuma, who was in charge of the squad guarding the detained lionesses, had intervened, trying to separate the targeted lioness from the rest of her pride, who had obviously taken a very hostile stance agains"> 

“Yeah, that's it, cry, cry with your newfound 'friends', treacherous rat!” the lioness hissed viciously. The sound of her voice alone sent a shiver down Kiuma's spine. Only moments before, she had heard its sound for the first time, as it had broken the silence in which the lionesses had been locked ever since they had been detained in the cave. It had been a fell insult towards the young lioness that seemed to have been kept outside the tight group of surviving lionesses. Kiuma had immediately recognized the outsider: it had been the naive, hapless lioness that had tried to prevent the late Kim from bleeding to death (to no avail, by the way). It now seemed as if her compassionate yet futile action had not fallen all to well with her kin. The fact she had been one of the few Outlanders (and looked it too, with her dark fur and skinny yet soothe build) around Priderock didn't help much either.

“Kani, don't, please,” the queen had still sighed in a vain attempt at defusing the situation, but the combative and proud t the outsider. The act of separation proved surprisingly easy, as all the lionesses were weak, wounded and certainly not up for a fight against the foe that had beaten and obliterated them the previous morning. So now Kiuma just sat there, in between what remained of the lion pride in one corner of the cave, and the young, expelled lioness in the other. That Kiuma putting the lioness apart seemed to have been all the proof of treason Kani and her companions needed was a necessary evil: keeping the prisoners detained and alive were her orders; the internal cohesion of the lion pride on the other hand was rather inessential. But Kiuma still felt sorry for the rejected lioness though: what happened to her was simply unjust! Being accused of treason just because of the most basic uttering of compassion and sympathy... she felt it'd just be plain wrong to sit by idle and watch it happen. That poor girl needed her sympathy! On the other hand, she was still a lion... then again, the lioness hadn't hesitated to help out a hyena, so why should Kiuma hesitate to turn the tables around?

“Hum... eh... Are... are you.... all right?” Kiuma hesitatingly asked as she sat down right next to the crying lioness. From the corners of her eyes she could see the reactions from her fellow-guardsmen (well, more guards-women anyway). As was to be expected, the appreciation which could be read on their faces ranged from slightly compassionate to extremely scornful. Meanwhile, the lioness kept on crying, especially when Kani added another one of her loathing remarks.

“She hasn't ever been better: at least now, she's among her equals. One happy, disgusting scavenger family!”

“Cram it!” Kiuma shouted back, annoyed at Kani's obvious disrespect for her authority, not to mention her overall heartlessness, “You've still got three paws that work, I hope you'd like to keep it that way...”

Kani didn't seem to be impressed, and indeed she wasn't, but she decided that for the sake of her pride (or at least the honorable part) she'd better not further taunt the hyena and the traitor: no use in letting her disgust for the treacherous lioness threaten the wellbeing of what remained of her beloved pride.

“Come on, calm down, it's okay now...” Kiuma whispered at the lioness. The more she looked at her, the more she got convinced the lioness was still just a kid, caught between the yaws of war years too soon (that is if there is ever a right age to be swallowed up in the horror that is war). Reminded her of when her own kid had only been a wee lass, and brought back some of her maternal instincts too: before she knew it, one of her paws lay upon the crying lioness' shoulder. She quickly withdrew it when she realized it, only to hesitate in midair and eventually decide to just put in back again. The lioness didn't seem to mind, although some dismayed muttering seemed to arise from the lionesses in the other part of the cave. The lioness' fur felt quite soft, almost pleasant even as Kiuma stroked across her neck. After a short while, the lioness seemed to have calmed down.

“There we go... eh... are you okay?” Kiuma asked, failing to think of anything else.

“I've... been better,” the lioness sobbed, inducing a faint smile on Kiuma's face. Kani seemed like she wanted to comment on that with yet another vicious remark, but eventually decided just to ignore the traitor from now on, as bringing her down wasn't really that productive after all.

“I can imagine... what's your name?”

“Anana,” the lioness sniveled after a short hesitation, “But everyone just calls me Ana.”

Or used to anyway, now it's all traitor-this and backstabber-that...

“That's a nice name... Listen, Anana, I know it probably doesn't mean much, coming from my mouth, but... try not to let 'em get to you, all right? You deserve better that this.”

“No I don't...” the lioness sobbed.

“Huh? Why would you say that? You didn't do anything wrong,” Kiuma corrected her.

“No, you're wrong. Too you it might seem like I did the right thing, but they're right: I betrayed my pride...”

“Hey, now listen here,” Kiuma interrupted a bit upset, putting her paw on Anana's back again “You did the right thing, that's what matters, got it? If you do what's right, what your hearth tells you is right, then that's all that matters, even if it means going against your clan (or pride, for that matter). Sometimes, for the good of your clan, you have go against it.”

“How would you know?” the lioness snuffled still a bit shaken, looking at the ground.

“Trust me, I know, I've been there,” Kiuma reassured with grim gaze, still stroking Anana's back, “I've been there...”

When she closed her eyes, Kiuma could still see Vincent disappear below the White Pass cliff, and she could still feel the relief she had felt then too: finally her former matriarch had been avenged, finally her clan had been freed of that power-hungry creep who treated his subjects not as individuals but as mere pawns, and finally they would be able to present the bill for decades of oppression and murder to the lions. But now as she sat next to one of the 'oppressors', tenderly stroking her as she tried comforting her, she felt increasingly doubtful if she had indeed served her clan by going against it...

“You're nice...” the young lioness whispered as she moved a bit closer to Kiuma, who replied a bit dreamingly, still keeping her paw on the lioness.

“Wouldn't it be a lot easier if we were all just a bit nicer...”

Before Anana could reply however, one of Kiuma's colleagues interrupted their conversation.

“Eh ma'am... Sorry to bother you, but there are some Graymanes out asking for you...”

“Huh?” Kiuma replied, a bit confused, “Graymanes? Shetani's cronies? What do they need me for?”

But before the guard could respond, three huge, grayish hyenas entered the cave and arrogantly walked up to Kiuma, expecting everyone to step aside as they did. Kani looked at the newcomers with a mixture of curiosity, fear, but also hate as she immediately recognized them: two of them had been present in the babysitting-cave during the Battle of Priderock, it had been them (amongst others) who had killed Kausha, wounded Kali and forced the lions to surrender by using their cubs as hostages. So naturally, Kani guessed their arrival wouldn't exactly mean good news.

“Miss Kiuma? You have been summoned in the name of the Matriarch, please come with us. We'll be taking over here.”

Maybe it was something in their voice, in their behavior, but something just didn't seem right, causing Kiuma to hesitate.

“Hold it, I've been ordered to guard these lions, what is this all about all of a sudden?”

“Kiuma, please don't make this harder than it already is, just come with us, all right?” another Graymane responded, whilst her two companions closed in on Kiuma in the most intimidating manner. Seeing as all three of the hyenas that had come to get her were at least  one paw bigger than she was, Kiuma considered it the better choice just to do as they said, even though she had already figured out something was definitely rotten (figuratively, of course). Anana lloked at Kiuma, the only one that had as much as tried to comfort her, with her gentle greenish eyes as she got up and reluctantly walked out in front of two of the Graymanes, whilst the third one stayed behind. Some muttering arose from the remaining guarding hyenas, but the Graymane that had stayed behind quickly answered their questions.

“Listen up! I've been assigned as the new squad leader in charge of guarding the detainees. I do this in the