[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano winced when Muroki mentioned the trial, but his brother was correct: he also recognized this lion, although he rather wished that he didn't, because of the memories that he now wished he didn't have to go through again. he even thought about hiding, but it was too late, and all he could do was stand there, trying to ignore the part of him that wanted to flee. Sure, the king was the one who set him free, but still...

Through their brief conversation, Delano remained silent, only nodding or making other such small gestures when he was addressed, but he didn't mind Muroki getting all the attention. Not soon enough, the king and the younger lion left, and the two brothers were once again alone.

However, when Muroki challenged him to a race back to the den, Delano grinned. This gave him the perfect opportunity to release all that energy he had in him when he wanted to run away from the king. "You're on!"

This time they ran straight back to the den, which meant that they came back much quicker than when they left. Delano came only a little behind Muroki, but he didn't care about losing, now there was something else on his mind again.

Walking inside the den, Delano was both relieved and at the same time not when he discovered both Lina and Umeme already inside. "Hey, Lina!" He walked over to her and nuzzled her, wondering how he should go about doing the very thing he kept telling himself he would do for so long. Knowing that the longer he would wait, the harder it would be, he motioned for Lina to follow him outside. "I want to talk to you about something," he said with a slightly nervous chuckle. Inside of him, his heart was already beginning to beat even faster than when he was chasing after Muroki as his nervousness grew once more. He hoped that this time, he will finally ask her properly.

---

Umeme had heard Muroki and Delano arrive, and looked up to see them walk inside, making sure to put on a normal face. "Delano, Muroki. How did things go?"

She grinned at Muroki when she saw Delano take Lina outside. "What's up with him?" She asked. "Also, I told my parents about us two moving out to that den we found. They agreed to it, so how about we go there tonight!" Not only was she quite excited about moving to a new home with her husband, but doing so would also give her more opportunity to think things over. If she would decide to talk to Muroki about today's events, she can do so without getting Delano and Lina involved as well.

Together, they too left the den. Umeme approached Lina and Delano. "I already talked to mom and dad about it, so Muroki and I are going to leave now. We're moving to the new den for tonight at least. See you tomorrow!" She quickly mouthed 'everything will be fine' to Lina as she moved back to Muroki, and together, they headed off to their new home.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina couldn't stop herself from smiling upon seeing Delano and Muroki enter the den. When Delano nuzzled her she rested her head in his mane, taking in a deep breath before exhaling slowly. With him there she felt safe, and she doubted she was going to be able to move away from him for the next few days. She was naturally curious when Delano said he wanted to talk to her about something and asked her to come outside with him so she followed, staying right beside him the entire time.

Before he could say anything, though, Muroki and Umeme came outside. While Lina hadn't expected the two of them to move into their new den so quickly, she knew that she should be happy for them and she was. Besides, she felt safe enough with just Delano there. "Good luck..." she said quietly with a soft smile before watching them walk off together. "I hope they'll be happy with their new den..." she then looked at Delano, batting her eyelashes a few times. "What do you want to talk to me about?" she asked, still curious.

---------------

Muroki smiled when he saw that Umeme was indeed waiting for him inside her parents' den. "Nothing unusual." he said in response to her question as Delano and Lina walked outside. "Did you know the king's a friend of my aunt? I hadn't the faintest idea!" Like Umeme intended, he didn't seem to suspect that anything was bothering her. "What's wrong with who? Oh, Delano? I'll tell you later, don't worry."

When Umeme told him that her parents had given their consent to them moving out to the den they'd found themselves he couldn't stop himself from smiling in excitement. "Really? Tonight?" He hadn't thought they'd move out so soon, but he wasn't going to complain. "That's wonderful!" he exclaimed, pulling her into a tight but short hug before releasing her and running outside with enthusiasm, "Come on!" It was probably easy to tell, but he couldn't wait to officially enter their new home.

After bidding Lina and Delano farewell, with Muroki giving his brother a silent nod of encouragement, they began making their way to their destination. "Wow... I can't believe this is finally happening..." he said as they walked, looking at her with a smile. "You know, I just knew that everything would be just perfect now that all of our ordeals are behind us!" If only he knew...

[DGFone]

Delano already felt himself lose whatever confidence he had, and to make things worse, Muroki had already left with Umeme, which meant that he was on his own. He either had to ask now, or he would once again lose his confidence and make an utter fool of himself. He could tell that Lina could see his nervousness, and it didn't help at all. Taking in a deep breath, he forced himself to talk. "Alright, so for some time now, I was thinking about things... about us. And I... well, many times before I just couldn't get my courage up to ask you this, but... uhh..."

His jaw trembled as all sorts of events played out in his head telling him as to why it would be a good idea to wait longer. But he somehow got himself to ignore them and looked straight at Lina, gazing in her eyes. Okay, here it goes... "So what I was thinking... Lina... Will you..." His could hear his heart beating inside of him, and knew that if he stalled any longer, he would regret it. "Will you marry me?"

