Horizon didn't think much of the lionesses making conversation about Bastet meeting Sweet William, but as Bastet's tail moved up to her belly, her attention was caught by the roundness of it. She hadn't really thought much of it earlier - if anything, she might have thought Bastet was eating a few too many kills for her share, but she wouldn't have brought that up. Now, seeing the way she touched it, she figured she must be pregnant.

She tilted her head, a few stray thoughts about the pregnancy wandering into her mind, and she nodded distractedly as the red lioness, Chara, was sent to go get Jewel. "Expecting a litter, are you?" she asked Bastet, looking very pleased with the idea. She had had two litters now, and despite the physical toll it took she loved having cubs. "I'm sure they'll be real beauties."

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Bastet seemed to get even more embarrassed when Horizon asked about her pregnancy. Her face turned even more red as she tilted her head to the side, avoiding Horizon's eyes.

It wasn't long after this that the three lionesses were once again strolling through the difficult terrain of the rainforest. This time, however, the squad of the escort was a little different. Alongside Horizon Red and Bastet was another lioness, who couldn't have been older than two years old.

She was a pinkish color, her patches mutation clashing slightly with her coat, giving her a spunky vibe. She was adorned with feathers and wore red and orange leg wraps made out of murex shells on her legs. They seemed to be pretty sharp and could potentially do some damage if required. Her youthful yellow eyes stared with excitement and awe at her surroundings, taking in the scenery that she probably saw for the very first time. She was positively buzzing with energy, pouncing around the other two lionesses.

"Oh, my stars! I can't believe I'm on my first-ever mission like this. I thought it would never come. I have never been to this part of the territory, I wonder how dense this forest is. And how about your pride, how are they? Are they nice? Do they like playing tag? Oh, oh, can I play with the cubs once our mission is over? Can I? Plea....see...." She kept on asking questions throughout the entire journey, clearly excited about what was to come.

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Horizon was rather surprised to see Bastet's embarrassment, and cast around for a quick change of subject. She wasn't used to that kind of reaction, definitely not from lionesses of her pride, who were rarely picky about their husbands and never ashamed of them. But whatever the situation was, she didn't want to make it any worse. She started some light conversation about branch prices and that sort of boring thing, carefully avoiding looking at Bastet's swollen stomach.

She was glad when young Jewel arrived and they could set out. The sun was starting to set, which made her nervous because she had seen some strange and unsettling creatures roaming the land after night. She kept her pace brisk, hoping to get back into her territory before this happened. She was glad that Jewel, full of moxie and youthful excitement, could easily keep up with her, but she did try not to go too fast so that the pregnant Bastet wouldn't fall behind.

Horizon knew enough about cubs - and young lionesses - to know just to let Jewel wear herself out with questions. She gave the occasional "uh-huh" and "uh-uh" in response, but she was mostly watching around them in case anything horrible popped out and tried to harm them. Her pride was much closer than she could have hoped for, and if there were any monsters, they didn't have time to do anything before the familiar scents of Horizon's pride wafted to her on the chill breeze. Knowing that they would come to guarded territory soon, she slowed down. "I'll go a bit ahead so they know I've invited you," she said. She was about to step forward, but a lioness suddenly slunk out from the bushes, eyeing Jewel and Bastet with cold eyes.

"Who are these?" she growled at Horizon. She was certainly no beauty, and she wore clashing green shard jewelry and blood red body paint. There was no kindness in her gaze, and she watched the two lionesses with distrust. "Did you capture them?"

"They're with me," Horizon told her. "They're here to talk to William about an alliance. I can guarantee they're no thieves."

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Jewel immediately stopped what she was doing, her demeanor shifting momentarily into an almost unnatural calmness and professionalism. She stood up right, unflinching at the sudden appearance of the aggresive lioness.

Both her and Bastet bowed their heads almost simutanously at Horizon's pride member, remaining as respectful as possible.

