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So, Captain Ruzanski had returned triumphant with his band. Solv had been brooding on this fact for several hours, growing more and more irate about the fact that that lion star had not failed his quest. It was petty and spiteful, but Solv had been irritated by how quickly the lion had risen in the pride, becoming a captain while he was still an adolescent, allying himself with the warlord's family. Even the fact that he had allied himself with a disgraced and exiled warlord did not seem to have damaged his reputation upon his return because of the falling out between him and Aesir before the warlord was defeated. It was just so unfair. Some people lived ******** charmed lives.

At least, Solv reflected nastily, Ruzanski didn't have his lover waiting for him at home. Kazul had vanished. Dead in childbirth, some said, or fled, according to others. Solv didn't care which one it was. He and Aesir's daughter had never gotten along, and he wasn't sorry to see her family in its present situation, but for the unorthodox way Njal had dealt with them. That had been unsettling. You defeated a lion in the breytast vindar and you took his rank. You didn't exile him. You certainly didn't enthrall his family or threaten them with death or exile. Even when they were entirely too proud or too freaky and fey.

He needed some good news.

Alehandra tore into the hare that she had managed to catch earlier that day. She had been hungrier than usual. Ravenous even, to the point where she was hunting and eating three or four times a day. She had begun to think maybe she was just stressed out, since she had always been a stress eater. But no, she didn't have much to stress about. With Ru's return, Ali was hopeful she would be able to rejoin her Reaver status once more.
For now, however, she was kept busy with hunting and making sure Solv was happy.

Solv. The thought of the lion made her shake her head with a chuckle. He was a handsome guy, though a bit stubborn. She knew she could handle him. She wasn't sure if love was what she felt. She enjoyed him, she enjoyed his time and his songs. But the idea of love confused her.. That was..until she figured out what the weight gain had been all about.

She was tearing into the hare, when something in her abdomen gave her a sharp kick to her insides. She jumped, her eyes widening as she gulped down her bite. She looked around her, feeling like maying something had run into her.. But nothing was there, and about the time she relaxed it happened again.

"Uh oh." She said, and then looked back towards the pridelands. She supposed it was time to head home after all, though now her tummy felt like it was carrying butterflies for how nervous she was. She knew the issue now, though she was excited she was curious about how Solv would feel about the situation.

Once the lioness described the direction Alehandra was moving in, Solv extricated himself from the conversation with alacrity. He knew where she was going. She was going back to her den, where her adopted daughter would, no doubt, be assisting with the birth. He supposed he could fetch a priestess or a lawspeaker, if he felt like being helpful, but he wasn't on good terms with any of the lawspeakers and the priestesses were just unsettling females. First he'd have a look at the litter, he decided.

Probably they were his, he reasoned as he walked at a deliberately slow pace. He didn't want anyone to think he was in a hurry. He often shared her den, and on those nights he knew she was not with any other males. The nights he was not there, he still doubted she entertained other males. It wasn't her way. But he was a suspicious lion by nature, and accustomed to being the butt of jokes. If these cubs didn't resemble him closely, he would not admit to siring them. That would be better than becoming a source of laughter for the pride.

Still. It would be good to have sons. His parents were dead, so he couldn't rub their noses in the fact he had fathered sons, but he knew. Well. Maybe. He didn't know yet.

The labor didn't take long, as Ali had apparently been further along in labor than she had thought that morning. Her body was tired, and she felt herself sag against the earth as she just took deep breaths. Astrid was there to offer her love, and support. Admiring the little ones with glee. Ali lifted her head, looking to the seven little bundles that were curled against her belly. She noted the splotchy markings on a few of them, and smiled once she saw her grandmother among the faces of her family she could see in the cubs at her belly. They nursed with great fervor, hungry after their journey into the world.

Ali knew at once, just by looking at them, that they were going to be strong cubs. She could not smell weakness on them, and that gave her heart a sigh of relief. She knew it was the pride's way to not nurse sick or weak lions.. She didn't want to be put in a position where she might have to reject a baby.

Then she smiled as she realized.. She had 6 strong boys, and then one little girl. Solv would be thrilled, just as she was...She hoped anyway. In fact the fear of him knowing she had birthed his cubs had dissipated with the exhaustion. She had never told him of her condition, though she figured he knew. He hadn't been stupid, and she debated sending Astrid to seek him out. She was scared, deep down, though it was hard to keep onto that fear when all she wanted to do was sleep.

"Don't be ridiculous. I know everything that happens in this pride." He managed to sound both arrogant and self-deprecating at the same time. "I was just working on my newest song about a crazy lioness who stole an enormous litter of cubs."

He moved further into the den and shifted so that his form did not block the sun, thus giving himself sufficient light to get a look at the cubs. And Stormlords! There were a lot of them. Most of them looked like either Ali or Solv. Which meant he had...five? No...six? A lot of cubs suddenly.

"For my song...how many cubs did you steal?"

She found herself grinning, and then she laughed before shaking her head. "Ah you be careful now. Call me crazy and I might have to prove it." She said, her voice soft and clearly teasing. She looked down at her babies again, the pride radiating over her face as she looked over each one. She lowered her nose, nuzzling the closest one that had begun blindly wriggling towards her face.

"Seven. Seven little lives." She said, almost breathless at the idea. Though she noted on his features that he didn't really seem surprised that she had given birth. He did, though, seem surprised that he had sired seven of the little rascals.

"You'll be happy to know, you have six boys, and a girl." She knew that boys were sought after to males in this pride. She personally didn't care what she had. She loved them all already. But making Solv proud, well that would be a victory in itself.

"And one girl," he reminded her with a sharp smirk. "You can keep that one."

Oh, take that! Seven cubs, six of them males. He would see they became reavers and captains. It did not occur to him to raise any of them to be bards. Subconsciously, perhaps, he knew that he would hate any cub of his who rose above him in an area he wished to excel in.

"I'll let you sleep, but tomorrow we should have them blessed by a priestess and enter their names in the pride's history." Which would mean talking to a lawspeaker. Bah.