It was early afternoon and Kijani had just returned from a short hunt with Haidar and Hondo. His stomach was full and his muscles were tired, all he wanted to do now was take a nice long nap before the rains came. He found a nice spot under an acacia tree and lay down before letting out a big yawn and stretching out.

Before he could relax though, Jelani pounced on him, knocking the wind right out of him. He barely had time to get his breath out when Asha, Zuri, Kali, and Layla surrounded him and began to chew on his ears.

"Uncle 'Jani, guess what we want," said Asha with an excited voice.

"I don't know, my food that was in my stomach a minute ago," said Kijani as he rubbed his stomach of that uncomfortable feeling you get after someone pushes on it.

"Eww no," said Zuri.

"How about some mud," said Kijani as he found a small pile of mud and threw it at them, Layla was quickly hit in the face by it.

"We would but then mom would have to clean us up and we hate that," said Jelani.

"So I'm guessing a story then?" asked Kijani as he gave another stretch. He really wanted to take a nap but he knew that was out of the question when the cubs were bored.

"Yup, that's what we want, and we want a creature that we don't know about, do you have any of those?" asked Kali.

"Of course I do, us storytellers have to share our stories once in a while. It's another rule for us, once in our life we have to meet with one or two of the six story tellers. I have not done that yet but Rasul claimed he met all six of them, I think he was only joking," said Kijani.

"Are all the six storytellers lions?" asked Jelani.

"Oh no of course not, each animal is from a different continent spanning around the world. There are seven of us but since I am the seventh I don't count myself when I mention the other six," said Kijani.

"What kind animals are they then?" asked Kali.

"Well let me see if I remember this correctly," Kijani thought for a moment trying to remember all the animals that were located around the world. "Well far to the west are two continents, you have to cross a big ocean to get there, that is why I don't believe Rasul has gone to it, perhaps there is a land bridge but I don't know. The north continent the story teller is a coyote named Maverick, in the south continent lives a Squirrel Monkey named Picha. To the north of us is another continent where a wild boar, kind of like a warthog lives, his name is Errol. Then to the East of us is a very big continent and a place I am glad I don't live to tell tales because I hear the storyteller tells a story all day. His name is Nhasa the tiger, though Rasul did tell me that he was getting on in years so it might be someone else taking over for him. Then to the south of that continent in a much smaller continent lives a Wallaby named Mindy. Then to the very far south in a very cold island where others rarely go to is a king penguin named Flips. And speaking of penguins I plan on telling you a tale about them."

"What is a penguin any way?" asked Layla.

"Well the best description I can give you is a bird that can fly but not in the air, it can only do so underwater," said Kijani.

"Woah! Does it look like an ostrich?" asked Asha.

"No it's much smaller than an ostrich, its black and white though and it waddles instead of hops like most birds do," said Kijani.

"So what's its story about?" asked Zuri.

"I was just getting to that you silly girl, for you see penguins mate for life and they live in a very harsh environment especially for the emperor penguin. Whose story I am going to tell," said Kijani.

The cubs all sat closely as Kijani began to tell them a new tale from the farthest reaches of the world.

Coldness, utter coldness. That's what many creatures think of when you mention the southern most continent. Some call it Iceland, others call it The Desolate Place, but to the many penguins that live there, they call it The Nesting Grounds.

Now there are many different species of penguins, most are found in The Desolate Place from the largest Emperor Penguin to the little Adele. But there have been some who stray farther north and seek warmer waters, like the jackass penguin. Yes they are called that but only because they sound like one, not because they act like one.

All but one kind of penguin is territorial, the ones that are out the best place to nest with their mate who they love for life. And together they protect their next from other penguins who want it to be their home as well, or from predatory birds who want to eat the young chicks.

But the Emperor Penguin is much different, when the time comes to lay the eggs. The male takes it and covers it up in his downy feathers just above his webbed feet and he warms it for many days while his wife goes back to sea to look for food. Now that doesn't seem too bad to you, until you know what dangers lie ahead.

The sea is not as close as you think, sometimes it can be hundreds of miles away and some of the wives are lucky enough to return alive, if they are not eaten by a shark or a seal. The males however must endure freezing cold weather, winds blowing fiercely, and no sunlight for more than a month. Together the males huddle for warmth, their eggs nestled just above their feet, all of them hoping and waiting for winter to end and that life will begin anew.

But their story was not always like this, for hundreds of years the emperor penguins were just like other penguins, they kept the eggs warm under their downy feathers in a little shallow spot all by themselves, and there they would stay all winter trying to stay as warm as possible.

