King Julien was curled beneath the little protection from the sunlight they had. They had moved away from the hearth of the jungle and down by the oceanfront. The trees were sparser, smaller, and held less fruit. The sands were blisteringly hot against their padded feet, and the salty spray from the ocean served only to sting their eyes and noses. The sky, while beautiful with its endless, vast blueness, yawned over them without a single cloud - which meant no hope of rain to cool the beach.

Despite the clear issues with the beach home, King Julien disallowed anyone to go more than a few feet into the trees. The past few days of living at the beach seemed to change him, and Clover wasn't sure it was for the better. Their king was paranoid and careful - and careful was something the young ring-tailed lemur had never been.

She paced the sands, ignoring the stinging the heat brought to her pads. She needed to do something to calm him down. He was continuously worried by his people who were beginning to fight over food, and even the small puddles of freshwater they found. She paced the length of the beach, her tail dragging in the hot, soft sand until it gave a characteristic twitch.

"Tail twitch! Never wrong," she said reflexively, and to nobody in particular. She glanced back at her lengthy tail, watching as her fur fluffed in anticipation. She thought for a few more seconds before raising a paw, an idea striking her. "Of course! I can scan the new borders again. I can tell him I've found nothing wrong, and then he'll have to calm down! Perfect." She looked to the towering edge of jungle and then darted into the undergrowth. Their new territory encompassed about ten feet into the jungle, and the entire stretch of beach that pressed against their old territory.

The beach they could all observe easily, but the trees weren't quite that easy to see through. The furless hadn't made it that far, and even with that threat still present, that didn't nullify King Julien's other consistent threats. While nobody had noticed until after their move to the beach, Crimson had mysteriously disappeared. They had been forced to assume the furless took her, and leave, but Clover had a sneaking suspicion her sister was up to no good.

The crowned lemur investigated every inch of the border, sniffing every leaf, turning over every stone, and investigating every strange occurrence. She stopped when she reached a tree that held the unmistakable scent of her sister. Crimson had been here. Her tail gave an involuntary convulsion, and Clover smiled slightly.

"I'll find you yet, Crimson."

With that, Clover followed the trail, keeping her senses keen and footsteps light. She didn't know what Crimson had planned, and she had to pay attention to her surroundings. One misstep into a trap and she would leave her small, weak kingdom utterly defenseless. She paused when she heard leaves rustle and undergrowth move that were not from her. She flicked her ears, listening carefully and her green eyes following the sounds.

Finally, from behind a broad-leafed, low bush, Crimson stood up. She shook, throwing twigs and stems from her fur, and smiled at her sister. "It's fun watching you so uptight, Clo-Clo."

"Crimson, where did you go?" Clover demanded, standing to her full height and pointing an accusatory finger at her. "And what do you have planned? You can't tell me you running off in all this commotion was a coincidence, Crimson. Not this time. And King Julien isn't here to stop me." Clover grinned and took a step forward.

Crimson backed up, flattening her ears against her skull. "I wouldn't do that," Crimson growled, "because I know something happening you want to know about."

"What do I need to know that you know, Crimson?" Clover yelled, stomping her left foot on the ground. "Unless it directly threatens King Julien or this kingdom, I don't care!"

"It threatens both of those," Crimson crossed her arms and lashed her tail. "Now, are you going to follow me, or yell at me some more? I'm pretty sure you can do it on the way there, too." Crimson raised a brow at her sister, her ears rising again.

Clover's posture loosened, and she gave a growl of frustration when she finished deliberating. If Crimson knew something that threatened the kingdom, then she needed to know, too. "Alright," Clover nodded, "alright. Take me wherever it is we need to go."

Crimson smiled, and started running. Clover followed, surprised by her sister's pace. Crimson never moved so fast unless it was absolutely necessary. This had to be quite serious, indeed. The jungle whirled past them, and Clover narrowly avoided the low-hanging twigs and sharp, spiny plants that grew from the trunks of the trees, or the tangled, straining bushes that grew from the forest floor. Several times they had to stop to free Crimson from vines that had managed to wrangle her down by her feet.

They didn't pause otherwise until they were feet away from several tall, looming furless. The furless were roaring and speaking to one another, using sounds and phrases that made no sense to either of the lemurs. But even before they moved, Clover caught the smell of smoke in the air, and her eyes widened as the humans did get out the way.

Luscious, red flames licked at the forest just feet away from the two lemurs. It ate at the plants, bending trees and breaking branches in its wake. Clover gasped, flattening herself to the ground. "Get down, Crimson!" She hissed. "Smoke rises, and if you breathe too much in it'll knock you out!"

"I'm not the one you need to worry about, sister," Crimson gave a sweet laugh, touching Clover's shoulder with her lengthy tail.

Clover had only a few seconds to look behind her when she saw foosas rushing towards her. The felines didn't take any notice of her, in fact, they seemed to all but ignore her as they ran overtop of her and through the flames. The furless had dissipated into their loud machines, and the foosa were following. Clover curled into a ball to prevent their claws from injuring her severely, but the weight of many foosa running over her began to hurt and she felt their outstretched claws dig into her sides. Finally, one curious foosa did stop and take notice of her.

It sniffed her, and after getting shoved by a hurrying, larger foosa, it picked her up in its jaws and started running again. Clover struggled and kicked at the cat, managing to force the foosa to drop her, but in the midst of the forestry that was ablaze.

The hot, crackling flames burned closer and closer, eating through the hot, dry forest easily. Clover was forced to follow the foosa to save her own life. She had no idea what would happen to King Julien, or the rest of the kingdom - she could only hope they could find a way out.

Crimson watched from the branch of a tree as the flames picked up speed on the forestry only a few feet away. Clover had gotten caught in the pack of foosa, and the furless were skidding away in the belly of one of their loud machines. She watched with round, excited eyes as the blaze spread. When it began to lick at the base of the tree she was in, she bounced to the next tree, and continued that way until she got far enough ahead of the flames.

It would take the fire a while to spread over all of their exits. And while any sane lemur would be rushing to warn the others and get everyone out, Crimson was no sane lemur, and King Julien was the last lemur she wanted to see get out of this alive. She threw a look over her shoulder at the crawling blaze, and laughed. She'd follow the fire, keeping low to the ground to stop from passing out due to the smoke, and ensure it covered their every exit before warning the others.

She wanted to see that stupid, humiliating, back-stabbing ring-tailed lemur's face as he watched his home go up in flames and his very life was stolen from him - even if it meant she went down with him.