A/N: This chapter has also been updated! :)

Book 1: Chapter 3

"Why don't you meet my clan? Then I'll catch you up on everything."

Tombie had proposed the plan several minutes ago. Several minutes later, they were walking through the foreign land with the rain getting steadily heavier with each passing minute.

"We're almost there," Tombie assured, not breaking his stride to look back at his guests

Imba let out an annoyed groan when another few droplets landed on her feathers.

Eagles already don't have a liking towards the water, but Imba especially despised rain. She understood its good for the environment and all, but the feeling of water droplets sliding between her feathers always made her uneasy. Deciding she no longer wanted to exert her energy and fly, Imba perched on Dalia's shoulders, balancing on the jerky movements of the lioness' shoulder blades.

Dalia didn't break her stride, but looked up to the eagle and flashed her a questioning glance.

"Sorry," Imba started, positioning her feet so they don't pierce the lioness, "I'm not a big fan of rain."

"I'm not the biggest fan of water either," said Dalia.

Imba tilted her head. Aside from the occasional annoyed flick of the ear, Dalia seemed relatively comfortable walking through the rain. "Really?" Imba questioned, puzzled, "You seem okay now."

The lioness quickly shook her head. "I mean large bodies of water." She hopped over a mud puddle, making Imba bounce as well. "Lakes." Hopped over another puddle. "Rivers." Imba shook out her feathers, spraying Dalia even more with the rainwater. "Creeks." Floods, she added silently with a shiver.

Tombie turned around and gave her a glance of recognition.

"Still?" Tombie said over his shoulder after a brief moment. He turned his head back to look back at the girls. Noticing Dalia's discomfort, he attempted a cover up. "No! It's not a bad thing - I just thought after all this time, you had gotten over, er well, you know."

Dalia froze in her step, sending Imba lurching forward.

She flashed Tombie a harsh glare, and he had the good sense to stop speaking. Thankfully, Imba was too preoccupied with shaking the rain out of her feathers to notice Tombie's misstep. Tombie mouthed a 'sorry' to Dalia, to which she scowled, showing her disapproval before continuing to follow the hyena to his home.

Finally, after a few more minutes of walking in the rain, the trio round another corner, and Tombie ushers them into a cavern.

He took a step back and allows the girls to observe. "This is my home."

Dalia looked around the cavern, ominously lit with hotspots around the cavern. The hotspots cast a strange green-blue hue to the cavern. Upon closer inspection, she realized there were also several connected tunnels within the caverns. Between the secret tunnels and hotspots, this cavern seemed like any kid's wonderland.

Tombie noticed Dalia looking at the tunnels. "Don't worry, they are kid-safe. All the tunnels lead back to the start, so they can't get lost."

"I'm sure they wouldn't get lost on your watch anyways," she replied teasingly. Tombie always looked out for her growing up, like a big brother. He had gotten her out of the messes she inevitably gets herself into and had helped her get through some of the adversaries in life.

"Cool place you've got here," Imba remarked, shaking out the remaining water from her feathers. Stretching out of her feathers, she flew in a small circle around the cavern before perching against a rock. "It's a lot bigger than it looked from the outside."

Tombie gave Imba an appreciative smile. "This is where we stay during the rain," Tombie continued, gesturing around the cavern, "My clan should be in here." He took a step forward, glancing around the cavern. "Madoa?" His echo bounced around the rocks but nobody replied. "Jasiri?" Again, no response. "Kids?"

Dalia furrowed her brow, and Imba exchanged an uneasy glance with the lioness.

"Hmm." Tombie glanced around once more. "They should be here..."

Before any of them could worry too much, Dalia's ears picked up the sound of a few sets of pattering paw steps behind them.

Tombie must've heard it too because he spun around on his heel at the same time Dalia does. The first hyena to enter the cavern was a grey-purple female with a beige underbelly. Dull purple spots were splashed onto her back, along with three small spots between her eyes. Deep brown eyes scanned the room, the eyebrows which rest above them quickly furrowing at the sight of the two guests.

"Madoa!" Tombie greets, walking up to the female hyena for a quick nuzzle.

She returned it but kept her eyes trained on the lioness and eagle in her home. "Tombie? Who—"

Before Madoa could finish her question, another female hyena, followed by two small pups, entered the cavern.