Because of this, the penguins were slowly dying out, most of the chicks never hatched and some were lucky to make it past the first month. The fathers even had their problems, often dying of hypothermia and their poor wives would return home to find their beloved husbands as stiff as a piece of ice in the water. It was such a tragic tale for them all until years later.

Roland was a young penguin when it happened; he had just found a mate of his own named Gwin. Both were very scared and were unsure if they wanted to have a child, not after seeing most of their friends die from the terrible cold. For almost three years they decided to wait until they felt they were brave enough to try and every year it was the same thing, penguins kept dying left and right.

Roland's father though was the toughest of the penguins, he never gave up and that was why he was the most respected penguin in the whole clan. He had the most children survive and he usually taught others how to withstand the cold.

Roland had often asked his father for advice but usually, Roland will leave his father still feeling as nervous as the day he first hatched.

Of course Roland's father was getting impatient with him; he wanted a grandchild from his favorite son and soon decided to give him a better lecture on surviving.

"Being a coward is something I don't want to tolerate from you," said his father one day before it was time to start the yearly tradition of egg hatching.

"But father, Gwin loves me so much, she does not want me to die all alone out here in the freezing cold let alone loose something that we worked so hard on," said Roland.

"Ah but trying is the first step towards failure, sure it might not work the first time but if you try again and keep at it then you will get lucky," said his father.

"Yeah but I don't know, most of my friends are gone because of this cold weather and pretty soon there won't be any of us left because of what we do. What's the point of procreating if your species is going to die any way," said Roland.

Of course Roland's father really did not like his attitude, with a quick peck on the head; Roland's father gave him the biggest lecture of his life before dragging him to Gwin to make sure that this year Roland was staying with the clan no matter what.

Of course both Gwin and Roland were not happy with this but they knew that they would eventually have to get it over with and a few weeks later, Roland found himself balancing an egg on his feet while Gwin waddled away toward ocean to look for food.

The first few weeks of the egg hatching wasn't so bad, the sun was up for a few hours and the penguins would gossip about what they would name the chick or how they hoped to keep warm during the dark days. Roland was the most quiet though, not saying a word as he listened to his friends congratulate him on finally trying parenthood out.

It was a few weeks later when the sun finally set and would not be seen for many months, the wind began to howl and the snow began to fall freezing everything around them. Roland stood there all alone trying to keep the egg warm and watching his friends around him as they tried their best to survive. It was a miserable experience and for a whole week he stood there shivering and thinking horrible thoughts about his father who forced him into trying this. If he lived through it he hoped that he would talk Gwin into never trying the idea again.

A week had passed and poor Roland was feeling exhausted, he hadn't slept much thanks to the cold and all he wanted was to be by Gwin's side. He knew that she would make anything warm in this weather. He looked around him, the other penguins looked as miserable as he was; some had actually kicked the eggs into the snow and left them there while they traveled to find the ocean for food. He wondered how close those penguins were to their mates and if they would bother seeing each other again.

Roland knew he had to take his mind off the terrible cold and decided to leave his spot and find a friend of his named Beau. Beau was a more wacky and wild penguin who was always willing to try something out. So far he had tried to hatch two eggs in two seasons but sadly both did not hatch. But he kept his spirits high and was willing to try for a third time. Roland slowly made his way over to Beau who was actually sleeping in this horrible weather.

Roland nudged him and he quickly jumped up looking particularly groggy and annoyed, a rare sight for him.

"What do you want, stay out of my spot, this is mine and is probably not as warm as yours," said Beau.

"Sorry I just came to say hi," said Roland.

"Oh well in that case, hello Roland, how are you holding up on your first try?" asked Beau as he tried to sound nice as possible.

"I'm cold and I want Gwin by my side, no wonder we are dying off, it's just too cold here, maybe we should settle somewhere else," said Roland.

"But our ancestors were born here and so were we, we have to keep tradition even if we like it or not," said Beau.

Roland gave a heavy sigh, and watched as all his breath came out in small ice crystals. He had to close his beak back tight though before the cold went into his lungs and tried to freeze them, a mistake many penguins made.

Roland then looked up at Beau, he had no idea if it was the cold or just the idea of thinking about Gwin but for some reason he wanted to huddle close to Beau. Slowly he moved forward. For a moment Beau stood there before looking at his friend nervously.

"What are you doing Roland?" asked Beau.

"Do you ever think about how warm your mate is when you stand there all alone," asked Roland.