---

Umeme wanted to keep her mind of the day's events, so when Muroki mentioned talking to the king, her interest peaked up. Just the thing to get her mind off things. "You met the king? How did it go? He didn't give you too much trouble or anything?" The simple fact that Muroki was here and talking rather excitedly about it answered that question, but she still wanted to hear it from him. It wasn't every day that you came across the king, let alone by pure accident.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina patiently waited for Delano to start talking and was a little confused when she suddenly saw him become completely nervous. Was something wrong? The last thing she needed at the moment was having something else take a turn for the worst. When he finally started talking (and soon paused) she became even more confused because he looked like he was really worried about something. In fact he looked like a complete nervous wreck. But what could it be?

Remaining patient, she waited quietly until Delano finally pulled himself together and asked her the question he'd been meaning to ask her for a long time. It took her a little by surprise, seeing how she didn't spend all of her time simply sitting there and waiting for it to happen, so only after a few seconds did she finally push the lion onto his back and embraced him with excitement. "Yes!" she said without any hesitation, burying her head in Delano's mane. She hoped it wasn't too obvious, but she's been wondering whether he had any intentions of asking her any time soon.

---------------

Muroki smiled and nodded with a certain amount of excitement as Umeme asked him about what was it like to meet the king. "Not at all. He's really nice!" At first he was slightly apprehensive when the king engaged him and his brother in conversation because, back at Delano's trial, he was quite angry to say the least. "He told us he was just coming back from visiting Kasi's parents." it seemed a little understandable considering what had happened to Kasi's mother. "She told him that we're moving in together so he wished us both good luck."

He couldn't help but recall the king's little conversation with his son (which he couldn't help but overhear). It was a rather amusing one, too. "His son was with him, too. Apparently he's spending too much time with a girl he likes instead of attending some of his lessons..." The lion chuckled. "I wonder what it would have been like if we'd met when we were that age." Things would have probably turned out a little differently (although he hoped they wouldn't have). "We'd know each other longer if that were the case." Smiling, he gave her a quick nuzzle.

[DGFone]

Actually asking Lina the big question took a lot more energy out of Delano than even he expected. So when Lina hugged him, he couldn't offer any resistance to her momentum, and he found himself on the ground with her on top of him. He then finally realized how she answered, and he broke into a relieved smile. He eagerly returned her nuzzle, glad that he had finally managed to ask her.

"I tried asking you before, but I always got too nervous or afraid of what might go wrong..." he admitted, "but earlier today I talked about it with Muroki, and I somehow convinced myself then to just go and ask you, and well, I'm glad I did."

Delano allowed Lina some more time to enjoy his mane until he decided that it was time to call it a night. "Come on, let's go inside. It'll be warmer there." As he followed Lina inside, he finally felt really proud of himself. Sure, he didn't have exactly the most elegant of proposals, but he had conquered his fear long enough to ask, and it payed off big time. Perhaps all those fears were uncalled for, and he really did have nothing to worry about.

---

Umeme chuckled at the thought of the king's son spending too much time with a lioness. "Well, good thing you are not royalty. Because if you were, I would have had you demoted, just so that you could spend your time with me instead of whatever royals do... practicing their curtsy."

She returned Muroki's nuzzle. "Yes, it would have been nicer to meet up sooner, but it's nothing something we could have controlled." She gave him a quick lick across the nuzzle. "But I am glad for all the time we had, and for all the time we will have."

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina thought carefully for a moment, trying to remember whether Delano had any moments like this one recently (since he was claiming to have tried to ask her before). After a few seconds of not being able to recall anything she decided to just let it go. He has just proposed to her a few seconds ago, so what did all of his previous attempts matter? "I'll be sure to thank Muroki for encouraging you the next time I see him." she said with a chuckle, giving him an affectionate lick before getting off of him and allowing him to stand up.

Together they walked inside, leaving the cold night's wind behind them as they did. It was much more pleasant to be inside the den, even if she did manage to ignore the cold with Delano being by her side. Because she was so happy she completely forgot about Hatari, but these unpleasant thoughts were probably going to return to her at some point. Not now, though. The lioness smiled and settled down next to her mate, purring in content.

---------------

Muroki blinked a few times. "Well I'm sure he's learning about something more important than curtsies, but we'll just go with your version..." he said with a chuckle, purring as he felt Umeme's tongue run across his muzzle. He knew she was right. As much as it would have been terrific to have met her sooner, they still had their entire lives ahead of them. While he still didn't know what exactly to expect, he was looking forward to finding out how things would turn out.

After a while they arrived at their new neighborhood and eventually at their new den as well. "Here we are..." he said with a grin, walking inside with her. He sat down in the center of the little cave, looking it over with wonder. "Wow... It's a little hard to grasp the fact that this is our new home, you know?" He smiled before sheepishly rubbing the back of his head as the den became silent. "Um, so now what?"

[DGFone]

Umeme grinned as she lay down on the ground. "Now we sleep." Just because they were now in a new home didn't mean that the den worked any differently than before. She snuggled closer against Muroki as he too lay down besides her, and closed her eyes. "Good night, Muroki."

In the darkness of the den, she let her mind wander, thinking of what she wanted to do. The more she thought about it, the more she felt like she needed to talk to Hatari again, and find out exactly what was going on. She will need to find a way to get away from Muroki, however. She'll figure something out.

