Chapter 36: Rock Sliding

The next morning, Tali, Ciara, Tempest and the other members of their daily training group were trotting the border. Since the training was now more of an exercise, the trot was more relaxed. The members could talk, and even stop to rest if they wanted. Even Vitani became more lax. Some days, like this one, she didn't lead the exercise. She expected her well trained lionesses to keep up the good work. Vitani had wanted to spend more time with her growing cubs. She needed to pay special attention to Dayya and Jayden since they were headed into teen-hood. They could now be instructed on some of the basics of hunting.

Koru had joined the girl's exercise group as well. He had proven to have a lot of endurance when trotting the border, but when it came to practicing battle techniques, he often got lazy He was purposely put in Tempest's group so she could persuade him to keep at it. Usually it took more than persuading.

Tempest trotted faster to catch up to her younger brother. He was rather big for his age; his arms and legs were already showing muscle. Even though he was a young adolescent, and Tempest was nearly an older adolescent, Koru was almost as big as her. In Tempest's defense, she was built pretty small for her age. The tuft of fur on Koru's chest, however, was small in contrast to his body size.

"Koru!" Tempest said as she joined her brother's side. "Don't you get tired?" she panted.

Koru seemed unfazed by the trots around the border, and never rested until they were finished.

"No." he said simply.

Tali and Ciara caught up to them. "You know, Koru, you're beginning to act like my brother." Tali said teasingly.

Koru's face began to flush. "Huh?"

Tempest laughed. "Oh I'm sure that's purely a coincidence, isn't it Koru?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." he said, not looking at her.

"It's okay to idolize someone," Tempest continued with a teasing tone.

Tali burst out laughing. "Mani is a big ham."

"I have to agree." Ciara said. Tempest only laughed.

Koru groaned. "Shut up, Tempest!" he said, and sped up to get away.

"I didn't mean to make him upset." Tali said.

"Hey, no worries," Tempest said. "He's alright. He knows we're just kidding around. It's true what you said though; he's been following Mani around like a cub."

"It's so funny anyone would look up to Mani." Tali smirked.

"Look, some of the others in the group are stopping for a rest. Let's stop for a moment." Ciara suggested.

Tamani and Tikana, the lionesses in their group, were beginning to lie down in the grass. Koru, Larne and Jika kept going. Tempest, Tali and Ciara sat down too. They were a few yards away from Tamani and Tikana.

"Phew. It's hot today." Tali sighed.

"My muscles are sore." Ciara said.

"Hey, you guys, look there." Tempest said, pointing toward the border with her paw. "Do you see what I see?"

Two adult males were coming straight toward them. Their shoulders rocked back and forth as hey sauntered closer. The others had noticed them too.

"Who are they?" Tamani asked.

"Who knows? Are they a threat?"

"Doesn't really look like it by their posture. Ciara? Do any of you know them?" Tamani turned her head to the younger lioness.

The three girls stared at the approaching adult lions. "No, I've never seen them before." Ciara said. As they got closer, Ciara could see the males were young. Probably just months older than Tali and Mani. One had light golden fur with a blond full mane. The other was peach with a gray-brown mane. They seemed rather excited as they approached the five lionesses.

Ciara's ears perked up once she realized how handsome the duo was. Ciara noticed her friends were staring as well.

"Hey ladies." the blond one said as he came to a stop a couple yards from the resting lionesses.

"Hi." Tamani said with a smile.

"You two are coming awful close to the Pride land border…" Tikana said, all business.

"No worries, no worries." The gray-brown mane one said. "I'm Shenda. My friend Toshen and I here just wanted to come over here and speak to you fine ladies. He winked at Tikana and Tamani. They giggled. The blond one called Toshen, was examining Tali.

"Hey." he said to her, while Shenda continued talking to Tikana and Tamani. They smiled and giggled at everything he said.

"Hello." she said politely, but without a smile. Then Tali turned to Ciara and Tempest. "Are you two about ready to go?"

"What's the hurry?" the handsome lion said. "Are you playing a game with these adolescents?"

"Hey, we are not adolescents!" Tempest said, standing up.

"Well we kinda are…" Ciara muttered.

"Well… okay we are, but what I mean is, we're not kids!" Tempest said to Toshen. "Tali isn't that much older than us!"

"Alright, sorry, pretty girl. I didn't mean anything by it." He smiled and winked at Tempest.

Tempest blinked and began to blush once he called her pretty. She muttered something quietly to hide her giggle, and turned her head away. Toshen turned his eyes on Tali again, who was standing up.

"So it's Tali right?" he said, stepping closer to her. "I'm Toshen."

"I heard."

"Yo, Tosh, come on!" The brown mane lion, Shenda called. Tikana and Tamani were standing next to him. They looked as if they were going to follow the lion.

"We'll be right back, girls." Tamani said to Ciara, Tali and Tempest. "We'll come back and finish the run." The three began to walk in the direction the two lions had come from.

"Hey you should come with us." Toshen said to Tali.

"No thanks." Tali said, beginning to walk away. Ciara and Tempest followed.

The blond lion looked confused. He wasn't used to being turned down. He followed Tali.

"Come on, babe." he persisted.

"She said no!" Tempest said, planting her feet in front of his face, and staring him down. "And don't even think about asking Ciara or me to go with you either, we are already spoken for!"

Ciara began to blush. Toshen looked as if he were about to retort when Shenda called for him again.

