Arridi growled, "Stay away from us or I'll tear you into pieces." He looked at Zamri. They had only recently finished eating so Zamri hadn't had a chance to leave them and look for food. They had kept on pestering him. He stood over his brother protectively. Zamri wasn't a very large lion, but he was bigger than each if the individual lionesses he was facing. "I am Zamri and these are my cubs. Please don't hurt them." He stood over his cubs trying to force them to hide under his legs. "What do you want?"

Amara stood tall. "We would never hurt cubs. We aren't that stupid" she said as she flicked her ears. "What is a nomad doing so close to the border" she asked as she spotted the cubs. "Especially a male with cubs." She knew it was rare for males to have cubs on their own.

Shani stood there swaying from side to side in shock. It was him! All this time...she had believed him dead. Mourned and grieved over his supposed death. Now he stood there as plain as day. With cubs as well! "Zamri..." she whispered, the tears she was struggling to hold back choking her voice. Hot, raw pain burned within her.

Zamri had a wry look, "What a relief. And you aren't stupid is a huge bonus." He was surprised to hear someone about to start crying and he turned to look. He shuffled his paws uncomfortable that he had made someone cry. "Um.....This seemed like a good place to stop," he shrugged. He didn't really have a reason. "These are my cubs. I have to take care of them because their mother died," he frowned sadly. He turned back to Shani, "Is she okay?" He asked Amara. His eyes widened as he realized he recognized her. He had known a lot of lionesses. Was this Savanna? Shailagh? He was pretty sure her name began with an s. He wasn't sure why she was so emotional. She had just been another lioness. The only one he had settled with was the one who had had his cubs. "Shani....right?" He gambled on her name.

"I-I thought that you were killed by that poacher....Zamri, oh Zamri I missed you so much! I still wake up expecting to see you by my side...a-and then I'd remember..." she hesitated, unsure of whether to run away or run to him. If he had been alive, why hadn't he come looking for her? Surely he had a reasonable explanation for that....

Amara looked between them. "You two know each other" she said as she prepared to chew out Shani, thinking they just met and she hadnt told the pride. Amara was on a short fuse. "I dont know. She's probably upset because I threatened to kick out a male that she and another lioness were getting fussy over" she said, almost in an annoyed tone. She looked at his cubs once more, wondering if they should invite them in, but at the same time, she didnt want to because the pride didnt need more issues with males. *I dont even know what to do now* she thought.

/

Kuro growled as he stayed hiding under his father. He wasnt sure he liked that another lioness he didnt know was talking to his father. It had just been him, Zamri and Arridi for so long, then another nomad male for a while, but even then, he didnt even remember the look of his mother, but knew this lioness wasnt it.

Zamri shrugged, "Yeah. I know her." Apparently, Shani was happy to see him, and he didn't want her squash her feelings, but he didn't remember much about her. He wasn't sure if he should tell her the story of what had happened or not. "It was scary. I was alone because Shani ran off. They did injure me, and I was laying there helpless. Somehow they didn't find me. Later a lioness came by, and she decided to help me. She hunted for both of us," his face softened and his eyes cast lovingly upon his cubs. "We had these cubs," he indicated his cubs. He wasn't sure how to deal with a pride lioness. He had been a nomad for a very long time, and he liked it that way.

"Zamri...that's not true. I became entangled in the trap and you tried to help me before the poacher showed up. I begged you to help me...but then he fired at you. You ran off...I don't blame you for that. But I killed that poacher. And then..that night...I-I miscarried two cubs. I hadn't had a chance to tell you about them before the incident but..." Shani broke down. He clearly didn't remember her. Their time together had been too short. And judging by the cubs...he just drifted from one lioness to the next. Not really caring about them, just there for what he could get out of them.

Amara shook her head. "I'm going to get Ajihad" she said as she headed back to the camp. She knew she wouldnt be able to really chase off the male if needed, even with Astrid's help. *Shani certainly wouldnt do it if it meant the pride being safe* she thought. When she reached the cave she looked at Ajihad. "If you arent busy, there is a nomad. If you are, I can talk to Chaos" she said.

He shrugged, "It didn't help me much running did it?" His eyes widened when she mentioned cubs. He felt sadness, because he did the best for his cubs that he could. Why had none of them survived? "How was I supposed to find you again? I certainly wasn't going to go back to where the poacher shot at me," he pointed out. "I am sorry about the cubs. I wouldn't have wanted you to go through that alone," he replied with some sincerity. He had become a lot more serious and steady since he had his cubs. He couldn't go running off, when he needed to care for them. He also became a lot more faithful, but she didn't know that.