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"What are you doing bringing lions back to this pride?" the lioness asked, eyeing them with great dislike.

"I already told you. Please don't make trouble for us. They really do just want to the talk to our king - well, to William. I'm personally accountable for them."

The lioness paused, apparently thinking, then said, "Alright, then, let them through. But if they steal so much as a leaf of umganu, I will flay them alive." She looked at the two lionesses. "Understood?" She apparently wasn't expecting an answer, because she immediately turned away. "I hope you're not expecting me to escort them."

"No, of course not," said Horizon, shaking her head. She motioned to the other two to follow. As they got out of earshot of the lioness, she said to them in a low voice, "I'm sorry about her. That's our guard, Color Crackle. She's . . . not exactly known for her friendliness. I have to warn you, there are plenty of lionesses in this pride who will be less than happy to see you."

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"That's understandable. Not all prides are friendly, and I'm aware of it from my own experiences." Bastet stated nonchalantly. She kept her head raised and posture regal, giving an air of authority yet not in a threatening way. It was a posture of a diplomat, surely taught to her by Isis.

"Not all lions from your pride are this mean though, right? I mean, you certainly aren't" Jewel asked, momentarily dropping her stance when Color Crackle left. She seemed a little upset by the interaction, her ears flattening against her head slightly.

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Horizon glanced at Bastet, feeling rather bad that she didn't have a kinder pride to bring her to. She was more worried, though, about Jewel, who seemed quite perturbed by the whole ordeal. She asked if all of the lionesses were so mean, and Horizon smiled nicely. "No, no, not all of them by a long shot. Don't worry, we won't have any reason to interact with the . . . less nice ones. I don't want to give you the wrong impression of my pride - I really do love them, it's just been tough lately. Everyone's stressed out."

She was walking as she talked, and paused as they reached a hilly cliff which had been where she met Bastet. Even though it hadn't been too long, the flowers which had been blooming there only recently had mostly withered away, everything but the violet tree which seemed to be fighting to stay alive. Not far below were the springs, and a rocky path led down to them. "These are the Ikogosi Springs," Horizon told Jewel, since Bastet already knew. "My pride lives down there. We'll be down in a few minutes. Just mind your step on the rocks."

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Horizon could see Bastet shivering slightly as they reached the cliff. Her eyes seemed to glow gold for a second, as the air of confidence suddenly broke around her. However, she did collect herself and put on a brave face as the three lionesses ventured forward.

Jewel meanwhile nodded in understanding at Horizon's answer. She scrunched her nose as they entered the hilly area as if smelling a rotten carcass.

"What happened here?" She asked, not bothering to hide her discomfort and theatrically covering her nose with one of her front paws.

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Horizon gave Bastet a concerned look and brushed against her lightly with her tail as a way of comforting her. She wasn't sure how Bastet would take this, so she did it quickly so as not to embarrass the lioness. She was moving towards the rocky path down the cliff face when she saw Jewel's dramatic gag. She looked around as Jewel asked what had happened. "I don't know," she said thoughtfully. "To be honest, us pride lions rarely come up here. This has always been Monarch's spot, but he's back with the pride in the evenings. It must have to do with whatever's happening all around - the shadow creatures."

She made her way to the start of the path and stood aside to let the other two go first. It was a sturdy and wide path, so there was little risk of them falling, and she wasn't worried about that. "Just down there," she told them. "I'm not sure where the pride is right now, probably near the hot spring. Don't worry, nobody's going to hurt you - except - well, never mind, she's always out this time of day. Go ahead."

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The way Horizon tried to comfort Bastet seemed to have worked. At least a little. Her muscles relaxed slightly and she turned toward the red piebald, smiling and nodding her head to show that she was fine.

"Ugh, I hate these guys!" Jewel complained "They smell awful and they always leave such a mess. Firefly and Zuko usually take care of them though. And Bastet does that sometimes too."

