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This morning, Amani was out strolling the lands, as she was more and more recently, since the birth of six younger siblings. Such an amount boggled her; she didn't see how her mother had managed to carry them all. And it was truly no wonder Nyunya was so occupied recently. The little cubs needed their mother very much at this age, and so she didn't mind it, really, but the fact still remained that she was getting lonely now. Rengo had run off somewhere, and though Njozi had returned, he was most often away doing who knew what. The young female had taken to wandering more and more, just so that she wasn't at home being partially ignored by her mother and terrorised by the cubs.

It wasn't long, however, before she came upon Mbali. She stopped in mid-stride, and a small, worried frown creased her maw. He looked very down over something, and it made Amani wonder if she should intrude. She didn't know this male (there were a lot of lions in the Kusini lands, and not all of them were necessarily part of the pride, as rogues stopped by occasionally on their way through the world), and he could very well want to be left alone. Besides, if he was in a bad mood, he could be snappish. Still... she should at least try to cheer him up, shouldn't she?

Making up her mind, she altered her direction slightly and moved toward the unhappy male. "Um... hello?"

Mbali's smile didn't seem as though it was completely genuine. It looked to her as though he was forcing his muscles to turn the opposite way they wanted to go, but she didn't let that stop her smiling back at him. If he wanted to frown, he really must be upset, and poking at whatever had made him sad would only make it worse, in her opinion. Best to try and distract him with her cheerfulness, see if it rubbed off on him at all. She wasn't all that confident that it would, but it was worth a try, at least.

"I'm Amani," she replied, as she strode toward Mbali. He seemed friendly enough, so she had no qualms moving closer to him. "Uh... born and raised here," she added, a reply to his comment about his place of birth, as it seemed only right to answer fully. She assumed he said it just to inform her that he lived here, so she returned the favour. It was time she started meeting pride members, rather than just wandering around on her own musing about random things. This was a perfect start.

She allowed herself to sit in front of him, nodding her head. "Yes, I have lived here all my life. But to be honest, I've spent most of my time here with my family. There are so many of us, after all, trailing down from Asi'kari and Mng'Ariza... It's just quite a chore mingling with everyone you're so closely connected to. I haven't had much time to get out and meet anyone else. A couple here and there, but most of the time I just want to have some peace and quiet when I'm away from home, you know?"

She shrugged her shoulders slightly. That was how it had been up until this point, at the very least. Now, thanks to the arrival of the cubs, she'd been out and about much more. She was so used to having company around her that wandering around like this, day after day, seemed really lonely after a while. That was why she decided she needed a few friends around the place. "But it's time I started mingling away from the family. So that's what I'm doing." She paused here, her eyes passing slowly over his face. "What about you, though? I haven't seen you around before, but do you know many lions here?"

Amani was quite taken aback by what Mbali told her. Not that he was spilling his dark secrets to a stranger, but that someone he cared for (and part of Amani's family, no less) could be so mean to him. It sounded as though Bari had pretty much abandoned her cubs, as well. Amani may feel like she was being overrun with cubs back home, and that she needed to get away from them all for a little while each day, but she loved them dearly nonetheless. Even though they weren't her own, she would protect them as fiercely as a mother if the need arose. And she would look after them if she needed to. Really, she only escaped for peace and quiet because she could.

Her ruby eyes were full of sympathy as she spoke. "I'm sorry to hear that. It sounds like you've had things pretty rough, and now you're all alone. Now I know why you look so blue." She didn't know how to help Mbali but to stand there and let him talk. She just hoped it was enough.

No one ever had accused Amani of being of incredible intelligence, but she wasn't stupid, and was at least smart enough to pick up on Mbali's obvious desire to change the subject. Respecting his wishes to not talk about his ex-mate, Amani smiled brightly. "Well, I like to spend time with my close family, mostly. When my little brothers and sister aren't making a ruckus at home, that is."

She made a 'hmm'ing sound at the next question, wrinkling her nose as she thought about it, then suddenly an idea literally popped into her head. "Oh, I know!" she said abruptly. "There's a big forest on the edge of the lands that everyone says is haunted. I've been in there loads of times, though, and I've never seen anything like that... but even so, there are a lot of interesting places in there, if you have the time to explore all of it. It is kinda creepy, though."

Amani pursed her lips silently as she thought about that. Sure, she knew lots of places that she found fun and interesting, but drawing on her experiences with males (her brothers, mostly), she didn't really think Mbali would want to see any of those things. Boys generally didn't want to sit in patches of wild flowers and daydream, or watch the sun filter prettily through the trees in a way that looked almost magical. No... from what she could tell, they liked the more creepy things, and since those areas had been ones Amani had avoided, she didn't know what to show Mbali.

But then she brightened as a sudden thought hit her. "Actually, for a while now, I've been looking for something very special in the forest. It's a place my mother told me about. Apparently, it's where she and my father first revealed their feelings for each other. It's supposed to be a very beautiful place, but it's quite far in. I haven't found it yet." She smiled up at Mbali. "You can help me try to find it, if you'd like."