"Toshen, let's go! I already got one for you."

"Fine." The blond said, turning away and dashing after his friend and the two lionesses.

"Thank the kings." Tai said, rolling her eyes.

"Why didn't you go with them, Tali?" Ciara said, matching her pace. She couldn't read her friend's expression. "Besides being persistent, he was pretty cute." Ciara admitted.

"Just not interested." she said simply.

"You and the blond one would have made a very cute cub." Tempest said.

Tali laughed as if Tempest had told a joke. "I do not want cubs! Especially with someone I don't know."

Ciara and Tempest shared a look and shrugged. It was normal for lionesses to have cubs with passing lions, but it was apparent Tali didn't see it that way.

"Come on, guys. We need to catch up, let's finish the exercise." Tali said, bouncing into a quicker trot.

Kivu was leaving Pride Rock later that day after he had visited with his mother. Kiara had gotten no better and no worse. She still spent most of her time resting or laying down. Before Kivu could descend the stair-like steps to the ground, he heard his mother call out,

"Take Clous with you!"

Kivu groaned. A bundle of energy quickly padded over to him.

"Hey! Now we can play!"

"Oh, boy." Kivu muttered, rolling his eyes.

"What are we gonna play? Hide and seek? Tag? Oh, how 'bout save the princes? I can go get Zuna and Zula to play with us."

"That is a great idea. Well look there, it's Malowa with Sanai. You could go play with him." Kivu said, gesturing to Sanai who was sunbathing on a rock while the dark cream cub sat beside her. He was rambling on about something but Sanai didn't seem to mind. She smiled the entire time he was talking.

"Malowa?" Clous made a face. "He talks too much."

"So?" Kivu said, not caring. "Just go over there. I'll come get you later. I'm going to meet my friends."

"Fine, go." Clous said, pouting. He was going for the sad let-down little brother routine to evoke some pity and maybe cause Kivu to change his mind and take Clous with him. But it didn't work. Kivu turned, and trotted away without a second look.

Clous sighed and walked toward Sanai and Malowa.

"And that's how I found my favorite rock again." Malowa had just finished his story. He took a breath (probably the first one in a few sentences.) "Did I tell you how I lost it in the first place?" He asked his mother excitedly. Sanai encouraged him with a wide smile.

"Hi, Malowa, Hi, Sanai." Clous said as he approached, sitting on the ground next to the large rock they were laying on.

"Well hello, Clous. Are you here to join us?" Sanai asked.

"Yeah, Clous! Stay and listen to this story, I lost my favorite rock the other day. It's a great rock. You know how rocks are normally gray or brown? Well my rock is blue. Honestly!" Malowa said.

Clous got an idea.

"Well actually, Kivu is watching me today…" Clous lied. "You wanna come with us?"

Malowa nodded and appeared excited. His teal eyes shined. Sanai seemed apprehensive.

"Where is Kivu?" the cream colored lioness asked, perking her head up to look around.

"Oh, he told me to meet him by a tree nearby," Clous said. "It's just over there, that's why we can't see him." He gestured with his tail.

"I suppose that sounds fine if Kivu is watching you." Sanai smiled.

"Can Dark go with you?" A voice from behind them asked.

Sanu and the older cub Dark walked over.

"I'm taking the girls out for lessons. Dark would probably think it was dull." Sanu explained.

"Yeah, you've already given me lessons." Dark said to his mom.

"Yeah, Dark come with us!" Malowa said. "The more the merrier."

"Will that be okay with Kivu?" Sanai asked Clous.

"Oh sure." The orange cub said, shrugging. Dark sat by Clous. Malowa dropped down from the sunning rock.

"Dark, I'll come pick you up from here in a couple hours." Sanu said, turning away.

"Bye, Mother." Dark called.

"Meet me back here later, okay Malowa?" Sanai said.

"I will, Mom." her son replied, then quickly jumped back on the rock to quickly nuzzle his mother. He jumped back down to join his friends. "Come on guys, let's go."

"Alright, come on. Kivu is waiting over here. Follow me." Clous said, leading the way. Malowa followed behind him while Dark picked up the rear.

"Make sure to listen to what Kivu says!" Sanai called after them.

The three boys walked for several moments before anyone said anything.

Dark broke the silence. "Where did you say Kivu was waiting?"

"He's not waiting for us." Clous said bluntly, still leading them.

"What!" Malowa exclaimed.

"He was supposed to watch me. But he went with his friends instead."

"I'm sure Kivu meant for you to stay with Sanai then…" Dark said, trotting to Clous's side. "Not to go off on your own."

"Yeah, we can go back to my mom. She will watch us." Malowa said with excitement. "Besides, she will be angry at me if we go off on our own."

Clous stopped. Malowa bumped into him.

"Malowa, will you stop being such a mamma's boy?" Clous turned on him, angrily.

The dark peach cub's mouth dropped. "I-I'm not a mamma's boy…"

Clous scoffed. "Come on. Haven't you ever wanted to do something fun? Our parents always hold us back and don't let us do the things we want."

"Maybe they are concerned for our safety?" Dark suggested. "Let's go back."

"Come on, Dark." Malowa said, wanting to redeem himself after being called a mamma's boy. "Clous might be on to something. What did you have in mind?" he asked Clous.

Clous smirked and cocked one eyebrow. "Ever been rock sliding?"