"Of course, I think everyone does, but why are you standing so close to me?" asked Beau.

"Well I know it sounds strange but perhaps we should huddle close, perhaps our warmth can keep us and the eggs alive," said Roland nervously.

Beau stared back at him unsure of what to think about all this but then he noticed how much warmer he felt with Roland standing next to him, he wasn't shivering as hard.

"You know I think it might work, lets see what happens," said Beau.

Together Roland and Beau stood side by side, keeping their heads down as the wind blew around them. After almost an hour of standing side by side, they felt a bit warmer but still cold. It was around this time when Roland's father waddled past to go check on him when he saw him standing there with his best friend. He looked at his son with strange eyes.

"What in the world are you two doing?" he asked in an unsure voice.

"Well I had enough of standing alone and we both decided to see if we can keep warm if we stand together, who cares about territory, this is life and death we are talking about," said Roland.

"Well yes but, you are cuddling with a male," said Roland's father.

"Hey friends can do this if they want to stay alive, now come join us or go away," said Roland as he motioned his father to come over.

Roland's father hesitated for a moment before finally making his way over and getting as close to Roland as possible, he did not want to have anything to do with Beau, he barely even knew that kid.

After a while all three were getting warmer and soon the entire colony was noticing how there were three penguins standing side by side. Soon there were twenty penguins all huddling together to get warm, and after a week, almost the entire colony was standing together staying as warm as possible. Yes there were some who believed that it was week to ask for help and they stayed outside the circle acting like they were not cold. Little did they know that they would be the ones whose eggs would not hatch once the sun returned.

The sun finally returned a little over a month later, everyone huddled together and watched as the sun rose again, warming their feathers and bringing back the day that they missed so much. In a few days the eggs began to hatch and for the first time in hundreds of years, more chicks survived their first hatching.

Roland was of course congratulated for his idea of huddling together for warmth and when the wives returned they were all amazed to see little ones hopping around and waiting for food.

And so as the years went on, the Emperor Penguin became numerous again. More eggs hatched and more penguins began to survive. And it was all thanks to a young penguin who was unsure to begin with, Roland.

And to this day, young penguins are taught about Roland's way of helping the colony grow, no one will ever forget him for he was one of the greats.

Kijani gave a loud yawn once he finished the tale while the cubs looked up at him wide eyed. They were still trying to imagine what cold weather would be like for them.

"And that's my story for now, I hope you all don't mind if I take a nap for a bit?" asked Kijani.

The cubs all stared at each other, they really did want another one but by the look on Kijani's face, they could tell he was not in the mood for a few more hours.

"I guess we can go play then, we can always ask for one before bedtime," said Kali.

"Yeah for now we can all try to imagine what cold is like," said Jelani who then climbed off a nearby rock and started running towards the savanna.

"Yeah that sounds like fun, I wonder what a seal is too," said Asha as she ran behind Jelani. The other three were not far behind.

Kijani watched them go with one eye still opened before he finally curled up ready to have a nice nap but that was not before Conga decided to have a chat with him. She had been listening in the tree above them and had really enjoyed the tale.

"Great story there Kijani, I've heard of those penguins I would love to see one myself eventually," said Conga.

"Yeah me too, maybe one day when I am not so full and tired," said Kijani.

"Yeah maybe someday, how about when you leave to tell tales to others? I can come with you, hopefully I will be retired by then?" asked Conga.

"Maybe, now go on your own journey, you probably have another hawk to kill," said Kijani before he flipped over with his back toward Conga.

Conga only stared back annoyed by how Kijani didn't want to talk any more, but he had been hunting all day. She might as well watch the cubs and maybe perhaps find a suitable replacement as the next advisor.

A/N: Yeah I know this chapter was like the last one, not very detailed but I blame it on the fact that I just started it because I am stuck on another story right now, and I just wanted to get it over with. Yes I have a new Simpson story coming up in a few days so if anyone is interested just come on over. It's a very good story so far, I am enjoying it. Any way if you are wondering how I got the idea of this chapter, I was watching Planet Earth and the narrator said that Emperor Penguins don't have territories like other penguins do and so this idea came to me. If you have not seen Planet Earth, do me a favor and watch it, it is the most spectacular documentary I have ever seen.

Well I have no idea when I will update again, I'll probably do it once every two months. This story is already a year old and I still have many more stories to go on with this one. Including a chapter in which Haidar becomes king and Conga finds her advisor, you'll be very surprised to find out who it will be. So I hope you all have a nice week and I will see you all really soon.