[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[TheWhistlerify]

Kato's father slightly nodded his head. He understood what Delano was going through. "That is to be expected." Akili's father was feeling really upset about the thought of having ended another lion's life, even if he did have no choice and, in the king's opinion, that was perfectly normal. "It disgusts you because you're not a murderer. It's who you are and you can't change that."

Unfortunately, he was unable to think of some magical way of making the other lion's troubles go away. "I'm afraid I can't do much to stop you from feeling sick about what you did because it's something you don't agree with and are obviously opposed to." he said. "But, as I told myself on many occasions, it's better living with the hard feelings instead of dying and / or losing someone close to you."

[DGFone]

Feeling disappointed when the king said that there was no real answer, Delano simply nodded feebly. Fighting to remain in control of himself, it took some time before he uncurled himself up, and stared at the king, wondering what to say. "I guess... that's what I came here for," he finally replied, and proceeded to stand up, struggling to do so. Muttering a quick goodbye to the lion, he was helped out of the cave by the guard and walked back to Lina, where he collapsed by her side and pressed his muzzle into her side, trying to take comfort by her presence.

It was really disappointing to find out that there was nothing he could do. To know that he would have to simply fight the harsh feelings whenever they would come up was not something he was looking forward to, but at the same time, he was already scolding himself for thinking that there was any other way than that. For now, he simply wanted to calm down enough so that they would be able to leave again, since there was still plenty of daytime left.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina hadn't decided upon a certain amount of time which she believed Delano would spend talking the king about who knows what but, nevertheless, it did feel like it took him a while to return. Perhaps it was her lack of knowledge regarding what the whole thing was about added to the way his mood had suddenly dropped when they were at the waterhole that made her feel worried. "So how did it go?" she asked softly, gently placing a foreleg over him, even if it was obvious that he was still upset. Akili, meanwhile, decided to express his delight in seeing his father again by rubbing his little head against the lion's muzzle. Chuckling, his mother gave him a quick nuzzle. "Why don't you go outside to play with your cousins?" she asked. "We'll join you soon." Of course, her son loved that idea and immediately sprinted outside.

[DGFone]

When their son ran over to him, Delano smiled and ran a paw over the cub's head, ruffling the fur and "mane" playfully. Truth be told, it was nice to have something distract him from the meeting he just had. So he watched rather sadly as Lina sent him away, no doubt wanting to know why he had wanted to talk to the king for.

Deciding that he might as well get it over with, Delano didn't wait for her before starting to talk. "It was about Sanders... about killing him," he told his mate, "how to deal with the, you know..." He let out a disappointed sigh, "there really wasn't anything he was able to do. Just got to... wait it out I guess." He looked down as he felt Lina place a paw on his, and he smiled at her. "Just another wound that needs to heal, just one that isn't as easily seen," he concluded, "I'll be all right."

[TheWhistlerify]

When Delano told her just what it was that was bothering him, Lina was clearly able to see the logic behind it all. Obviously she had no experience with this sort of thing (and hoped that she never would), but it made sense that someone would feel bad after having ended the life of a fellow lion, even if there had been no other choice. It also didn't surprise her that Kato's father didn't have some magical way to make it all go away. Nevertheless, he did seem to be feeling somewhat better as well as confident that his situation will improve when given enough time.

"That's the spirit." she said softly, chuckling as she gently licked the lion's cheek. "Would you like to go back outside?" They did make Akili a promise after all, not to mention that the lioness really wanted to keep up with the whole trying to be outside as often as possible thing. It also seemed as if her mate was feeling well enough in order to be out of the den and with everybody else, so why not?

[DGFone]

Delano simply grinned back at Lina, although he still felt rather bad. "Yeah, let's go outside." Staying inside and moping wasn't going to help him, and outside there were others who could at least allow him to feel better, if only for some time. As he got up with difficulty again, Delano knew that he couldn't wait until he would heal up until he could walk and run again, without having to need someone to drag him around. Perhaps a lot of why he was feeling bad all the time had to do with the fact that he was constantly being reminded how helpless his current state left him.

Leaning on Lina, the two of them walked outside where Umeme and Muroki were watching over the cubs, who were once again oblivious in their games. Despite knowing that he shouldn't feel that way, Delano still felt a pang of jealousy at seeing his brother, who no doubt was enjoying not having his mobility restricted. Pushing the thoughts away from his consciousness, Delano lay down next to them when they came over, groaning slightly as he felt his legs relax from needing to hold his weight up. "So what have the two been up to lately?" he asked them, wondering where they were while he was busy trying to catch up on rest. With some guilt, he realized that he really had not spent enough time with his family, especially after what had happened.

[TheWhistlerify]

Outside, as was to be expected of three tiny, overly energetic balls of fluff, the cubs were busy chasing each other around (for no apparent reason, of course). Ubawa and his sister had kept each other occupied at first, but Akili soon joined and was joyfully welcomed into the small, loud and squeaky mess. The two boys were again often teaming up on Marini, who seemed incredibly amused in evading the two for as long as possible. All in all, from the little ones' perspectives, nothing has changed.

