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Sulking? That's what he thought this was? He thought that Isifo and the others were just sulking? A low growl radiated in Ukuba's throat. It was as if they had gone from being questioned by one of their own to a Firekin within a blink of an eye. At least, that's how he saw it. Once again, he allowed his love for his brother cloud his judgement, although only for a moment. He quickly went on to clear his throat in an attempt to mask the growl.

When Tswana answered, Ukuba gave a nod. Possessed by a thirst for knowledge, he had asked Miah many many questions, only to recieve absolutely nothing in return. Like Tswana had said though, they had not pressured him. Why would they? He saved their lives. "You have seen for yourselves what Miah is like. You are more likely to draw blood from a stone than you are to draw answers from that lion's mouth."

Ever the calculator, Ukuba raised a paw to rub his head, which was now buzzing with thoughts. "Although I always attempt to work out every possible solution to whatever problems I am faced with, at no point did it occur to me that he might be one of them." His purple eyes flashed darkly. "If it does turn out that this was all a Nergui plot, then I can only apologise that our 'release' brought it about." The red and black male was sounding quite bitter at this point.

When Zheva spoke up, Ukuba let out a soft sigh. He had always admired her ability to keep the peace when tempers were getting out of hand. Although he himself didn't have a temper as such, when it came to his brother, he was quite quick to rush to his defense and even take things the wrong way. Of course, what she said was right. They shouldn't be bickering with each other.

Before he got a chance to apologise though, the Firekin named Elcca spoke up. When she asked about a leader, Ukuba looked at each Hongshan individually. "I do not recall ever meeting anyone of note. We were not always kept together though, so perhaps someone else may have seen a leader?" By some small mercy, Ukuba had been kept with his brother almost all of the time. That had been all that mattered to him back then. Although, now that he thought about it, he and Isifo weren't treated quite as poorly as a lot of the other Hongshan. Why was that?

Thabiti laid silently, listening to the others as he tried to collect his thoughts. His universal tongue, spoken by the natives, wasn't strong and collected as Ukuba or Roho or Nawvlee. "I did not trust him the time he came to us that night," he started, interjecting and returning the subject back to Miah's first appearance during their departure from the Nergui lands. "We all weak from the work they made us do. We were not all trusting of him, but what choice we have?" He did not mention it but the expression on his face said it. He hated himself for jumping at the opportunity of leaving. He did not trust him and yet he agreed the moment the option was offered. Was his mind at such conflict? Perhaps it was because of the mindless things that the Nergui made him do. "I did not question him. I should have. But if we did not have him, we not escape. We escape, we deal with him after. We needed escape from Nergui."

The dark, masked lion shook his head as he started into his paws. That night was a blurr in his mind. He remembered most of that day but the night into which they left for freedom from the grasps of monsters. It was the conversation of a 'leader' figure that made him think back.

"They made me do things a lot. Strange things. Walk to cliff, they laugh, then take me back. Walk the valley. Dig for nothing. Bury bones then dig back up to bury again. But... I always saw one lion there. He did not do anything. He watches. When I did the strange things, he'd leave, they laughed, and then brought me back." Thabiti recalled as he remembered that day. Specifically, it was the day he was made to walk the valley, circle back to walk back where he circled. He was tired, malnourished, that as soon as he returned to the holding place of teh Hongshan, he had passed out. It was the commotion that woke him to Miah's appearance, catching what he was saying midway through. "But... he too far for me to see good."

"You think Miah let us go for Nergui have reason to war with... Fire-kin?"

Tswana lowered her ears at the sound of a growl, and glanced sideways at Ukuba. By the time she did that, though, he had already attempted to just pass it off as if he had just been clearing his throat. She frowned, not quite liking that it seemed even amongst themselves they weren't getting along too well. She was happy when Thabiti and Zheva spoke, because they were usually rather reasonable. Especially Zheva.

"Strange things." Tswana agreed, unsheathing her claws to knead the sand. Digging, they had done lots of it, yes. "Sometimes it was like they looking for stuff." She frowned. Once or twice she had found a rock, and the rock would get looked at, then promptly tossed away. "Maybe superstition. Maybe just to make us stupid." They had seemed superstitious, in some ways.

She furrowed her brow at the name Nawvlee said. It seemed familiar, and that probably meant it was attached to something unpleasant. She let her expression to the questioning, what was he talking about?