At first glance, the new hyena looked almost identical to Madoa. Upon closer inspection, Dalia noticed that the new hyena didn't have the three distinctive spots in between her eyes like Madoa, instead bearing darker spots on either side of her eyes. Speaking of her eyes, unlike Madoa's deep brown eyes, the new hyena's eyes were a dark blue.

The hyena tilted her head in confusion at the sight of their guests. She knew they aren't a threat — Tombie wouldn't allow threats into their territory — but she was not too keen on strangers being in her home without her knowing.

The pups were less polite about their inquiries. One pup, the male one, pointed a paw toward Imba. The other pointed a paw to Dalia. Almost as if rehearsed, both pups blurted, "Who's that?"

Tombie grinned. "This is Dalia - one of my friends from my home." He then pointed to Imba, who good-naturedly waved at the pups. "And this is her friend, Imba. I wanted you guys to meet them!"

Madoa's eyes immediately lit with recognition at the mention of Dalia's name. "Yes, I remember that name! Tombie's mentioned you briefly."

Dalia simply politely smiled and nodded, unsure of what to say. She wondered what Tombie had said about her.

"I doubt Tombie's mentioned me," Imba remarked wryly, "But I'm one of Dalia's friends."

Jasiri gave a warm smile to both girls. "Well, any friend of Tombie's is a friend of ours," she said before backtracking. "Well... I guess you're the friend of a friend of Tombie's."

Madoa gave a small chuckle. "Regardless, both of you were welcome to wait out the storm with us." She looked to the pups, raising an expecting eyebrow. When the twins don't respond, her expression quickly morphed to stern once. "Wema." Madoa glanced at the female pup before glancing at the male pup. "Tunu."

"Say 'hello' to our guests," Jasiri added.

The pups made eye contact very briefly. "Hi, Dalia and Imba," they greeted at the same time shyly, quickly averting their gaze and looking up to Jasiri. "Can we go to the tunnels now?"

Jasiri gave the twins a nod of approval and they quickly scampered off. "Don't worry," she explained to Imba and Dalia, "All tunnels lead—"

"—lead back to the beginning?" Dalia finished, quirking an eyebrow.

Laughter bounced off the cavern, echoing through the Outlands.

"Oh, yeah," Tombie continued with a laugh, responding to Imba's question concerning Dalia's many nicknames, "I had a lot of nicknames for Dalia back home. There was Lia, Dalia the Destroyer, and Dally. Then there was Dal and Deedee and—"

"Oh, I hated 'Deedee'," Dalia groaned, rolling her eyes. Of course, this only made Tombie laugh more.

Tombie had made so many nicknames for her, that she couldn't remember it all if she had tried. She remembered being annoyed with the nicknames when she was younger. Now, she could only laugh at the memories the pair made. Oh, it felt good to laugh with the red-furred hyena again.

"Eventually, I got to the point where I'd go between Dal and Lia."

Dalia made a show out of rolling her eyes. "At that point, you might as well have just called me my real name."

He sniggered, before sticking his tongue out at her. "Where's the fun in that?"

"How did these names end up coming about anyway?" Imba questioned. "Especially Dalia the Destroyer?"

Tombie shrugged. "There really wasn't any reason for any of them," he answered truthfully, "I think Dalia the Destroyer cams from an argument which escalated into a name-calling battle."

"And thus the name was born," the lioness finished with a shake of the head. A brief silence ensued, and Dalia looked to Tombie then to Madoa. Since meeting the clan, she wondered how Tombie met them in the first place. "So, Tombie, how did you meet Madoa and Jasiri?"

Tombie laughed, the warm sound ringing through the cavern. He tilted his head back as he tried to remember. "It's a long story," he admitted.

"We've got time," Imba pointed out, gesturing to the rain still pattering outside.

This time, Madoa laughed. "That we do," she agreed with a nod. She looked to the ceiling of the cavern. "Where to begin?" she asked herself in a soft tone, furrowing her brows in concentration as she tried to remember the series of events.

Jasiri snickered. "How about we start at the beginning?"

Madoa rolled her eyes at her sister's snark and puts a paw over Tombie's as she recalls the story. Dalia noticed this gesture and didn't hesitate to flash Tombie a teasing glance, waggling her eyebrows at him playfully. He adverted eye contact with the lioness and turned his face away cheekily.

