"Do you think it will be okay?" Asked a pretty pink and purple lioness, walking next to a much larger black male. His pastel rainbow mane bounced up and down as he nodded, his intention only to comfort the female at his side.

"Of course," the male responded, "you heard the rumors- there's a new king in charge now. The son of the old ruler is now back in the pride and has taken control of everything. It's no longer the king who was so against us being together." He gave the girl a light nuzzle, but it didn't seem to do much good. The female stopped in her tracks, looking down at the dried ground at her feet. Shifting her claws in the dirt, she nervously brought her eyes back up to the male she had been walking with.

"Ninniach... what if this new king is even worse than his father? What if he doesn't even allow lions without purple in their coat? I've heard that he is a completely purple lion, just like his father was..."

"Being purple doesn't mean you follow those old rules- you have purple, and you're better than any other noble that once lived there. You never judged me based on my fur color, and we shouldn't judge him. We don't even know him . but the rumors say he's not like his father... I've heard he's actually very kind..." He watched the female, who looked less then sure. "Hathel," he offered softly, "if you don't want to go back, we don't have to. We can find another pride... another home...."

"No, Ninniach," Hathel replied, offering him a faint smile, "this is our home, and we were never going to run away forever, right? We just... needed to be together and this place would not have allowed it back then. Hearing that things are different now... I really want to be here. This is my home. I just... I'm scared that we'll find the rumors aren't true. What if it's some kind of trap?"

The male frowned, nodding slowly. "I know, I know. It does seem like it's too good to be true. But you're right- this place is our home, and I want to return to it, too. With you. Whatever we find, we'll make it work, okay? You don't have to be afraid. Nothing that happens in that pride is going to make me leave you, so you're not going to have to worry about anything like that."

Finally, she seemed to grow a bit more confident again, giving him a snuggle as she scooted closer to his large frame. She sighed softly against his dark fur, cuddled against him. "I love you so much... and I just want a pride where that's okay."

"Hopefully our former pride will be that place now," chuckled Ninniach.

Hathel nodded, before getting herself to her paws to start heading forward again. She smiled. "It's strange. I'm scared, but at the same time, it's nice to be heading down a familiar road. We used to spend so much time in there parts, just hiding away from the pride just you and me." She smiled at the thought, giving the male beside her a playful nudge. "This forest- it was always a place of mystery."

"And a place of adventure," Ninniach chuckled, "I will always love the forest: If not for you getting lost in it that one day, I never would have met you. Fallen in love with you. We probably would have followed the same conventions as everyone else. Maybe it was destiny to meet and fall head over paws for one another." She seemed to like that, thought, purring softly as he spoke.

"Maybe," she replied, "I don't even really remember being scared when I got lost that day. Meeting you took away any fear I might have felt. The only thing I remember about that day was how much I immediately wanted to see you again. Who would have thought I would fall in love with a groundling like you?" She teased lightly, continuing along their path with nostalgia replacing her fear. Ninniach laughed at the comment, nodding happily.

"Like I ever thought I would fall in love with a noble! You should have seen my face after we parted ways- I thought I was going to pass out."

She smiled, stopping once again. This time, however, it wasn't because she was afraid. She was simply looking around the area, taking in the familiar sights. Though the forest was largely a mystery to her, there were still aspects of it that reminded her of their former adventure. Their meeting. A large rock sticking out of the ground that he had been lying on, just off to her left. And way the trees loomed over them, looking ready to pounce. Everything looked familiar. Actually, it looked very familiar.

"Hey... I think this is the place," She said after a moment, her eyes brightening, "this IS the spot where we first met one another!"

Ninniach looked around, and laughed when he came to terms with the information himself- the area around him as familiar to him as it was to her. How could he have not seen it sooner?

"Wow!" he laughed, "you're right! This is the exact same spot. "I was on that rock, and I met you soon after. Well... I guess that means we're getting close. I remember the route I told you to take to get back to the clearing." He smiled, though there was some worry in his expression now, too. Slowly, he looked at Hathel, moving beside her. "do you want to wait?" He asked, "or maybe we should just go for it right now and see what's there. Waiting might give us a chance to back out if we're not careful."

"Yeah, I don't want to think about it too much," she told him lightly, "I want to just go for it. If we back out now, we may never get another opportunity to come home for real. This is our only chance. let's just hope things are different now."

"Alright. Then we go together. Stay by me. If we meet someone who knows us, maybe it's best to just make a run for it. Okay.... let's go..."