[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

After only a bit of waiting, both Umeme and Muroki were able to hear Delano start to snore quietly, signaling that he was asleep. Umeme gave Muroki a quick lick across his cheeks. "Right, well, I guess I'll see you later today," she told him before parting with a quick nuzzle as well.

She walked over to her sister, who was resting next to Delano. "Hey Lina. Want to go outside with me?" She motioned at the entrance of the den. "I also want to give Muroki some time alone to talk to Delano," she added. Umeme waited for Lina to get up before leading her outside, leaving the two lions back inside. "So it looks like things are improving a little," she said, recalling how Lina looked much more content this morning than before.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina smiled when she heard her mate's peaceful snoring, signalling that he had fallen asleep. She was about to try and get some shut eye as well when Umeme walked over, asking Lina if she'd join her and go outside with her. At first she was about to protest, seeing how somebody had to stay with Delano, but soon Muroki came over and said that he'd be fine staying with his brother. With that taken care of, Lina stood up and followed her sister outside.

It felt a little weird to walk outside not for the purpose of chasing Delano because he'd run off again. "It does feel like it, yes." said Lina with a smile, blinking as her eyes slowly adjusted to the light outside. "I don't know what the queen did exactly, but it seems to have worked..."

[DGFone]

Umeme smiled, glad to see that things were improving. Unlike yesterday, this time, Lina was genuinely happier, rather than poorly forcing herself to sound like it. "So how are you feeling? Did you at least get some rest?" She grinned, "because I was thinking perhaps we can surprise the guys with a bit of fresh meat." The best she can recall, the last time Muroki ate was several days ago, so getting food for him wouldn't be a bad idea, especially since he needed to let his shoulder heal up properly. And there was no way Umeme was going to let him hunt right now with that shoulder, no matter how well he felt.

Smiling at her sister, Umeme lead Lina off to find some prey that the two of them won't have trouble taking down.

Back inside the den, it didn't take long for his dreams to attack Delano again. Not very long after he fell asleep, he began to whimper and shake again. However, unlike at night, this time he was woken up almost immediately. Feeling something nudge him at the side repeatedly, he yelped awake, staring around with wide eyes. "M-Muroki?" he stammered, "where's Lina?" He jumped to his feet, but must have done so too quickly, because a wave of dizziness sent him crashing back down on the ground with a groan.

[TheWhistlerify]

Since Delano's situation appeared to be better, it was only natural for Lina to feel better as well. After all, the main reason for her rather depressed mood was the concern for her mate. "I feel much better now." she said, feeling this empty sensation in her stomach when Umeme menriomed the words 'fresh meat'. With everything that's been going on lately, food was the last thing on her mind, which could easily explain how she'd gone on for the past few days without eating.