The two siblings' parents were watching them both. Not with too much care or concern, of course, seeing how they weren't going to hurt each other and could only so much as wander off if the adults weren't paying a minimum amount of attention. Umeme and Muroki, as they were often found, were lying closely to each other while watching the cubs play together. The lioness in particular seemed especially content with the closeness. After what had happened (especially given the initial rumor that her mate was dead), she wasn't planning on leaving his side any time soon.

Muroki, however, while his eyes were also fixed on his son, daughter and nephew, was doing anything but pay attention to what was in front of him. He was directly staring, yes, but he wasn't really watching over the cubs even though it looked like he was. When his brother spoke up, his ears twitched ever so slightly and he looked at Delano, as if having been dragged out of some deep though. "Nothing." he said simply, turning his gaze back to the little hairballs.

It was true that they haven't been up to anything out of the ordinary. They were either back in their own den or where they were at the moment. Umeme believed that having company for Akili on a daily basis was important seeing how he and his parents wouldn't be heading back home for a while and, at the same time, it allowed her and her mate to check up on his parents as well. She was also insisting on doing all the hunting for the time being, so Muroki really was up to practically nothing whatsoever.

Truth be told, he really wasn't in the mood for anything and, while not expressing any discontent or impatience and forcing himself to look neutral, has been feeling pretty drained since the incident. Not that he was injured. Luckily for him, his body hadn't collided with the wall of the gorge on the way down so, aside for a few slight bruises, both of which were either gone already or close to fully healing, he was physically alright.

[DGFone]

Perhaps it was because he himself was feeling largely much the same way, but Delano was able to tell right away that Muroki wasn't being his usual self. He knew that it was related to what had happened, but he didn't know exactly what. "Muroki, can I talk to you somewhere else?" he finally decided to ask. Perhaps Umeme could talk to him, but Delano thought that she would have done so by now if she had thought that something was wrong. Or perhaps she knew what was going on and it wasn't a bid deal. Either way, he wanted to know.

Despite only having just sat down, and his legs still feeling the strain of the short walks he did, Delano found himself fighting to stand up once more. "Come on, Muroki," he grunted out, "it won't take too long." As much as he tried to avoid it, he still needed to lean a lot on Muroki as they walked off to where they can talk undisturbed.

As soon as he thought they were far away enough, Delano lay down, wincing as his legs nearly gave out beneath him. Perhaps he was too eager to walk around, but he had done far more already today than the past several days combined, and he was really feeling the strain from doing so. As feeling slowly returned to his limbs, he was able to return his attention to why they came here. "Muroki... how are you holding up?" he finally asked. From the little he saw, compared to Muroki's usual liveliness, the current passiveness was really worrying him.

[TheWhistlerify]

Much to Lina's confusion, just like the little she's seen since she and Delano had arrived, Muroki didn't show much of a reaction when her mate asked him if they could talk elsewhere, only standing up and giving a slight nod without so much as looking back at his brother. But she'd been able to tell right away that her brother in law was far from what he was normally like so, when the two males began to walk off, she inched a little closer to her sister. "Is everything... you know... okay with Muroki?" she asked quietly. Umeme didn't seem upset and the cubs appeared to be acting just as they often did. In addition, Muroki's mate looked very much cheerful in comparison to him. Perhaps she was so happy that he wasn't really dead that she's failed to notice something was up?

••••••••••

Not bothering to so much as ask what was going on or to perform any other sort of response other than that one nod with his head, Muroki stood up and began to head away from his mate, sister in law and the cubs. He didn't even seem to care much when Delano leaned against him for support (not that he would have had a problem with helping him out, but it was as if he didn't even notice). When Akili's father decided to stop, Muroki simply came to a halt as well, lying back down and once again staring at the cubs as they goofed off in the distance.

Upon being asked how he was doing a short moment afterwards, the lion simply answered without so much as looking as if he was actually thinking of a proper response. "I'm fine." he said, somewhat dismissively, still staring at the small blur that was his daughter, son and nephew. While it looked as if he was looking directly at the little ones, his attention was actually focused on everything in his field of view. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, though. For now.

[DGFone]

Umeme was somewhat distracted by watching the cubs that while she noticed Muroki and Delano leave, she was still mostly caught by surprise by Lina's question. "Muroki? Yeah, he's fine I think," she replied hastily, "he's not feeling himself right now, and frankly, I can't blame him for it, so he just needs time. I'm letting him rest up, so hopefully he'll wake up soon enough." She wasn't too worried about her mate just yet, knowing that Muroki most likely just needed time to come to grips with what happened.

---

Getting only a short reply, Delano let out a long sigh of frustration. Normally, he would have been more patient, but right now he wasn't feeling all to well himself, and therefore was in no mood to gently prod his brother for answers. "Muroki, if you were fine, I would have left you alone," he said, "I know you well enough to see that you're not... and whatever happened, you know you can tell me. I was there too, if you remember..." Pushing himself closer to his brother, Delano got to where he can look at Muroki in the eye. "So, what's keeping you all stiff like this?"