"Graos oma..." Elcca repeated. She hadn't heard that term before. It was such a guttural word. Like some sort of dark, ancient art. Foreign on the tongue, but it brought nothing to mind. She wasn't sure if she found that aggravating or alluring. It kept her lost in thought for a few moments, completely glossing over the rest of what was said.

By the time she returned back to her head, the older lioness was just finishing speaking. They were still hung up on Miah? Her nose crinkled. While she was sure the odd lion still held some important piece to this puzzle, his allegiance to them all seemed hardly consequential to the grand scheme of things! She pressed her paws together, stewing.

"After this attack, I do not think the firekin will simply be keeping their eyes open," she said. Something would be done, that was for certain. "The firekin are a large force. Does the Nergui have the numbers to overpower such a pride?"

Her tail twisted. Graos Oma. "I always heard their numbers were great, but if they simply were looking for another land to conquer, why launch such a small attack? All the Nergui have ensured is that the firekin are warned. Did they stage such an attack on your lands? Were you warned?"

Nawvlee stayed quiet from the moment he last spoke, still considering the dark words he had spoken. It was significant, something he had heard muttered more than enough times while held by the Nergui. He glanced to Zheva when she protested the suspicion placed on Miah and decidedly ignored it, for now. These Hongshan were changed, or perhaps he had not known these individuals well enough.

"I'd say numbers are comparable, though I couldn't know on the current state of the Nergui," he added to Ukuba's comment about the sizes of the prides, "There are many more Firekin than the ones seen today. And with or without a warning, the threat of the Nergui is being taken seriously and I will make sure it continues to be taken seriously."

He wasn't going to let the Firekin make the same mistakes the Hongshan had. He looked over to Roho, who was now standing at his side. Perhaps she had been right when the spoke early, he felt the same loyalty to the Firekin (and hatred of the Nergui) that he imagined made her suggest they had a duty to stay and help even if they were evicted. It was an unexpected feeling, and knowing what Roho had said was the only thing that made it seem allowable.

The other Hongshan would get there, given the time to settle and adjust. For now, he couldn't let the tension and judgment get to him.

Roho had been very quiet for a moment, until of course, the word of Graos Oma sprung from a few mouths. The memory snapped into place and she remembered it clearly, spoken amongst the Nergui ranks in hushed, respectful voices. What was to say it was the name of their leader, though? Perhaps it was the name of a god or some other odd, Nergui thing. Nothing they had done had ever seemed to make much sense to her. It seemed that a longer time spent around them had not made much difference. This band seemed just as confused by their odd behaviour.

"They are foreign and strange. Nothing they do seems to make sense. But perhaps they are looking for something. Perhaps that's what this is all about." But digging? What good ever came from digging in the ground? Surely they could not be digging for water. And what could be so important that they were driven to such bloodthirsty methods?

Perhaps the answer to all this was very simple. Maybe it seemed meaningless because it was meaningless. The Nergui could all be utterly insane, blundering across the lands in a blood-frenzy. Perhaps Graos Oma was some strange deity that was ruling them and guiding them. Even still, there was no more time to ponder it. Elcca had asked a question and the answer she had received was not satisfactory to the young warrior.

"No, Ukuba." Roho intervened. "You were not there, but the Nergui did send a small group ahead of their main force." She looked to Elcca now, whom strangely she did not distrust as much as she might have expected. She, at least, was asking good questions. "There was very little warning, I admit, but the small band approached some of our guards at the mountain pass. There was an attempt at communication but their language was hard to grasp. It was only a few short moments, but the Nergui seemed to give up quite quickly. By the time our leader was called forwards to try and interpret their words, it was too late." She shook her head. "Perhaps they were merely warning us of our coming deaths." Her eyes grew solemn. "The Hongshan were a young pride, we were vastly outnumbered, but the Firekin is a large force. Perhaps, because our numbers are spread so wide, the Nergui do not understand the true extent of the power of the Firekin."

She blinked and looked across at Sjari. He had been silent up until now and she wondered what trauma the poor thing had suffered to have retreated so deeply into himself.

"We don't seem to be getting any answers at all." She concluded after a moment. The Firekin would not be content with what they had learned so far.

Nawvlee sighed, he had never expected to get much new information out of the Hongshan from this questioning though he had had some small hope they might have discovered something that explained it all in the time since his own group had gotten away.

"Don't worry," he said, addressing Roho, Thabiti and their concerns about not having answers, "It is most important none of you are implicated in the attack, and I will stand for each of you on that count. We have never fully understood the motives of the Nergui, everybody wants there to be a simple answer but we haven't found it yet. And none of us are to blame for that."