"Food sounds great, actually." Lina said rather excitedly, following her sister. Truth be told, she was more eager to hunt again rather than to eat. Hunting would be quite a change from everything the lioness has been doing lately. She really felt like getting to run around a little and experiencing the adrenaline as well as the thrill of the hunt. "Count me in."

~~~

With his mate and sister in law gone, the only thing Muroki could tuink of doing was to lie down beside his hrother and wait for either Umeme and Lina to get back or for Delano to have another nightmare. It was a matter of maybe a minute before he found nudging his brother awake.Smiling slightly, he went ahead and wrapped a paw around Delano's shaking body in order to calm him down. "She left with Umeme." he said. "They'll be back later. How are you feeling?"

[DGFone]

Feeling quite hungry herself, Umeme nodded and walked out into the savanna with Lina in tow. "What do you think we should do? Easy and small, or are you looking for a bit of a challenge?" She had no way of knowing yet that Lina wanted to also get out and do something, but Umeme felt like working for her food this time around. She felt as though she has been sitting around for too long. Looking around them, she could also see why the royalty lived here: there were plenty of prey around them already, unlike where most lions lived, where most other animals tended to avoid unless they knew they were safe from being hunted.

---

"I- I don't know," Delano muttered quietly slowly relaxing from his shaking, "could be better, could be worse, I guess." He was rather disappointed that Lina wasn't here, although he didn't want to keep her from doing things that she wanted to as well. But Muroki being here was quite helpful as well, much better than being alone.

Delano lay there silently, wondering why he felt so confused for some reason. He had tried to speak with Hatari, but that did not end up very well. But it wasn't Hatari that he was confused about right now, but after this latest dream... "I need to see Sanders," he blurted out suddenly, getting up quickly and almost falling over again. He didn't know why he felt like needing to talk to Sanders of all lions as well, but he doubted that he would get much rest just sitting here either.

[TheWhistlerify]

Right then Lina was so hungry that she wouldn't have minded simply coming accross some random dead animal but, after not hunting for quite some time, a 'bit of a challenge' sounded like exactly what she needed. "I'll take what you're having." she said, easily able to tell that Umeme also felt like hunting something not too small. It seemed like they had quite a variety of choices, and all they needed to do was choose.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Muroki smiled slightly as his brother appeared to be understanding that his situation could be worse, which was better than nothing, only for that smile to disappear when Delano suddenly said that he wanted to see Sanders. "You what??" he asked, rising to his paws as well. There was probably nothing Delano could gain from that, not to mention that it would be an incredibly dangerous thing to do. "He could hurt and even kill you." After all, Sanders was an expert in assassinating other lions. "The guards won't let you in anyway." Yes, that was a comforting thought.

[DGFone]

Umeme looked around at the assortment of animals, and tried to remember which ones they were allowed and not allowed to target. "There's a nice plum gazelle over there," she commented, and pointed with a paw. "We can try and get that." The animal didn't look hurt or sick, so getting it would be quite the challenge. However, if they will get it, it will be a very welcome meal.

---

Delano let out a low agitated growl. "You don't think I don't know that? You seem to have forgotten that I was able to get close to him before." He let out a sigh. "Besides, he wouldn't dare to try anything while under guard. I'm going whether you like it or not, and we'll see if the guards stop me or not." Before Muroki can stop him, Delano walked out of the den, and walked along the cave edge, looking for the cave where Sanders is guarded.

He walked past Hatari's cave, not even bothering to look inside, then saw another one with even more guards around it. It had to be the one. He walked over, getting a look inside, and sure enough, there was Sanders. A guard stopped him, however, when he got close.

"What do you want? You can't simply go in," the guard said.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina didn't know why Umeme was picking their target so carefully, but she didn't really care despite her evident impatience to start hunting. Just looking at that gazelle almost made her mouth water. "Nice. Okay, let's do it." The fact that it looked strong and healthy only made it an even more appealing target. She could almost taste the gazelle already. "So... the usual plan?" she asked, looking at her sister.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Muroki was about to tell Delano that it didn't matter that he'd gotten close to Sanders before because this time Sanders wanted him dead (unlike the previous time when Delano had been undercover) when Delano auddenly walked outside. "Well I'm coming with you." he doubted the guards would let Delano in, but he didn't want to take any risks. The lion became a little tense upon seeing Sanders, who appeared to be watching him and his brother, but managed not to show it. Then, to his relief, one of the guards told Delano to bugger off.

[DGFone]

Umeme nodded. "Yeah, the usual plan. You hide and prepare to take it down, I chase it towards you." She grinned at how eagerly Lina dropped low to the ground and walked off to an ambush site. Seems she wasn't the only one who was looking forwards to the thrill of the chase.

Laying low herself, Umeme waited for the signal from her sister that Lina is ready. As soon as Lina will get into position, she is going to pounce on that very delicious looking gazelle and make sure that it will be their next meal, rather than leaving Lina and her in its dust.

---

"We need to go in and talk to him," Delano said, motioning at Sanders.

The guard looked at Muroki and Delano, somewhat amused. Muroki looked like he had a rather nasty run in with something sharp with his shoulder, while Delano looked like... a mess. "I don't know if you're joking about, but I've been told by the king that you might come here, so I can't exactly tell you that you can't." The guard looked behind him at Sanders quickly. "Don't cause any trouble," he warned, "we need him unharmed. He is a valuable prisoner, and the last thing you want is to undermine his trial."

The guard motioned at a piece of wood lying at the base of the cave. Delano saw the writing on it. "Tomorrow," he read, "the trial's tomorrow..." The guard nodded. Delano let out a sigh. "Alright, still, let us in."

With a shrug, the guard let them in, and Delano and Muroki walked in.

Sanders was watching the activity outside, and was already smiling for some strange reason when the brothers walked in. "Welcome," he announced, "welcome to my new humble abode!" For a lion most certainly looking to his death very soon, Delano found it very disconcerting at how calm Sanders was. All his thoughts of what he wanted to say vanished and all he did was sit down next to Sanders, not saying anything. Sanders, on the other hand, saw immediately something which almost caused him to laugh. "What happened to you two? Got run over by a buffalo, or what?" For an outsider, it easily could be mistaken that Muroki and Delano were the ones under guard, not Sanders.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina stayed where she was, crouching into a pouncing position. This shouldn't be any different from all the previous times she and Umeme had hunted together before. The lioness remained hidden in the tall grass, eventually giving her sister the signal. At that moment Umeme sprang from her hiding place and, as she was so well trained at doing, herded the gazelle in the direction they both wanted it to go. She waited for the right moment, then she pounced.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Becoming quite uncertain, to say the least, when the guards let him and his brother in, Muroki went ahead and followed Delano inside. Knowing that even the look on the face of a member of the underworld was a lie, Muroki tried not to think much of Sanders's cheerful attitude. He didn't like the way Delano simply sat down next to Sanders withiut saying a thing, but there wasn't much he could do other than to keep his eyes on Sanders. "No." he said, somewhat bluntly. He didn't know whether Sanders was aware that he'd knocked him out cold with a single blow during his fight with Hatari, but he could care less about that.