[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme smiled somewhat sadly, because truth be told, no one could know yet what would happen. "I think we all want this to work out," she replied, "not only you." She pulled Muroki aside, not wanting to risk the others overhearing what she wanted to find out from him. Taking him to a far wall, she sat down, looking at him. "But what if things don't work out in the end?" She glanced back nervously, to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on them. "What if the king doesn't let Hatari go? Or what if, for whatever reason, Delano won't be able to accept forgiveness for Hatari?"

The reason why she asked this was because she couldn't have him rely on the best possible outcome for the problem to be solved. She needed to know that he had a plan for whatever may come their way.

Nearby, Delano felt even worse, realizing that Laini didn't understand how bad the situation was. Despite it being the last thing he wanted to do, he showed her his wounded paws from when he cut them against the rocks. "it's- it's not about the wait," he argued, "it's that I... I lose control of myself, and I do things... thing I don't want to." He felt himself start crying again, unable to control his emotions. "This morning... I lost my temper at Umeme and Muroki. I nearly attacked them... and I don't even know why"!

Dakari shook his head, beginning to understand. That explained Muroki's reaction when they asked where Delano was. "Delano, you have to learn to control yourself then" he said. His tone was assertive, but also caring. "Even if something can help, these nightmares won't just go away overnight. What are you going to do until then?"

If anything, Delano began to shake even more. "I don't know!" he wailed, "I don't know!" He groaned in despair, feeling like the biggest disappointment in the world.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki slowly followed Umeme aside, letting out a sigh as she told him more of what was on her mind. The possibilities she mentioned were not unlikely to happen, which was why Muroki did his best to not think about them. What would he really do if something like that happened? "I..." he paused, realizing that he didn't have even the slightest idea. "I don't know..." Would there be anything anyone would be able to do if the king refused to let Hatari go?

While Laini couldn't help but agree with what Dakari was telling their nephew, she quickly realized that she was at a loss for advice as to how he should control himself until it was all over, seeing how that was what was bothering Delano the most. "Sweetie..." she sighed, licking the cut on his paw once. "If controlling yourself is the issue here, then maybe you should try to look back and see what sort of situations make you lose control. Maybe then you could try to avoid them or to think of how to deal with them better..."

[DGFone]

While Umeme was expecting Muroki not to have much of an idea in that case, hearing him admit it was still somewhat disappointing. "Well, I don't expect you to have all of the answers right away," she said after a while, "but at least I want you to be aware that something like that might happen." She sighed, "you know, what really worries me is that, if this keeps on for too long, it might start effect Lina as well. I don't know how long she can last watching Delano like that." Sure enough, when Umeme looked, Lina was all alone in a corner, watching Delano from a distance as his aunt and uncle dealt with him. "Come on, Muroki. Let's go and try to cheer her up."

Delano tried to think of when and why he lost control. But the only answer he could come up with was getting angry at Muroki, and that was because he wasn't too thrilled with the idea of setting Hatari free. But that was just once, and he didn't know what set him off the other times. Then he remembered getting mad at Kato, who only tried to help him. The memory made him feel sick. "I.. can try," he said hesitantly, "but when I wake up, that's when its worst... and it makes me afraid to go to sleep, but if I don't, it only gets worse then as well..." What he wanted to say was that while he felt like he might be able to watch out for when he was awake, it was during his waking moments that he felt most vulnerable, and most helpless. "...After the queen helped Muroki, I thought... that she might be able to... help me.." He didn't know what was causing it, but he was starting to feel very dizzy. He broke away from the hug, needing to lie down before he fell over.

Daraki looked down at his nephew. "Delano," he muttered hesitantly, "I don't know what else to say. We tried everything we knew last time. You made it through then. Just hang in there, and it will pass." After Delano mentioned the queen, he searched for the royal couple. He saw them, eyeing Hatari to make sure that the lion won't run away. Excusing himself to Laini, he approached them, feeling quite nervous. "I know that if it's too much trouble for you guys, then we'll handle it ourselves, but as you can see, Delano is..." They all looked at his nephew, was hadn't moved since lying down. "... he's not well. When he was locked up in the holding caves, he started to have these terrible nightmares. They disappeared, but it seems that they came back, and he's not handling it well. Is there any possibility in any of you knowing how to help him?" He knew that strictly speaking, it wasn't his place to ask them this, and their duties meant that most likely, they won't be able to help Delano, but Dakari hated to see his nephew suffer like this.