Madoa didn't take any notice of the interaction and continued. "It all started when one day, Jasiri and I had left the pups at home and decided to venture out and bring back food for the pups."

Jasiri tipped her head into a nod, showing her agreement. "Under normal circumstances, we wouldn't have left the pups alone," she added. "We had told them not to leave the cavern but, as expected, they didn't listen..."

{FLASHBACK}

Jasiri gave the pups a hard glare.

For the past few minutes, she had been politely asking the twins to sit still long enough for them to listen to her instructions. Her attempt had been to no avail as the kids were still running around feverishly. "Wema! Tunu!" she finally shouted, startling the pups enough for them to sit still.

Madoa approached from behind the pups, glowering down at the pups. Once the pups were still, Madoa's face softened. "Jasiri and I will be going to fetch you two dinner."

"So we're going to need you to stay in the cavern," Jasiri added, gesturing towards the cavern with her paw.

The pups didn't seem convinced, sticking out their lower lip into a pout. "But—"

"—No buts." Madoa shook her head firmly. Being a young hyena herself, she could empathize with the pups' disdain towards staying put. However, there could be no disagreements on this matter. "It's not safe for your little ones to be out and about by yourselves. So, I'm going to need the two of you to listen to me and stay in the cavern until we return."

They still didn't seem too happy about the arrangement, but reluctantly nodded their heads in agreement. Tails drooping, they made their way into the cavern.

"I feel bad," Jasiri sighed, "We've not been giving them as much time to run around. Pups should have that freedom."

Madoa made a 'tsking' noise with her tongue, showing her disapproval as well.

"I know, I know." The hyena turned to her side, stretching out her leg. "But our priority right now isn't to have fun; it's to survive." Jasiri's gaze was still fixed on the ground, but she didn't argue any further. She knew her sister was right, but that didn't make it any easier. "C'mon, Jasiri," Madoa beckoned, "We best be going."

. . .

It had been a few hours since Jasiri and Madoa left, and the pups were getting restless.

Wema kicked herself off of the wall, head-butting her brother hard in the side. He let out a yelp before rabbit-kicking her away from him. The she-pup landed against the cavern wall with a 'thud', knocking the air out of her lungs. After a quick glance to make sure his sister wasn't actually hurt, Tunu let out a long yawn.

It sure was boring staying here in the cavern.

"I'm so bored," Tunu complained, resting his chin on his paws and tapping his tail against the rocky ground.

Wema furrowed her brow and approached her brother, tapping his side with her paw. "It's not that bad, Tunu," she offered. "Besides, we've got each other, right?"

"Right," Tunu replied, "But I much rather play outside of this dumb cavern."

The she-pup tilted her head to the side. "Tunu, I thought you liked the cavern!"

Tunu gave a sharp shake of the head. "Only for a few hours, but it's getting so boring," he rebuffed.

Wema plopped onto the ground, her paws splayed out from under her in exasperation. Honestly, dealing with her brother sure is tiring. "Okay, genius," she retorted, rolling her eyes, "Whatcha say we do, then?"

A mischievous glint bounced off his eyes, one his sister is all too familiar with. "I say we take a little break from the cavern."

. . .

The two pups wandered out of the cavern, chasing each other about the long corridors of the Outlands. Tunu tackled his young sister to the ground, to which she quickly wiggled her way out from under him. Wema in turn tackled him to the ground, her brother letting out an annoyed grunt in response.

In their escapade, the two pups hadn't realized just how far they had ventured from the safety of their cavern. Wema rolled off her brother, looking around the unfamiliar grooves of the canyon walls.

"Tunu, are we lost?"

Tunu shook his head quickly, not missing a beat, but his sister noticed the uneasy look in his eyes. Tunu turned around, facing the fork in the path from which they came. They wound up there by following either the left or right path.

"Of course not, Wema, we just gotta go that way," he pointed to the left before furrowing his eyebrows together. "Or was it that way?"

Wema groaned. "Great! We're lost!"

"Nuh-uh," Tunu rebuffed, "I'm pretty sure home's that way." Once again, he pointed to the left. Wema flashed him a dubious glance but nodded her head reluctantly. She had to take her chances and follow her brother. They slowly ventured down the left fork in the path, creeping along cautiously.

