[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

As he walked, Delano didn't acknowledge Muroki's complement, mainly because he didn't want to drop the kill they caught. However, when he heard Lina's excited jump, he couldn't help but to look up excitedly. Placing the kill down, he rushed towards her, taking her in an embrace. "Lina! Anything happened while we were gone?" That was also when he noticed that someone else was there too. "Kato! What are you doing here?"

Umeme didn't move, instead she waited as Muroki walked over to her. She smiled and nuzzled him. "I see the two of you caught us a meal, honey. How did that go?"

[TheWhistlerify]

The truth was, even though it probably didn't look like it when she was angry, that Lina always wanted to have Delano's company. This also made her feel really bad when she calmed down from losing her temper at him. "No, nothing happened..." she said with a happy smile on her face, licking his cheek a few times as he embraced her.

Meanwhile, with Kato's help, Muroki dragged the kill over to Umeme and Lina before placing it down. "Thanks, Kato." he said quietly before leaning over and nuzzling his mate with a smile. "It went well." he said as he went ahead and lay down beside her. "I'm a little tired so Delano made the kill this time." He placed a paw around his mate and licked the top of her head, obviously happy to be back with her.

Kato simply smiled at Muroki before looking at Delano. "I just came to visit." The prince's schedule was surprisingly not too full that day and, with Desta taking some sort of lessons from his mother, he figured he could check up on how all of his friends were doing.

[DGFone]

Delano, worried slightly that something did happen, calmed down when Lina informed him that nothing did. "Well, as you can see, Muroki and I caught you two a meal..." he leaned in close to her ear, "and this time, it was I who did the actual catching part." Perhaps it wasn't as impressive to Lina, but he still felt very proud of his kill.

He turned his attention back to Kato. "So uh, how are your lessons coming along?" Was Kato skipping out on them again, or did he really indeed have time off this time?

Umeme frowned when Muroki told her that he was tired. "If you're tired, how come you aren't resting?" Grinning, she motioned at the others with her head. "I've got others to help me if I need anything. You can take a nap, I won't get mad."

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina smiled broadly as Delano told her that he'd made the kill this time around. "Way to go, Delano!" she said excitedly, licking him across his muzzle. She wasn't hungry at the moment but she knew she would be soon enough. She also knew that, when her mate and brother in law hunted together, Muroki was the one to take their prey down, so she felt like congratulating him on doing it himself after not having done so in some time.

At the mentioning of his lessons, Kato looked at Delano with a smile. "Well I've been having less and less lessons lately. It's more about going with my father and watching him now. Sometimes he asks me what I would do or even allows me to try to deal with things by myself. It's different, but I guess this part had to arrive at some point, huh?" While the king would often correct him or point out his mistakes, the prince felt like he was doing quite well.

Muroki smiled as Umeme offered him to take a nap. It's not like he had anything better to do, ao why not if Umeme could always ask somebody else to help her in case she would need anything? "Okay..." he said, cheekily moving his paw from her lower back to her stomach as he licked the top of her head once more before resting his head down on the soft grass and closing his eyes. "They're moving a little..." She was probably aware of that since the cubs were inside of her after all, but he felt like pointing it out anyway.

[DGFone]

Delano blushed furiously when Lina complemented him for the kill. Sure, he wanted her to know that it was him who had caught the meal, but he didn't want her to make a big deal out of it. Well, perhaps not while Kato was around... Still, he licked her back, and noticing that she wasn't eating anything, decided to wait as well.

He listened to what Kato told him, about having more practical lessons this time around. "Does that mean that... that you'll become king soon? Or co-king, or something like that?"

---

Umeme smiled a little as she watched Muroki place his head down in order to sleep. Her mate had been stretching himself very thin taking care of her as well as helping Delano, even when Delano helped Muroki in turn. Soon however, she hoped that things would calm down and he would be able to relax a bit and not push himself to the limit. "They're moving a lot lately," she whispered in his ear, "I think they want to get out."

[TheWhistlerify]

Delano's question seemed to have caught Kato by surpise. "I don't know, actually..." he said after a brief silence with a rather thoughful epxression on his face. The throne itself wasn't something the prince thought about often. His father was healthy and in no way old, so he really couldn't even make an assumption in that regard. Ruling alongside his dad sounded like a good way to learn, but he didn't know whethere there have ever been co-kings before. "Maybe I should ask my dad sometime..."

~~~

Muroki couldn't help but chuckle to himself at Umeme's comment. "Well I think we're ready for them..." he said , sounding a little sleepy. It was basically a way of saying 'just come out already'... Not only did he want things to calm down a little for both of them, but he also wanted to know that their cubs were healthy. He was also slightly worried about how Umeme will deal wth the birth. Hopefully there wouldn't be any complications... "Tell them I said it's okay to come out now..."

[DGFone]

Delano grinned at the prince. "Yeah, it's something you can think of doing." He then returned his attention back to Lina. "So how are you feeling at the moment? New cubs inside of you not giving you too much trouble?" He was still coming to terms with the fact that he would soon be a father, but it was something that he was at least starting to get used to.

---

Pushing Muroki's head to the ground so that he would finally sleep, Umeme grinned at her mate. "They'll come out when they will want to. Now hush and go to sleep, otherwise you will still be tired when I won't be in a nicer mood." At the moment, she was even able to afford the feeling of not wanting Muroki to waste his chance to rest while he still can.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina smiled and blushed slightly at what Delano had said to her. "I'm fine..." she said a little timidly, looking down at her paws. "Um... I'm sorry I acted a little mean earlier..." she looked up at him apologetically. "You know I can't help it, right? I didn't mean to..." As she remembered him asking her about their cubs, though, she smiled. "Well... They are getting heavier, but nothing out of the ordinary... Sometimes I think I feel them move a little..." She was becoming more and more excited about her pregnancy with every passing day and the fact that her mate was slowly coming to terms with it definitely helped.

Kato meanwhile said nothing as he stared down at the ground, deep in his own thoughts.

~~~

Muroki pouted in fake annoyance as Umeme pushed his head down to the ground to let him know that he better go to sleep. "Alright, alright..." he said with a chuckle, closing his eyes once more. Not only was he tired, but he also believed that, the faster time passed for him, the quicker their cubs would finally be born. There really was no reason for him to stay awake at the moment. If anything, sleeping would make the whole waiting process feel shorter.

[DGFone]

Delano certainly didn't expect Lina to apologize to him. He turned red again, but then gave her a long, comforting nuzzle. "Hey, it's okay. I know you can't help yourself. I just... take it and know that it's not really you who's angry at me." He really didn't want Lina to start worrying about him again. It almost brought her to a point of losing her mind, and he didn't want her to get anywhere close to that again.

---

When Muroki finally relented and closed his eyes, Umeme stared at him briefly before placing her head in his mane and also lying down. While she didn't feel like sleeping, simply lying here with him was good enough for her. She would wait for him until he will wake up again, whenever that will be.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina smiled and purred in content when Delano nuzzled her, happily returning the gesture and occassionally licking him across his muzzle as well. "Still, I do wish I could help myself..." She was hardly able to do so and it was becoming more and more difficult with every passing day. However she also knew that this whole thing was temporary and that it would be worth it in the end. "You know, I keep hoping we'll have a son that looks just like you." she giggled. "He would be the cutest thing in the world..."

~~~

As Muroki went to sleep, Kato stood up and slowly made his way over to the two of them, lying down in front of them a few seconds afterwards. "Hey, um, Umeme?" he asked quietly, not wanting to disturb her mate. "Can I ask you something?" It didn't look like she was trying to sleep, but the prince still wanted to make sure that his timing wasn't bad.