The Mystics. *Private Arani and QOPR*

[AdAstrα]

Ayira had barely reached the bottom of Pride Rock when Vitani appeared on the path before her, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Where's Hatari? Why are you alone?" She asked, panic in her voice. "Please don't tell me she ran off or.."
"Vitani, calm down!" Ayira exclaimed, "Hatari just had to check something on the way back,I'm sure she'll be fine." She sighed.
"Have you erm..told everyone? About Tania?"
Vitani shook her head. "No." she said rapidly, "Just Kiara. We thought we'd wait until you guys were back."
She looked down. "I'm dreading it..." she mumbled.

[Arani]

Hatari was in sight of Pride Rock by the time the sun was going down. It was so beautiful at this time. To bad she couldn't enjoy it. She had way to many other things on her mind. Everything that Rafiki said... could it be true? It was all so confusing, and she just hated confusion. She kept walking, wondering if she would tell anyone when she got back.

----------------------------
Tahi heard Ayria and Vitani talking. So, wondering if Hatari was there, he emerged from the shadows. When he realized she wasn't there, he moved onto the topic of telling the Pride about Tania.

"Thing is..." He began, making Vitani jump. "She doesn't have any real parents. Just her adoptive family, but we'll still have to tell them, everyone in the Pride for that matter." He sighed "Things have gotten much more serious than I thought it would." He admited. it was serious... a life or death matter for many. And he couldn't help but wonder how things could get worse...

[AdAstrα]

Vitani nodded, gazing at Tahi. "Yeah. It's just getting out of control. We're gonna have to do something about it soon."
"Do what? Hunt him down and kill him?" Ayira said, frowning. "Wouldn't that be a little contradictive?"
"Well what do you suggest we do,then?" Vitani snapped, "We can't risk anyone else dying! It's going too far! If that's the only thing that could stop him, I don't see why not!"
Ayira sighed. "But he can't keep going like this forever." she muttered, "Once he realises he'll never be able to take over Pride Rock by himself, he'll leave. Building up an army against him would put everyone in danger."
Vitani shook her head. "You're forgetting something here. Hofu isn't normal. He's crazy, and he's dangerous. We'd do this entire kingdom a favour by getting rid of him. He doesn't have a soul, he can't possibly have if he's capable of doing something like this, and you're just a naive..."
"Ok, I get it!" Ayira exclaimed, repressing a sudden urge to bare her teeth. "I'm going to sleep now. Goodnight." she added before walking away to find herself a good place to sleep. She knew Vitani was stressed out and frightened, but her way of always assuming that she was right about everything was already getting on her nerves. "Just like my mother." she suddenly found herself thinking, "Just like my mother indeed.."

[Arani]

"Seems like we're all on edge tonight, huh?" Hatari's voice came as she emerged from the shadows caused from the setting sun. "I get what you're saying, Aunt Vitani, but hunting him down wont solve anything when there's a bigger problem here."

"What bigger problem, Hati?" Tahi asked. "As far as I can see, Hofu has just gone crazy. I think our best bet would be to kill him... least no one else could get hurt. Then..."

"Then what?" Hatari interrupted. "Have the same murderous blood on our own paws? The same merciless sin sticking to us for the rest of our lives? No, all that would do would make us like him. There are some things you guys don't get, some things that only I can understand here. You can't see this world the way I can. It's not a perfect world like we would all like to believe. It's a world full of murder and blood, a world where every single thing we do, every step we take, every friend we make, every breath we breath has a purpose. And right now your purpose is to trust me when I say that there is more to this, much much more... I just need to figure out what." She started to walk away, but stopped and turned some. "And Vitani, Ayria's not as naive as you think... she has more willpower and knowledge than any of us." With that she walked away. She found herself at the very top of Pride Rock, her favorite thinking place. She started to wonder, soon losing all contact with everything around her. All she could see were her own thoughts... and all she heard was Hofu's call to her... a call she wasn't sure she was ready to answer.

[AdAstrα]

Vitani snorted. "What more could there possibly be? He's nuts, I tell you." She began, turning to Tahi. "That's all there is to it. We have to do something.." Realising just how tired she was, she started walking towards the den. She could see Ayira on the path ahead of her and slowed down in order to avoid bumping into her and saying something harsh, something she would most likely end up regretting afterwards..after all, Ayira had done nothing but express her opinion, which was bound to differ from hers in many ways.
Vitani shook her head. She didn't want to think about any of this right now. She wanted to sleep. To forget about everything; to pretend, even only for a little while, that nothing had changed. That everything was going to be ok.

"Help..."
Ayira stopped. The spirit. She could not only hear his voice, desperately whispering into her ear, but feel his presence where he walked, right next to her on the dark path. Had she not known that he was nothing but a spirit, a disembodied soul unable to move on or cease to exist, she could have sworn she could even hear his heart beating, and feel the warmth of his body as his paw brushed hers.
"Help me.." the voice pleaded, "Save me! Please!"
He was crying.
"You have to help me." he sobbed, and all of a sudden Ayira felt like crying herself, crying so hard she couldn't think, crying so hard she couldn't breathe. She sighed.
"What with?" she whispered, struggling to keep her voice steady, "I don't understand."
"Help." he said, leaning his large head on her shoulder, and before she could say anything else or even move closer to him, he had vanished, once again, into the cloud of confusion that was her mind.