As the pups glanced around, they realized that the path was unfamiliar to them. Swallowing hard, Wemu turned around to her brother. To her surprise, when she glanced around, her brother wasn't there.

"Tunu?" she called and turned her head around sharply, realizing they somehow got separated.

How could they've gotten separated? She was looking away for one minute!

"Wema!" His distant voice cried out.

Instantly, panic filled the young pup. "Tunu!" she called back, running in the direction of his cries.

As she neared the sound of the cries, she could also pick up unknown laughter. She recognized it as a hyena's laugh. She rounded another corner, where she saw her brother. Only, her brother wasn't alone. Flanking on either side of her brother were two unknown hyenas, one with a lopsided tongue and the other with an abnormally large head.

"Wema!" He cried again, frightened eyes widening at the sight of the foreign hyenas.

Wema recognized the hyenas as members of Janja's clan, though she didn't quite remember their names. Emerging from behind the two hyenas flanking her brother, Janja walked into view, an eery smile lopsided on his face.

"Well, what do we have here?" Janja snarled menacingly.

Tunu shrank back, making himself seem smaller than he is.

One hyena, the big-headed one, replied dumbly, "Uh, we got two pups, Janja."

The other hyena, the one with the lopsided tongue, nodded in an agreement. "they were on our territory too, Chungu."

Wema looked up, mustering up as much courage as possible. "I'm sorry, s-sir, we didn't know we were on your territory. Please let my brother go!"

"We won't bother you again!" Tunu added.

Janja didn't answer, instead cocking his head to the side with amusement. "Hold on a sec, fellas," he held out a paw, halting his goons, "These pups look a bit familiar, don't ya think?"

"Oh, yeah," the hyena with the lopsided tongue nodded. He grinned as well, which looked weird given his oral issue. "They're Jasiri's siblings, right?"

"Chungu," Janja barked at the big-headed one, "Hold down the boy."

"Hey!" Wema protested, watching in horror as the big-headed hyena, Chungu, held her brother down with a paw. Tunu let out a squeak, looking up at Chungu with righteous indignation. "That's my brother!" she cried angrily, bravely running forward to the aid of her brother.

Janja smirked before turning to the hyena with the lopsided tongue. "Cheezi, get the other one!"

Cheezi ran forward, pushing Wema back against the wall before holding her down as well with a paw. Wema and Tunu both squirmed and squealed, crying out for their sisters' aid.

Janja took a step forward, smirking triumphantly. "I say we keep 'em here 'till Jasiri comes around," he said, looking around at his crew. "Whatcha' say, boys?"

"Yeah!" Cheezi agreed, and Chungu nodded his head.

Janja began to snicker but stopped when he picked up the sound of approaching paw steps. Wema turned her head around as far as she could to see the source of the noise. A new hyena walked into the opening of the gorge, an eyebrow quirked and a smirk spread across his muzzle. Stripes ran the length of his back and an unusual red color tinted his fur.

Tilting his head to the side, he narrowed his eyes at Janja.

"Fellas," the new hyena drawled out slowly, shifting his weight to the other paw, "You think you're real brave picking on a couple of kids, don't ya?"

Janja took a step forward, eyebrows furrowing. "Who were you?" he snarled, "Ya' know what? I don't care — just get outta here before we make ya'."

The hyena snickered, shaking his head lightly. "Yeah, that's not how this is going to work." Tensing his muscles, he flashed the other two hyenas a menacing glare. "The name's Tombie. I'm not native to these lands, so I'm not sure how you run things around here." He took a step forward. "But I do know that you're gonna let those kids go 'before I make ya'."

All the while, the pups stared, terrified, at the encounter.

Janja let out a groan of annoyance. "It's three against one," he reminded.

Tombie slid out his claws, the black claws touching the rocky ground beneath him. "I'll take my chances," he growled, narrowing his eyes at the three hyenas.

Without another word, Tombie ran past Janja swiftly, taking him by surprise. He then knocked over Cheezi and Chungu in one blow. The two hyenas rolled into each other before rolling down the rocky hill behind them. Janja watched his henchmen roll down the hill, disappearing from view, leaving just him and Tombie.

"Looks like it's one against one, now," Tombie teased snarkily.

Wema and Tunu seized the opportunity and ran past Janja and Tombie. Janja growled at Tombie one last time, to which Tombie growled back. Janja wisely decided to leave the situation and started running away from Tombie.

