Kwami shook his head. "No, it's all fuzzy. What did I say?"

"Something about powers of the night, a dark pride rising, scary stuff. I think it was one of the predictions those lionesses were talking about."

Kwmai looked confused. "Well, it's over now, let's just forget it," he suggested.

Tabani knew his friend was rather bashful about these spells he had, so he decided to let it go.

"Yeah, sure. By the way, I wanted to ask you something: Do you know where you got your marking?" Tabani asked, wondering if Kwami would want to answer.

To his surprise, Kwami said,"Yes, I do. My mother says that my grandmother had one too, and she said weird stuff, like me."

Wow, thought Tabani, do Kwami and his family have the gift of prophecy?

He decided not to say anything to Kwami about his suspicion, especially since Kwami probably already had the same one.

Instead, he suggested,"Hey, if we can get away tonight, how about we go see Akwele?"

"We just saw her this morning," pointed out Kwami. "I know. Ok, what do you want to do now?" he asked.

"We could go ask your dad if he'll show us around, we could go see your mom and see if she aything for us to do, we could-"

"I've got an idea! Let's go spy on people!" suggested Tabani.

"That sound fun, but what of someone sees us?" asked Kwami, looking both excited and scared.

"It'll be fine, just don't let them catch you. Hmm, who can we spy on...Vitani!"

The cubs rushed off to find Tabani's aunt, who was something of a hero to Tabani. She was so brave.

They found her lying down in a comfortable dust patch, enjoying the sun's rays on her back.

"Tabani, she's just resting! That means we're gonna just watch her sleeping, and that's creepy!"

"I agree. Let's go spy on my parents instead! Maybe they discovered something new about Akwele's mom's murder," offered Tabani. He looked deadly serious.

"Tabani, waht makes you so sure that that lioness was Akwele's mother? You have no proof."

"Well, then look at the facts: We found a cub, and tried calling her mother's name. Nothing. Then, a lioness just happens to turn up dead. What are the odds they're related?"

Kwami nodded. "Good point. Let's go!"

Tabani and Kwami ran up through he tunnel system to the royal cave, where Kiara and Kovu seemed to be discussing something.

"Kovu, the marks on her...the scent of a rogue...do you think she was his mate, and he abused her, so she left with the cub?"

Kiara looked worried and sad, and much older than she was. Kovu looked much the same.

Tabani was startled to see his parents like this. But not as startled as he was to see a pair of amber eyes spying from another tunnel entrance.

Kwami's nudge told him that he'd seen it too. Tabani silently slipped away, sneaking through the tunnels with Kwami on his tail.

The prince led his friend all the way around the royal cave, completely unseen.

Once they reached the other side, they could see someone crouching at the entrance listening to every word. Kwami nodded to Tabani.

He popped out three of his claws, and drew them in one by one.

On the third one, they leapt, dragging the spying lion back. Kwami used a prey killing technique to muffle their, mouth, until they had dragged the lion to another part of the tunnels.

There they dumped them on the floor triumphantly. "Hey!" the lion protested loudly,"It's me!"

It was Aina, one of the lioness bullies!

"Ugh, did you have to drag me so hard?!" she shrieked. "I'm sure my tail is raw, jeez!"

Tabani and Kwami were still standing there with shocked looks on their faces. This was not expected.

"Well, don't just stand there! Apologize!" Aina demanded. She had to whack the boys back to life.

"I'm sorry, but WHAT?!" said Tabani. Aina was the last lioness had had expected to find spying on his parents.

"Aina, what are you doing here?" asked Kwami. His eyes were hard and unforgiving.

The gray lioness looked sheepish.

"Well, um, I got in sort of a fight with my friends, so I got bored, and I decided to spy on people," she explained.

Just like us, thought Tabani. "I noticed you, but I didn't think you saw me, she added.

"Aina, that doesn't make spying on your king and queen ok," said Kwami. "Oh, you're one to talk," said Aina spitefully.

"I am the prince!" said Tabani grandly. Aina looked like she couldn't care less. "Oh, please, quit pulling rank! Look, I was actually trying to find you earlier, Kwami. Not to bully you, but to say I'm sorry. I only hang out with those girls because of my family's status."

Kwami looked both surprised and gratified. "Ok, Aina, I accept your apology. Hey, why don't you hang out with us? If you don't really consider them your friends," he said quickly.

Aina looked thoughtful. If I leave them behind, they'll be awful to me too, but it's worth it she thought.

"Let me think about it. I mean, it's a big decision. But, Kwami, I wanted to tell you that your mark looks cool."

The gray lioness slipped away, giving them a smile over her shoulder. Then she was gone, like a wisp.

"Well, that was...awkward," Tabani mused. Kwami nodded. "I'm glad she's sorry. Do you think she'll leave her friends?"

"Let's hope so. She seems nice when she's not with them. Let's get back to spying, that discussion sounded serious."

They crept back to the spyhole, hoping Tabani's parents were still on the subject of Akwele's mother.

Luckily, they still were. "Let's just hope no more dead lionesses turn up. The scent of the cub led nowhere."

Kiara sighed. "Let's face it, Kovu, the cub's probably dead. I think we just forget about this. The rogue's probably gone."

Kovu nodded, and they both headed out through the opposite entrance."Well, that did all of nothing," said Kwami disappointedly. "Tell me about it," agreed Tabani.

"Hey, I've got an idea. It's sort of creepy, but if they haven't buried it yet, what if we looked at the body?"