[Arani]

Hatari woke with a start that night. She had gone to bed early. She looked around. Tahi was awake, lying next to her, staring at her. "Oh my god..." She whispered.

"You were having a real bad dream. Tossing and turning, groaning like you were in pain. What happened?"

"It was, he was.... Oh my god." She couldn't say the words, just burrowed her head into him main. he wrapped his paws around her comfortingly.

"Shh shh. It was just a dream." He said softly.

"I never have dreams." She whispered.

Hofu was calling her again... he cried. He was in pain. He was dieing. It was like the old Hofu she had once known. What was going on?

[AdAstrα]

Ayira lay awake for a long time before she finally drifted off to sleep, and even as she did so, she kept dreaming. Once or twice she woke up and thought she felt the spirit lie next to her in the darkness; sobbing and whimpering, but vanishing as soon as she stirred. She frowned. Why was he shying away all of a sudden? Didn't he want her help anymore?

She fell asleep once again and the next time she woke up, the sun had already risen. As she sat up, it occured to her that the den was completely empty except for her and Vitani, who was snoring loudly; evidently still fast asleep. She couldn't help but chuckle a little as she noticed this.

[Arani]

Hatari didn't get to much sleep the night before, which wans't uncomon but hated, and was up by the time the sun started to rise. Now, she and Huru sat at the very top of Pride Rock. Also not uncomon for the average morning.

"The Hippos are mad at the cheetahs again." Huru went on and on, remembering everything he had seen the day before and reporting it to her. "They're saying the cheetahs stole their mud pit. But I don't know why they would think that because cheetahs hate the mud." Hatari didn't move. He looked puzzled. "Hello? Earth to Hati?"

"Huh, what? Oh, uh, ya very interesting Huru." She muttered, looking at him.

"You keep on spacing. Something wrong?" He asked.

"Just thinking." She said, looking back out over the land.

"About Hofu?" She nodded.

"Have another vision or something?" He asked with concern.

"Want the truth?" She asked. He nodded. "I dunno. But here's what I do know: What ever happens, it ain't gonna be pretty." He nodded understandingly. his thoughts shifted to Hofu. He had the trangest feeling that Hofu was close by.

"He's waiting for us." Hatari seemed to read his thoughts. "Waiting for us to slip up." Huru shuttered.

"Either way you look at it, it looks pretty bad."

"Not a pretty picture."

"Nope." They both fell silent. Hatari looked down. Everyone seemed to be awake except for her Aunt and Ayria. She sighed. She couldn't figure out what Hofu was doing. If he wanted to really take over the PRide Lands he would hve tried by now. What was he doing?

[AdAstrα]

A tender breeze caressed her face as she stepped out of the den and into the morning sun. She sighed. Such a beautiful day, and yet she couldn't enjoy it, for there was still an assasin on the loose in this kingdom. A dangerous beast that could strike at any moment. The question wasn't if, but when, he would do so again, and whether or not this would result in another innocent life being taken. Ayira didn't know, she could only guess. Her ability to predict the future had many flaws even when it wasn't being fought against by some unknown force, and thus at the moment, it was nowhere to be found. She could only rely on the distant voices of her ancestors, as well as her gut feeling, which was currently telling her that Hofu wasn't far away and that she ought to be very careful.

Heading towards the water-hole, she heard Hatari's voice. She sounded serious, which made Ayira freeze on the spot for a second, worried that something had already happened. However as Huru spoke, she realised this wasn't the case, and kept walking. She was tempted to ask Hatari whether she had heard or seen the spirit who had been begging her to help him, but that could wait. There were more important things to worry about right now.

[Arani]

Hatari and Huru came down from their meeting. Tahi and Isabella were talking in the shade. They walked over to the pair, who saw them a few seconds later.

"Morning." Isabella said, nuzzling Huru. Tahi nuzzled Hatari. "Hippos VS Cheetahs again?" She asked with an amused smile. Huru laughed and nodded. Hatari didn't say anything, just looked around very slowly.

"Something wrong Hati?" Isabella asked her, snapping her out of her transfixed gaze at the den.

"Anyone seen my mom this morning?" She asked. Huru's eye's widened and quickly scnned the area.

"I thought she was with you guys." Huru said to Tahi and Isabella.

"She was but she left a little while ago." Tahi answered nervously, standing up. "Said something about some kind of gut feeling towards something and had to go check it out. Kinda sounded like Hati, actually." Hatari's gaze then focused out over the plains. Something was wrong. The breeze picked up, bringing an unpleasant smell with it, and a voice... a voice she knew very well.

"She's in trouble!" It was the spirit from the night before, standing so close to her she could feel his mane brush against her shoulder. "She's hurt! Hurry before it's to late!" It screamed in her ear, making her flinch.

"Come on, hurry!" She yelled at them, making a mad dash down Pride Rock. "It's not to late it's not to late it's not to late!" She screamed at herself over and over again, going even faster. The smell was getting stronger. "Please... I can't be to late this time." She whispered to herself.