Over his shoulder, Janja turned his head, a snarl present on his face. "This isn't over, freak!"

The red-furred hyena snickered and yelled out taunts as Janja fled. Tombie turned his head around briefly, and he could only see the pups rounding a corner before they ran out of sight. "Run, kids, and don't stop till you're home!" Tombie called after them.

"Thank you, mister!" Wema and Tunu's voice sounded distant as they didn't bother to waste time thanking Tombie face-to-face.

{End of Flashback}

"And after I single-handedly saved those pups," Tombie continued dramatically, to which Dalia snorts, "I decided just to make sure they got home safe."

Madoa chuckled softly, her eyes full of affection towards the red-furred hyena. "After that, we let him stick around our territory and, slowly, he made his way into our clan."

"And Madoa's heart, "Jasiri added teasingly, batting her eyelashes mockingly at her sister and Tombie.

Dalia and Imba giggled, and Dalia noticed Tombie and Madoa both adverting eye contact. She decided that she would tease Tombie a great deal.

Tombie cleared his throat, changing the topic. "Back to the point," he cleared his throat once more, glaring daggers at Jasiri before continuing. "Jasiri and Madoa have both been good to me, and I love being around the pups as troublesome as they may be."

As if on cue, the two pups tumbled out of one of the tunnels and landed in between Jasiri and Madoa. The older sisters laughed before nudging the pups back on their feet. The pups started yawning, and Wema rubbed her tired eye with the back of her paw.

"Looks like someone's a little sleepy," Jasiri said in a sing-song voice.

Imba also yawns, covering it with her wing. "Make that two." Imba ducked her head down to preen her feathers a bit. "I think I'll hit the hay too." Taking a quick peek outside, the eagle realized it's still raining outside. "Sorry to be a bother," she said apologetically, "As soon as the rain stops, we'll be out of your fur."

"It's no bother," Jasiri assured.

Imba flashed her an appreciative glance before flying over to a ledge. Scanning the cavern, she swiftly picked up pieces of moss from around the space and piled them up on the ledge. Settling herself into her freshly made, make-shift, nest, she let out a content sigh.

Madoa bent down, grabbing Tunu by the scruff and ignoring his indignant protests to be put down. "It's time for bed," she chided gently. Turning back around to Tombie and Dalia, she smiled warmly at the sight of the two friends reuniting. "Jasiri and I'll put the pups down for bed."

"We'll leave the two of you to catch up," Jasiri added before bending down to pick up Wema by the scruff as well. Unlike her brother, Wema didn't put up much of a protest and Dalia suspected the girl pup was too tired to put up a fight.

The two older hyenas guided their younger siblings into a different room in the cavern, which Dalia assumed is their resting area. Once they were gone, Dalia turned to Tombie with a smirk.

"You've got a clan and a mate, now?" Dalia teased, quirking an eyebrow. She spoke quietly, considerate of those who were trying to get some rest.

Tombie smiled cheekily. "Madoa's not my mate," he insisted.

"Yet," the lioness added quickly. When he shook his head 'no', she nudges him with a paw. "C'mon, Tombie. Give me the juicy details!"

The hyena put his paws up in surrender. "There were no details to give, Lia," he replied. Tilting his head to the side, he added, "But... when there were any more additions to the story, I'll be sure to let you know."

Dalia's grin widened at the last comment. Leaning her head against the rocky wall behind her, she closed her eyes briefly and is taken back home. She can almost picture the vast expanse of rocky gorges that they once called home.

She turned to look at him. "Do you ever miss home?"

Tombie sat up straighter, careful to phrase his words correctly. "I used to," he admitted after a few moments. "I used to a lot, actually." Sighing, he turned to face the lioness. "But now, I've found where I belong. You're mother and the others were always so good to me, but I feel like I've finally found my family." Tombie gestured around the cavern. "This is my home, not up north."

Dalia gave a half-smile. It was a bittersweet moment, really. She was beyond happy that her friend had matured, settling down with a clan and finding a family. At the same time, she couldn't help but feel choked up thinking of the memories they shared when they were young. "I'm happy for you, Tombie. I really am."

"What about you, Lia?" Tombie lifted an eyebrow. "You ever want to go back home?"