Given what had happened to her lately – namely the terribly distressing birth of a non-noble cub, it was really no wonder that Maua was scrambling to ensure that her children's future was secure. Her noble children that is....Damisi as far as Maua was concerned didn't really have a future worth planning out – commoner lives were far less complicated or important as those of the nobles.

No it was her noble children that Maua was most worried about – she had to make sure, make absolutely sure that none of her children suffered the same fate that she had , no they would all birth perfectly purple children and to that end she'd been scouring the pride and surrounding lands for the second part of her perfect equations - a nice lioness for Zamba and a couple of Lions for the girls. It had taken a good deal of her time and while she suspected that Kivuli knew of her plots and didn't completely agree with them he knew better then to argue it with her thankfully.

And somehow she had managed to convince Zamba to come along with her on this bright morning so that she might point out to him the pretty lioness she had chosen for him. “There you see her? Over by the rocks..she's perfect for you” Maua stated with a confirming nod as she stood with Zamba overlooking the watering hole and the lioness below.

Zamba sighed – really he had only come along on this little adventure because his mother simply wouldn't leave him alone about it – when Maua got something into her head it was generally easier to just go along with it rather then fight it, and going to see this female had seemed pretty harmless to him...though that didn't mean that he was going to let his mother push him around completely..and so while h gazed upon the lioness he had to agree that she was indeed pretty, and it was easy to see why his mother had been drawn to her- she was completely purple after all. “She's lovely mother... but I don't even know her name...” He commented as a way of getting out of this mess.

“Why her name is Porphyra dear...I made sure to at least talk to her before hand of course” Maua told her son with a slight rolling of her eyes – really you'd think she didn't know how to go about these things. “Perhaps if you'd stop training for a day or so you too could get to know the newer members” she pointed out, a comment that had Zamba bristling but biting his tongue.

Porphyra of course had absolutely no idea that she was being watched so closely by Maua and her son – that is until a chance look into the watering hole revealed their reflections from where they stood upon the ledge. “Oh..oh my!” the poor Lioness exclaimed as she jumped a little bit, it seemed she was still getting used to being in a pride and suddenly finding two lions behind her was still a somewhat nerve wracking experience. Once she had regained her composure of course she recognized one of the lions and offered her a shy smile. Maua had seemed nice enough when they first met and while she didn't know the male beside her they had similar markings o she merely assumed it was some family member or another.

She couldn't for the life of her figure out why they were staring at her however and the thought made the tips of her ears feel hot as she quickly turned back to the water “Don't be silly Phy” She mumbled to herself “they're likely looking at the flowers or something else” She assured herself.

“Well now look what you've done mother” Zamba exclaimed as the poor lioness nearly jumped out of her skin upon noticing them, he tried to give the girl a reassuring smile in return but he had already turned back to the water – and by the look on her face fairly embarrassed by the whole situation.

“Nonesense” Declared Maua as she watched the girl turn back to the water “She's just a skittish beast – why the way your father tells it she had a fairly hard time of it out in the rogue lands” She remarked in a sympathetic tone as she watched the girl.

“Really?” Zamba questioned quite before he could stop himself, it wasn't wise to play so easily into his mothers hands of course and he mentally cursed himself and his curiosity – but what could he say he was a sucker for a pity story – especially one that included a damsel in distress.

“Oh yes” Maua told him, keeping her face towards the water so that her son wouldn't notice the satisfied look on her face “Why she was nearly starved, God know she probably hasn't had a kid friend in a long long time. Poor lonely child” She continued, playing Phy up as the victim would only intrigue Zamba – with his desire to protect – all the more.

Phy had just managed to convince herself that the nobles had indeed been looking at something else when she chanced another glance in their direction – just to make sure of course – and caught the two creatures still looking at her...and there really wasn't mistaking it anymore I mean the water hole was nice and all but it wasn't that nice or interesting.

Perhaps she had managed to get something caught in her fur, or stepped in something while she wasn't looking and craning her neck in all directions she searched in vain for a reason they might be staring. Perhaps if she were any other lion she might just go ahead and ask them if they wanted something – but Phy was far far to shy for that sort of thing and so when her search revealed nothing unfortunate stuck to her fur or marring her in any other fashion Phy was at a complete loss and with one last quick glance at the two nobles slunk away around the watering hole to make her escape that way.

Zamba was indeed intrigued but his intrigue lasted only as long as it took for the purple lioness to start slinking off, like she'd done something wrong. He case his mother an annoyed look but she merely blinked back at him innocently. “I expect someone should go an apologize' He remarked pointedly.

“Yes I expect someone should” Maua purred back at her son before turning tail and meandering back up the path leaving Zamba to stare after her retreating form with a look of disbelief.

“well...damn' Zamba remarked in a rare and quiet curse as his mother left him to deal with this situation . Well it didn't have to be a situation he told himself, he could just walk off and leave the purple lioness to her own devices – it wasn't like he had said something rude to her. But even as he thought these things Zamba knew he was not the type of lion to do such things and cursing himself as much as his mother he started after the poor embarrassed Lioness. He'd apologize and then leave her be he told himself. Nothing less and nothing more.

wc - 1246