The two lionesses followed Horizon and went down the sturdy path, just as they were instructed to. Bastet turned her head towards Horizon once she mentioned the mysterious she who could hurt them, but didn't ask any questions.

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"They are awful," said Horizon, smiling. Though they made her nervous, she felt much safer now that she was near her pride. She had seen her pride's hunters come back dragging the corpse of a huge red demon, and if they could handle that, she was sure they could handle anything. "We don't have to worry about them now, anyway. They certainly are ugly, though."

Horizon followed the two down the path, and as they started towards the bottom, there wafted through the air the murmur of late evening. As they turned past a large tree, the pride came into view. Many were lying by a bubbling pond which seemed to be giving off heat. They were highly decorated lionesses, indicating some wealth in the pride. Beyond them lay undecorated lionesses.

As they approached, a lioness came streaking at them. Horizon didn't seem startled, and instead bounded forward to greet her. She looked very much like Horizon, and wore a flower behind her ear. "Mom!" she said cheerfully, and at this a great deal of cubs who were lying in a pile perked their ears up. Suddenly there was a stampede of small cubs racing to tackle Horizon and bite her tail.

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Bastet and Jewel both stayed somewhat in the back as the cubs, and who they presumed was Horizon's daughter tackled the red piebald to the ground. Bastet giggled at the display, while Jewel's eyes were positively shining with excitment.

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Upon noticing the other two, Horizon's daughter bounded over to them happily. "Hello there!" she said, obviously very glad to have visitors. A few of the other lionesses glanced over, with expressions ranging from dislike to mild interest to glee. "I'm Hummingbird Mint," the lioness introduced herself. "You can call me Hummingbird. Are you friends of my mom's?"

"They're here to talk to William," said Horizon, smiling as she disentangles herself from the mass of cubs. "Is he here right now?"

"Oh, yeah, I think he's around here," said Hummingbird, looking around vaguely. "What pride are you two from?" she asked Bastet and Jewel. "What are you here to talk about?"

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Bastet only nodded toward Hummingbird in polite greeting, her attention focused more on the other lionesses around them. She greeted them silently with her eyes, while also wearily watching those who were staring at them with distrust.

Jewel on the other hand was already standing right before Hummingbird Mist, giddy with pure excitement.
"Hi! I'm Jewel and this is Bastet! Hummingbird Mist, huh? That's such a fascinating name! Are you Horizon Red's daughter? How old are you? Are you one of the nice lions? We've met a rather mean one while traveling here but that's ok. Oh, I'm so excited to meet you guys! It's my very first mission, you know? A diplomatic mission. It sounds so cool, right? I've never been on one before! I think I already said that. This is so thrilling!" She spoke fast and without stopping to allow Hummingbird, or anyone else for that matter, to answer any of her questions. The only time she did stop was to gasp for breath before picking up momentum again.

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The lionesses looked back at Bastet, and none moved towards her, even the ones with friendlier faces. Horizon smiled at Jewel's nonstop talking, and Hummingbird, equally as hyped, stuttered through a few attempts to cut Jewel off and answer her. As Jewel paused to gasp for breath, Hummingbird cut in without a moment's hesitation. "It's nice to meet you Jewel! You know, we used to have a lioness named Jewel here, she had a really neat crown. Horizon is my mom, she's the best mom in the world! I wish I could go on a mission by myself! So cool! Imagine meeting new lions, it must be so much fun!"

Rolling her eyes gently at the two young lionesses, Horizon motioned for Bastet to follow her. "William must be in the smaller spring," she said. "You can come over and talk to him." She wound her way through the lionesses, who were whispering and chattering and waving hello. As they got past them, a smaller spring came into view, with an old lion lying resting.

As they got closer, he blinked his eyes open blearily. "Oh, hello," he said, raising his eyebrows as he saw Bastet. "I'm sorry, miss, you caught me at a bad time. Um, can I help you?" He pulled himself out of the warm water, looking rather embarrassed, and gave her a little incline of the head.

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