---

The rays of early morning sunlight made their way into the other den, waking Delano up. He blinked, feeling confused. When did he fall asleep? He remembered following Lina into the den and lying down next to her. The next thing he knew, the sun was invading the den. Annoyed at the awakening, Delano grumbled and stretched a little. Apparently, his motion woke Lina up, because she too began to stir. Feeling like he won't be able to fall back asleep, Delano let out a long yawn. "Morning Lina..."

He recalled last night, and how he had finally proposed successfully. He looked at her, smiling at the memory. But now he had another problem to deal with: Now they had give tell the news to her parents, and even worse, her mother.

Already anticipating the pain, Delano rubbed his neck nervously, imagining what the death hug might be like. "Ready to be murdered by over-zealously happy parents?" He asked. "It was nice knowing you, Lina."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki couldn't help but chuckle slightly at what Umeme said. "Right, of course... Silly me..." he said quietly, resting his head down beside his mate's and wrapping a paw around her, holding her close. That really was a rather silly question. A den was a den after all. "Goodnight, Umeme." Slightly shuffling his head closer to hers, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The morning seemed to arrive in a matter of seconds. Muroki woke up feeling like he's never had such a good night's sleep in a long time, although that probably was just his imagination. Umeme was still asleep next to him, and he saw no reason to wake her up. After all, she looked even more beautiful in her sleep. As he silently watched her, he couldn't help but wonder what did the future hold for both of them and what would starting their own family be like. He also wondered whether Umeme had anything planned for the day. Maybe there was something else they needed to arrange that he still wasn't aware of?

---------------

Lina woke up the following morning feeling as happy as ever, the memories of Delano's proposal still fresh in her mind. "Good morning." she said, nuzzling her mate. For some reason his mane felt warmer than ever before. As Delano mentioned breaking the news to her parents she raised her head and looked around the den. It was easy to tell by the amount of light present inside that it was still an early hour in the morning, but her parents were nowhere to be seen.

"I don't see them anywhere..." she said, looking into Delano's eyes with a smile. With just the two of them inside the den, she felt like she could simply rest there next to him for hours without growing tired of it. "There's no need to rush, we'll just tell them later." Still staring into her mate's eyes, she slowly leaned over and gave him a lick across his muzzle, giggling as she did.

Spoiler: show

I figured we could just drop the whole telling the parents part already...
I'm taking a cellphone (and charger) with me and my Skype'll be open throughout the evening. Once I know when I'm supposed to arrive back we'll know whether it'll be possible to post a little when I do.

[DGFone]

Even though Muroki thought that Umeme was still asleep, the had actually woken up when he moved away from her. Having decided during the night that she would go and see Hatari alone today, she continued to pretend to be asleep while she sensed Muroki was still in the den. A part of her hated the idea of lying to him like this, but she didn't want to take the risk of taking him along with her, and it would be so much simpler for her to go on her own if he would just leave already and go do something by himself.

To say that she did want to spend her first morning in their new home hoping for her husband to leave was an understatement, but there were things that needed to be done, and they took a higher priority over how enjoyable this morning can be.

---

Hearing that they will wait on telling the parents about the news was a great relief to Delano. Besides, he figured that they already knew that it was only a matter of time until he would propose to her, so the news won't be the same as it was with Muroki and Umeme. "We're not going to do it today? Good, I don't mind." He grinned foolishly when Lina licked him, and took her into a hug. "Hey, I was thinking, how about we go over to Muroki and Umeme, and see how they like their new den." He grinned. "Or do you have something else in mind?"

[TheWhistlerify]

While silently resting next to Umeme Muroki could suddenly remember the fact that Delano had meant to propose to Lina the previous evening. It had completely slipped his mind with all the excitement of getting to move out with Umeme. Now that he was thinking about it, wasn't he supposed to have already told Umeme that Delano was going to propose to her sister? He hoped she wouldn't get a little upset about him not telling her about something like this sooner, even if by accident.

An idea then came to his mind. Because Umeme was still asleep and because he didn't want to wake her up, he could go check on Delano and Lina and then tell her about the outcome of Delano's proposal as well. Knowing that this wouldn't be the first time Umeme woke up to find him gone, (or vice versa, for that matter), he slowly got up (so to not disturb her) and walked outside, deciding he might as well get some water on the way.

---------------

Lina couldn't help but chuckle at Delano's rather palpable relief at the fact that they weren't going to have to tell her parents right away, seeing how the two were not in the den. She couldn't stop herself from purring uncontrollably when Delano pulled her into a hug, but then him suggesting that they left the den reminded her of yesterday's events. However, because she was with Delano and because her sister's new den wasn't too far away, she managed to shove the negative thoughts aside rather quickly before nodding in agreement. "We could do that." she suddenly rose to her paws in excitement, remembering that she hasn't told Umeme yet. "Ooh! I need to tell Umeme about this!" With that she ran towards the exit, stopping by the entrance of the den. "Come on!"

Spoiler: show

Wow, that was such a long evening <_> I was so tired when I came back I just passed out on my bed...