[TheWhistlerify]

Truth be told, the possibility of this whole ordeal Delano was going through eventually effecting Lina hasn't even occurred to Muroki, despite how what Umeme had just told him made perfect sense. The reason for that was that, so far, she seemed to be dealing with it all very well. But, thinking about it, the lion realized that it may very well be only a matter of little time before things would start to get to her sister in law. Nodding, he stood up and followed his mate, the two of them slowly making their way to the corner where the lioness in question was sitting.

Lina didn't seem to notice Umeme and Muroki until her brother in law spoke to her, asking her whether she was alright. "I'm doing peachy over here." she said, forcing an optimistic smile. However, she actually wasn't feeling all that great. She was glad that Delano's aunt and uncle were trying to help, but it didn't seem like they were doing very well either. No matter what she or anybody else tried, her mate's condition wasn't showing any signs of improving. It made her feel completely helpless.

The queen listened to what Dakari was saying, looking at Delano in the corner of her eye as his aunt lay down beside him, trying to comfort him some more. She and her mate were able to tell from the start that something was amiss about Delano, and now they knew the reason. "I could always try." she said, offering the lion in front of her a smile. "That's what friends are for, after all. But it's not an injury to the flesh we're talking about here. There's no magical cure." Getting up, she walked over to the lion in question. "Delano," she said softly, getting his attention. "would you kindly join me for a walk? I'd like to talk to you."

[DGFone]

Lina wasn't fooling anyone with her fake smile, let alone Umeme. Still, Umeme allowed her sister to think that she did, partially. "Delano already went through this before, so h should be able to again," she said, "listen, Lina, I want you to promise me... this is going to be very hard on both of you. If you ever need any help, a shoulder to cry on, anything at all, just tell me and I will help you out. This isn't something you need to keep inside yourself until you explode." She said everything she really wanted, but at the same time, she did not want to leave Lina now. Especially as they watched the queen walk over to Delano and lead him outside, striking their curiosity at what might happen.

Upon being addressed by the queen, Delano quickly wiped his eyes clear of his tears. Standing up on wobbly legs, he followed her outside, wondering what she was going to say. While he was looking for anything she could help him with, he wasn't feeling like walking at the moment, and hat to sit down shortly after leaving the den. He watched the queen carefully, waiting to hear what she had to say, and dreading the worst.

[TheWhistlerify]

At first Lina was a little surprised at what Umeme said, but her surprise was short lived because it was rather predictable that they'd see right through her pretending. "We're both here for you." added Muroki. "And Delano." he knew Lina would most likely feel more comfortable about coming to her sister for support, but he still wanted her to know that she could always come to him as well if she ever wanted to. At first it looked like she was about to dismiss their offer by once again saying that she was fine, but she eventually nodded, letting them know that she got the message.

~~~

The queen easily noticed Delano's hesitation in following her outside but decided it would better to pretend as if she hasn't. She thought Delano would prefer to go some distance away from the den so that they could go away from all the guards as well as from the cave Sanders was being held in, but if he preferred to stay there then she wasn't going to argue. "Delano," she started, speaking calmly, "your uncle has told me that you're going through a hard time."

"It might necessarily feel like it because we live in such a large pride," she continued, "but it would be my honor and privilige to help you not because you helped save my son's life but because, before everything else, you are a fellow lion and pride member." she sat down in front of him, offering him a kind smile. "As long as you don't find it too difficult, would you be so kind as to tell me about your nightmares? You could start from the very beginning and from how they first started. Feel free to add any piece of information you think might be of any help."

[DGFone]

Umeme was initially worried that Lina might reject their offer to help her, but her sister nodded, and Umeme knew that Lina got the message. "Looks like the queen took Delano out to talk to him. Perhaps she might know how to help him," she commented, "it'll be funny if that will actually work though," she ignored the rather nasty look Lina gave her, "I call it funny because if the queen knows what to do, she will single handedly do what our entire extended family could not accomplish." Her smile faded and she let out a sigh. "If being the key word here."

---

At first, Delano just shook his head. The last thing he wanted to do was recall his nightmares, and especially if it meant having to repeat what happened all the way from the beginning, as she wanted. However, while he was too tired to move, the queen didn't walk away either, leaving an awkward silence hanging over them. "...It started when I was placed in that dark cave for suspected of being the murderer," he muttered quietly, almost in a whisper. Instantly, the queen was next to him, making sure that she would get every word he said. "In there... I couldn't see a thing. I was disorientated. Hearing things, seeing things... and I was scared as well. I thought I was going to be killed... That was when they started. Whenever I would try to get some sleep in there, I would wake up screaming from my nightmares."

He gulped, feeling his eyes water over. "In those nightmares... I always saw my family... dead. And often... I was the one who killed them!" Delano collapsed on the ground, sobbing once more. "I lost all sense of reality. I didn't know what was a dream and what was not... Muroki tried to help me when he visited, but it never helped... I tried to escape... But they only dragged me back in." He explained some more about that time, and then how it all went away eventually. "...But after I helped Muroki save Kato... they came back immediately." Through his sobbing, he told the queen about his latest nightmares, about that mysterious beaked lion who spoke both like Sanders and Hatari combined, as well as the bodies of Lina and Muroki, torn apart and reattached together. He told her of the agonizing pain he felt whenever the beaked lion would find him. All this time, the queen sat next to him, listening. "I can't get any rest because of them... Last night I only had one nightmare and not more, but the way I woke up... I don't know which is worse..." He finally fell silent, feeling drained both physically mentally.

[TheWhistlerify]

"As long as Delano gets better, it can even be Sanders who helps him for all I care." said Lina, using such an exaggeration to show that the important thing was not who was responsible for the outcome but the outcome itself. While she wasn't too optimistic about the queen's attempt to help her mate, she did have this small hope that Kato's mother would know something they all didn't.

