Tai made it back to the Tree of Conception, and was greeted with the sight of a very worried mother in the form of Kuendesha pacing back and forth. "I can't believe it! I can't!" She said, the normally stern and calm lioness an emotional wreck, especially since evening was only an hour away at this point. Icarus and Nyota were lying calmly on their royal throne, which also served as their bed. "Kuendesha, if they're with Lana, then they should be fine. Our daughter has a good head on her shoulders; she wouldn't get into anything she couldn't get out of." Icarus explained, and even Nyota was shocked at how cavalier and assured he could be concerning his daughter's safety. "That may work for you, Icarus, but I happen to care about the safety of my cubs." Kuendesha shot back. Icarus's brow furrowed, until he remembered that not all lions thought the same as he did.
"It did work for me. And it worked for Saul, too. Dad let us run free and let us learn some things that he knew he couldn't teach us, and this is considering that we lived in the Wastelands." Icarus explained, but Kuendesha wasn't having any of it. "And you two were lucky to make it to adulthood!" She said, her voice going hysterical at that moment. "My cubs are out there, probably cold hungry and alone! Who knows what's out there, hungrily staring at my children just waiting for them to be off-guard! And Spirits forbid another lion sees them; they'll think they're fair game!" Kuendesha ranted, as Icarus rolled his eyes. He could not understand the point of worrying about it; if the cubs were in danger what would having a heart attack over it solve? Kuendesha, however, was emotionally closed off at the moment; Icarus could see that it would be futile to attempt to talk any sense of comfort into the paranoid and inane ramblings of the worried mother.
That is, until she directed her angry rants at Icarus. "And you, Mr. Paws-off Parenting! This is all your damn fault!" Icarus raised his head to look at Kuendesha, his shiny purple eyes meeting her blue ones. And the message in his eyes were loud and clear. I am a calm lion who prefers to talk about his feelings, but don't think for one minute that means I'm incapable of anger. "Excuse you?" Icarus actually said, and though Kuendesha received the unspoken message, it did not deter her from going in on him.
"You act like the cubs were born as adults, but they weren't! They need parents who give a damn about their safety and will enforce the rules, not friends! Do you think any of them respect you?! Why, what would Saul think about you letting his cubs come to harm?!" She questioned, and now Icarus stands up. Nyota noticed that a change had come over Icarus, as he was now determined to let Kuendesha know exactly what she had just said wrong. "Okay, stop right there. Just stop right there." He said before she could continue. "First of all, what would Saul think if he found out that you used him in his moment of weakness; if he found out that, when he was at his lowest point, you fed him a bunch of koalas and a lie that Sina would be spared, all just to replace the cubs you lost?!" Kuendesha's arms tensed, and her claws unsheathed. "You… You had no right to-" Kuendesha choked out, but it was Icarus's turn to vent, and he was going to.
"Just as you had no right to ask me what my best friend would think about the way his cubs are being raised. And to answer your other question: yes, absolutely. And it isn't just my own cub that respects me, either. From what I've seen, pretty much all of the cubs look up to me, and my words mean more to them because I am their friend. But, since you like to talk about other lion's cubs, why don't we talk more about how your cubs feel about you?" Icarus said, and now even Nyota is starting to feel bad seeing Kuendesha break down, especially since she knew th.
"Tell me. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself why it is your cubs don't tell you much of anything? Or why they have the proclivity to sneak off to get away from you on a regular basis?" Icarus had yet to raise his voice, but the anger was still loud and clear. And it was a great amount of anger. Kuendesha was not having it anymore; she turned and stalked out of the den. If Icarus had punched her as hard as he could, with all five of his claws bared, it wouldn't compare to the pain that he had caused by calling out her actions. "Icarus, that was too far and you know it!" Nyota chastised as soon as Kuendesha was out of earshot.
Icarus sighed, clearly exhaling the deep breath he had taken to calm himself down. "Maybe so, but she also had no business bringing up Saul to me, especially after what she did to him. And how she lied to him for her own ends." Icarus said with disgust. Nyota, at this point, rolls her eyes. "You know exactly what happened to her, though. And you know exactly why she sought comfort from your best friend, Icarus." Yes, he did, but that didn't mean he excused it. "Yeah, but why should Saul have been the one from whom she got her consolation? He didn't throw Ganya into the river; why should he be the one to replace her? Did Kuendesha even consider how Saul would feel while she was laying under him? Did she consider what might have happened while she was tricking him into eating koala carrion? And did she consider how he would feel once he sobered up and realized what he had done?" Icarus asked, though it was clearly rhetorical at this point. And Nyota was going to give him his rhetorical answer, in the form of her own questions.
"And you think passing judgment on her is going to somehow erase what has already happened? You think making her feel awful each and every time she remembers the father of her cubs is going to somehow erase her selfish actions?" Nyota asked, finally taking Icarus's approach and turning it against him. That wasn't lost on him as he responded, and allowed Tai to walk into the den.
"No, it won't. But it doesn't excuse her current selfish actions."