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Celosia remembered what daddy had told her - the water was playing hide-and-seek, and that it didn't want to be found. Celosia thought the water must have been scared - hiding so long with no one knowing where it was. She knew she got scared when she played that game and no one found her for a long time. So that must have been what the adults meant when they said 'scarce!' Silies! didn't they know how to say 'scared' right?

Obviously the young one didn't fully understand what was going on. If she did, maybe she wouldn't have wondered away from the den to try finding that poor, scared, water!

Maybe she was old enough to finally have the truth broken to her. She wasn't exactly a young cub anymore, but she wasn't a big kid yet either, but surely she'd understand, right? She'd understand that no, the water wasn't hiding, wasn't playing any game, and it wasn't scared. Would she still search for it then if given the truth? For mommy and daddy and all of her siblings? For those she didn't know, and didn't know her? What good could a young, naive, girl do anyway?

Except prove that there was heart in the Firekin youth. An internal flame that wouldn't fizzle or be stifled by any drought.

...

It was admirable, but stupid.

She'd wandered away from her family again, and this time she'd brought her snake companion. Soleil padded along the sand, not seeming to notice the green snake's weight. After all, the way the reptile popped out against her red coat, it was very complimentary and all the more worthy to admire! And admire, she imagined, others did. Especially the unrelated boys.

Which was cast from her mind as she spotted Celosia. The gold-eyed cub tilted her head for a moment, before glancing at Hinata. "I wonder what she's up to..." Without waiting, the cub took off after the other young lion. As she got closer, she glanced at the other. "What're you doing?"










"Probably looking to do something with her time." Besides bask in the sun, that was. Hinata, shifting on Soleil's neck, flicked her tongue at the other lion. "I think I've seen you around... Your parents are... Um..." She rubbed her tail on her cheek. "The angry medic lady's niece, right?"

Celosia would be a little sad that she made Mpeko worry, but she was sure the water was even more worried. However the thought that Mpeko would be coming to find her never entered her mind. Instead, she stopped as another youth came up to her.


Wide-eyed and with a smile, Celosia proudly proclaimed, "I'm gonna find water! Oh~" the young one then looked at Hinata with facination and thought of her other's own snake friend.

"Angry medic lady?" Celosia wasn't good at remembering who was who in her vast extended family, especially by reputation.

"My mommy is the lady Azar." not to be confused with the boy Azar. But of course she meant the female one! Guys couldn't be mommies!


Another bright smile was given to the pair. Her ears flicked when she heard the talking pair headed in their direction. Unbeleivably the young one's face grew even brighter as she recognized one of them.

"Hraga!"

"Hey, hey!" Hraga said merrily, knocking his head against the cub's shoulder. While the boy might have been obnoxious, he was far from lacking in affection. The sight of the little crowd delighted him. "What's going on? It looks like I'm missing out!"

Tarsa was less optimistic. Particularly with a snake rambling about his dad. "Whatever," he muttered. His eyes flecked towards Hraga, who was still chumming it up with his relatives. "Come on Hraga, we were going home-..." Also, about to have a fight. Boy things, you know.

Hraga did a good show of ignoring him. At the moment, he was all toothy grins. "You talkin about Ea? Did you know she had a bunch of babies? Yeah? Mom was real mad 'cause she didn't tell no one. Yeah, they yelled a lot." But that conversation was hardly the purpose of this occasion! In fact, Hraga seemed a bit surprised to hear Celosia confess to searching. "Really? You're lookin' for water?"

"There's no water," Tarsa snapped. "All the others are looking. I should know, all they've got us apprentices doing half the day is helping water-seekers."

Hraga flattened his ears. "Well, there's gotta be some water somewhere, you know? It didn't just go."

"I hear it did. Shouldn't you know, Hraga? You're so dumb sometimes your parents are in charge and you don't even know," the big cub said.

"Nah-uh. There's also monsters in the desert too, doofus. Who cares about no water when there's monsters? Didn't you hear what those Hongface lions say? All monsters. Maybe they drank up the water."

Soleil's ears went back. "The water is playing hide-and-seek...?" She thought about it. Well, Keahilani HAD mentioned digging... And so had Uncle Rowtag... And... A few others. She shook her head. "My parents have been talking about leaving... Until the water comes back..." She didn't want to leave, especially now. She hadn't even fully grown up yet. Suddenly her ears pricked. "Hey, why don't we all go look in the eastern desert? Or the north. Maybe we'll find something the adults haven't!"

The snake shifted, her eyes dancing. "And while we're out there, we can say hello to the invaders that drove out our new pride members from THEIR old pride!" The snake turned her head upside down, then frowned at the cubs. "Wouldn't it be wise to go back to the cub sitters? I think that big fat white one with the purple eyes has some ticklish spots we can all take advantage of." She, at least, thought it was funny to see lions squirm as they were tickled. "Or, we can all find a nice, sunny rock... Warm ourselves.. Take a good nap..." Not use energy...

"I'm so confused," Celosia said, still pouting. Obviously Tarsa's words gave her some doubt, but then Hraga ended up restoring it, and now she was wavering about what was true.

She looked to Soleil, "I don't want anyone to leave~. Maybe we should look. After all, what do adults know about playing hide-and-seek anyway!?"

Soleil grinned, then opted to swat Tarsa's nose with her tail. "Majority rules, Tarsa!" She then started eastward, head high. "Now let's go find that water! I bet it's here somewhere!" Maybe they'd find a river, or a lake so deep it couldn't dry up! She paused, looking back at the other young lions. "Unless you're all AFRAID of the big wide desert..."

Tongue flicking, Hinata slid off Soleil's neck... And then curled around her legs, trying to bind them together. "I would say it's not so much the big wide desert that's worth being afraid of... But strange lions. You never know what a stranger might do. Cubnap you, kill you... Hold you for ransom of the only water left in the desert.." In all, she could think of nothing pleasant coming of this expedition. "Never mind what your parents will all do."

Hraga and Tarsa turned their heads rather indignantly towards the lioness. They might not have agreed on...well, much of anything, but the two boys did know when they were being patronized. And both hated being called cubs. "We're apprentices!" Hraga proudly proclaimed. "I'm just coming back from my patrols. I know the desert really well!"

The larger cub furrowed his brow. "Yeah, what he said. No stupid bird is going to take me away, that's like lesson one."

Hraga nodded. "Yeah, and we're protecting the ladies. So we don't need a nanny." His chest puffed out.

"Also, we have permission from the regents," Tarsa said smugly.

Hraga paused. They did? Tarsa might not have been afraid of invoking his parents' names, but Hraga sure did! If there was one thing that made mom mad, it was her cubs trying to get special treatment. But...well... maybe this was an okay situation... "Yeah, my mom totally knows where I am."

The young soldier nodded. "See. So, we're going to go."

Hraga started to trot backwards, motioning for the other cubs to follow. "Yeah, we're gonna go now...!"