~~~

The queen listened carefully as Delano told her everything, making sure to consider every detail he had given her. While his recent nightmares were of something she'd never heard before, she was going to get to that later. "If you look at it from a different point of view, " she said eventually, "Then the two periods of you having nightnares can be compared and conclusions can be drawn from that comparison."

"The first time," she continued, "the nightmares were about your family being dead, having been killed by you. This can easily be connected to the fact that you were being accused of murder and that you felt unable to tell what was real or not, thus leading you to actually dream that the accusations were true. Because the nightmares started when you were locked up, they disappeared when you were set free and proven innocent."

"It appears that the nightmares you're having this time are caused by the fact that Sanders and Hatari are back in your life, seeing how they're both directly involved in your dreams now. While I don't know whether the rather peculiar way in which they come to you in your sleep means anything, I think that seeing your brother and mate the way you do in your nightmares is because you fear that Sanders and Hatari are a danger to them and to you."

"Just like how the nightmares first went away when the reason they'd first begun had vanished, I believe that everything will go back to normal soon enough. Sanders will soon get what's coming to him, and I believe that Hatari shouldn't worry you anymore. After all, he did play an important role in saving your brother's life. With them being the cause of your nightmares this time around, I'm certain you'll be just fine before you know it." She smiled at the lion, supportively placing a paw on his shoulder.

[DGFone]

Umeme grinned a little at Lina's remark. "I really doubt that we'll have to rely on him for that." She understood what Lina really meant, though. "Remember, she is the queen. Who knows what she came across before? Considering it's her job help the king run the kingdom."

---

Delano listened to the queen, finding that for the most part, he agreed with what she had to say. However, there was one part where he was worried apart. "But... why was it so bad last night? After we caught Sanders and Hatari? If they are no longer a problem... why am I still getting scared by them in my dreams?" He whimpered slightly, despite the queen's paw on his shoulder as comfort. "If things are only supposed to get better now, how come their not?" A part of him remembered the morning, when Lina told him reassuringly that he had finally slept through the entire night, that it was a sign that it was the end of his torment. Why did he feel like it wasn't?

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina smiled slightly at what her sister was saying. The queen probably did have some experience with this sort of thing, what with how sometime serious injury, something she'd probably dealt with in the past, was often accompanied by trauma as well. "I'm sure that talking to her won't do any harm." she said. That is, as long as Delano wouldn't snap at her or something. But she doubted that would happen.

~~~

The queen didn't have an all too precise answer for Delano, so she could only try to guess. "It might because Sanders hasn't been trialed yet or because of your brother's attempts to appeal to the king on Hatari's behalf." she concluded. "I can tell you're not too sure about what Muroki's doing and that you don't know whether you should trust Hatari or not, which is understandable. I can assure you, even if Sanders will be held captive for months before anything happens, that he's no longer a threat to anyone. Neither is Hatari. Even if my mate did let him go, he most certainly won't be able to live here. For obvious reasons."