"I have a few announcements," said a voice. But this voice was feminine. The felines watched Mstari leap up onto the ledge. "Busajja has informed me that he will be spending time with Keyah until the cubs are weaned and ready to be trained. Which will not be for a while."
Murmurs of anxiety broke out.
"But he's our leader," Arida protested. "And Keyah is one of the lieutenants!"
"I know." Mstari sighed. "So Busajja has appointed me for temporary leader. My two temporary lieutenants will be Isibanda and Solus."
A small smile flickered across Isibanda's face. The small lioness may have been aggressive and sometimes mean, but she was also very humble and did not boast.
Solus' face had the same calm yet menacing expression. Her eyes were blank as she merely dipped her head. "Thank you."
"Also, these cubs will be weaned in a a few weeks. Then we have to wait for them to be able to fight. That'll be around the time Keyah has the cubs. So she won't be able to train them. After the cubs are born we will need to choose instructors for them depending on what they would like to be. So because of recent changes, I have decided knew instructors to train the four cubs after they're ready to be trained."
Mstari took a deep breath. She nearly glowed with pride.
"I will train Jaeda," she announced. "Yadira will be trained by Monifa. Nzinga will train Laila, and Bendera will train Nadia."
Nzinga smiled at Monifa and Bendera. The three were kin; Nzinga was Monifa and Bendera's mother. Though Arida had not gotten a trainee, she didn't mind. Whether or not the cub became an Osain medic trainee depended on whether the cub was interested in herbs or not. It was the cub's decision. All of the cubs' eyes had opened, but all of them seemed interested in hunting, fighting, thieving, and everything else. None of them had stopped to wonder about the herbs.
Maybe when Keyah's cubs are born, Arida thought hopefully.
Mstari dipped her head to her rogue pack. "Thank you for listening. You may all go back to what you were doing previously." She leaped down, but just as she was about to walk into her den, they all heard roars. The pack spun around and faced a large group of lionesses from their enemy pride. The leader of their raiding party was Inaya. But there were so many of them.
"Give us the cubs back," Inaya growled.
"Never," Imithi spat.
"Then you leave us no choice," Inaya snarled. "Attack!"